Mistake: Not staying organized (these tools help!)

If you think these things won't happen to you , I can tell you every single one I listed has happened to me . Thankfully , in the past few years , there have been some great tools developed to make tracking your credit cards and points easy , and we're going to discuss those today . Welcome back to Points for Normal People , and we're going to discuss those today .

Welcome back to Points for Normal People . I'm Katie , and I'm here because I know that travel costs add up , especially for a family , but I believe that travel isn't just for the rich .

That's why , on Points for Normal People , I share the tips and tricks that my family has been using for over a decade to help you use your everyday expenses and credit card welcome offers to supercharge your travel points so that you can pay for entire family vacations every year .

The first big mistake I made when I was starting with points was missing out on a card bonus . This was in 2014 and I remember the year clearly because we had just bought our house and our house was almost 100 years old and we were doing a lot of remodeling projects .

Remodeling projects are a great way to earn a lot of credit card bonuses , and this was perfect timing for us , since this is when we were also trying to save up miles for going to the Philippines to adopt our son . One of the cards I opened was an American Airlines card . We got the card and did the required spending and our bonus didn't show up .

And it didn't show up and finally I called to see what was going on and the representative told me that I didn't qualify for the bonus . See , what had happened is that the card had some fine print that said you could only get this welcome offer if you hadn't earned a bonus on this card in the past 24 months .

I knew I had earned a previous bonus , but I hadn't been keeping very good records and I had only waited 23 months before applying for this card again . So we had done all the spending for nothing spending we could have been putting on another card . After that , I realized I needed to get more organized .

At that time , there weren't any apps or websites to help me get organized , so I just created a simple spreadsheet . I had a column for the card name , a column for who had opened the card my husband or myself a column for the minimum spend required and then I also added the date the minimum spend needed to be completed and one last column for any notes .

More important than this spreadsheet was developing the habit of checking the spreadsheet regularly . I started checking it at least once a month to make sure I was on track for completing spending and to see if there were any cards I needed to cancel . I would change the font color of a card to red if I canceled it and note the date that it was canceled .

If I kept a card beyond the first year , I colored the font green to show it was a keeper for us . This basic system kept me going pretty well for the next five years . This basic system kept me going pretty well for the next five years .

Again , it was dependent on me checking my spreadsheet regularly , so it wasn't automated at all , but this was just enough to help track the essential information . When you start a new hobby , sometimes it's hard at first to wrap your head around what you actually need to do to stay organized .

If you're following my three-year plan and opening four or more credit cards a year , there is some information that you need to keep track of . The first thing you need to know is the open date of any credit card you have . Open date is important for a few reasons .

First , it will help you determine which credit cards you've had the longest and which ones you want to prioritize keeping . If you didn't listen to episode 3 , I recommend you go back and listen to that episode because it goes over all you need to know to keep your credit score high while opening credit cards for points .

Knowing the date you opened a card will also help you estimate when you might have previously earned a welcome bonus on your card . This is important because you want to know when you will be eligible to cancel the card and earn a bonus again .

The fine print is different for every card , but typically you can earn a welcome bonus after it has been 24 to 48 months since you have earned one on that card . Since most cards give you three months to earn a welcome offer , you could add four months onto the date you opened a card to estimate that that is your date of earning that offer .

Next , the open date helps you determine where you stand in relation to Chase's 524 rule . If you skipped episode 5 , you'll want to go back and hear the strategy tips I gave in regards to the 524 rule . Last , the open date is important because it tells you when you'll be charged the annual fee in future years .

It likely won't be exactly 12 months after you have opened the card that your annual fee is due , but it's close to that and gives you a heads up that it is time to decide if you want to keep , downgrade or cancel a card . You get all of that information just by knowing the open date on each of your current and closed credit cards .

So , to review , by noting the open date for each of your credit cards , you'll be able to know which cards to prioritize keeping for your credit score , when you'll be able to know which cards to prioritize keeping for your credit score , when you'll be eligible to earn another bonus on each card , what your 524 status is and when your annual fee is coming due If

it's a brand new card . The open date also helps you determine when your spending needs to be done to earn your bonus If you don't know offhand the open date for every card you have

. Don't worry , this information is on your credit report . Hopefully you got a copy of your credit report from annualcreditreportcom or Credit Karma after listening to a previous episode . If not , this is the time to do it Now .

Sometimes it can be hard when you're looking at your credit report to discern which card is which if you have a few from the same bank . If you have multiple cards from Chase , for instance , it might say Chase credit card and not tell you which one .

