Best Travel Hack Credit Card (600's Credit Score)

[Anonymous]

I would love to start hacking soon.

I know these cards are generally people with stellar credit, but I figure the sooner I could start racking up... the better..

My creditis not bad.. only thing is high balances which are being paid down as I type..

Any suggestions? I was looking into Cap One since I already have a card with them..

[jsucool76]

Pay down your balances first. If you're earning points on new cards, that means you're spending money that could be going towards paying down balances

Where in the 600s are you?

[NRB525]

OP, what are your results when you go to the Citi website, run their Prequalification tool, and ask for Travel Rewards cards?

[CreditScholar]

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@jsucool76 wrote:
Pay down your balances first. If you're earning points on new cards, that means you're spending money that could be going towards paying down balances

Where in the 600s are you?

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+1. You should be in the 700s to stand a decent chance at most travel cards.

And why do people use the term travel hack anyways? It's just... ugh...

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I would love to start hacking soon.

I know these cards are generally people with stellar credit, but I figure the sooner I could start racking up... the better..

My creditis not bad.. only thing is high balances which are being paid down as I type..

Any suggestions? I was looking into Cap One since I already have a card with them..

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Define hacking? Earning points? Churning a bonus?

It would be helpful if you could list your 3 ficos, AAOA, and utilization please. I would leave capital one as a last resort, and hopefully your current card is a quicksilver. If not, convert it ASAP, or at least attempt. Don't use a debit card, and run all your spend through the credit card (pay in full) until you get more cards. If you only had 1 card, and the capital one prequalifier tool was offering you prequals for Venture and Quicksilver, and you couldn't get approved anywhere else, then I would consider it, if you couldnt get your current card converted to a quicksilver. But thats just me.

Your best bet for borderline scores is to improve them. By having higher scores you will get better cards with higher bonuses, and get you more value.  I hate always  suggesting whats in my wallet, but... the Delta Gold Amex 50k mile offer, paired with a 50kMR PRG (charge card must be paid in full monthly) under 1 experian inquiry. If your scores are above 660-675 you should be just fine with no baddies. This would net you 100k delta skymiles that never expire (good for 3-4 domestic round trip flights, and $250 in delta gift cards (or $50 in delta and $200 with whichever airline you choose). This would only be beneficial to you if you even fly and are near a delta hub or are ok flying/driivng to one. You would score $2250 in travel value for $2k spend in 90 days if redeemed at a good value. What a deal! (I was approved in a 2 month period for all my amex cards with scores around 680-690)

If your scores can't get you approved for a delta gold, I don't see you having different odds with the Chase cobranded cards. They can be picky. But once your scores are up a little more you're golden. I intend on keeping my IHG, as even though I had no annual fee at opening, but every time I pay the AF in the future, I will get a voucher to stay at any IHG property in the world. Plus, 80k IHG points (worth roughly $400) and $50 free. Hyatt is also a good one for giving you something for paying the AF.

It would also behoove you to list your monthly spending along with categories of said spend, to see if getting a "travel hack" card is even worth the trouble. Also if you want to vacation more or just more specifically your goals.

I have always been curious with the Citi Expedia Voyager card as I am close to and travel to quite a few properties in their VIP list. If you use expedia a lot its nice. You get 3 points per dollar booking on mobile app, plus 4 points from the card. They are worth double at vip properties. Plus, they constantly have $25 off $100 coupons for hotel stays (although not sure how long this will last). I have no personal experience using this card, or very much experience redeeming points with expedia.

Experiment with hostels, airbnb, making new friends in new cities, etc.

And as always, make sure you arent planning a mortgage or auto loan in the next 12 months!

[happypill]

If you're paying any sort of interest on balances you're carrying, it would be impossible to earn enough rewards to make it worth your while.  Pay down your balances and look at some 0% promo rates or or low APR cards.  When you PIF each month, that's the time to start considering rewards.

[NRB525]

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@happypill wrote:

If you're paying any sort of interest on balances you're carrying, it would be impossible to earn enough rewards to make it worth your while.  Pay down your balances and look at some 0% promo rates or or low APR cards.  When you PIF each month, that's the time to start considering rewards.

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Travel hacking generally involves applying for cards with substatial sign up bonus points / miles.

And it is still possible to separate the cards one is carrying any balances on, from those that earn rewards to PIF, and see useful points/miles earning anyway.

I agree, it's better to pay down the balances or find ways to reduce interest cost, but one still has to live, still has to make new charges, and might as well get some points/miles for that new spend.

The concern about "earning enough rewards to make it worth your while" only really applies to cards with an annual fee. In those cases, the annual fee sucks the life out of the points earnings, and yes, that's a direct drawdown of any rewards earnings, often more than the rewards earnings.

[takeshi74]

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@Anonymous wrote:

My creditis not bad.. only thing is high balances which are being paid down as I type..

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Revolving utilization has a signficant impact.  If yours is high then get it down first.  If you're in the 600's then you probably have some work to do.

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@Anonymous wrote:

Any suggestions? I was looking into Cap One since I already have a card with them..

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Don't select a creditor first and then try to justify a card with that creditor.  Card selection is always a matter of finsing what suits the individual best and not just the card itself.  You have to select specific products based on your need/wants.  Additionally, if you want to leverage travel cards you need to do your due diligence and find programs where you can make the most value per point/mile.  That typically involves looking well past just the rewards earn rates and carefully researching redemptions as the methods of redemptions that you can use tend to have a significant impact on point/mile value.  It's impossible to make meaningful suggestions without a lot more information about such things as well as your your major spend categories and an idea of your spend volumes for those categories.

Generally, speaking, travel card rewards require higher levels of spend and redemption against premium international cabin travel for the best redemption values but that's just a generalization.  You really have to just run the numbers for your spend to see if a given rewards program makes sense for you.  It's a bit more work than with a cash back card.  If your spend volume is relatively low then a cash back card may be better suited to you.

If you want to churn for sign on bonuses then you need to have a credit profile that can handle the churn.

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@Anonymous wrote:

I know these cards are generally people with stellar credit, but I figure the sooner I could start racking up... the better..

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Sooner isn't necessarily better.  Your credit and income at time of consideration will determine what you qualify for.  If your credit will be better later then later would be better as far as qualifying is concerned.  NRB525 does have a point, though, that a compromise has to be struck between getting your credit in the best possible shape and your other needs/wants/etc.  However, if you're considering any Chase cards or any other creditor that may not grow very well with you then you might want to give improving your credit a bit more priority.

Additionally, selecting CO because you have a card with them is a poor reason IMO.  Even with CO either you qualify for a card/limit/APR or you do not.

[DrZoidberg]

Hack/ Hacking has got to be the most overused word I see.....except for the word viral.

[icyhot]

I got all my travel cards (Venture, CSP, Delta Amex, Hilton Amex) while I was in the mid-600s. My AAdvantage is the only one I got at the beginning at my spree when I still was in the 700s. However I didn't get the next terms. So I would totally wait to get any travel cards until you're in the 700s cuz you'll get better CL and APRs. My Amexes were borderline approvals and I haven't been able to get a CLI or APR reduction yet