FREE Money: Be Sure To Check Your Chase Offers

You know how much I love FREE money, right? Well, here's another easy way to get cash back on your purchases with just a bit of planning. 
It's called Chase offers. You may get an email alerting you of your offers or you can sign in to your account. 

The offers range from 3% to 5% cash back to your credit card from a variety of retailers including Starbucks, Michaels and more. There was even a $5 cash back from Stitch Fix. 

Most of the offers had a maximum of a few dollars cash back. 

So this isn't big money, but it adds up and the best part is it is FREE. 

Here are the offer details from Starbucks. Pretty straight forward. Check your email or your account, link the offers to your card and then forget about it. It makes paying $4 for a cup of coffee a bit sweeter.  

So Many 100,000 Plus Bonus Offers Right Now

What if you could stay at hotels in Europe for FREE? We did it. Three years ago, four weeks, lots of hotels and all FREE. 

How do we do it? We take advantage of the bonus offers on credit cards. And right now, credit cards are coming out strong to lure you into applying. Currently, there are 100,000 plus bonus offers from Chase Sapphire Preferred, Hilton, IHG, and Capital One Venture. So the question is should you jump in and if so, which one?

I'm going to break it down for you and try to make it as simple as possible so you can take advantage of these amazing offers to get FREE travel down the road for your family. 

So Many 100,00 Plus Bonus Offers Right Now 

Okay here goes. Yes, you definitely should jump in and apply. That's a no-brainer. These offers are too good to pass up, some are the highest bonus offers we have ever seen. And bonus offers translate into FREE travel so yes, do it. 

Now, which card or cards should you apply for? That one is more difficult so let me help you. 

My number one go-to card is the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card. So if you don't really know where you want to travel or have a specific need, then apply for this card first. 100,000 Ultimate Reward points equal approximately $1250 in FREE travel or cashback. You can get more value from these points too if you transfer them to more than a dozen airline partners or hotel partners Or if you use them to buy travel through the Chase Travel Portal. 

Which one should you choose 

The second choice would be a tie for me between the Hilton American Express Surpass card or the Capital One Venture card. Both carry a $95 annual fee, but obviously, the Hilton card earns Hilton points good at only Hilton brand hotels. On our last few trips to Eastern Europe and Panama, we stayed in Hampton by Hilton. This brand is great for families because you can easily get 5 people in a room (2 double/queen beds and a sofa pullout) plus it includes breakfast. Our breakfast in Panama City, Panama and Krakow, Poland were phenomenal. And the price tag for these hotels is 5,000-10,000 per night. Wow! 

Now the Capital One Venture card earns Capital One points which are great because you can use them to essentially erase any travel purchase. So there is no fuss with this card. No need to transfer points to partners. You just use the card to make the purchase and then log into your account and erase it. You can erase the whole purchase or a part of it. Super easy. The minimum spend for this one is hefty so be prepared. 

You can only get the Capital One Venture card once in your lifetime. If you had the Hilton Ascend card, you are not eligible for the Surpass. American Express will only approve you for two cards in a 90 day period. American Express also offers a tool that will tell you when you apply if you qualify for the bonus before you submit. 

My number one choice

The IHG card would be my last choice, but I know people who love IHG and will buy points when they go on sale with the 100% match. IHG points are good within the IHG brand which includes Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express. 

You can check out the benefits for each card which may sway you one way or the other. 

• IHG waives the $89 fee for the first year and the bonus is 150,000 points. The rest of the cards carry a $95 annual fee. It has a $3,000 minimum spend. 
• Hilton Surpass card has a $3,000 minimum spend and a 130,000 bonus offer. Check a few different links. 
• Capital One Venture has a $20,000 minimum spend to get the full 100,000 bonus. You get 50,000 points for the first $3,000 spend. This card also carries a $95 annual fee. 
• The Chase Sapphire Preferred  has a $4,000 minimum spend to get the 100,000 bonus. It also carries a $95 annual fee. 

For me, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is my number one choice! If you decide to apply for one of these cards, please consider using my referral link. You get an awesome deal and I get a few points for referring you. 

How To Max Out Points and Miles during Black Friday Shopping

 

This week marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season and specifically the Black Friday sales. Now this year is going to look very different with so many people just trying to make ends meet and retailers trying to save a dismal year. 

So whether you will be taking advantage of the sales a lot or a little, make each purchase count. One day, we will be traveling again, and why not, travel for FREE. 

