[Global Entry]

(07-17-2014 11:52 PM)Rosca Wrote:  

One question:

So what card that holds points that a stupid stupid college student who usually spends his money on stupid shit should get?

But to be serious, what advice would you give to a college student about this stuff?

I guess that depends on your credit history - do you have a credit history? If so, is it positive or do you have negative marks on your credit. The suggestions would be heavily dependent on your answer.

This is a frankly fantastic data sheet on a related topic, which is credit cards and its relationship to travel. I'm not going to post something similar, because what this user has posted is pretty much spot on, and you should read it and absorb it. The gist of this and what it means is that over the past few years, the airlines have devalued their travel charts (meaning that you get less for more miles) and the hotel chains have mostly done the same. At the same time, airlines have begun to use mileage as a marketing tool to raise money from affiliates - by awarding less, they make the commodity (miles) more scarce, and then sell it to credit card companies and all sorts of other companies in exchange for revenue. As a result, as crazy or counterintuitive as it might seem, flying is not really the premium way of obtaining mileage for free travel anymore. The two biggest ways to obtain points, and thus, free travel are (1) applying for credit cards that give a bonus for signing up/initial spending, and (2) spending on credit cards where the amount you spend translates on some multiple (1x, 2x, even 5x) to mileage to a particular airline or an airline of your choice.

What this makes important is that you keep your credit rating in shape, and it also gives significant benefits to entrepreneurs, business owners and executives who can spend significant cash on a chosen credit card and generate a lot of points for items being paid for by a business as a second benefit of their employment. By way of example, a consultant on the road 100 - 150 days per year can not only book into a Marriot or W or Hilton, perhaps, but if he has the flexibility, he can pick a card that also gives 2x the spending amount in points that he can then transfer to a loyalty program of his choice. After 100 days of hotel, he'll likely have diamond status (or platinum or whatever that chain calls it) for that chain, and perhaps 200x100X2=40,000 more points to put into a mileage program (disregarding amounts spent for airline travel (that also generate their own miles), food, car rentals, etc). He's got a trip to Hawaii and a stay at a seven star resort already, most likely. And while perhaps 100 days on the road for work is an extreme for some of us, this is all a matter of degree.

One of the first things to figure out for players is where your credit stands. Perhaps you have one of these loyalty credit card already, thats great. You're on your way. You'll still want to join the elite who collect multiple bonuses over several loyalty programs (NEVER PUT ALL YOUR EGGS ALL IN ONE BASKET, A DEVALUATION OF YOUR POINTS WILL KILL YOUR EFFORT, AS THEY WORK RETROACTIVELY TO POINTS YOU'VE ALREADY EARNED).

If you're credit sucks and/or you don't have such a card, then you're going to want to start rebuilding it. I highly recommend creditkarma.com as a way to start to keep track of your credit, and figure out how to improve it (other than just paying down debt, which of course helps). This site doesn't give you your experian credit report (definitely not optimal, but you can check for free once, I believe with experian and register with them too), but gives transunion (which isn't as used by credit card issuers as experian). However, the site is free, and it will begin to explain the elements (payment history, balances, utilization, and credit history length) that are keeping your credit rating down, or helping it go higher. It also provides links to credit cards suggested for you (don't necessarily blindly follow their suggestions and don't apply until you're pretty sure you're well within range to get accepted, as denials ding your credit score). Keep in mind that their credit card apps give the site referral fees (thats why the site exists as a profit making enterprise) and it may not always be best to apply through their website - bonuses available can vary. Even if they don't its good to know whats incentivizing credit karma's free advice.

(05-09-2014 03:41 PM)HungWeiLo Wrote:  

Hello everyone, I thought I’d drop my first data sheet on something I know a good amount about. It’s not a destination, but a method of transportation that just might take your game to the next level, it's a little long but I think it's worth it for the traveling player.

I started in the miles and points game 18 months ago and I haven’t looked back. In that time I’ve applied and been approved for almost 20 credit cards and earned over 1,000,000 points and miles and I’m still going.

What is the points and miles game?

Points and miles are the currencies of hotels, airlines, cruises, and membership clubs that allow their members to take free flights have free nights, and get comped. All of the major airlines, hotels, and car rental companies have them. The goal of the miles and points player to is acquire the points at as low of a cost per point as possible, and then use them for the most value possible. i.e. staying at the Park Hyatt Paris Vendome for as little as $10 a night when the room regularly goes for nearly $1000 (granted, this redemption is only achievable one time over a two night stay).

How is this done?

First you need a great credit score; anything above 720 should be sufficient to get you going, though anything above 750 and you should be able to hit the ground running. This is because most of the great credit card bonus offers are limited and even targeted to high credit score potential borrowers. You also need stable source of income and limited to none outstanding credit card debt. This is because, of your credit scores components, debt to credit ratio is one of the most important in not only determining your credit score, but determining how much credit a bank is willing to give you. Lastly, you need a US address, because almost all of the bonuses worth going for are based in America.

