Your Points Questions Answered

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 vacations every year .

We'll start today with questions about benefits and then move to trip planning , hotels and flights . Some of these questions will need long answers and others will be short . This episode is probably going to be a little longer than normal , just as a warning .

This episode is probably going to be a little longer than normal , just as a warning , as I wanted to get all these questions in First up . We have this question from Jamie . She says the advice is to book flights and car rentals with a Chase Sapphire , preferred because it offers trip protection and acts as primary car insurance .

And acts as primary car insurance If one were ever to need to use the trip protection benefits or car insurance benefits . What are the exact steps for doing this ? This is such a great question because so often , even if you know about a benefit , it's hard to know how to actually use the benefit .

Now , while I'm in the process of filming this episode , chase has started notifying customers that it is changing insurance providers . So far , this seems positive . In fact , a lot of the coverages seem to be increasing , but there may be some changes .

Chase is also saying it will now have a centralized website which will be live on October 1st 2024 , which will be chasecardbenefitscom , and this should act as a place to see all benefits and file all claims as of now . When you go to that website , you'll see links to other sites where you can go to start to file a claim .

Now you can also call the number on the back of your card to start the claims process , but I have found that just starting the claim yourself online is easier . When you call to start a claim , the agent seems to just be opening up the online system and typing everything you say into it .

Then they send you a claim number and then you still have to create an online account anyway . So if you just go directly to chasecardbenefitscom and start your claim yourself . You'll skip the middleman and it will be faster overall . Now , once you start the claims process , you will end up with a list of documents that you need to upload .

This is the most tedious part . Exactly what you need to upload will vary depending on the claim . Again , I think this is the hardest because typically , if you need to file a claim , it's because something went wrong right , it's because something went wrong right . But if you plan to file a claim , you'll need to also have the forethought .

Amidst whatever issue you're having , to try to get any necessary documents so that filing your claim will be easier . When I had my phone stolen in Thailand , I needed a police report , for instance , so I needed to make sure I got that before we left .

If you have a bag lost or delayed , you'll need to go to the airline's luggage office and get paperwork from them . You'd want to get this anyway because you don't want to leave the airport without your bag or without filing a report . If you're claiming trip cancellation due to illness , you'll likely need a note from a doctor due to illness .

You'll likely need a note from a doctor If your flight was delayed 12 hours and you're filing for trip delay , you'll often need a statement from the airline on why the flight was delayed . This you can often get after the fact , but if lines are short at the airport help desk , you can also ask there too .

So one tip here would be that if you're in a situation where you know you'll be filing a claim , ask yourself what official document can I get to prove my loss to the insurance company ? You should also be able to Google your issue plus a phrase like claims documents needed .

So you could Google trip cancellation claims documents needed and you'll likely be able to find stories on Reddit or other sites about what documents people needed to file for those or these are usually listed also in your card's guide to benefits . Definitely keep all of your receipts organized for this as well .

Typically , after you get all your documents and receipts uploaded , an agent will review your case and issue a check to you within a few weeks . Occasionally , it will take a few tries and they might need additional documentation . One more thing I will add is that some of the benefits will require you to pay costs on your card at first and then be reimbursed .

This is why , if you're using a specific card for trip protection , you'll always want to travel with that card . If your flight is delayed 12 hours and you need to book a hotel , for instance , that cost is covered by a Sapphire Preferred assuming you had booked your flight or a portion of your flight with this card .

But you'll also want to be paying for that hotel with your Sapphire Preferred . Next question we have is from Lisa , who asks Hi , katie , I'm wondering how you handle reoccurring bills .

Do you change things like utility bills to a new credit card every few months to meet the bonus , or do you keep one credit card dedicated to those set it and forget it type bills ? I think people might choose to manage this differently , but personally I just set up those recurring expenses on a card that I plan to keep long term .

I know myself and I know that if I don't have those on autopay I may miss paying them on time occasionally , so I just keep them on a card . That makes that easy for me . That specific card might vary person to person .

