Why even bother opening a new credit card?

Since I was young, I have always loved traveling. Until recently, I almost always purchase flights and hotels using money that I had saved.

A few months ago, I realized the power of earning and redeeming credit card points and airline miles. Instead of spending $400 on flights and $300 per night on a hotel, I could get flights and hotels almost free by using points -- and most of the time I could get airport lounge access and an upgraded hotel room.

You might be thinking... "that sounds great, but I could never do that!"

Wrong! I used to think the same thing, but with a little knowledge about which cards to open and how to maximize the money you're already spending, you can do it too.

Once I realized that I could earn hundreds of thousands more points by spending exactly the same amount of money, I was hooked.

The first card I opened after realizing this was the Chase Sapphire Preferred. This card has an annual fee of $95, but it is worth the small fee.

When I opened the card, Chase was offering a sign-up bonus of 80,000 points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months, and an additional 10,000 points after spending $6,000 total in 3 months.

Currently, Chase is offering 60,000 points after spending $4,000 in 3 months. The 60,000 points you earn will instantly be worth $750 towards your next trip - or more, if you know how to maximize your redemptions (something I'll discuss in a later post).

To sign up for this card, click here to use my referral link, or visit the Chase website.

One major advantage of Chase Ultimate Rewards points is that you can transfer them to various airline and hotel partners. For example, a few airline partners are Southwest, United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, JetBlue, and others, and some hotel partners include Hyatt, IHG, and Marriott Bonvoy.

When I earned my sign-up bonus, I used some of the points to book flights for my honeymoon. At the time, Virgin Atlantic and Chase were offering a 30% transfer bonus. This means that for every 1,000 Chase points I transferred to Virgin Atlantic, I received 1,300 Virgin Atlantic points.

The flight I booked is a Delta flight from Atlanta to St. Lucia. Booking with cash would have cost $476 for a one-way ticket, while using Delta SkyMiles would have been 36,500 for the same one-way ticket.

Instead, I noticed that I could book the exact same flight through Virgin Atlantic (through its partnership with Delta) for 15,000 Virgin Atlantic points. This also allowed me to take advantage of the 30% transfer bonus.

I transferred 24,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic, giving me 31,200 Virgin Atlantic points (thanks to the 30% bonus).

This allowed me to book honeymoon flights for me and my fiancée for only 24,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points. (Yes, these were only one-way tickets, but I booked the return trip separately.)

Instead of spending $952 ($476 per person) or 73,000 SkyMiles (36,500 SkyMiles per person), I spent 24,000 Chase points (12,000 Chase Points per person), which I earned for free, simply by applying for the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card and meeting the spending limit of $4,000 in 3 months.

If you're interested in applying for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, here is my referral link again: https://www.referyourchasecard.com/6j/W8KR21RZH5

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Disclaimer: I may earn points as a referral bonus if you use my referral links from this article. I appreciate your support and would love it if you used my links to apply for cards, but there is no obligation to do so.