Why it’s Awesome to be a Young Ultimate Rewards Travel Noob

I started building my travel rewards credit cards history long before getting in on “the game”.

I was just a young buck coming up in college, paying my credit cards with rewards off every month.

Sounds exciting right?

Well it is when you realize that is the only way to get a secure footing into travel rewards credit cards churning.

Learn From Others

So how did I do it? Research, reading and discussing. Simple as that.

If you do not have a credit history stay away from travel rewards credit cards churning and just apply for the best rewards credit card for you.

It’s more risk than rewards for you.

Instead I would go for a simple student credit card.

Student credit cards with rewards have spending categories targeted for college student spending habits.

Check it out.

My first card was the Bank of America World Points Visa card.

The points program really sucks and I would not recommend it as a good rewards program.

But we all have to start building credit somewhere.

OK. I know this is not what you wanted to hear.

I could tell you how easy Credit Card churning is and how you should jump right in.

When I was 18 I wanted to earn a free ticket to Ibiza by the following summer just on my Credit Card spend alone.

But it is not going to happen as the extent of my CC usage was limited to a weekly bar tab. That didn’t exactly pop out the award flights.

Mom and Pop Airlines

My suggestion for those pioneering individuals who want to find a pathway to free travel, family. Yes, those people.

Yea I know. This sucks. Its not cool. Get over it.

Do you want to travel for free? Than suck it up.

If mom and dad have airline credit cards how many miles are on their accounts?

Do your homework and you can start to improve your family’s frequent flyer revenue.

The frequent flyer miles are in their account but they can buy award tickets for different passengers.

They don’t want to help out with your flight on spring break or summer adventure than use their miles programs.

OK. I know that idea is technically not generating any miles for you but without credit card churning you need to think outside the box.

Here’s a fun fact! There are over 13 trillion unused loyalty points in the marketplace. Why not get your family to start realizing their value and use them!

While I never capitalized on this particular scenario I think it is a good strategy for beginners to leverage their miles earning/spending power. Takes you from nothing to something pretty fast.

Transfer

You can earn miles just by giving yourself miles. The recently expired Delta SkyMiles 100% Transfer Bonus promo was an excellent opportunity for this. That offer was valid for transfers up to 30k miles for .01 cpm and a $30 fee. So the recipient of the 30k SkyMiles earn an extra 30k SkyMiles for only $330 in fees.

So if your parents each have 30k SkyMiles, each transfer 30k into your account you now have 120 SkyMiles in your account. You can then transfer however many miles out, original 60k SkyMiles, back to your parents.

You just generated 60k SkyMiles from nothing. I did a recent search for NYC-LAS Vegas for spring break is about 25k SkyMiles and NYC- Puerto Vallarta Mexico was 35k SkyMiles both are roundtrip, nonstop travel.

See how lucrative these opportunities can be?

Did your parents ever create Frequent Flyer accounts for you when you would travel as a family? You could find some serious gems in there, I know I did.

Apparently as a little dude I had earned over 12k Continental OnePass miles and 8k Delta SkyMiles. Thanks mom and dad! haha.

Watch

See how quickly the little moves can start compounding?

There are also tons of offers and promo’s outside CC churning. Use the search box to find these deals.

• Fidelity 100k Miles
• TD Ammeritrade.
• Netflix 3k Miles

Some of these do required liquid capital, so you may need to call on that bar mitzvah money. I am not giving advice on how to invest money or to buy any financial instruments. I am just telling you of potential offers from financial service companies that have historically been lucrative IN MILES.

I search for mile earning opportunities and affordable travel because I do love free travel.

I share what I see with you because I want to help you reach your goal too.

There’s nothing more rewarding than helping others find a good deal.