Get the best Travel Rewards Credit Card For Retirement
So you have recently retired, and you want to travel and see the world. How do you do that on a retirement income? Get a travel rewards credit card to pay for your flights and some hotels.
The Grans not only use travel reward points, but we also look for extreme value with Airbnb, HomeExchange, and other lodging platforms.
People ask me, “How do you afford to take so many trips,” so I decided to write this article.
“How do you afford to take so many trips?”
Choose the Right Credit Card
There are several criteria I use when I sort through the multitude of credit card offers on the market. First, and most importantly, choose the most flexible points available, because you don’t want to limit yourself to only one airline or only one hotel chain.
My top two favorite credit cards are the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and the American Express Platinum Card. But for purposes of this article, I will focus on the Chase Sapphire Card.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card
Click here to apply
You can still acquire this credit card now, before the Alaskan Cruise in July of 2020. This timeline would allow one person to earn enough points to cover your roundtrip airfare to Anchorage and home again. Reminder: Always fly in a day ahead of the cruise.
Chase Sapphire Preferred Card Benefits
The current offer through the Chase Sapphire Card lists the following:
You will earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from the time of the account opening. This card is available to you if you do not have any Sapphire card and have not received a new cardmember bonus for any Sapphire card in the past 48 months.
Now you may wonder how in the world would you spend $4,000 in three months to qualify for the bonus?
First, charge everything on a credit card. It surprisingly quickly adds up. That means everything, including groceries, pharmacy, a stick of gum, or a drink from the quick shop. And if you plan to get this credit card at the end of September, you will have expenses during October, November, and December, when most families have more expenses. If you can’t reach the maximum spend requirement, ask your family if they have any upcoming large purchases that you could charge on your credit card, and let them pay you back.
Of course, we always suggest you pay your credit card balance in full every month.
Why choose the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card above the other credit cards offered?
With the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, you can transfer your rewards to leading frequent travel programs at 1 to 1 value.
Airline Travel Partners
- Aer Lingus, AerClub
- British Airways Executive Club
- Flying Blue AIR FRANCE KLM
- Iberia Plus
- JetBlue TrueBlue
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards®
- United MileagePlus®
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Hotel Travel Partners
- IHG Reward Club
- Marriott Bonvoy
- World of Hyatt
The Grans personally like the value found at the Hyatt brand of hotels when transferring points for hotel accommodations.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FROM THE CHASE WEBSITE:
- Rewards Program Agreement: For more information about the Chase Sapphire Preferred rewards program, view the latest Rewards Program Agreement
- Chase will mail your Rewards Program Agreement once your account is established. If you become a Chase Online customer, your Rewards Program Agreement will also be available after logging in to chase.com/ultimaterewards
- How you can use your points: You can use your points to redeem for any available reward options, including cash, gift cards, travel, and products or services made available through the program or directly from third party merchants. Redemption values for reward options vary.
- How you can earn points: You’ll earn points when you, or an authorized user, use a Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card to make purchases of products and services, minus returns or refunds. Buying products and services with your card, in most cases, will count as a purchase; however, the following types of transactions won’t count and won’t earn points: balance transfers, cash advances and other cash-like transactions, lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, race track wagers or similar betting transactions, any checks that access your account, interest, unauthorized or fraudulent charges, and fees of any kind, including an annual fee, if applicable. 1 point: You’ll earn 1 point for each $1 spent. 2 points (“2X points”): You’ll earn 2 points total for each $1 spent when your card is used for purchases in the travel category or the dining at restaurants category (one additional point on top of the 1 point per $1 earned on each purchase).
- Points expiration/losing points: Your points don’t expire as long as your account remains open, however, you will immediately lose all your points if your account status changes, or your account is closed for program misuse, fraudulent activities, failure to pay, bankruptcy, or other reasons described in the terms of the Rewards Program Agreement.
Other information
- Rewards Categories: Merchants who accept Visa/MasterCard credit cards are assigned a merchant code, which is determined by the merchant or its processor in accordance with Visa/MasterCard procedures based on the kinds of products and services they primarily sell. We group similar merchant codes into categories for purposes of making rewards offers to you. Please note: Chase makes every effort to include all relevant merchant codes in our rewards categories. However, even though a merchant or some of the items that it sells may appear to fit within a rewards category, the merchant may not have a merchant code in that category. When this occurs, purchases with that merchant won’t qualify for rewards offers on purchases in that category. Purchases submitted by you, an authorized user, or the merchant through third-party payment accounts, mobile or wireless card readers, online or mobile digital wallets, or similar technology will not qualify in a rewards category if the technology is not set up to process the purchase in that rewards category. For more information about Chase rewards categories, see www.Chase.com/RewardsCategoryFAQs
- 25% More in Travel Redemption
- When you use points to redeem for cash, each point is worth $.01 (one cent), which means that 100 points equals $1 in redemption value. Each point you redeem for travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards is worth $.0125 (one and a quarter cents), which means that 100 points equals $1.25 in redemption value, and points are worth 25% more than if redeemed for cash. For example, 60,000 points are worth $750 towards travel, or $600 when redeemed for cash. The cost of travel is based on the rates and fares available through the Ultimate Rewards website and travel center, and may not reflect all rates and fares that are available through other sales channels.
Don’t miss out on retirement trips you deserve by choosing the best travel rewards credit card
We have been able to stretch our travel budget using the travel rewards credit card from Chase Sapphire. The Grans will be happy to personally answer any questions you may have about this offer from Chase Sapphire. Please email us at [email protected].
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliated with Chase Sapphire Card. This means if you click on the link and apply, we will receive Ultimate Reward points. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we use personally and believe will add value to our readers. This Refer-A-Friend offer is valid to all members who sign up for the card and refer a friend, so you too may benefit from this option.