How to Get Started with Free Travel #KISS

If you’ve never heard of free travel, WELCOME! Free travel is a concept that more and more people are discovering. Travel bloggers have been writing about this for the last 10+ years. Now professional financial experts and the mainstream media are jumping on board. However, it’s only for certain people: those who are committed to good credit scores and know they will pay bills on time.

The bottom line: There is free money out there if you are a financially responsible person.

Sign-up Bonuses Are HUGE DEALS

Sign up bonuses are the BEST way to earn a crazy amount of points without traveling or spending a lot of money. A sign-up bonus is when a bank offers a special bonus if you spend a certain amount of money in the first few months of signing up for that card. This is how Travel Freely users earn 80% of the free travel, through very lucrative sign-up bonuses.

These bonuses can range from $50 – $1,500 worth of cash or travel rewards. The spending requirements for the best bonuses can range from $500 to $5,000. Most spending requirements must be met in the first three months of opening an account. Some cards now have multi-tiered bonuses where additional spending will earn an additional bonus.

The average person can meet these minimum spending requirements with their regular monthly spending. That’s the beauty of this whole hobby. NO extra money spent, but thousands of $$$$ in free travel. In addition to sign-up bonuses, using your card for all your regular expenses is one of the simplest ways to rack up miles and points. If you trust yourself to spend only money you have, then it makes no difference whether the money comes out of your checking account when you swipe your debit card, or when you pay off your credit card at the end of the month. You might as well be getting points when you purchase. So, put all your regular spending on a credit card and watch the points add up. 

Here’s why a sign-up bonus is so special.

Let’s do the math.

Rewards Traveler #1 doesn’t even have a credit card that earns points and miles. She uses a debit card for all purchases, including her flights. She flies two to three times per year and earns 4,000 miles on her favorite rewards program. Total Miles and Points = 4,000. A value of $40 – $60.

Rewards Traveler #2 – Same Card Susie has one credit card with her favorite airline. She’s had it for 5 years and uses it to earn points on spending. She averages $1,500 per month of expenses. She earns 1 point per dollar spent on her card. At the end of the year, she earns 18,000 miles for a value of about $250 to $300.

The Travel Freely “Free Traveler” – Lazy Lisa doesn’t earn any miles from flights because they are all free. She knows the value of sign-up bonuses and gets two credit cards per year with bonuses of 50,000 and 60,000 points for hitting spending bonuses by simply paying for monthly expenses she already has. At the end of the year, she earns 128,000 miles. This is a value of $1,750 to $2,000!

Here’s a Simple 1-2-3 Plan for a Beginner

Travel Freely Members average $500+ in free travel with their first card bonus. Business owners average $800. You can be booking your free travel in as little as 3-4 months.

First of all, Sign up for Travel Freely (for free) to access the Get Started Guide.

1. APPLY – Get ONE great card from your CardGenie Recommendations.

2. EARN – Put all your regular spending on the card and hit your bonus.

3. TRAVEL – Use our Resources page and free guides to book your first free travel! 

Just want a list of the best cards? Here are our best monthly offers and our list of overall card recommendations.

How Is This Possible?

Banks make some of their biggest profits through credit cards. Unfortunately, many people carry balances on their cards, and the banks get rich through charging interest. In 2019, a Federal Reserve report showed that 45.4% of households pay an average of $945 per year in interest! So, banks are more than willing to offer up cards with big sign-up bonuses in order to capture new customers. 

Free Travel is:
  “A lifetime of free travel for financially responsible people.”  

If you are paying your cards off every month, there is a life of free travel waiting for you. To be a free traveler is to understand the power of credit and to maximize these offers so you can start traveling for free, take dream trips, have 5-star experiences, or buy things like an espresso machine, 4K TV or incredible spa day… all without dipping into your budget.

Two Important Points

Credit Scores Increase

Most people see their credit score increase when they travel for free. The reason for this has to do with the facts and myths about how a credit score is calculated. When you sign up for more cards and prove to be responsible with them, you are improving most of the major credit score factors like total accounts and credit utilization. Read more about that here.

Banks are only losing a few dollars and making billions

In April of 2018, news stories were reporting how JP Morgan Chase had been losing millions in rewards given out from credit cards. What was missed in those headlines was the real headline: “JP Morgan reports its most profitable quarter ever.” How did they make their profits? The bank’s credit card business was “one of the biggest drivers of growth, with revenue from plastic jumping 39 percent to $1.28 billion.”

Here’s one more quote from a Federal Reserve report in 2017, “Credit cards remain far more profitable than other types of banking.” Almost 40% of American households pay credit card interest because they carry a balance. Since they are paying an average of $1,254 per year, the banks are not that concerned with a few people making $500-700 every once in a while. 
In fact, the average person uses a particular credit card for 7 years.

So if 45% of new users get a $500 bonus and end up paying $945 per year for 7 years, the bank ends up making $6.615 over 7 years! Don’t forget that they make 2-3% of every purchase you make too. This is why if you don’t trust yourself with credit cards, you need to run away right now! Otherwise, your key to free travel treasure is: your credit.

Be a Transactor

In credit card terms, there are transactors and revolvers. 
“Transactors” use their cards for purchases and pay off the balances each month. ”Revolvers” carry balances on their cards, paying interest charges month to month. A transactor does not see the balances on their cards as debts because the charges are paid off in full every month. They don’t pay any interest. So, free travelers are TRANSACTORS! They are financially responsible people who pay their bills on time. They outsmart this unfortunate cycle of debt that allows banks to make large profits.

Slow and Steady is the Simplest Way to Travel Freely

Jumping into the world of credit cards and sign-up bonuses can be intimidating to some people, especially those who are brand new to free travel and are a bit suspicious. Nothing in life can be free, right? Well, this is one of those rare cases because so many other people carry a balance on their cards. The banks are fine with giving away big bonuses because a large amount of people end up paying enormous fees in interest (and they still charge merchants 2-3% on every swipe!). 

I suggest signing up for Travel Freely so you have a proven system to get the best cards and automate your card management. It’s worth reading a few articles to address your concerns and give you the confidence to sign up for a credit card. I’ll warn you, it’s a bit like watching the movie The Matrix. Once you realize what’s happening and how much free travel you can get, you can’t go back. You’ll be hooked.

Earn $200 – $300 in rewards last year? LOL.

Travel Freely members average $2,000+ in free travel EVERY year!

Let us help. Sign up for Travel Freely. It’s FREE. =)