You could choose to put these recurring expenses on cards that have higher earn rates in those specific categories , but overall , for most people this difference in earning isn't going to amount to nearly as much as just getting a new card welcome offer .

The only time I would really say it's worth it to change up those regular monthly expenses and how you're paying for them would be if you have a smaller monthly budget . So those expenses can really help you to meet minimum spend requirements .

Here's a question from Donna . I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve . The annual fee is $550 . I'm not sure if I should get my husband the same card or should I get him a card with a lower annual fee . Now , this is going to vary , but generally speaking , most families won't need two different Sapphire Reserve cards . That's the premium version of the Sapphire card .

Even after accounting for the $300 travel credit , the Sapphire Reserve is still $250 more than the Sapphire Preferred . So personally I'd probably get my partner the Sapphire Preferred and then , if it is their own lounge access that you're after , you could add them as an authorized user on your reserve card , which would still be cheaper overall .

This next question is from Andrew . He says I hear a lot about downgrading cards to no annual fee options , but I've never seen or heard what happens to that card . Next . Throw it in the sock drawer and forget about it until they cancel you for inactivity . Remember to use it once in a while just to keep it going . Eventually cancel it .

How many downgraded cards are the folks really into the points game walking around with ? So I just went and checked my Travel Freely account and between my husband and I , we have 26 cards with no annual fee . Most of these are downgraded cards .

We have about another 35 that are inactive in there Because those are cards that have been canceled , and this is mostly since 2018 , when I started using the Travel Freely app and I didn't go all the way back to when we first started . So overall , we still cancel more cards than we downgrade , but we still do have 26 active cards with no annual fee .

I have another 12 or so cards with an annual fee that we keep long term and then currently it looks like we have about 10 or so that have an annual fee that we keep long term , and then currently it looks like we have about 10 or so that have an annual fee , but we'll plan to cancel them in the next year .

Now , personally , I keep my cards that I'm not using in a mini binder that has sheets for three cards together . It was meant originally for business cards and I keep mine organized by bank , I don't worry too much about keeping them active . To be honest , this is , in fact , a best practice .

Ideally , you would put at least one purchase on each of these cards at least once a year . Some people choose to spread out their regular monthly expenses and put one on each of their cards to keep them all active , and that's one way you could sort of automate some of this active . And that's one way you could sort of automate some of this In practice .

I'm not sure I have 30 regular expenses to spread out among all of my cards , and so it isn't uncommon for me that I go over a year without spending on a specific card .

If you do this , after a few years you will every once in a while get a letter from a bank stating that if you don't use their credit card in the next 30 to 60 days , they will close it due to inactivity . So that's the point that I personally get the card out and put a few purchases onto the card . Then we put it back into the binder .

I have never had a bank just close a card without sending a warning letter first . It might happen , but it hasn't happened to me , so that's why I don't worry about it too much . I had a related question from Amy , who asked do you have any primary cards that you keep , use and continue to pay annual fees on ? If yes , why those ?

And we do currently have about a dozen cards with annual fees that we intend to keep long term . In every single case it's because the benefits outweigh the annual fee for us .

I plan to film an updated video where I walk through each one with the specifics about it , but for now the short version is that six of those cards are hotel cards that give us an annual free night certificate for paying the annual fee . We also keep our Southwest cards , our Sapphire cards , our VentureX card .

I keep an ink preferred for my primary card for my business , and then a specific other one that we keep is the Hyatt business card , which honestly , I'd say overall doesn't really outweigh the annual fee , except that we use it to help us earn our globalist Hyatt status , and that's the base of what we keep with annual fees .

From Jennifer , we have this question Since you can hold multiple ink cards , how long do you hold onto your ink cards before canceling and applying again With ink cards ? I recommend that you hold them at least a year .