In that case , you may need to cross-reference your online accounts with the bank to look back and see when you received your first account statement . This should help you match it all up . So we've established that knowing the open date of a card is important . This is a piece of information you need to track .

I'm going to share a few more essential pieces of information to track and then some options for how to automate the tracking process . Just like you want to track when you open a card , it's good to track when you have closed cards . This is mostly to determine your eligibility for welcome offers on cards .

Occasionally , the language in the fine print includes something not just about when you earned an offer previously , but sometimes when you closed a card . The third essential piece of information that you need to track and this is for new cards is when the deadline is for your welcome offer .

Typically , the language on credit card applications will state that you have 90 days from the date the card is opened to complete your spending . I typically use the date I applied as the date to start the clock on those 90 days , but keep in mind that every card is different .

Some cards you'll have four months , some cards you'll have six months , so you'll need to pay attention to those terms when you sign up . Despite the systems I have in place , I recently actually missed a deadline on a card , or , to be more specific , I thought I had missed a deadline .

I opened a Chase Eraplan card in December and calculated my 90 days to be on March 22nd . I had to spend $4,000 and when I checked in early March , I saw that I was about $1,000 short . So I made or , more accurately , I thought I made a $1,000 payment . The problem was that I made two identical payments of $1,000 on the same day from two different cards .

Now , I did this because I was splitting my spend on two cards and the organization I was paying thought they were doing me a favor by canceling the second payment , which they thought was a duplicate . I didn't pay attention until my aeroplan bill came and I realized I hadn't received my bonus miles .

I sent a secure message to Chase in somewhat of a panic while also being very annoyed with myself . I figured I had a slim chance , but just wanted to explain what happened in case they could have any leeway . What surprised me was that they said I had until April 14th to have all my charges post , according to their system .

I honestly don't know where that number came from , because it is more than 90 days past even my first purchase . But I guess the lesson here is that if that happens to you , don't be afraid to call , to send a message , to ask .

I had a friend who missed the deadline on a Sapphire Preferred and she was still awarded her points too when she asked and followed up about it . But also , if you have good systems , it can help prevent that from happening to begin with .

If I had double checked that my purchase went through , I would not have had any issue because I could have just submitted it again . You can see that you don't have to track a ton of things . For your credit cards , those three things are the essential ones open date , close date and , for new cards , minimum spend due date .

I will add that you do , of course , need to pay your bills on time , so you'll need to know the statement due date . In my case , as I've mentioned , I make sure to set up everything on autopay so that I don't have to know my precise due date .

When I started getting into the miles and points hobby about 13 years ago , there weren't a lot of streamlined systems so , like I mentioned , I created a simple spreadsheet to track all of this . If that sounds the easiest to you , use a spreadsheet . Mine is extremely simple , but you can find it in the show notes .

I also heard from my Facebook group that there are some nice looking templates that you can buy on Etsy . If you prefer to enter this information into an app that will automatically send you email reminders or phone notifications , there are apps for that too . I think the most user-friendly app for tracking credit cards is Travel Freely .

This is the app that we switched to in , I believe , about 2020 . Travel Freely is basically my spreadsheet , but automated . I'll tell you right now that I do have affiliate links for Travel Freely , but this endorsement isn't paid . It's just the best product I've found for this purpose .

One of the reasons that I partner with Travel Freely for this is because they , like me , are committed to showing only the best offers for credit cards , even when we don't earn commissions . With Travel Freely , you don't link it to any banks or accounts directly , so it's totally secure . You're not giving any logins or passwords .

Travel Freely is just asking for that information that I told you that you need to track when you create an account . You can actually track cards for two different people in the same account , so I like that as well , that I can track my husband's and my own cards all together and every card that you enter . It will start by asking the card name .

When you enter a card , it will default to the open date being that date that you are adding it . So the first time you're signing up for Travel Freely , you'll need to backdate any older cards that you're adding . From this information , travel Freely will automatically start sending you reminders .

So when your bonus deadline is approaching , it will send you a reminder . When your annual fee is coming due , it will send you a reminder that you could consider downgrading , closing or deciding to keep a card . The one reminder it doesn't send is to set up auto-pay , so you'll have to remember to do this on your own .

This is honestly the hardest part of the process for me to have a system for , because some cards you can't set up auto-pay until you receive your first statement , so you just have to really watch for that and be ready to pay it . Travel freely will also calculate your 524 count , but keep in mind that it is only as accurate as the information you give it .

