Wells Fargo Credit Card saves the day! What.....

I have a confession to make, I pay my cell phone bill with my Wells Fargo credit card. Horrid, I know.

The Wells Fargo Rewards Credit Card gives you a measly 1 point for each dollar spent, with no bonus categories. The best that points can get you is 1 cent per point. If I spent $5,000 I would have 5,000 points which is worth $50 statement credit to my credit card.

Doesn't sound too bad right? Well if I spent that same $5,000 on a Chase Ink Bold card on my cell phone bill, that would net me 25k points or a round trip from Los Angeles to Hawaii. Sounds much better right?

So why do I charge my cell phone bill to my Wells Fargo Credit card?

 

That's why!

Blue What? Meet Huge Spend Requirements With this Trick

**UPDATE**: This method has been ended due to some hard coding policies from Bluebird. There are however current similar ways that we will eventually write about. Google Redbird if you don't want to wait.

With my recent post on 100k AA bonus miles with $10,000 minimum spend within 3 months, many people have asked me how to meet an absurd amount in such a short time. David wrote a good summary on ways to meet spend, but since then, the bulk of our required spend is done with American Express Bluebird. This card allows us to "Manufacture Spend" meaning I can spend $10,000 on my card without really spending it. Confused? Read on!

Bluebird is a like a pseudo-checkings account brought to us by Walmart and American Express. You can sign up HERE, and your card will arrive in 5-7 days. There are a bunch of features that really don't matter to us, so I'll only go over the pertinent ones.

• No fees in the way we use it.
• Low fee ATM withdrawals for foreign transactions.
• Bill Pay feature: Send checks to whoever you want, including yourself, landlords(apartment rent), student loan agencies, and credit card companies. Yes the very same companies that you pay your credit card bill.
• Load up to a max of $1000 a day and $5000 a month

Unfortunately you cannot put money into your Bluebird account via your credit card directly, but you can load your Bluebird account with prepaid cards that you CAN buy with your credit card at certain stores. See the trick yet?

1. Buy prepaid cards at stores with your points earning credit card. 
2. Load those prepaid cards into your Bluebird
3. Use Bluebird to pay off that SAME credit card you used to purchase the prepaid cards

That way we can spend $10,000 in 2 months without really spending it! You didn't really think I spent 20% of my annual income in 2 months did you?

How to Load Your Bluebird

By far the easiest method is buying Vanilla Reload cards

They cost $3.95 and you can load up to $500 to each one. Once bought you turn it over, scratch off the label and follow the directions to load it onto your Bluebird card via their Website. To meet the $10,000 requirement, it would take you 2 months and $80 out of pocket. You can find a list of retailers that sell these HERE. The problem with many of the retailers are they will not accept credit card for these purchases. CVS used to be the go to spot, but they have recently stopped accepting credit cards for the purchase of these cards.

Other retailers that have been reported with intermittent success are Cumberland Farms gas stations, 7-11, shell and Valero. These are very much "Your Miles May Very" YMMV.

The other option is to buy VISA or Mastercard debit gift cards. These may include brands such as "One Vanilla", "My Vanilla" or variable load VISA/Mastercard Giftcards. Each one has their own fees ranging from $3.95-$6.95. You can then add a personal identification number (PIN) onto it and it acts like a debit card. With that, you can then go to a Walmart with a Money Center Kiosk to physically load each card onto your Bluebird Account. Bluebird allows you to load $1000 a day and up to $5000 a month via debit, hence why we buy these gift cards to act like a debit card. This does require you to go to a physical Walmart, and who really wants to do that with people like this there. Since the demise of CVS, these may become my main source of loading Bluebird.

Travel with Grant has a good summary on which cards can be loaded at Walmart.

You can locate a "Moneypass ATM" with this link: Walmart ATM locator. Type in walmart as the bank, then your zip code, to see if there are any around you.

As you can see, Bluebird is an essential tool in our hobby. It has drastically made it easier to hit spend limits and also a great tool for manufacturing spend. It sounds like a lot of work, but when your laying down in your flat bed full off of lobster and Dom Perignon, it will all be worth it.

100k AA miles sign up bonus!

David's last post described the thought process in choosing the right card(s) to get you that trip you've always wanted. It was thorough, detailed—and let's face it—didn't answer the question you asked in the first place: Which card should you get?

I'll cut to the chase I am telling you exactly which card to sign up for.

5 Questions You Need to Ask Yourself Before Getting a Card

"What card should I get?" That's the wrong first question.

We get this question a lot, which makes sense. There are countless options with various perks and bonuses for various airlines, hotels and travel companies. Our short answer is always the same: it depends.