Beyond a year , you don't really need to hold them unless you are actively using them , or you might choose to keep one open longer term to keep that account going with Chase . But at least a year is what I would recommend for those . After that it's up to you .

Related is this question from Nicole how do you stay in good graces with Chase besides the basic 90 days in between cards and downgrading instead of canceling ? And I got a very similar question from Kat , who also asked for tips on staying in Chase's Good Graces long term .

She said I keep waiting for them to cut me off because I've heard of that happening to so many people . Now , as a point of reference , I currently have 12 credit card accounts with Chase . My husband has 11 . Ultimately , you want to have a good relationship with Chase . People do get accounts shut down by Chase if their system suspects fraud or heavy gaming .

Now , to be clear , pretty much every time I've read a story about someone getting shut down , they were doing something excessive . It often , but not always , has to do with manufactured spending , which is basically spending quote unquote , spending your money on your card to earn points .

So some people , for instance , are buying tens of thousands of dollars of gift cards and then selling them off each month . I don't talk about these specifics on here because I think that those are risky behaviors and , on many levels , are unnecessary , but those are generally the people I have seen getting shut down by Chase .

But so let's talk about some tips for keeping a good relationship with Chase and to show them that you're a good customer . And the first would be to space out your applications to an average of every 90 days , or four cards from Chase a year . It also helps that relationship if you have a checking account with Chase .

Even better , you can often earn a cash bonus if you sign up for a new checking account with Chase . You can earn a little extra for that too . Now , about 12 years ago , we actually divested intentionally all of our savings and checking from big banks and we wanted to move them to a local credit union .

But I've honestly since had to reopen a checking account with Chase because it seems like it has helped that relationship and helped me to be able to be approved for more cards . It also helps that relationship to be using at least a few of your Chase cards regularly . It might help you to pick at least one card from Chase that you'll keep and keep and keep .

I have a Chase Freedom card that I've had for almost 20 years , so all those things can help Chase see you as a good customer . You will get some denials if you're in this hobby long enough . That's totally normal . Sometimes you can call in to ask why and offer a further explanation that will help reverse that decision . Sometimes you can't .

If I get a few denials in a row from Chase , I'd take that as a sign to cool off on applications , put some more spending on my Chase cards and even see if it makes sense to cancel a card or two that I'm not using at all to reduce my credit lines with them . Now here's a question from Lori how much of the fine print do you read ?

I feel like when you're applying online there's a different link for everything . I don't know if I should read everything or if I've missed something . It's a lot . So I always , always , read the fine print of the bonus section specifically . I make sure to scan for eligibility requirements in particular , so I make sure I qualify .

I don't necessarily read everything else , but I do make sure to read that asterisk or footnote that has the bonus requirements . Amy asked at what point do you go over 524 ? I've been doing a lot of business cards but not sure if I really need to keep focusing on those or is it okay to go over 524 ?

If I've had a lot of chase cards in the past six months , you can definitely go over 524 . There's no hard and fast rule as to when , but one strategy we like is to have one person in the house go over 524 and get other cards and the other person stays under 524 , and then we flip .

That way you can still be eligible for some Chase cards , but also you can feel free to get cards from other banks . These next set of questions all have to do with using points . From Laura I got this question . I've got lots of points now , but I'm reluctant to use them because I don't know which transfer options are worth more . How do I use them ?

It can be really hard to start to actually use your points Now . It's different for different people . This might be due to scarcity mentality and not really trusting this hobby and the systems that you'll be able to keep replenishing your stash . It might be due to wanting to find a perfect redemption .

It might be due to analysis paralysis , or it might be something else . Just keep reminding yourself that the potential value of your points is highest when you use them for an experience that you value . If you don't know how to use your points best , I recommend taking a step back and just asking yourself again where do you want to go ?

It might not be the highest sense per point value , but if it is helping you to see grandma or travel to a place you've always wanted to see , or just relaxing at a beach resort you couldn't otherwise afford , that's going to be worth a lot more than simply maximizing the cents per point of what you have .

