Great News! Bilt Adds Southwest As A Transfer Partner

 

If you are renting, you should have a Bilt credit card! You can read all about the Bilt card here. For renters, it is a no brainer way to rack up flexible points every month. Those points can be transferred just like Chase Ultimate Reward points, Citi points, Amex points and Capital One points to dozens of airlines and hotels.

Great News! Bilt Adds Southwest As A Transfer Partner

 

And now Bilt has added Southwest Airlines as one of its transfer partners. 

The only other flexible points you can transfer to Southwest Airlines are Chase Ultimate Reward points. 

The points transfer 1:1 meaning 1 Bilt point = 1 Southwest point same as Chase Ultimate Reward points to Southwest points. 

The points do not count towards the Southwest Companion Pass. 

Let's say you spend $2,500 per month on rent. If you pay your rent through the Bilt app with your Bilt credit card, you will earn $2,500 Bilt points or 2,500 Southwest points per month. You need to make at least 5 transactions per month on your Bilt credit card to qualify.  

So after three months, you would have 7,500 Bilt points which you could transfer to Southwest and use them for flights like three one way flights from San Diego to San Francisco. Now that Southwest Travel Credits expire, you should always use points to buy flights. If you use points on Southwest and cancel a flight, the points are returned to your account. Southwest points never expire. 

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. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

What To Do When You Get Pending On Your Credit Card Application

 

You press the submit button for the Southwest credit card application and the wheel starts spinning and then you get the dreaded "pending review" message. Argh. 

The next message says you will receive a letter in 7-10 days regarding your application decision. Argh

What To Do When You Get Pending On Your Credit Card Application 

So now what? Lately, several of my clients have received these messages and then just this week, I got them too. Argh. 

But don't give up. Here's what you need to do. There are a few reasons why your credit card application may end up in review. 

1. Too much credit 

2. Not enough income 

3. 5/24 or too many credit cards opened 

Reason #1 - the easiest to reconcile. If you call the reconsideration line for the Chase Southwest credit card 888 270 2127 and 800 278 8830, the representatives will usually advise you to move credit lines around or close a few cards. 

Reason #2 - you can use both your salary, your partner's salary and your business income so let the representative know that you have more income you can add to  your application. 

Reason #3 - offer to close some credit cards. Never close your oldest card, but maybe some no annual fee cards that you just never got around to closing. 

Then the representative will resubmit your application and you wait again. 

What To Do When You Get Pending On Your Credit Card Application 

Right now, you can get 50,000 - 80,000 Southwest points for opening a personal or business credit card. You can only hold one personal Southwest credit card at a time, but you can actually hold both business cards. 

You can read here about the easiest way to earn the Southwest Companion Pass which is BOGO flights for up to two years. It's the best travel perk around and the way things are going with changes to Southwest, it may not be around forever. 

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. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

 

Already Have the Chase Sapphire Preferred? Here’s How You Can Still Get the 100,000 Point Bonus

 

By now, you have probably heard about the incredible 100,000 bonus point offer on the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card. This is already one of my favorite travel credit cards and with this high bonus offer, wow! 

But what happens if you already have the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card? Are you shut out of this amazing offer?

Not necessarily. 

You are qualified to earn a bonus on the Sapphire Preferred credit card every 48 months. So you need to check to see when you earned the bonus the last time on the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card you are holding. If you are holding the Sapphire Reserve credit card, you can only hold one Sapphire card at a time so you will need to either cancel or downgrade this card as well before you can apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card. Although there are some reasons why you may NOT want to do this. 

 

You can two that two ways:

1. Check your AlmostFREEFamilyTravel personal tracker which you get included for FREE as part of our coaching program. 

2. Check your credit report. Several credit cards and banks offer a free credit report or you can check once a year on annualcreditreport.com 

If it's been more than 48 months since you earned the bonus, then you are qualified to earn it again.

But you can't just apply since you can only hold one Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card at a time, you must do the following first:

1. Call the Chase phone number on the back of your Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card

2. Ask to downgrade the card - DO NOT CANCEL. Why? If you downgrade, you can apply as soon as you get your new credit card, you will also keep your card number in case you have any automatic charges and you will keep any Chase Ultimate Reward points you have on this account. If you cancel, you will need to wait at least 30 days to apply for your new card, you will lose your number and your points. 

3. You should downgrade to either the Chase FREEDOM FLEX or the CHASE FREEDOM UNLIMITED credit cards. Both are no annual fee credit cards. The big difference is that the FLEX has quarterly 5x bonus categories and the UNLIMITED earns 1.5x points on all purchases. 

4. Wait two weeks and then apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card. 

Woohoo! Now what can you do with 100,000 CUR points, check it out here. 

As always, if you need more guidance, please join our Travel Coaching Program, you can find out more about our personal coaching here. Use FREETRAVEL for $50 off the cost. 

Why You Shouldn't Care About Southwest Travel Credits Expiring

Southwest has announced yet another change to the beloved airline and customers are hopping mad. But here's why we don't care about this change either. 

A few weeks ago, I told you why we didn't care about the change Southwest made to how many points you earn when you fly. And now they are changing the expiration date policy for travel credits. 

But we don't care about this one either because we never have any travel credits. I'll tell you why in a minute. 

Why You Shouldn't Care About Southwest Travel Credits Expiring

First, the new policy will go into effect with tickets purchased or changed starting on May 28, 2025.  