Before you even consider a card, you need to answer:

1. Where do you want to go?
2. What can you get?
3. How soon do you want to get there?
4. How do you want to get there (economy, business or first class)?
5. What cards are available?

How you answer is important because not all points are created equal. Take Southwest Airlines for example. Both Goo and I are fans of it, because we fly domestically along the west coast a lot. Southwest is great for that, but it's useless for hopping oceans.

And it just so happens, we love hopping oceans.

Here's my thought process two years ago on choosing the cards that eventually helped me book a three week trip later this year that will span four countries, seven flights and all three flight classes (economy, business and first) for just $147.32.

Isn't it beautiful?

Step 1: Profit. Step 2: Profit. Step 3: Profit.

Title says it all!

If you follow our blog or listen to us preach, you'll know that a lot of our strategies have a step where we actually lose some money (most often in the form of negligible activation fees).

That won't happen this time around. Instead, it's net gain all the way. Here's what I earned today:

• 1,770 points
• $20 Staples gift card
• $11 credit for my American Express credit card

Unfortunately, this is a targeted promotion, but read on to find out how you can check to see if you're one of the lucky few!

Money, Money, Money! Getting Cash Abroad

During my travels around the world, I learned that all the spending I did didn't earn me any points. Most merchants either preferred cash and some didn't even accept credit cards at all. (If you've been reading this blog, you know not earning points while spending really breaks my heart.)

XE app for phones

So what are my strategies for access to cash while traveling? Read on to find how I prepare for my travels.

Korea: Things to check out in Itaewon

I was staying with a friend who lived in a district in Seoul called Itaewon. Itaewon was once  known as a shady district but has recently been revamped and now known more as the foreigners district. When I first heard that Itaewon was the foreigners district, I was not too excited. I imagined foreigner districts like Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong; where there was dirty bar after dirty bar and streets full of westerners being ridiculously drunk (yes, I might have been one of them).

Instead I was greeted by tasteful bars such as "Mixtures" which had a lounge atmosphere and a DJ spinning hip hop beats, and Magpie brewery which usually has a few taps of their own brews plus some imports like Rogue from my hometown. The crowd definitely seemed like more foreigners, but there was a good mix of locals as well. Overall I would almost equate what I saw of Itaewon similar to a Pearl District in Portland or Culver City in Los Angeles. Not super ritzy, but nice and up and coming. Read on for the meals/spots I felt were worth mentioning.

Kuala Lumpur: Food never stops

Arriving into Kuala Lumpur, I made my way down to the KLIA express, a train that takes you from the airport to KL Sentral for about 15 usd and takes 50 minutes. KL sentral serves a similar purpose as Taipei main station, connecting metro, high speed rail, buses and taxi, except it does a horrible job at it.

There are about 4-5 different lines owned by different companies, and transferring between them is difficult. For instance, the monorail line is shown to be at KL sentral. But in reality, it is about a 20 min walk away. The signage is not helpful either; they stopped appearing once I left the station, and I still had probably 10 min walk left. Thank God for Google maps!

(Pro tip: While you have internet access before your trip, bring up Google maps and look at the area where you will be visiting at full zoom. This will save to your phone, and when you arrive.with no internet connection you can still use the map with GPS. This saved my ass multiple times.)

Read more:

Taiwan: Food, Fun, and Friends!

Arriving into Taipei, I was able to easily follow signs to the bus that takes me from TPE to Taipei main station (1 hour ride and about $5 USD). Taipei main station is just like what it sounds like, you can access the metro, the high-speed rail, or buses. I met up with my friend who I was staying with, and we started our four day adventure of eating, drinking, and site seeing.

My other friend, who I met there, wrote a blog on 100 things to do in 14 days in Taipei. My activities were mostly with her, so it seems repetitive if I write about it twice (ok I might just be lazy).

But here are some of my favorite things!

Korea Day 1: Meeting Random People, Weather, The Blank Stare, and Tours

Meeting New Friends:

Arriving late in the evening in Korea, I decided against trying to learn a new rail system only to get lost, and booked an inexpensive airport hotel instead. After claiming my bag I headed to an information booth to request the hotel shuttle. My shuttle driver came to pick me and another young guy up, and as we loaded our bags, I sized him up and I randomly concluded that he spoke English, so I said hi. Victory! Turns out he was from Boston and also traveling solo after graduating. "New friend #1 acquired!" (insert Zelda item acquired sound here). I learned that  making new friends could be as easy as just saying "hi".

Not horrible for a cheap over nighter

I hope there is not a fire....

My First Mattress Run: No its not a Porno

Full suite with bed off to the left

Yup, was able to cook Fajitas in the kitchenette

Paying 75 bucks a night for a hotel stay in your home town sound stupid? Continue reading to find out why I did it for 4 nights and see how I turned them into a stay-cation!

