Likelihood is you’ve heard of somebody who travels without spending a dime (or little or no) on bank card factors.
These folks irritate me.
I attempted it earlier than and it is rattling laborious work.
Gaining the most important attainable journey rewards out of a bank card is for severely nerdy hard-core travellers who wish to spend their weekends and evenings researching the perfect bank cards, monitoring their bonuses and leaping by means of hoops to squeeze each level out of the system.
That’s nice for individuals who have a number of free time on their palms or are professional travellers or don’t have any pals.
However I’ve acquired a life. And I’m positive you do to.
So, ought to we even hassle?
Assume you will get right here with bank card factors? Assume once more.
Challenges with discovering the perfect journey rewards bank card
The primary ache level is researching and selecting the perfect bank card for worldwide journey. Sounds straightforward, however belief me, it’s not. Right here’s why:
- Banks and monetary establishments inundate you with hyped-up affords. All of them sound nice and dandy however could have harmful nice print. With all of the jargon and sensationalism, it’s straightforward to get misplaced within the noise.
- Bank card affords change steadily. There are heaps of articles on the Web about “the perfect” bank card for journey. However affords come and go, and these articles get old-fashioned rapidly.
- Your earnings and spending patterns could also be totally different. How are you going to take recommendation from another person who has a totally totally different spending sample than you? I’m positive you’re not keen to purchase 12,000 pudding cups for airline miles like David Phillips.
- Not all factors are the identical. Simply because a bank card or airline makes use of the phrase “factors” doesn’t imply you possibly can examine apples with apples. As a long-bearded clever journey guru as soon as mentioned, “not all factors are made equal”.
And it simply will get harder from there…
Even in the event you’re fortunate sufficient to decide on the perfect journey rewards bank card, the sport isn’t completed. There’s nonetheless a number of steps till you’re sipping that cocktail on a seaside within the Maldives.
Holding observe of the spend and bonus deadlines, defending your credit score rating, and most significantly, redeeming journey reward factors may be complicated for inexperienced persons.
Mmmm… cocktails on the seaside
The holy grail for journey bank cards
Simply after I thought all hope was misplaced, I got here throughout Zac Hood and his web site Journey Freely.
He guarantees to assist every member earn at the least $1,500 in free journey yearly.
Not as soon as off, yearly.
At first, I used to be sceptical. During the last decade I’ve heard a number of hype and guarantees round incomes factors with a journey rewards bank card.
However after spending about half an hour browsing round his web site, it slowly dawned on me that this man has cracked the code. He’s made it tremendous straightforward for newbies to decide on the perfect journey rewards bank card AND then holds their hand by means of every step till they’re sipping that dreamy cocktail.
Oh, and Journey Freely can be fully free to make use of. Yep. Free.
Zac… the place have you ever been all my life?
How does this work?
Signing up on the Journey Freely web site is tremendous straightforward. A blind goat might do it.
Simply fill in a primary identify, final identify and electronic mail tackle. Then an activation hyperlink is emailed to you (to make sure you’re not utilizing a faux electronic mail tackle). When you click on that, you’re within the membership! Or for even fewer steps register along with your present Google account. Carried out.
Registration kind
Activation electronic mail
The Journey Freely dashboard begins out with an intuitive wizard, asking a couple of wise questions like when you’ve got present bank cards or run a enterprise.
The step-by-step Rookies Information goes by means of 7 sections together with setting your journey targets, monitoring your credit score rating and estimating your month-to-month spend. Most steps have a bite-sized video clip to speak you thru the method, and embody a hyperlink to Zac’s electronic mail tackle so you possibly can ask him questions any time.
Did I point out that is all free?
Wizard
Rookies Information
The Card Dashboard device retains observe of your bank cards, offering all of the essential data you want at a look like bonus spending necessities and annual price due dates. I just like the useful video tutorial on this part – it’s identical to trying over Zac’s shoulder as he makes use of this device.
CardGenie is Zac’s secret-sauce know-how which intelligently recommends what card is finest for you. Not like different web sites, it doesn’t present you playing cards you’re not eligible for thus you don’t waste your time. And the perfect worth playing cards are offered first, so it’s straightforward to work out which one to use for immediately.
When you get a one or two new bank cards in your pockets, preserving observe of bonus deadlines and annual charges is the subsequent precedence. The excellent news is you possibly can see all of this within the Calendar device. Even higher is that Journey Freely will robotically ship electronic mail reminders when these essential dates come up so you possibly can’t miss them.
Now that you simply’re within the sport and acquired the fundamentals coated, if you wish to learn up extra about free journey and suggestions for incomes additional factors, there’s a complete bunch of articles and FAQs underneath Assets. The benefit of these articles is that they’re all from one supply, (Zac) so that you’re not going to search out complicated, conflicting recommendation. Zac’s actually made a one-stop store.
Now you may have the perfect journey rewards bank card, what’s subsequent?
By the point you’ve adopted all of the steps within the Rookies Information, you’ll really feel rather more assured managing your bank cards and racking up journey factors to your subsequent large journey. Staying on high of the factors ought to solely take about half-hour per thirty days.
Simply bear in mind to make card repayments on time – you don’t waste these juicy factors by paying bank card curiosity. In truth, in the event you observe Zac’s course of your credit score rating ought to enhance.
Journey Freely retains you within the loop with occasional electronic mail newsletters (you possibly can decide out anytime), and new articles are added to the positioning infrequently.
If you’re lastly able to spend your bank card factors on journey, Step 7 of the Rookies Information offers you every part you want – hyperlinks to websites the place you possibly can redeem or switch your factors, and articles with step-by-step tutorials.
I’ve to confess, I’m actually grateful to Journey Freely for serving to me discover the perfect journey rewards bank card. And it didn’t require a complete weekend of irritating mind-numbing clicking across the internet. In truth, the entire course of has been fully fulfilling.
Who is aware of… I’d simply find yourself being a type of irritating folks travelling the world without spending a dime on factors.
Wouldn’t you reasonably try this too?