• After that date, travel credits will expire 12 months from the date of the original ticket purchase. 
• Travel credits from the new basic economy fares will expire just 6 months from date of original ticket purchase. 

Here's where it gets tricky, if you buy a Basic Economy fare ticket 6 months in advance and cancel, you will get no credit at all. The ticket basically becomes non refundable. Ouch. 

Gone is the Southwest Airlines that we knew and loved. 

Why You Shouldn't Care About Southwest Travel Credits Expiring

So what should you do? 

The hack is to always use points to buy your Southwest flights. This way, you never get stuck with a travel credit. If you cancel, your points are just returned to your Southwest account. No problem! 

The easiest way right now to get a ton of Southwest points is to apply for my favorite travel credit card, the Chase Sapphire Preferred. The new offer is a whopping 100,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points for $5,000 minimum spend in the first three months. 

• This card carries only a $95 annual fee
• You get a $50 hotel credit in the Chase Travel Portal
• 25% more value in the Chase Travel Portal 
• 5x points on hotels booked in the Chase Travel Portal
• 2x points on travel purchases
• 3x points on dining purchases

And you can transfer the Chase Ultimate Reward points to a dozen different airlines and several hotel chains including Southwest. 

What can you do with 100,000 Southwest points? How about flying from Washington DC to San Diego ten times?

That's pretty crazy, right? And if you are part of our travel coaching program and monthly live zoom sessions, you know how to book the lowest point flight and then change to a better flight without spending any more points. 

So now you can see that there are still work arounds so all the LUV is not gone from Southwest Airlines. 

As always, if you need more guidance, please join our Travel Coaching Program, you can find out more about our personal coaching here. 

Use FREETRAVEL for $50 off the cost. 

How You Can Squeeze More Value Out Of 100,00 Chase Points

 

One of the questions I get all the time is about the value of points and miles. Since the value changes for each type of points and miles, it's hard to figure out their worth. 

But with the new whopping 100,000 bonus offer on the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card, let's take a look at the value of those points specifically to figure out what they are worth.  

I love Chase Ultimate Reward points because they are what I like to call flexible points. Flexible because you can use them in many different ways depending on where you want to travel. Chase advertises that 100,000 points are worth $1,250 of travel. 

But they actually could be worth much more. 

Let's take a look at the different ways you can use the points. 

You can: 

• transfer them to dozens of hotels and airlines
• you can use them in the Chase Travel Portal
• you can use them for statement credit or cash back 

If you choose to use the points for a statement credit or cash back, they are worth $1,000. Pretty good, right? 

But if you choose to use the points to purchase flights, hotels, car rentals, cruises and tours then your points are worth $1,250 because Chase gives you 25% more value when you use your points to book travel in the portal. The portal is similar to using Expedia. That's a pretty good deal. 

But the best deal could be transferring your points to one of a dozen different airlines or Hyatt, Marriott or IHG. You can read about how I used them to take my family to Ireland. 

• The sweet spot is transferring these points to FlyingBlue.com which is the loyalty program for Air France and KLM. You can see a one way flight is priced for just 20,000 points from Washington DC to Amsterdam. Recently, I was able to snag a flight from Athens to LAX for just 15,000 points and $90. This flight was being sold for more than $700. 
• Or transfer the points to Hyatt to snag a hotel room for as low as 3,500 points per night. 
• Or transfer the points to Jet Blue and fly from California to New York for just 13,500 points each way. Wow! 

Now you are squeezing thousands of dollars out of those 100,000 points. Plus the Chase Sapphire Preferred comes with an annual $50 hotel credit when you reserve through the portal. The annual fee on this card is only $95 so it's really a no brainer. 

The fine print, you can only get this bonus once every four years and you can only hold one Sapphire branded credit card at a time. This 100,000 bonus offer requires you to spend $5,000 in the first three months so if you have any big purchases coming up soon, you might want to think about applying. 

As always, if you need more guidance, please join our Travel Coaching Program, you can find out more about our personal coaching here. Use FREETRAVEL for $50 off the cost. 

 

Huge Bonus Offer On My Favorite Travel Card

 

Dreaming about where you are going to travel for summer vacation? Well, you might want to jump on the huge bonus offer just announced by my favorite travel card Chase Sapphire Preferred.

The new offer is a whopping 100,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points for $5,000 minimum spend in the first three months. 

• This card carries only a $95 annual fee
• You get a $50 hotel credit in the Chase Travel Portal
• 25% more value in the Chase Travel Portal 
• 5x points on hotels booked in the Chase Travel Portal
• 2x points on travel purchases
• 3x points on dining purchases

What can you do with 100,000 CUR points? First, these points can be worth up to $1,250 if you spend them in the Chase Travel Portal. If you transfer them to an airline or hotel, they could be worth even more. Read about how I used CUR points for a family trip to Ireland. 

The Sapphire Reserve vs the Preferred is usually a choice you have to make, but this offer is only for the Preferred and it's a great card. Even better, if your partner has the Reserve, you can combine points to squeeze out even more value. 

You can only apply for this card once every 4 years and you can only hold one Chase Sapphire card at a time. This card also follows the rules of 5/24, you will only be approved for 5 cards in 24 months. 

So if you have a big purchase coming up or tuition for a school or summer camp, this may be your chance to also score some FREE travel! 

As always, if you need more guidance, please join our Travel Coaching Program, you can find out more about our personal coaching here. Use FREETRAVEL for $50 off the cost.