Triple Card Update: Meeting the Minimum Spend

A little over a month ago, I signed up for three cards and I had to meet a minimum spend of $2,000 in two months and $4,000 in three months.

I managed to "spend" $6,000 in less than two months, and I was able to secure the sign up bonuses of 50k Southwest Rapid Rewards points and 80k American Airlines AAdvantage points.

Everyone should know by now that I don't work hard enough to earn an income that lets me spend that sort of money. And if I did, I wouldn't be involved with a blog that centers on affordable travel.
Luckily for me, Vanilla Prepaid Reload cards exist to help meet the minimum spend requirements.

Where can you go with 3 people for $778?

Try Australia, with a 3 day stop over in Hawaii, airfare AND hotel included. The flights are in economy, but the hotels are not in your cheap hostels or economy hotel (nothing wrong with these) but Hyatts and Marriotts. Sometimes we get so caught up in collecting miles, we forget the big picture: spending them!

I got my cousin seriously into the miles game back in July when he applied for the Ink card and Sapphire card in November, and it paid off—big time.

Annual Fees: 3 Reasons Why They Don't Matter

One of first tips my dad has ever given me about credit cards was to watch out for annual fees. Stay away from them. That's how they get you. Why are their services so damn special? There are plenty of cards out there who won't charge you. Annual fees? Nice try, card company. Forget them. Move on.

Yeah... about that piece of advice...

I've applied to cards with annual fees of $69, $79 and $100 without batting an eye, and I have a three good reasons why I don't let annual fees scare or stop me.

Leveraging loyalty. It really works on me!

3500 delta points for 15 minutes of work? Use loyalty programs to your advantage!

As David mentions in his triple card churning post, I had an error on my planned ski trip back to Oregon. To make a long story short, I had to change dates on my trip, so I got credit on Delta (along with a $150 change fee—ouch) to reissue my next flight. When I tried to reissue my ticket the agent tried to charge me a $25 phone booking fee. She did not believe that the policy for reissuing tickets waives that fee, and told me to book it online.

So I proceeded to buy my ticket on Delta.com, and for some reason, my credit did not go through but my card got charged for the whole flight. I wrote an email complaint to Delta, and received their response just a week later.

Redeeming Your Points (Part 2): Partner and Alliance Networks

In Part 1 of my Redeeming Your Points post, I talked about putting your points to use and how straightforward it can be to redeem them (some more so than others, of course). But here's an important thing to know when you want to redeem your miles: you're not limited strictly to that airline.

Let's say you have racked up an envious amount of Avios points (the reward points for British Airways) and you want to fly from Los Angeles to Hong Kong. It doesn't mean you HAVE to fly British Airways (BA). If you were to fly strictly BA, you would first have to fly east to London before continuing onto Hong Kong. Two precious days of your vacation time will be devoted completely to traveling—one way.

But luckily for all of us, most airlines aren't this guy:

Learn more about Partner and Alliance networks and how it's getting easier to use them after the jump.

When Does a Mile Not Equal a Mile?

The biggest misnomer we'd like to clear up is the term "mile" or "point". It's forgivable if you believe that when you earn a 50,000 mile bonus, you're able to fly that many miles. Unfortunately this is not the case. (If that was true, you could fly around the world twice with that single sign-up bonus.)

The terms "mile" and "point" are interchangeable and it just depends on which reward program you're talking about. The key to understanding the term is to think of miles/points as a currency, and not distance. If miles/points are a currency, how much are they worth?

Vanilla Ink Bold

Ladies and Gentlemen, how would you like to travel business class to Europe or Asia round trip for $300-$400 dollars? Yes, the price of a cross country domestic flight in economy could get you a much better vacation, but where's the fun in that? This system takes a little reading to understand, a little more work then other deals, but in the end it is easier than it sounds and well worth the trouble. 3 steps to follow!

Plastic Balling: Increasing Your Credit Score through Churning

In our Credit Basics section we have described how your score is calculated by lenders. After being asked, "Doesn't opening and closing credit cards negatively affect your score?" it dawned on me that we have not fully explained how we use this game to not only keep our scores stable, but earn the status of what my old roommate called "Plastic baller"!

Meeting Spend Requirements

Meeting minimum spend requirements is one of the scarier parts of travel hacking. Unfortunately, that's the most common requirement you need to meet before the credit card company will give you reward points. So it's unavoidable.

Spend requirements per card can range anywhere from spending $1,000 in three months (super easy) to spending $10,000 in three months (super hard... unless you're rich—in which case, why are you even here?). Both Goober and myself are firmly grounded in the 99%. While we're not starving, we do stare wistfully at the electronic lottery billboards.

So how do we do it?