So a few things to remember when you are shopping over the holiday season:

1. Use the right credit card - this year has been incredible for increased cashback percentages on certain types of purchases. For example, 

• the new Chase Flex credit card offered new credit cardholders 5% back on groceries for one year or up to $12,000. When you are shopping for that Thanksgiving meal ingredients, that would be the card to use. 
• Chase Southwest credit cards offered a targetted offer of 5x points on Amazon purchases this quarter so this would be the card to use at that retailer. And now there is a more general offer for 5x points on Amazon and groceries, you need to activate the offer with this link.
• Chase quarterly bonus categories on Chase Flex and Chase Freedom offer 5x points at Paypal and Walmart this quarter. 
• Cards like Sapphire Preferred and Reserve offer increased percentages at restaurants, travel and grocery stores. Both cards also offer a cash back program where you can erase purchases at an increased 25% and 50% value. 
• Discover offers 5% this quarter at Amazon, Target and Walmart. 

2. Shopping portals - I love shopping portals, this is FREE money. You can check out my guide to shopping portals here. The bottom line is never make a purchase online without clicking on a shopping portal. It costs you nothing and puts money back in your pocket. And right now, Rakuten will give you $40 FREE when you use this referral link. 

3. Amex and Chase offers - check your AmericanExpress and Chase account to see what offers are available. Honestly, I don't find the best offers here, but once in a while, there is a gem. A few months ago, I found $50 back on any Marriott hotel stay. Pretty sweet! 

4. Open a new credit card and use the purchases to meet your minimum spend and get the bonus. One of the best bonuses and cards is the Sapphire Preferred which is offering a 75,000 Ultimate Rewards bonus and 1.25 point cash back program. 

The bottom line is every time you make a purchase make it count twice or three times towards that FREE trip. I call it leveraged spending and in the future, we will call it FREE travel. Woohoo! 

New Chase Sapphire Offers Are Announced And They Are Big!

 

Wow! Chase just announced three whopper deals on its Sapphire line of credit cards. We will detail these for you and help you decide if you should jump on any of these offers. We knew the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card was undergoing a refresh and you can check the details here to see how you will be affected if you already hold the card. It's good! 

 

Now if you don't have a Chase Sapphire Credit Card yet or if you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card, there are some awesome new benefits on this card too plus a 75,000 bonus offer. Not as good as the 100,000 bonus offer that ended in May, but better than the regular 60,000 point offer. 

The new Reserve business credit card has a crazy high minimum spend of $30,000, but if you can swing it, the 200,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points bonus is outstanding. 

You can read here about why we love Chase Ultimate Reward points and their flexibility. 

Let's break down the offer on each card:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred - Bonus offer 75,000 points (valued at $750) with a $5,000 minimum spend in three months. This is our all time favorite travel credit card. Annual fee of $95 and it comes with a $50 hotel credit when you book through the travel portal. You earn 3x points on dining, 3x on online grocery, 2x on travel, 5x on travel booked in the Chase Travel Portal and 1x on everything else. It also comes with a $120 DoorDash credit and points boost when you book in the Chase Travel Portal. 
• Chase Sapphire Reserve - Bonus offer 100,000 points (valued at $1,000) with a $5,000 minimum spend in three months. This was our all time favorite premium travel credit card, but it now has an increased annual fee of $795. We still think it's a great deal, but you need to make certain that you will use the credits to make the high annual fee worth it. We detailed the credits and benefits of the new refreshed card here. 
• Chase Sapphire Reserve Business - Bonus offer 200,000 points with a $30,000 minimum spend in six months. This is a brand new card and if your business can swing the spend, it's a great deal for you. You can squeeze as much as $4,000 value out of those 200,000 points. Plus annual credits on the Chase Travel Portal, DoorDash, Zip Recruiter, Edit Hotels, Google Workspace, Lyft and more. 

Another big change is the 48 month rule. You now are only eligible for a bonus on a Chase Sapphire card once in a lifetime. Chase will alert you when you apply if you are eligible or not. Even though you can technically hold two Sapphire cards at the same time now, you will not be eligible for a bonus if you already hold one. If you have had a Sapphire credit card before, but no longer hold the card, you can apply for one you have never held before and get the bonus. It's similar to the Southwest credit card strategy with personal cards. Another option is to downgrade your Sapphire card to a non Sapphire and then apply for a Sapphire card you have never had before. 

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process. Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the program. Or book a 1:1 consulting call.  I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

*For every new client, we will donate 10% of the proceeds to one of our favorite charities. 

