Now don’t get me wrong – we’re not frequent world travelers over here. Aaron and I tend to go on vacation only once every 1-2 years, but when we do travel, it typically costs us close to nothing.
In 2015, Aaron and I spent a week in Aruba. Our roundtrip flights and hotel for the week costed us less than $200. That same year, I flew entirely across the country to visit my sister, roundtrip from New York to Washington, for just $11.
In 2016, we went on a week long honeymoon to Maroma Beach in the Riviera Maya of Mexico, almost entirely for free. We spent money on excursions, but our flights and all-inclusive five-star hotel costed us almost nothing.
How’d we do it? We took advantage of travel rewards points earned off our credit cards.
When I turned eighteen year old, I opened my first credit card through my local bank. It wasn’t to go shopping, or to buy anything that I couldn’t afford. It was merely to start building credit.
I used that credit card for about five years, putting practically all of my purchases on it and completely paying it off every month so it never carried a balance.
That card was a nice starter card, but it wasn’t a reward card of any kind. So, after years of using that card, I felt like my credit was finally established enough that I could get approved for one that offered rewards.
I did a some research to find the best rewards card to fit my lifestyle.
Today, I have a credit card with our favorite airline company. Between the points that I accumulate through my purchases, and the bonus points that they give me every year on the anniversary of opening the card, Aaron and I are likely able to have the cost of airline tickets covered.
Aaron, on the other hand, has a travel rewards credit card with points that can be used for much more than flights. While my points cover our flights, his points typically cover our hotel and rental car costs.
I’m absolutely not writing this post to say that everyone should have a credit card. I do not believe credit cards are for everyone. Getting into credit card debt is a sure fire way to set yourself up for a life full of stress and misery.
If you are not disciplined enough to pay your entire balance off every month, please stick to a debit card or cash. The amount of interest you will accumulate by not paying your full balance will far outweigh the value of any rewards you could earn. It’s just not worth it.
I’m saying that if you’re going to use a credit card anyway, why not get rewarded for it? I know there are plenty of people out there who are using basic bank credit cards, unaware of the potential rewards they could be earning if they were using something different.
Whether someone is interested in travel rewards or cash back, there are plenty of options available. I personally like travel rewards because I view my points as a trip to look forward to. If we didn’t have points to use for travel, we would probably never travel due to the cost.
Keep in mind, most travel rewards cards do require good to excellent credit to be approved, while there are more cash back options available to those with fair to excellent credit.
Before applying for any credit card, do research to make sure you’re getting the rewards that matter the most to you, with no hidden fees. And make sure that it’s one that you can actually get approved for – if you have fair credit, don’t apply for a card that requires excellent credit because you probably won’t get approved, and the pointless inquiry that was just made on your credit history will bring your credit score lower. Also, I recommend sticking to just one or at the most two credit cards… so compare and choose wisely.
Two great sites that I recommend taking a look at to research and compare rewards credit cards are nerdwallet.com and creditcards.com.
I say, if you’re going to use a credit card anyway, use one that works to your advantage. Rewards cards, if used correctly, can have major perks, including super cheap travel.