Ever wondered what travel hacking is? If so, you’re in luck as today we are covering the basics of travel hacking. Simply put, it’s using points and miles to earn free or nearly free travel. Many people have credit cards that earn points and miles for hotels and airlines. The big “hack” is using the large welcome offers from credit cards to quickly earn large amounts of points and miles. Other ways to earn include: using credit cards normally to earn more slowly, taking surveys, using shopping portals, and obtaining referral bonuses from referring family and friends to the cards that you already have.

If you have good or excellent credit and can pay your entire credit card balance monthly, then travel hacking might be for you. In order to earn large welcome offers, you often need to pay an annual fee. Most entry level cards have a welcome offer of $99 or less. This might sound odd, but you do need to pay this annual fee to get the best offers. In exchange for paying the annual fee, you will not only earn the welcome offer, but there are often other perks, including things such as a statement credit for TSA PreCheck or a yearly free night at a hotel. The welcome offers also require that you meet a certain minimum spend, such as $3,000 within 3 months of being approved for the credit card. You should only choose a card with a minimum spend that is what you would normally put on a debit or credit card and most importantly, that you can pay off monthly!

Beyond these basic items, travel hacking can be as easy or complicated as you want it to be. Each bank has rules around approval, including the famous 5/24 rule. This rule is from Chase and is a rule that travel hackers have learned-you won’t be approved for another Chase card if you’ve been approved for 5 cards total (all banks) in 24 months. But there are exceptions to this, including approval for business cards from Chase. These rules are important to learn if you plan to become a serious travel hacker and there are many blogs, podcasts, and courses out there if your goal is to become a serious travel hacker who wants to earn a ton of points quickly.

If learning all the rules of travel hacking sounds intimidating, that’s understandable. There’s no wrong way to travel hack in my book. You might want to start taking luxury vacations with business class flights or, maybe, you just want to take a single bucket list trip or even be able to afford a trip in your own state. Travel hacking can help you with all of these goals. If you’re interested in learning more, please feel free to reach out with questions or for a free consultation to learn which card can help you meet your travel goals!