 

Just returned from two weeks in Ireland, amazing! In the photo, you can see my family and I on a five mile hike along the top of the Cliffs of Moher. Fabulous! We also spent time in Dublin, stayed the night in a castle and took the Black Taxicab Tour in Belfast. 

And guess what? The trip from soup to nuts cost approximately $1,000 for all four of us. Yep, that includes flights, hotels, rental car, food and tours. 

I am going to break it down for you step by step so you can see how we did it. 

• Flights - erased with Capital One points and Chase Ultimate Rewards 
• Hotels - IHG points and a FREE night certificate, Marriott points, erased Airbnb.com reservations with Chase Ultimate Rewards points and Capital One Venture X $300 promotion credit
• Tours - Erased some with Capital One points 
• Dining - Erased with Chase Ultimate Reward points 
• Parking - Erased with the Chase Sapphire Reserve travel credit 

My goal is to teach everyone how to fly and stay for FREE so travel is accessible for all families. 

My Two Week Family Trip To Ireland Cost Only $1,000 

Step1 

The first thing I work on when planning a trip are the flights. Now that may seem so logical to you, but I have met people who book their hotels first. Wrong! 

You have to book the flights first because sometimes in order to get FREE flights, you have to be flexible with your dates/times and even destination. For example, it might be cheaper to fly to Paris and then catch a budget airline over to Dublin than to fly directly. 

For this trip to Ireland, we knew we wanted to leave around the end of June. Aer Lingus is the obvious airline of choice and usually it offers the best points deals. I had earned the 100,000 Avios bonus a few months back and planned to use those points to get us there. 

But when I started searching up flights, the fuel charges were so outrageous, it would have cost me 50,000 points plus $282 for each ticket. That's not FREE. 

So I checked American Airlines, Delta and United, but it was the same problem. Outrageous fuel charges. 

My next step was to look at the travel portals. Both Chase and Capital One offer travel portals where you can use points to "buy" your flights. 

Each portal works a bit differently and you can read about them here. 

After researching both portals, my best option was to book tickets for my husband and myself through the Capital One travel portal and "erase" the purchase with points. Those tickets cost us 55,000 points each, but no fuel charges. My husband had earned the points through the 100,000 bonus points Capital One Venture X credit card offer. Read about my ultimate Capital One Travel Portal hack here! 

And to buy my daughter's flight through the Chase Travel Portal on my Sapphire Reserve account with points. Since the Sapphire Reserve offers 50% bonus on points when you book through the portal, her round trip ticket cost 33,000 points. Read about the what you need to do before you book your flight through the Chase Travel Portal. 

My son was already in Europe. 

My Two Week Family Trip To Ireland Cost Only $1,000 

Step 2

Now that we have flights secured, we move onto hotels. I use awardmapper.com to check the areas for hotel chains. I notice there is a Holiday Inn Express Dublin City Centre that has rooms available. I cash in a FREE night certificate for the first night and then book three nights on points. IHG offers buy 3 nights with points and get a 4th night FREE. Now we have the first 5 nights covered for 89,000 points. We had earned those IHG points a few years back with a bonus on the IHG credit card. 

Back to awardmapper.com to check Belfast for hotels and bam, an AC Hotel by Marriott offers rooms for just 21,000 points per night. I'll take two nights there please. 

The rest of the nights, I book on Airbnb.com using my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card which is running a promotion where you can use points to erase Airbnb.com purchases. 

The Capital One Venture X also came with a $300 credit on Airbnb.com so I used that to pay for the night in the castle.  

Now all the hotels are FREE. 

My Two Week Family Trip To Ireland Cost Only $1,000 

Step 3

I book the rental car and due to a technical issue at pick up end up paying for it on the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card so I'll end up paying for that one. 

Step 4

While on the actual trip, I use the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card to pay for all parking and dining. This card comes with a $300 travel credit so as we charge travel, it's erasing the charges. It also earns 3x points on dining and then when I return home, I erase another $700 worth of purchases with the pay myself back program.  Some may argue that you can get more value out of the points by transferring them to an airline, but it all depends on your travel plans. 

My Two Week Family Trip To Ireland Cost Only $1,000 

Step 5

I rent my house when I go on vacation and use those funds to pay for the trip too so that covers almost all the rest of the purchases less $1,000. 

Does it take some work and some planning, yep, is it worth it? Family time, memories and a chance to visit a beautiful country. I think so! 

If you want your entire trip to be FREE, you need to plan in advance and I recommend joining me at Families Fly FREE. We have teamed up with my friend and national travel blogger Lyn. She has created a simple system to help families fly free. 

