The document provides an overview of credit cards, including:
- Types of credit card programs like transferable points and co-branded cards
- Factors that determine your credit score and the differences between FICO and other scores
- Tips for using credit cards like earning sign-up bonuses and creating spend
- Popular transferable points programs like Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou Points and their transfer partners
How to Benefit from Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan - Chicago Seminars 2014Travel Codex
This presentation was made at the October 2014 Chicago Seminars, an annual meeting of travel enthusiasts who use miles and points to for free or discounted travel. Learn more about what makes the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan so lucrative, even for people who may not live near an airport where they operate.
Mileage Plan is partners with American Airlines, Delta Airlines, and a host of premium international carriers. This makes it easy to earn and redeem miles for high-value awards. Easy criteria and unusually generous benefits also help put elite status within reach of those who wouldn't normally consider themselves "frequent flyers."
Ten Tips to Make Family Travel Cheaper and Easiermommypoints
Ten tips to travel with your family with less money and less stress than you thought possible, as presented by Summer Hull (Mommy Points) and Ed Pizzarello (Pizza in Motion) at the 2014 Frequent Traveler University in DC.
Hotel Loyalty Programs - Frequent Traveler University Seattle 2014Travel Codex
Learn more about your favorite hotel chains and which ones may offer the best benefits to frequent travelers. Each program offers different rates to earn and redeem points, different upgrade benefits, and different ways to elite status. But if you're going to stay 50+ nights with the same chain, make sure that loyalty is being properly rewarded
Six Strategies That Will Help You Travel More and Spend Less!nbuchan1
Learn six top secret travel hacking strategies that will help you travel more while spending less! Want more ninja travel tips? Check out my blog at http://natebuchanan.org/
How to Benefit from Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan - Chicago Seminars 2014Travel Codex
This presentation was made at the October 2014 Chicago Seminars, an annual meeting of travel enthusiasts who use miles and points to for free or discounted travel. Learn more about what makes the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan so lucrative, even for people who may not live near an airport where they operate.
Mileage Plan is partners with American Airlines, Delta Airlines, and a host of premium international carriers. This makes it easy to earn and redeem miles for high-value awards. Easy criteria and unusually generous benefits also help put elite status within reach of those who wouldn't normally consider themselves "frequent flyers."
Ten Tips to Make Family Travel Cheaper and Easiermommypoints
Ten tips to travel with your family with less money and less stress than you thought possible, as presented by Summer Hull (Mommy Points) and Ed Pizzarello (Pizza in Motion) at the 2014 Frequent Traveler University in DC.
Hotel Loyalty Programs - Frequent Traveler University Seattle 2014Travel Codex
Learn more about your favorite hotel chains and which ones may offer the best benefits to frequent travelers. Each program offers different rates to earn and redeem points, different upgrade benefits, and different ways to elite status. But if you're going to stay 50+ nights with the same chain, make sure that loyalty is being properly rewarded
Six Strategies That Will Help You Travel More and Spend Less!nbuchan1
Learn six top secret travel hacking strategies that will help you travel more while spending less! Want more ninja travel tips? Check out my blog at http://natebuchanan.org/
Want to travel on little to no budget? Or fly business class or stay in luxury hotels for cheap? Turns out you can! Come join us for a talk on how to hack travel deals and trot the globe for nearly nothing! We’ll provide tips & tricks on how to get better travel deals and run a workshop afterwards where we'll help you plan your next trip!
Alaska Airlines - Frequent Traveler University DC 2014Travel Codex
Learn the latest tips and advice on flying Alaska Airlines and its Mileage Plan loyalty program. This presentation includes updates for the 2015 program year, including how travel compares with its partners and competitor airlines.
For Management 452, my group and I did a project; that took the entire semester, over the US Domestic Airline Industry. Our focal firm was Delta. We had 64 slides for our project slides then had to minimize the slides down to 36 for our 40 minute presentation slides. We provided an introduction/history, internal analysis, external analysis, and our own suggestions.
Inside Hyatt And SPG-Frequent Traveler University 2014Edward Pizzarello
This is my presentation on both the Hyatt and Gold Passport and Starwood Preferred Guest program. This is an in-depth look at both programs and how best to use them to travel to incredible once-in-a-lifetime destinations. If you have questions feel free to check out my blog at http://pizzainmotion.com or e-mail me at ed -at- milepoint.com
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan: Hidden Gem of the Emerald CityTravel Codex
Learn about a unique frequent flyer program that goes unnoticed by millions of Americans. Though Alaska Airlines has a relatively small network of its own, it partners with Delta Air Lines and American Airlines -- as well as many leading international carriers -- to offer one of the easiest programs to earn miles and elite status with a single carrier. Even less frequent flyers will find themselves rewarded with unique benefits like lower qualification requirements, confirmed upgrades, free drinks in economy class, and the ability to cancel tickets with no penalty.
