topic Re: Best Travel Hack Credit Card (600's Credit Score) in Credit Cards

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

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 03:22:05 GMT

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..

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

jsucool76 — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 03:27:50 GMT

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?

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

NRB525 — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 04:20:09 GMT

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

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

CreditScholar — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 04:50:09 GMT

@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?

+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...

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

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 05:11:18 GMT

@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..

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!

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

happypill — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 06:02:30 GMT

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.

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

NRB525 — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 13:03:43 GMT

@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.

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.

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

takeshi74 — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 13:32:47 GMT

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

DrZoidberg — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 14:18:56 GMT

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

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

icyhot — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 16:38:41 GMT

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

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

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 16:45:08 GMT

@NRB525 wrote:
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.

Think it also depends on the person and the card. Getting say 30K AA miles, when you have no plans for a domestic trip on AA, isn't particularly worthwhile, the app and the spend might have been better spend on say a pure cashback card.

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

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 16:50:19 GMT

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

Hack the planet!!!

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

CreditScholar — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 05:01:10 GMT

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

+1. I wouldn't say it's the most overused, but its definitely up there for me.

The only time I hear people use the term is when non-experienced travellers try to sound knowledable to those who know even less than themselves. I have never ever seen one road warrior say to another "**bleep** let me show you this great new travel hack!"

Hearing that term just makes me want to face-palm. It's like the blind leading the blind.

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

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 11:31:58 GMT

New face-palm hack. Use fist! It works for me...

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

NRB525 — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 12:47:25 GMT

@CreditScholar wrote:
@DrZoidberg wrote:
Hack/ Hacking has got to be the most overused word I see.....except for the word viral.
+1. I wouldn't say it's the most overused, but its definitely up there for me.

The only time I hear people use the term is when non-experienced travellers try to sound knowledable to those who know even less than themselves. I have never ever seen one road warrior say to another "**bleep** let me show you this great new travel hack!"

Hearing that term just makes me want to face-palm. It's like the blind leading the blind.

So, what is your suggestion for an improved search term to find information about getting good travel rewards? And mind, this term must be in common use so that the best websites with the most relevant information turn up?

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

jsucool76 — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 22:41:12 GMT

Point master. Like a pokemon master, but for points. Lol

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

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 22:59:04 GMT

Google.

The doors are shut if you're under 680. this I know as I froth and plan like an evil genius for an airline card.

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

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 23:14:31 GMT

Lol I traveled for my last job 90% of the time for 2 1/2 years and I've never heard the term travel hack, but it's A-OK in my book if you use it OP . I used to say stupid patronizing things about people who didn't "know" how to travel properly (roll my eyes when they had a lot of stuff in their pockets, took bags that were overpacked, didn't know not too slowly walk in the middle of the the airport while I'm trying to rush to my next plane, tried to take their bag on that was way to big for overhead space, etc etc). But now I just realize most people don't travel that often and so how would they know all those things. I think it's highly condescending and shows someone's level of extreme self importance when they get annoyed by something someone else does when it doesn't effect them at all. So freaking BOUGIE as my sis would say. Let me chime into your thread to not answer you question but to make sure I comment on how annoyed I am that you are obviously less superior than me. Narcisstic.

To answer your question, as others have mentioned, scores need to be a little higher for a good travel card. NFCU has the flagship that MAY pass (although I haven't seen it on that low of scores on credit pulls database). But you have to be a member. Get some nice rewards cards, garden and then set is as your next 6 month goal. Good luck OP

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

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 01:54:51 GMT

Thanks for the replies.

So I have to face the reality and raise my scores. Should be no problem.

BUT! I came across something yesterday while looking for Comenity bank Credit Cards.

MyPoints has a credit card

Now I know this is not a travel card, and I wont get a bonus, but if I am going to be paying balances down anyways...

Why not accumulate points in the mean time. The sooner the better, right?

Plus no hard inquiry if I do this shopping cart trick...

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

LShan82 — Fri, 07 Oct 2016 00:05:15 GMT

Thanks for all of the good information in here!