@srathner wrote:
Hi @stacibrew! Thanks for writing in. I have some good news and bad news.
Bad news first: If your trip is next month, you’re likely about to book your flights, hotels, and rental car right about now. That means that you won’t have time to earn enough points on a brand-new travel rewards credit card to redeem in time for this trip.
But there’s good news! If you get approved for a travel card now and use it to pay for your vacation expenses, that will probably get you close to hitting the spending minimum to get a sign-up bonus.
In your case, it can pay to think ahead, because you can essentially use this trip to earn the points to pay for all or part of a future trip. For friends who are new to travel points and rewards, I usually suggest starting with a card like the Capital One Venture or Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite Mastercard because they allow you to redeem for travel in a simple way – you use the card and earn points, and then later cash them to cover travel expenses on your statement. It’s sort of like refunding yourself whenever you want.
But those are only two travel cards. There are more! Here are some of our favorites.
I’ll throw in my disclaimer: Generally, travel cards are ideal for those with good to excellent credit and no credit card debt (the interest you’d pay on debt would wipe out the value of any points you’d earn). Many travel cards have annual fees, which is something to think about, too.
Let us know more about the trip you plan to take! We Nerds love to travel and are always looking for ideas.
