Points for Families

A few FAQs:

Why do you recommend starting with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card?
- If you’ve applied for fewer than 5 cards in the last 24 months, I ALWAYS recommend starting with Chase cards because, in my opinion, their points are the most valuable. Chase Sapphire Preferred® has a sign-up bonus of 60,000 UR points! Which are like those UNO Wild Cards that can be transferred to any of the Chase Travel Partners (like Hyatt, Marriott, Southwest, United, etc.)
Should I apply for multiple cards at the same time?
- No! Take it one card at a time. Apply. Hit the minimum spend for the sign-up bonus. And then move on to another card and to try to accumulate more of the same kind of points - like Chase Ultimate Rewards®.
How else can I earn Chase Ultimate Rewards®?
- If you’re saving up points with a significant other, have them apply for the same card and you can combine points. If you have any kind of a business or side hustle, apply to either the Chase Ink Business Cash® Credit Card or the Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card. If you don’t have a business EIN, you can use your name and your SSN in place of a business EIN.
Do you travel for free on points?
- No, we don’t travel free on points. But we only pay about 10-20% of the actual cost of airfare or hotels. When you use points, you still have to pay taxes and you have may have to pay resort fees. Also, some credit cards have annual fees.
Are you paying a ton of annual fees with your cards?
- I try to find the cards with lowest fees and the highest value (like the ones listed under Our Favorites. Most of them are under $100 or completely free. After I use the cards for a year when the annual fee hits, I’ll call the credit card and ask them to either drop the fee or cancel the card. I do keep several cards with annual fees (like Chase Sapphire Preferred®) because I find a lot of value in the points I earn in an ongoing basis.
Does it hurt your credit to apply for a bunch of cards and cancel them after a year?
- For our family, our credit scores have significantly increased since starting to apply for more cards and directing all of our normal, everyday spending to credit cards. At times, you may see your credit score fluctuate up and down a bit. But as long as you’re using your credit cards responsibly and paying them off every month (we’re religious about doing that!), you should see your credit score increase.

A few FAQs:

POINTS FOR FAMILIES

erin@pointsforfamilies.com