If you would like to check them out, click here and let Lyn know I sent you. :)

If you are thinking about applying for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, please use my referral link. 

If you are thinking about applying for the Capital One Venture X credit card, please use my referral link. 

 

Two New Chase Credit Card Offers Available Now

 

Two great new offers from Chase today! Probably the highest ever bonus offer we have ever seen for the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card, 80,000 points. Wow! 80,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points can be worth up to $1,000 in travel or right now, $925 in FREE groceries. 

So who is eligible for this card? According to Chase, if you have never held a Sapphire credit card before, you are eligible OR if it's been at least 48 months since you have held a Sapphire credit card, you are eligible. 

The fine details include a $95 annual fee which is not waived for the first year and $4,000 minimum spend in the first three months. 

The Sapphire Preferred is one of my favorite travel cards because Ultimate Rewards points are so flexible. You can transfer them to dozens of airlines plus several hotel chains. You can also use them in the Chase travel portal with a 25% bonus. Through the end of the month, you can also pay yourself back by using the points at a 25% bonus to erase grocery purchases. 

If the $4,000 minimum spend is to much for you, then take a look at the new Chase Freedom Flex. The new Freedom Flex comes with a $200 bonus after a $500 minimum spend in the first 3 months also. Plus 5% on groceries up to a max of $12,000 in the first year, unfortunately, Target and Walmart are excluded from the bonus. There is no annual fee. It will also include the rotating 5% cashback categories and the new bonus categories included with the Unlimited card. 

The Flex card is considered a new product since it will be a Mastercard instead of a Visa so if you currently have a Freedom or Freedom Unlimited card, you are eligible to apply for this card as a new customer rather than upgrade and secure the bonus.

Two great offers from Chase, which one are you going to take advantage of?

What Is A Transfer Bonus And How Can It Mean Big Savings For You

 

One of the top reasons, we love Chase Ultimate Rewards points is because they are so flexible. You can use them in the travel portal to buy flights, hotels, car rentals and even cruises. You can also transfer them to dozens of different airlines and several hotel chains. 

And sometimes, Chase offers bonus points when you transfer your Chase Ultimate Reward points to specific partners. You can get as many as 100% bonus points. When the bonus offer coincides with a fare sale, then wow! 

Like right now, Virgin Atlantic and FlyingBlue are doing a fare sale and Chase is offering a 40% bonus to Virgin. 

What does this mean? Take a look at some of these fares being offered by Virgin. 

• Heathrow to LAX for just 9,000 Virgin points. 

If you were to take advantage of the transfer bonus, just 7,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points would equal approximately 9,000- 10,000 Virgin Atlantic points. Wow! You could transfer a few more points and fly Premium or Upper Class.

To transfer Chase points:

• Login to your Chase.com account
• Click on redeem points 
• Hover over travel and click on transfer to travel partners
• Click on the partner you want to transfer points TO
• Enter your membership information
• Your name must match exactly! 
• Enter the number of points you want to transfer (must be in increments of 1,000)
• Confirm
• The transfer should happen almost immediately

Word of advice, do NOT transfer points until you know how you are going to use the points. You CANNOT get them back. 

Chase transfer partners are a great way to make that bucket list trip affordable.

One of our favorite Chase Ink Business cards, the Business Unlimited, has a points promotion ending on November 7th. The minimum spend is $6,000, there is no annual fee and the bonus is 90,000 points which equals $900, but if you hold a Chase Sapphire Reserve or Preferred card, you can squeeze more value out of this one. The Chase Sapphire Preferred is also offering a bonus $300 travel credit right now which is an amazing offer. 

If you would like help planning your bucket list trip, reach out to me. I'll help you use points and miles to make your memorable trip affordable. 

One of the best benefits of the no fee Chase FREEDOM family of cards is the rotating 5% categories. Every quarter, Chase offers bonus points categories where you earn 5x Chase Ultimate Rewards points on those purchases. The categories include streaming services, Amazon, gas purchases, wholesale clubs and more. 

Chase Ultimate Rewards points are one of my favorites due to their flexibility. You can transfer them to dozens of airlines, a few hotels including Hyatt, use them to buy FREE travel through the Chase Travel Portal or just get cash back. 

How You Can Earn Bonus Points On Gas Purchases

Plus if you partner the card with a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve card, you increase the value of the points again. Read about my trick on how to do that here.  and which one I prefer. 

Now is the time to activate the bonus categories for Q3. You have until September 14th to activate and it is retroactive, but I usually do it right away. 

