Category Archives: Credit Cards

Posted on

Which Credit Cards to Get to Maximize Free Travel

How to Travel for Free: Part 4 of 7

In the previous posts in this series, I’ve shared an approach to getting a lot of free travel by taking advantage of credit card sign-up bonuses. I also explained why doing so usually has a positive, not negative, effect on one’s long-term credit score (provided you pay your credit card off each month)—a conclusion that would surprise most people. Two questions then arise: how often can I sign up for credit cards and which ones should I sign up for?

How Often Can I Sign up for Credit Cards?

There is no cut and dry answer to this question. But I would offer these three points by way of reply:

(more…)

Posted on

Understanding Credit Scores and the Effect that Credit Card Applications Have on One’s Credit Score

How to Travel for Free: Part 3 of 7

In my previous post I discussed how you can earn a lot of free travel quickly by signing up for a credit card with a big sign-up bonus. A question that arises for many people is: what effect does signing up for credit cards have on one’s credit score?

It is an important question. A good credit score is key to getting loans, such as for a home mortgage, at the lowest rate possible. A quarter point swing in the interest rate on a 30-year home loan can easily be the difference in $10,000, $20,000, or even more over the life of the loan.

In most cases it would be foolish to earn credit card bonuses if doing so meant you would miss the lowest rate on a home loan. But does it?

(more…)

Posted on

Leveraging Credit Card Sign-up Bonuses for Free Travel

How to Travel for Free: Part 2 of 7

In my last post I shared some of the amazing travel opportunities that can be enjoyed for pennies on the dollar or even for free. Free travel can enable the enthusiast to travel more. But it can also enable those of us who would pay some amount to travel anyway to divert those funds to other priorities.

There are lots of tricks that help enable free travel. But today I want to share the single most powerful technique by far: signing up for a credit card that is offering a big sign-up bonus.

(more…)