Take it from me as someone who has been in this hobby for over 12 years you can earn more points . Just start spending them . It'll get easier as you keep redeeming .

A related question from JT is what is the order of best to worst partner redemptions among Chase in your opinion ? My top transfer partner is Hyatt . I don't think that surprises anyone who's listened to this season . I value simplicity and a good , reliable travel experience , and Hyatt fits the bill .

About 75% of our travel involves staying at Hyatt's and flying Southwest , so we really like the ease of that one-two punch For Chase airline partners . It's murkier . I went into the details in the flights sweet spot episode on ways . Each program has its strength and today I actually started ranking these .

I sat down and tried to rank them but realized truly , with the airlines , I can't . They each have certain routes that they're really good for , so there isn't one good or one bad . So sorry , I don't have a succinct answer there . Here's another question from Anissa . She asks wondering how you choose where to travel next .

Do you pick the destination or does the destination pick you ? I want to start letting the destination and deal pick me . So any tips for this process is welcomed . Should I start with flights or accommodations Now ?

If you listen to episode six , it was all about how to make some mindset shifts to make planning trips with points easier , and one of those tips is to follow deals and sweet spots . This can often help you stretch your points further . One way to follow a deal is to sign up for a flight alert service .

If you want to fly business class , which of course , isn't the primary purpose of this podcast , but if you do , really the easiest way to do it would be to collect plenty of points , preferably transferable ones , and then sign up for a deal alert service and when they send out business class availability then you book it .

If you want to fly business class , you really have to let the flight availability dictate where and or when you go . If you fly economy , you don't have to let the flight dictate it as much . We find that we can almost always get tickets to any major region of the world . We can almost always find award seats , even for four people in economy .

Is it every single airline and every single route ? No , but overall we've always been able to find something . The further out you book , the more options you'll have . In our flight guides on our blog we walk through major destinations and how to book them in economy so you could map out which kinds of points you'd like to save for those trips .

The biggest thing we personally use to dictate our destinations , especially when our kids were younger , was always routing . I'm a big proponent of minimizing connections . So we fly into Cancun a lot because it's an easy nonstop flight from Chicago to Cancun .

We've only been to the Dominican Republic once and probably won't go back , not because it wasn't lovely , but because there are very few non-stops from Chicago and they are more expensive . We also don't really plan to go back to Hawaii because it's such a pain to get to from Chicago .

We're more likely to go to Europe because it's easier to get to for us than it is to go to Hawaii . Now , that's my personal preference . You might not mind connecting flights , so for us we start at flightconnectionscom or Google Flights to explore routing and what flights are out there .

You could also start with lists of known sweet spots for flights and work from there . And then as far as what to book first , this is going to depend on what is most important to you for that specific trip . So , as an example , we are going to Costa Rica with my whole family over Thanksgiving For my parents' 50th anniversary .

We had decided we all wanted to stay at the Andaz Papagayo . This was fairly hard to book four rooms at over a holiday weekend , so I focused on finding those first before starting to look for flights . That's because we had picked that specific hotel as the goal and we had specific dates , and the flights are a mess .

It is a pain to get to Costa Rica from Chicago and it's expensive . If you think I always get a good deal , I don't . We are paying I'm not kidding . For the one-way home just the one-way home from Liberia to Chicago , we are paying 55,000 Southwest points per person . It is so expensive , but because we have the points we can do it .

At least it's points and at least the kids fly free with the companion pass . But we planned around one part first the hotel . Now , when we went to Japan , we booked our flights first , because going to Japan on a nonstop flight was the priority for us . Then we filled in our itinerary and our hotels .

After that we didn't have specific hotels we needed to stay at , and then occasionally we'll do it all at once . In February we were looking for somewhere to go over our kids' break and my husband and I just started searching Hyatt and Southwest at the same time to see what we could find .

