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We’ve put together a step by step guide and timeline explaining which credit cards you should apply for to earn free travel with points in your first year
Below is a guide of what we would consider the easiest, most strategic way to maximize your points earning in year one with minimal effort or cost. Keep in mind there is no one-size-fits all solution. Everyone’s monthly spend tolerance, credit history, and eligibility may differ, allowing some people to move more quickly through the chart than others.
But follow this flow as closely as makes sense for your personal situation, and you will find yourself with plenty of points by the end of year one (or sooner)!
Note: Pay attention to the golden 5/24 rule. Be sure to know your 5/24 and work to stay under it. Chase will not approve you for any card if you have opened 5 new cards from any bank in the past 24 months. One loophole is that most business cards do NOT count against your 5/24. Ex: you can open 3 personal cards and 5 business cards in 24 months, and you’re safe at 3/24. But if you open 5 personal cards, you’re now at 5/24, and will not get approved for any Chase personal or business card until your 24 months resets.
Step 1 – Choose 1
This applies to everyone – you’ll want to start with one (or possibly two) of the following:
Ink Business Preferred Credit Card from Chase (the business version of the Sapphire Preferred, and an amazing option if you qualify for business cards – this is the card we use) $95 annual fee
Chase Sapphire Reserve (the fancy version of the Sapphire Preferred with more perks) $550 annual fee
You can only have one Sapphire product at a time (and can only apply for a Sapphire product once every 4 years) so you’ll want to take a close look at the perks to decide which one works best for you. The Chase Sapphire Preferred(R) Card with the lower annual fee ($95 versus $550) makes sense for most. The higher annual fee for the Chase Sapphire Reserve(R) does come with its perks, but it also complicates the process as you’ll need to keep track to make sure you’re utilizing all of it’s benefits.
The Ink Business Preferred(R) Credit Card is a business card, but 99% of people are eligible for business credit cards and many don’t even know it. Like the Sapphire Preferred it has a $95 annual fee, but usually offers a higher Sign Up Bonus for a higher minimum spend. Check out our quick post Am I Eligible For Business Cards to see if you qualify.
If your spouse is joining the points game too, only one of you needs to have one of the cards above. The other person can then transfer their points to the person with that card. But, you will both likely want one (or two) of the cards above eventually because they generally have great Sign Up Bonuses and some nice perks!
The two Personal cards DO count against your 5/24, but the Business version does not. You DO need to be under 5/24 to get any of these cards.
Pause 60-90 Days
Generally speaking, you’ll want to wait 60-90 days between applications with the same bank, so don’t apply for two Chase cards too close together. The banks want to see that you are actually using the cards you are applying for, not just applying for one after another rapid fire.
Keep in mind there is nothing wrong with you applying, and then your spouse applying shortly after, so you can keep busy working on Sign Up Bonuses without one person applying too frequently. Most cards have anywhere from a $500-$6,000 minimum spend to meet in order to get the Sign Up Bonus, so you’ll want to time out applications to make sure you can meet the spend in time.
Step 2 – Choose 1 or 8 (hah!)
Here’s where the points can really start to grow. If you’re eligible for business cards (which almost everyone is – don’t forget to check this post to make sure!) then you’ll want to follow Step 2. If you decide that there is absolutely no way that you or your spouse are eligible for business cards, then you can move straight to Step 3.
Ink Business Unlimited(SM) Credit Card from Chase – $0 annual fee
Note: these cards are marketed as “cash back” cards, but remember the points earned can be used for travel if transferred to one of the cards listed in Step 1 (transferring is a very simple process).
Even better: there’s two of them! Which means 4 of them total between you and your spouse. And to make things even crazier, if you do have a full fledged business with an EIN, you can apply for each card TWICE – once under your SSN and once under the EIN. That means between you and your spouse, you can get EIGHT total of these $0 annual fee cards over time!
They also have great multipliers ranging from 2-5X on things like phone, cable, internet, and gas on the Ink Business Cash(SM) Credit Card, and 1.5X on all purchases on the Ink Business Unlimited(SM) Credit Card.
And don’t sleep on the Ink Business Preferred(R) Credit Card from Step 1. Here’s where you still may consider this card even if you selected to get started with a Chase Sapphire back in Step 1.
Remember, you’ll want to space out applications about 90 days from card to card.
These three cards do NOT count against your 5/24, but you DO need to be under 5/24 to get any of these cards.
Step 3 – Continue with Chase
Let’s stay on the Chase train just a little bit longer. Remember, we want to get as many Chase cards as possible before going over 5/24.