There are a couple of different ways to think through your strategy for obtaining points: 1) specific next trip; 2) open ended future options. When I started this game I went with option 2 since I didn’t know where I wanted to go, how I wanted to get there, or where I wanted to stay; so I acquired a lot of points. My first round of credit card applications got me nearly 600,000 points, mostly in Hilton which aren’t nearly as valuable now.

Example trip: New York City New Years 2013

2 nights at Holiday Inn Express Midtown Manhattan – 40,000 IHG Rewards points (~$400 in savings)

4 nights at Conrad Manhattan with free breakfast – 170,000 Hilton points (~$2,400 in savings)

For one trip to New York which I’d never seen before (and before I really invested in changing myself with game and the red pill) I stayed in great locations (the Conrad is an awesome property) and explored one of the great cities of the world, for essentially nothing.

In general, you can do a round of credit card applications every 3-4 months depending on your credit score, ability to meet the minimum spending requirements on the cards (or your ability and inclination to manufacture spending, more on that later). You’re going to want to very your applications between banks so as not to go to the well too many times too often with the same institution, though some are stricter than others (Barclay’s doesn’t like too many apps over a 9-12 month period, Citi won’t give you multiple personal cards on the same app day, spread them 60 -90 days apart, Chase has a top end credit limit so you can move credit around or sacrifice older cards to get new ones, BofA is a joke and can and will give you the same card multiple times).

What is Manufactured Spending?

Under normal circumstances, you would limited to meeting a spending requirement with your normal spending or time shifted spending (buying things in the future now to meet the minimum spend on a credit card). However, with manufactured spending, you can “spend” money while not actually incurring the huge debts the spending implies. Under this scenario, you need a few things: A place to buy debit gift cards (the ones with a PIN, stay with Visa, they’re all over and easier to use), a Wal-Mart or another store that lets you buy a money order with a debit card, and/or a Bluebird card from America Express (similar process as described below, but you tell the cashier you want load your bluebird card for $499.99 ($500 loads trip an internal control that requires paperwork)). The first method is the most straight forward; buy a gift card (usually in $500 denominations to keep your fees down), assign the gift card a PIN (depending on the type of card you’re using), and buy a money order from Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart charges $.70 per money order, so you’ll buy a $499.30 money order and be on your way. If you’ve followed these instructions, you can now put that $499.30 in your bank account and pay off your card (you’ll need to come up with the other $5.65 but on $60,000 in manufactured spending a year, it’s only about $720). Multiply this process as long as you’re comfortable and you have compliant Wal-Mart employees since it is against Wal-Mart policy to sell money orders on debit gift cards.

How does this help me?

I will readily admit that I am not at the level of game that the vast majority of contributing members of this community are, but from what I have learned and absorbed, this community likes options and logistics. Points and miles are another tool that helps achieve those ends. My personal example of a trip I’m taking in July of this year is below:

Over the month of July I will be in Istanbul, Madrid, Pamplona, Barcelona, Prague, Budapest, and Bangkok. I ‘m flying business class on Turkish (LAX-IST), SWISS (IST-ZRH-BKK), and EVA Airways (BKK-TPE-LAX) for 120,000 United miles and $110. My intra-European flights cost another 40,000 United miles and $140 (IST-MAD, BCN-MUC-PRG, PRG-ZRH-BUD, BUD-IST). All the flights together cost nearly $17,000 and I paid 160,000 miles and $250 for tickets that will let me sleep, relax, and drink in style on the international flights; that’s the power of miles and points. In Prague, Istanbul, and Budapest, I’m staying in hotels in the heart of the city for free on Club Carlson points, in Bangkok I’m going to buy nights but my Arrival points will cancel out the cost there, and the train between Pamplona and Barcelona will be covered the same way. It’s my first time out of the country and I’m doing it in a way that I didn’t think possible before, and to top it all off, in each of the cities I’m staying I’ll be in hostels the first 1-2 nights with hotels overlapping night 2 to give me options on where I end up and who I end up with; in the middle of the city’s nightlife.

TL;DR Miles and Points requires good credit, a way to meet a minimum spending requirement for the bonus, and a US address to get the best offers. Manufactured Spending requires a compliant Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart employee but is very scalable. Points offers access to business class and first class flights that might otherwise be unobtainable to the average, non G-Manifesto, player; they also offer opportunities for multiple free coach flights for the quantity player looking to move around often internationally. I’m more than willing to expand even more on this as it’s a hobby of mine; there are certain point’s currencies that are more valuable than others depending on where you want to go or what your goals are (ex Boston to Dublin for 25,000 miles in coach or 50,000 in business roundtrip with British Airways Avios), I can help point you in the right direction in most cases.