Beginner Series: Part 4
Intro to earning points and miles
This part of the journey is where the planning and strategy begins. This is because different types of points, spending categories, merchants, payment methods, and shopping portals can result in different point values that you can earn. This article will cover the most common ways to earn points and strategies that can help to boost your points-earning potential.
Welcome Bonuses
The easiest way to earn a ton of points quickly is to apply for a credit card that offers a welcome bonus upon achieving a spending threshold within a specified period. Most of the cards that I had recommended in Part 4: How to choose a card offer a welcome bonus, except for the Bilt Rewards Mastercard. The way welcome bonuses work is simple: spend x amount of dollars within the first y amount of months of account opening and earn z amount of bonus points.
Here's an example of the current welcome offer for the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
To elaborate on this example, if the account was opened on June 15th, and this card member's total spend by September 15 is at least $4,000, then 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points would be credited to this person's account. This bonus would be awarded ON TOP of the points earned by those $4,000. I'll elaborate further.
Let's assume this card member spent $1,000 on dining, $2,000 on travel, and $1,000 on non-bonus categories. Given the 3x dining bonus, 2x travel bonus, and 1x on everything else earning structure, this cardmember will have earned 68,000 points!
Here is how that breaks down:
3x * $1,000 = 3,000 points
+ 2x * $2,000 = 4,000 points
+ 1x * $1,000 = 1,000 points
+ 60,000 bonus points
68,000 points
This means that this card member earned a whopping 17 points per dollar during this spend period (68,000 total points / $4,000 = 17 points per dollar). However, once the $4,000 spend threshold has been met, then only the standard earning categories are valid.
Everyday spend
Once your welcome bonus has been earned, the second most common way to earn points is to use your credit card to pay for things you already have to pay for. This includes groceries, monthly bills, dining out, travel/commuting, shopping, and everything else that accepts credit cards as payment, and if you have a larger household (4 or more), you likely have relatively higher monthly utility and grocery bills, so it won't take long to see the points add up. This way of earning points can be pretty slow but it's steady, but if you decide to expand your card strategy to include cards that earn multipliers in categories in which you are not already earning, then the rate of earning can potentially change pretty quickly.
Shopping portals
One of the points game's lesser-known methods of earning points is through the various shopping portals that offer points and miles JUST for shopping through its portal. There are PLENTY out there - pretty much every bank and airline has its own version of these shopping portals - but some of my favorites include Rakuten, Chase Shopping, and MileagePlus X. These sites allow you to earn points simply by just shopping through their respective online portals.
Here's how it works.
First, make sure you have the proper requirements for each of the above shopping portals:
For Rakuten, you must have an AMEX card that earns MR points
For Chase Shopping, you must have a Chase card that earns UR points
For MileagePlus X, you must have a United MileagePlus account
Next, log in to one of the shopping portals. For this example, we will use Chase Shopping.
Once logged in, you will see some of the most popular stores that are offering UR points for spending with them. Here we see that Lenovo, Staples, and Macy's is offering at least 1 point/$1 spent.
Let's say it's Christmas, and I want to do some Christmas shopping at Macy's. After all, the 2x/$1 spent does sound pretty generous. I would simply click on the Macy's logo, and it would show take me to the page below. You can see that the 2x covers pretty much every category EXCEPT for Furniture, Lighting, Mattresses, and items sold by 3rd party sellers. Not bad!
From here, I simply click on "Shop at Macy's.com" and it then takes me to the macys.com landing page. From here, just shop as you normally would, and make sure that you do not close out the browser session. If you do, then you would have to repeat the same steps from before to ensure that your shopping session is being linked to Chase Shopping.
And that's it! At this point, just browse, shop, and checkout like you normally would when shopping online. What makes this SO potentially lucrative is that I would earn 2x ON TOP of what I would be earning on the card I'm using! So If I'm using the Chase Freedom Unlimited, I would earn my usual 1.5x PLUS the 2x on top of that for a total of 3.5x per dollar spent. Like, WHAT?! I call this strategy "point stacking" because I'm "stacking" multipliers on top of another to get lucrative point returns. Simple stuff that no one talks about, but this alone has helped me stack points like crazy, especially during the holidays.
Referral bonuses
Another easy, yet often-forgotten method of earning points is to simply refer your family and friends to the cards you already have. Each of the four major issuers (AMEX, Capital One, Chase, and Citi) offers a referral bonus in the form of points or cash back for referring people to their products. These bonuses are dependent on whether the person you're referring gets approved for the card, of course, but if you have friends, family members, or coworkers who are interested in getting the card you have (because you taught them about using points and miles to travel for free), then it makes total sense that they should apply through your referral.
Let's use American Express as an example.
First, make sure you're logged into your account, then scroll to the bottom of the page.
Next, select which card you are referring, which can be selected in the top right corner of the page.
On this same page, you will see that you can earn 30,000 bonus points for the referral if the person you referred is approved for the card.
In order to refer someone, simply:
a) enter their first name and email address in the top right, or
b) copy the referral link in the bottom right hand corner and share that with your referral
Once your referral opens the link, they will see the screen below.
From here, the referral will simply have to click on the "Apply Now" button and complete the application.
And that's it!
Once approved, you will receive 30,000 Membership Rewards points deposited into your account within 6-8 weeks upon approval. As you can see in this example, referral programs can offer some pretty lucrative bonuses. As an example, the 30,000 point bonus offered by AMEX is enough to score a one-way flight to Paris from New York if you transfer your points to Air France's Flying Blue program!
Key Points
There are many ways to earn points, but the most common and most lucrative ways do not require advanced knowledge of playing the points and miles game. They simply require being aware of the availability of these methods and then using them to your advantage when the time comes.
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Welcome bonuses most easily are achieved by:
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Using your card for a large purchase
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Using your card for holiday shopping
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Using your card for large group gatherings (group dinners, trips, etc.)
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The points will add up for everyday spend when:
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Your card multipliers reward you for your top spending categories
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You use your card for EVERYTHING (just make sure to pay off your card balance each month!)
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Shopping portals become lucrative when:
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You "double-dip" your earning potential by using a points-earning card while shopping through a points earning shopping portal
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Referral bonuses are lucrative because:
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It's a bonus for relatively minimal effort
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If you're referring a partner, spouse, or family member, you can (in some cases) pool your points!
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The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Current Welcome Offer
100,000 Membership Rewards Points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months of card membership
The American Express® Gold Card
Current welcome offer
90,000 Membership Rewards Points after spending $6,000 in the first 6 months of card membership
The American Express® Platinum Card
Current welcome offer
125,000 Membership Rewards Points after spending $8,000 in the first 3 months of card membership
Top Card Picks
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