Getting Started With Miles And Points-Frequent Traveler University, Seattle 2014Edward Pizzarello
This is our presentation on how to get started collecting miles and points. I teamed up with Summer (http://mommypoints.com) to give this presentation at Frequent Traveler University in Seattle April 26, 2014. If you have any questions you can contact Summer at her website or me at mine (http://pizzainmotion.com).
Top 5 Amazon Seller Credit Cards to get the most amount of points or money back from selling on Amazon! https://www.taxomate.com/amazon-accounting-blog/top-amazon-seller-credit-cards
2. Credit Card 101
The Art of the Sign-Up Bonus
Category and Spending Bonuses
Perks and Benefits
Creating Credit Card Spend
My Three Favorite Transferable Points Programs: Amex,
Chase and Starwood
3. Transferable Cobranded Fixed Value
Strengths: Strengths: Perks, Strengths:
Flexibility, mileage and points Reliability and Elite
Diversification bonuses Miles
Weaknesses: No Weaknesses: Lack Weaknesses: Lack
airline/hotel- of flexibility, perks of
specific perks same as elite aspirational/premi
benefits um options
4. How is it calculated?
35% payment history
30% amounts owed
15% length of credit history
10% new credit
10% types of credit
FICO vs. FAKO
Get your credit score for free at AnnualCreditReport.com
5. If you run huge balances, focus on paying them down and
putting them on a 0% intro APR card like Chase Slate
Have poor credit
Cannot manage credit
Are taking a major loan in the next 6 months
Alternative - Debit Cards: SunTrust Delta, Bank of America
Alaska, PerkStreet Financial Cashback
6. Tied to personal credit
Personal hard inquiry but once open, business credit line is
on different credit report
Fewer consumer protections
Lucrative earning opportunities
Apply as sole proprietor with SSN
7.
8. Thepointsguy.com – Top Deals Page
Open your mail! You might be surprised
The forums/social media: FlyerTalk, MilePoint
Follow me on Twitter: @thepointsguy
9. Chase Ink Bold and Ink Plus: 50,000 Ultimate Rewards when
spend $5,000 in 6 months. $687-$7,000 in value.
Southwest Personal and Business: 50,000 Rapid Reward
points when spend $2,000 in 3 months. Value: $3,000 for both.
Citi American Airlines Cards: 50,000 miles when spend $2,500
in 4 months on each – two cards at once. Value: $2,680 for both.
Chase British Airways Visa: 50,000 Avios for $1,000 in 3
months, 50,000 more when spend $20,000 in a year. Value: $1,600-
$2,600.
American Express Mercedes-Benz Platinum: 50,000
Membership Rewards points for spending $1,000 in 3 months.
Value: $1,250.
10.
11. Put every expense possible on your card – as long as you’re
not paying fees
Charity donations
Buy Gift Cards
Advanced: Payment Services like ChargeSmart and
WilliamPaid (generally 3%), Amazon Payments $1,000 per
month to another person with no fee
12.
13. Airfare: Gas: Grocery: Dining:
Hilton Citi Hilton Hilton Citi Forward
Reserve 5x, Reserve 5x, Amexes 6x, 5x, Chase
Premier Premier Premier Sapphire
Rewards Rewards 2x, Rewards 2x Preferred
Gold 3x, Chase Ink 2x, Chase
Chase Bold 2x Hyatt Visa
Sapphire 2x
Preferred,
Airline Co-
Branded
Cards
14. In addition to sign-up bonuses, many credit cards offer
additional perks for hitting certain spend thresholds such
as:
Bonus Points: American Express Premier Rewards
Airline Elite Miles: American Express Delta Reserve
Hotel Elite Status: Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve
Companion Tickets: Chase British Airways Visa
15. Keep cards open at least 6 months to avoid red flags
Transfer or use points before closing an account
To renew or not to renew? Do the math.
Example: Chase Hyatt Visa gives you a free night at a Category 1-
4 hotel each year – more than makes up for the $75 annual fee
What it means for your credit when you cancel?
Call and ask them to waive annual fee – it never hurts to ask!
Don’t cancel, downgrade so you can use as bargaining tool for
future cards
Keep a couple no-fee cards around. Best: Chase Freedom
16.