Since it was somewhat last minute , I think we booked two months in advance . We were able to find the Andaz Mayakoba , followed by the Hyatt Regency in Merida with Hyatt points , and we also happened to get lucky and there were cheap Southwest tickets . So we could book it all pretty close together .

All that to say , you book the part of the trip that's most important to you first and then you fill in the other parts Along these lines . Rory asked what are strategies you use to plan travel more in advance , to leverage points and miles redemptions ? Also , which subscriptions do you feel are worth paying for ?

So , as I've said , I personally don't actually plan travel in advance , but that works for us because we don't have a bucket list and we usually have some flexibility in our dates as well . You'll certainly have more options if you plan in advance . So the main thing is just to sit down and start planning , because we don't plan in advance .

My number one subscription is Max my Point , which is what I use to look at a calendar view of hotel availability . It just helps me compare hotels quickly for a whole month at a time .

While we used to stay at lots of hotel chains , we currently , for the next few years , decided to just scale back and make decision making easier , and so we almost always book Hyatt's , which is easy to find on MaxMyPoint . I also use their alert feature . There is some free functionality with that site , but I think the paid service is worth it .

When you're in active trip planning mode , if you're wanting to fly business class , you will want a paid subscription service to a deal alert for business class points deals , since I don't have one . I don't actually know which is the best here , but I'd venture to guess they are pretty similar .

I think Spencer at Straight to the Points has had his the longest I know Kevin from the Points Analyst runs a good list as well . Thrifty Traveler Premium would also be a good option if you like getting alerts for cheap cash fares in addition to points fares For searching for flights . I tend to only pay for services if I'm actively searching for a route .

That is more complicated , but even then I find I don't often need to anymore , since there are a lot of free tools . Lately I've been using PointsYeahcom as my first stop . I sometimes get a month of award logic . Still , I will say that there is no perfect service .

When new ones come out , I often test them , but every service seems to miss some airlines or some routes . I haven't found a service yet that eliminates my need to do duplicate searches of my own . In season three , which will hopefully launch around January next year , I'll be diving into more tips on how to search for flights with points Related to Hyatt .

I have a few questions and then we'll wrap it up . Rachel asked for my thoughts on the best Hyatt resorts for East Coast families and multifamily generation trips that don't require more than eight hours of travel time . She said looking for things that are a wise use of points in terms of valuable and using club lounge passes , if possible .

So to answer this question , I first went to the Hyatt club lounge map on my blog .

I don't have all of these hotels memorized and after looking at the map , I'd say my top recommendations , specifically for ones with club lounges , would be one Aruba there's a Hyatt resort there that has a club lounge where you could use your certificates to upgrade into a club room . Merida , mexico .

This is not a resort as it's an inland hotel , but if you're looking for a more adventurous vacation , we really liked this hotel . It . If you're looking for a more adventurous vacation , we really liked this hotel . It's cheap , it's a category one , the club lounge is pretty good and there are so many really neat day trips that you can do from there .

We flew into Cancun and then drove to Merida from there and it's a pretty easy drive . And then , third , I'd say another suggestion would actually be Paris . And then , third , I'd say another suggestion would actually be Paris , again not a resort .

You need to book a suite to fit a family of four there , but the suite there automatically includes club lounge access and nonstop flights from the East Coast would generally be at or under eight hours , besides the fact that it's pretty common for them to be $500-ish .

And then last question here from Sally , who asked what is the best way to find availability in Hyatt resorts in Hawaii for a family of four .

Every time I look the dates are not available . Now the top tool I recommend for finding Hyatt nights is maxmypointcom . You can search with a calendar view and you can also set alerts .

I did a whole episode with tips on finding Hyatt availability and other Hyatt tips , so if you're newer to Hyatt , I recommend that you check out that episode as well for more information there . Next week we will have some fun success stories to share for our final episode of season one .

To wrap it up , thank you so much for being with me today and I look forward to seeing you next time , where we will continue to unlock these secrets of travel points together .