The categories for Q3 are:

• Gas Stations - nice way to make up for the high cost of gas! 
• Rental Car Agencies - good for summer travel 
• Movie Theatres - great for summer!
• Select Live Entertainment

Definitely make a note that when I checked the Chase website for clarification on car rental agencies, car rentals booked through travel agencies, discount travel sites, vacation clubs, tour operators or as part of a package will not count. 

If you book through Costco.com which is my favorite way to book, I think it should still count since you pay at the car rental agency and not thru Costco. 

How You Can Earn Bonus Points On Gas Purchases

Live Entertainment includes tickets for in person entertainment like sporting events, zoos aquariums, concerts, theatre, museums, concerts, theatre, tourist attractions, amusement parks, carnivals, bands and entertainers. NOT included in this category are bowling alleys, horse racing, casinos and dance clubs. Ticket agencies selling on behalf of the venue are included. 

So live it up this summer and remember to use your Chase FREEDOM card to rack up the points for future FREE travel! Woohoo. 

If you do not have a Chase FREEDOM Unlimited or FLEX, use my referral link and you will get a $200 bonus when you spend just $500 in the first 3 months. This is the perfect no annual fee card and a great go to card. Plus if you max out the bonus categories and transfer them to your Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you increase the value of the points. 

If you don't have the Chase Sapphire Preferred card yet, it's one of my faves. Right now, you can earn a bonus 60,000 points for a $4,000 minimum spend. Not as great an offer as the 80,000 points I told you about last month, but still worth $750 in the travel portal. Please consider using my referral link if you decide to apply. 

By the way, AlmostFREEFamilyTravel has teamed up with Families Fly FREE to bring more value to you. If you would like to check them out, click here and let Lyn know I sent you. :) 

Plus I am launching another program and you are the first to hear about it! I know so many women who want to travel, but are worried about the cost, traveling alone and safety. So I am launching a Beta program and looking for 5 women to join me! 

The program involves Lyn's simple Families Fly FREE process plus a graduation trip using points and miles to get you started on your new travel habit. 

If you are interested, fill out this form to get the conversation started. 

I am offering $200 off Lyn's Families Fly FREE simple system program for this Beta test cohort only (you must sign up for Lyn's program using my referral link to get the discount) in exchange for your feedback on the program PLUS you will have access to graduation trips with future cohorts as my special guest.

Hope you will consider joining me for this exciting new Beta test cohort program! 

 

How To Get 5x Points On Your Amazon Purchases

By the end of 2019, 112 million people shopped at Amazon.com. Wow! That's incredible. I don't know about you, but since the pandemic started, I tend to order from Amazon rather than head to the store. 

One of my favorite go-to credit cards offers rotating bonus categories. For Q3, Chase Freedom is offering you 5x points on your Amazon and Whole Foods purchases. You cannot find Amazon on the regular shopping portals so this is a great benefit. 

Your purchase will still count towards Amazon Smile. 

In past years, Amazon was included in Q4 for holiday shopping, but this year, they offered it a quarter early. 

You must register your Chase FREEDOM here. Registration opens on June 15th. 

Why Chase FREEDOM is one of my favorites

The Chase FREEDOM card is my go-to no annual fee card. You earn 1% cashback in the form of Chase Ultimate Reward Points for every purchase. And every quarter, Chase adds bonus categories that earn 5% cashback. Cashback categories range from gas stations to Amazon to Paypal. You are able to earn $75 cashback on $1,500 in purchases across the three categories. Chase will even keep track on the website. You do need to activate each quarter which you can also do through the website with just one click. Registration opens on June 15th. Then you can redeem your points for cashback. If you have the Chase Ink, Chase Sapphire or Chase Sapphire Preferred, you can transfer the points to airlines, hotels and use the Chase travel portal. Right now, Chase is offering $200 bonus cash back when you open this card and spend $500 in the first 3 months. 

Is The New Southwest Companion Pass Offer Right For You?

 

If you are dreaming about visiting someplace like Yosemite National Park this summer, you might be tempted to jump on Chase's new Southwest Companion Pass offer. But let's talk for a minute about whether this offer is the right one for you.

The Southwest Companion pass is a BOGO on any Southwest flight anytime for up to two years. You earn it by accumulating 135,000 Southwest points in a calendar year. 

We recommend applying for two Chase Southwest credit cards, one personal and one business, to earn the pass. I have had this pass for 6 years and have saved thousands of dollars. Last year, I didn't have the pass and I regretted it greatly. 

