How You Can Earn 5x Points On Amazon

One of the benefits to the Chase FREEDOM FLEX credit card is the rotating 5x bonus categories. 

This means that each quarter there are 2-3 categories of purchases that earn 5x Chase Ultimate Rewards points rather than the usual 1x points. You can max out the category by spending $1,500 and earning a bonus of 7,500 points. 

So what does this look like?

This quarter the bonus categories are Amazon and select streaming services. I already get 5x bonus on streaming with my Chase Ink credit card, but I was super excited about Amazon. 

Like most of us, I order quite a bit from the online store so I let me family know that for the next quarter, all Amazon purchases should be directed to my Chase FREEDOM FLEX credit card. 

And that new couch I was thinking about purchasing, yep, bought it on Amazon for 5x points. 

If you don't have this card yet, it's a great no annual fee card to complement your Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve credit card. It's also a great starter card. Right now, there is a bonus offer of $200 when you spend $500 in the first three months. 

This is also the card you should downgrade your Chase Sapphire Preferred to if you are eligible to apply again for the amazing 100,000 point bonus offer on the Chase Sapphire Preferred. 

For more details on this amazing 100,000 bonus offer which is ending soon and what you can do with 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points, think a week in Hawaii or Europe, click here. 

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. 

Have Southwest Flight Credits? Stop Giving Southwest Your Money

 

I met with a client recently who asked me why Southwest Airlines charged her 23,000 points and $185 for a round trip flight from San Diego to Phoenix. She logged into her account so we could investigate and I noticed she had $1,372 in flight credits on Southwest. 

So now I was wondering "why was she giving Southwest any money at all?"

First, let's look at how she accumulated so many travel credits in the first place. 

How do you get travel credits on Southwest?

When you buy a flight with cash as opposed to points on Southwest and then cancel that flight, Southwest does not return your funds to your credit card instead it issues you a travel credit. 

If the price of your flight goes down and you change the flight to get the better fare, if you paid with cash, then you would get a travel credit for the difference.

Have Southwest Travel Credits? Stop Giving Southwest Your Money 

If you click on the "my account" tab inside your Southwest online account and scroll all the way to the bottom you will see your flight credits. If you always fly using points like I do, you will have no flight credits. 

But if you pay cash for flights and cancel, you will see this.

Most of the time, flight credits are not transferable which means they must be used by the same passenger as the original ticketed passenger. And starting May 28th 2025, travel credits will expire in 6-12 months depending on the type of fare. 

Have Southwest Flight Credits? Stop Giving Southwest Your Money 

If you have flight credits, then you should use them. Definitely stop giving Southwest your money and buying flights with cash. Even if you have points, use your travel credits first since you can use points for anyone and you can only use flight credits for the original passenger. 

To use flight credits, when you get to the payment section for your flight, scroll down and click apply flight credits. You will need your confirmation number which is a jumble of numbers and letters listed in the flight credits section of "my account." You can use several flight credits to pay for single flight.  

In the future, always use points to book Southwest flights. That's why we love flexible points like Chase Ultimate Rewards and Bilt points. You can transfer those to Southwest 1:1 if you need more Southwest points. If you book with points, you will never be stuck with those pesky flight credits. 

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. 

Just Got Word....My Favorite Card Is Ending It's 100,000 Bonus Offer Soon 💗

Just got word that the 100,000 bonus point offer on the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card will be ending soon. We don't know when soon is, but if you are thinking about this one. Do not wait! 

This my favorite card and Chase Ultimate Rewards are my favorite points. 

Just Got Word....My Favorite Card Is Ending It's 100,000 Bonus Offer Soon 💗 

What can you do with 100,000 Chase points? Here are some real examples:

• I flew from Athens to LAX for 15,000 Chase points + $90 taxes 
• My daughter and I flew from LAX to Medellin, Colombia for 54,000 Chase points round trip booked in the Chase Travel Portal. 
• I could transfer the points 1:1 to dozens of airlines including Southwest Airlines, what could you do with 100,000 Southwest points? How about 5 round trip flights to New York? Add the Southwest companion pass and wow! 
• I could transfer those points to Hyatt and stay at the Hyatt Regency Maui or Hyatt Vacation Club Ka'anapali for four nights. 

• Go off peak and stay at the Hyatt Place Waikiki and you could stretch those points to 7 nights FREE. 

Check out these other ways to squeeze more value out of Chase Ultimate Rewards points. 

If you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you could stretch those bonus points even further. 

The current bonus offer on the Chase Sapphire Preferred is a $5,000 minimum spend in three months. This card has a $95 annual fee, but comes with a $50 hotel credit. 

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. 

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.