If you leave off cards , it won't be able to calculate that accurately . Travel freely will recommend that you apply for a card no more than every 90 days . For people with a high credit score , I personally think that this is a bit too conservative , a little bit more so than necessary .

We often apply for cards more frequently than this , especially when we're applying for business cards . But you can know that if you do follow this policy of a card no more than every 90 days , it is a very solid and safe strategy . I just don't recommend getting too hung up on the exact intervals between cards .

The idea is that it's better to be monitoring your personal credit score and seeing how it's being affected , rather than just following arbitrary rules . There is another tool that I'd say is more powerful than Travel Freely . It's called Card Pointers , but the pro version , which is the particularly powerful one , is $60 per year .

I don't necessarily recommend this for most beginners because I think a $60 a year app seems like a lot when you're just starting out . But Card Pointers automates some other processes that can help you streamline things like adding Chase and Amex offers .

I'm really just starting to test this out this year myself and can do an episode to update when I have a better handle on it . So whether you use a spreadsheet or travel freely or card pointers or some other way to track , you'll need to track your credit cards . You'll also need to track the points and miles you're earning .

This is something you can do manually with a spreadsheet . I personally use a tool called Award Wallet . Award Wallet saves your sign-in information for most , but not all , award programs and can automatically update your balance in each program .

You can choose to save that sign-in information locally on your computer or on your phone , so that it isn't saving that information in the cloud .

It's not a perfect tool , because programs like United and Southwest are kind of a pain to track and sometimes it has errors , but overall I like it because it saves me from having to manually update a spreadsheet with this information .

I do personally pay for the Plus version because then it also sends me email alerts if I have points or a free night certificate expiring . The more points you earn , the more valuable this feature is . At this point , I believe the Plus version is $30 per year .

There are some other apps that have been released in recent years that help automate some of this as well . I haven't really tested them , so I don't feel like I can give a full review here . If you do have another app you love , please send me an email or a message to let me know .

I know some of you might be dreading the action steps today because you have a feeling it's going to be a little bit of work .

I actually think setting these systems up is one of the most annoying parts of this whole hobby , unless you love data entry , in which case you'll love it , and the time to do this will depend on how many credit cards and points you already have .

But I can promise you that taking the time to do that now this week will pay off by saving you time , energy and hassle down the road . It can also save you from missing out on welcome offers or expiring points , and we don't want that . So here it is . Your action step this week is to set up a system to track your credit cards and your points .

For credit cards , it could be a spreadsheet or travel freely , or card pointers or something else , but to set it up , you're going to need to go through your wallet and your credit report and find every card that you've opened in the past 24 to 48 months . Now I recommend going back 48 months if you can , but 24 months would be the minimum .

Enter those cards into your new tracking system , with the open date and the closed date if applicable . This is the bare minimum you need to do to stay organized with your cards . Next , you'll want to move on to your points . This is a little more fun because you can take stock of all the points you already have .

If you have a spouse or partner , you'll want to do this for both of you , whether this is with a ward wallet or a spreadsheet , or a note on your phone or something else . Start a record of all your points across hotel , airline and bank programs . These are your points assets and you'll want to track them .

I have links to these apps I'm recommending down in the show notes . Like I said , some are affiliate or referral links . If you do end up signing up , I appreciate it when you use my affiliate links for apps or credit cards , because your support in this way allows me to keep my content free and accessible to everyone .

I know it's an extra step to make sure you're using those links and I really appreciate it when you do that . I also wanted to say I'm so honored that so many of you have already reviewed the podcast and sent me encouraging notes , thank you . I'll read a quick one here and say thanks to Super Shopper who wrote this Finally , advice for the rest of us .

And then it says finally , someone who's giving points hacking advice for everyone else . It's nice to hear how to make smart decisions so your family can fly for almost free , and not just because there's a new aviation product or a five star resort in the far off regions of the world . We need to try .

I just want to fly my family for reasonable points and taxes and stay at a nice hotel for free . Katie tells us how to do just that . Give her a listen If you're enjoying the podcast . I appreciate so much if you leave a review or share it with a friend .

I had someone tell me recently they already sent the podcast to four friends who are new to Travel Points . That was such a big compliment for me to hear .

I'm aiming for this to be an easy to understand resource for all of us and would love to reach more people with the message that travel points is for them too , so even more people can remove those financial barriers to taking the trips that they want to take . Thanks so much for spending time with me today .

See you next time , where we'll keep unlocking the secrets of travel points together .