Chase Freedom Unlimited(R) $0 annual fee
This is a great everyday spender, earning at minimum 1.5X on all purchases.
This card DOES count against your 5/24, but you DO need to be under 5/24 to get this card.
Check In
By this point you’re probably somewhere around your 1 year anniversary of accruing travel reward points. By our calculations you should have anywhere between 300,000-500,000+ points depending on your situation and typical monthly spend.
Just for perspective, we just booked 8 nights in the Bahamas at the luxury resort Baha Mar including roundtrip flights for our family of 5 for 320,000 total points – an almost $10,000 value which cost us only $33 in airline taxes and fees. So, chances are you’re in GREAT SHAPE! It’s definitely time to start spending those points if you haven’t yet, and we’ll have another post on that soon!
At this point you can get a little more creative with your card choices.
Step 4 – Treat Yourself
Here are a few of our other favorite cards that are worth adding to the mix once you have a strong base.
Travel Perks/Lounge Access
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card $395 annual fee for lots of perks
Capital One Venture X Business $395 annual fee for lots of perks – business version
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card $95 annual fee for lighter perks
Venture X – place code for card art here and center align as needed
Venture X Business – place code for card art here and center align as needed
Venture – place code for card art here and center align as needed
It took us about a year to finally accept an annual fee this high, but the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card has become one of our favorite cards. Generous Sign Up Bonus aside, it comes with a yearly $300 travel credit which essentially brings the annual fee down to $95, plus an additional 10,000 anniversary bonus miles each year, bringing the value well over the annual fee.
You also get an unlimited Priority Pass membership for airport lounge access around the world for you and 2 guests, which is worth it’s weight in gold if you fly even a couple of times a year (free food, open bar, some even have showers, kids play rooms, and more). You can also add your spouse as an Authorized User on the card, giving you both Priority Pass access for you and 2 guests, so you can get lounge access for a family of 6 fo’ FREE.
Want to compare perks or don’t want to take up a 5/24 spot? Check out the brand new Capital One Venture X Business card that we have our eye on next!
Or if you’re still cautious of a high annual fee, you may want to start with the more basic Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card.
The two Personal cards DO count against your 5/24 (for both you and your spouse if you add them as an Authorized User), but the Business version does NOT. You do NOT need to be under 5/24 to get any of these cards.
Hotel Co-Branded Cards
The World Of Hyatt Credit Card $95 fee
World Of Hyatt Business Credit Card $199 annual fee
Note: although these cards are issued by Chase, they earn strictly Hyatt points, not Chase Travel(SM) points, meaning they can only be redeemed with Hyatt and not transferred to Chase’s entire list of travel partners.
The Personal card DOES count against your 5/24, but the Business card does NOT. You DO need to be under 5/24 to get either of these cards.
Capital One Spark Cash Plus – place code for card art here and center align as needed
Capital One Spark Cash Select – place code for card art here and center align as needed
Ex: We just took a trip to Legoland. We rented and Airbnb rather than a hotel and we drove so there weren’t a ton of ways to redeem points on our trip. We used our Cash Back card to pay ourselves back for our 2-day theme park pass for 6 of us, saving us $750 cash, and that felt pretty darn good!
Note: You may have already gotten the Ink Business Unlimited(SM) Credit Card in Step 2, but maybe it’s time for another one! The good news is, all of these cards give you options. You can choose to redeem as straight forward cash back, or combine with point earning cards to redeem for travel instead.
The Chase Ink Unlimited and the Spark Cash Plus do NOT count against your 5/24, but the Spark Cash Select DOES. You do NOT need to be under 5/24 to get either of the Spark cards, but you DO need to be under 5/24 to get the Chase Ink Unlimited.
Okay, that probably feels like a lot
But we promise, the hard part is done! There are hundreds of cards out there, but the 13 cards listed above are going to be the easiest, most efficient ways to achieve your goal of free family travel.
Start by selecting a card from Step 1, and while you’re working on meeting the minimum spend, come up with a general plan for the first 12 months. Maybe you’ll make it through step 2 or 3, or maybe between you and your spouse you’ll continue all the way down through step 4. Either way, you will be surprised how quickly the points add up!
Have questions?
Send us a message @ourwishfultravel on Instagram
Or drop us an email at ourwishfultravel@gmail.com to chat!
Our Wishful Travel has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Our Wishful Travel and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.
If you haven’t yet, make sure to read our beginner post that goes over all of the basics you need to know about earning free travel with points.