17. Pros:
16 airline partners
4 hotel partners
Transfer bonuses – Delta, British Airways, Virgin America
Transfers post instantaneously (mostly)
Has added some partners like British Airways, Virgin America (bad ratio)
Cons:
Losing transfer partners – Continental, Southwest, Airtran, Priority Club
6/100 cents per point for transfers to US airlines
Earning portal shut down
Pay With Points Dropping to 1 cent on all cards, except Business Platinum
18. Star Alliance OneWorld
• Aeroplan 1:1 • British Airways 1:1
• All Nippon Airways 1:1 • Iberia 1:1
• Singapore Airlines 1:1 • Asia Miles 1:1
Airline Transfer
Partners
Skyteam Other
• Aeromexico 1:1 • El Al 50:1 JetBlue 1.25:1
• Alitalia Airlines 1:1 • Frontier 1:1 Virgin America 2:1
• Delta 1:1 • Hawaiian 1:1 Virgin Atlantic 1:1
• Air France/KLM 1:1
19. • Positives: Instant transfers, transfer
bonuses, some great values from
distance-based awards, no last-minute
booking fees
British • Negatives: High fuel surcharges,
Airways segment pricing on awards, hard to
search for some awards
• Good awards: Expensive short- and
mid-haul flights. Ex: New York to Toronto
20. • Best Western 1:1
• Choice Privileges 1:1
Hotel Transfer • Hilton HHonors 1:1.5
Partners • Jumeirah Hotels and Resorts 23:1
• Starwood 3:1
Tip: Transfer points to Virgin Atlantic at 1:1 and then
Virgin Atlantic to Hilton at 2:1- better than the standard
direct transfer ratio of 1: 1.5
21. Earn 1 point per dollar spent (Premier Rewards is 3x on airfare
and 2x on gas & groceries, 4x per dollar with Amex Travel)
Points go into pending status for a month after statement close
(can be expedited)
Cannot combine Membership Rewards points
Transfer to anyone!
- Link (not enroll!) their account to your account
membershiprewards.com -> Points Summary -> Bottom right
- Advance points for free, just earn them back
- Up to 60,000 for Platinum
- 15,000 for most other cards (not corporate)
- Buy points at 2.5 cents each, up to 500,000 a year!
22. Pay With Points
Easy, but fixed value: 1 cent (1.25 for Business Platinum)
- A $5,000 business class ticket would require 500,000 points!
- Could be an okay decision for cheap domestic tickets
Earns elite status just like a purchased ticket
23. Pros:
Adding partners
Most transfers instantaneous
No transfer fees
Transfer points to anyone else, combine points with anyone else
Points post right after statement closes
Good customer service
Cons:
Limited number of partners
No transfer bonuses yet
24. • British Airways 1:1
• Korean Air 1:1
Airline • Southwest 1:1
• United 1:1
• Hyatt 1:1
• Priority Club 1:1
Hotel • Marriott 1:1
• The Ritz Carlton 1:1
Other • Amtrak 1:1
25. • Positives: Low points requirements for free
nights, great elite perks
• Negatives: Just over 400 properties
worldwide
Hyatt • Good awards: Top-tier redemptions for
22,000 points like Park Hyatt Paris Vendome,
only 6,000 points to upgrade paid stays for up
to 4 nights
26. Pay With Points:
1.25 cents per point in travel (Sapphire Preferred & Ink
Bold), 1 cent for Freedom
Transfer to anyone: ultimaterewards.com -> Manage
Ultimate Rewards -> Combine Points -> Transfer To Other
-> Enter credit card number and last name
Chase Experiences
27. Pros:
Over 1,100 properties
Cash & Points
Reward stays count toward elite status
30 airline partners
5,000 point bonus on transfers of 20,000 points
Cons:
Member can only transfer to own accounts
No other transfer bonuses
Posting times vary greatly
No shopping portal
28. Airline Transfer Partners Other
Aeroplan 1:1 British Airways 1:1 LAN 1:2 Amtrak 1:1
Air Berlin 1:1 China Eastern 1:1 Mexicana Frecuenta 1:1
Air China 1:1 China Southern 1:1 Miles and More 1:1
Air New Zealand 65:1 Delta 1:1 Qatar Airways 1:1
Alaska Airlines 1:1 Emirates 1:1 Saudi Arabian 1:1
Alitalia 1:1 Etihad Airways 1:1 Singapore Airlines 1:1
ANA 1:1 Flying Blue 1:1 Thai Airways 1:1
American Airlines 1:1 Hawaiian 1:1 US Airways 1:1
Asia Miles 1:1 Japan Airlines 1:1 United Mileage Plus 2:1
Asiana Airlines 1:1 King Club 1:1 VARIG Smiles 2:1
Virgin Atlantic 1:1
29. Airline Transfer Time In Days
Delta 1
Aeroplan 3
Air Berlin 4
ANA 4
Virgin Atlantic 6
American Airlines 8
US Airways 8
Alaska Airlines 8
British Airways 9
LAN 9
United 11
Asia Miles 15
Asiana N/A
Flying Blue N/A
30. • Positives: Low fees, one-way awards, free
stopovers in your destination
• Negatives: Ticketing fees, no international
stopovers
• Good awards: 40,000 Off Peak awards to
American Europe October 15-April 15; Cathay Pacific First
Class North America-Asia for 67,500
• Alaska: 115,000 SPG Points = Cathay Pacific First
roundtrip to Asia for 140,000 miles roundtrip.
Other partners: Icelandair, Emirates
31.
32. Your credit score is an asset. It is critical and you can leverage it
to earn hundreds of thousands of points and miles a year
Think long-term: It’s not just about sign-up miles and points –
perks, status, bonuses
Hop on deals when they come – they don’t last long
Don’t bite off more than you can chew
Always set auto-payments – make sure you don’t miss a payment
Strategize Your Spend