The new offer is to apply for the Chase Southwest Plus personal credit card, spend the $4,000 minimum and then earn a bonus of 30,000 points and the companion pass for one year. 

Is The New Southwest Companion Pass Offer Right For You? 

So let's compare the new offer with the regular companion pass method we recommend and see how it stacks up so you can decide if it is right for you. 

There are three Chase Southwest personal credit cards, the Plus, Priority and Premier. The bonus offers on these cards range from 40,000 points up to 75,000 points. The minimum spend ranges from $1,000 to $3,000. The cards range in annual fees from $69 to $149. There are varied benefits on each card. 

You can only hold one personal card at a time and you can only get the bonus offer once every 24 months. Chase will also only approve you for 5 cards every 24 months.  

There are also two Chase Southwest business credit cards, the Performance and the Premier Business. The bonus offers range from 60,000 points to 80,000 points and the minimum spend ranges from $3,000 to $5,000. The annual fees range from $99 to $199. 

Is The New Southwest Companion Pass Offer Right For You? 

Usually I recommend applying for one personal card and one business card to earn the companion pass. The minimum spend for the two cards can be as low as $4,000 and as high as $8,000 depending on the offers. You can earn as many as 155,000 Southwest points and as few as 110,000 points. The annual fee for two cards can be as low as $168 or as high as $348. The companion pass is valid for up to two years. 

This new offer is only for the Chase Southwest Plus credit card with an annual fee of $69 and a minimum spend of $4,000. The bonus offer is 30,000 points plus the companion pass. The pass is valid through February 28, 2024. 

So is this new offer right for you? Like everything we talk about, it really depends on you and your travel plans. The pros of this offer are that it is simple, one card, one minimum, one bonus. The cons are that the pass is only good for one year instead of two years. You only earn 30,000 points instead of lots more. 

Let us know what you decide to do. And if you decide to jump on this offer, please consider using my referral link.  

New $1,000 Bonus Travel Offer On Capital One Venture

 

Great new offer from Capital One! 

Apply for the Capital One Venture credit card and get $250 to use as a travel credit in the Capital One travel portal plus 75,000 points. That's $1,000 in free travel. Wow! The minimum spend is still $4,000 and the annual fee is just $95. 

This offer is equivalent to the Venture X offer, but the annual fee is $300 less. Amazing! 

Read here about my hack to use travel purchases to reach the minimum spend and erase them BEFORE you have to pay. It's crazy!

This is my go to credit card for any purchases that don't earn bonus points on the Chase FREEDOM or Sapphire Reserve credit cards. The Capital One Venture card earns 2x points on all purchases. The beauty of these flexible points is you can transfer points to a dozen different airlines including my new fave FlyingBlue.com, a few hotel chains and of course, you can erase travel purchases. 

The travel credit is only good for travel purchases made in the Capital One Travel portal, but I have found that the portal has improved and is actually quite reliable and easy to use. 

I actually got this card when we were going on a family trip to Costa Rica. By family, I mean extended family trip, you know, like a group of 20 people. The deal was everyone had to pay for their own airfare, but then once in Costa Rica, the trip would be a gift. Pretty sweet! The only other catch is we all had to fly on the same Delta flight. Since I didn't have enough Delta miles for 5 round trip airline tickets, my husband and I each applied for the Capital One Venture card. We charged the plane tickets and everything else to those cards to meet the minimum spend and we ended up getting three of the tickets FREE. 

Now I still like this card, however, I like the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve cards better. Here's why:

• Capital One every purchase earns 2 points per dollar
• Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve - most purchases earn 1:1, but dining and travel earn 2:1 and there are categories where you can earn 5:1 if you have Chase FREEDOM, FLEX or INK cards. 
• Capital One points value are 1:1 when you use them to erase purchases
• Chase Sapphire Preferred values points at 1:1.25 if you use them in the travel portal or as a statement credit
• Chase Sapphire Reserve values points at 1:1.5 if you use them in the travel portal or as a statement credit 
• Capital One and Chase offer 1:1 transfer values to airline miles, but Chase offers way more partner airlines and hotels. 

I still think the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve offer more flexibility than the Capital One.  But if you already have the Sapphire cards or the airline partners on the Capital One list work better for you, this is a great option. 

If you decide to give this one a go, consider using my referral link. You get the same great bonus offer and I get a little something for referring you and can use it to bring you more great ideas on how to travel for Almost FREE. 

If you would like to join my travel coaching program, you can use this link.   I would love to help you and your family travel for almost FREE. Use the promo code FREETRAVEL for $50 off.