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3 Credit Card Beginner Strategy

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Want a game plan for where to start in your travel credit card points strategy? This is our 3 Credit Card Strategy using personal credit cards. Remember to refer your player 2 to these credit cards and earn double the points PLUS a referral bonus on them!

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If you are overwhelmed with where to start with credit card point tracking here are the three cards we recommend starting with! I have all of these in my wallet right now. If you have Player 2 (P2) make sure to use your referral links to refer them to the same card to get bonus points.

This beginner method uses all personal cards so you need to track your 5/24 status. Remember to download the free Travel Freely app to manage all your cards, track your 5/24 and find new recommendations on what cards to open the further you get into collecting credit card points for free trips.

Credit Card #1 – Chase Sapphire Preferred

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card card is the card we recommend being your first travel credit card over and over again. This starter card is great for so many reasons.

You’ll earn 3X on restaurants and online groceries which is two huge spends for most families! If you book anything in the travel portal you’ll get 5X in points.

You can also combine all of your Chase points onto this card and take advantage of the 25% higher return in the travel portal. We find the biggest return is transfer out to their hotel and airline partners, like Hyatt. It also has travel protections on vehicle rentals and airfare when you pay with this card.

How to Use It: Transfer all Chase points to this card and then use the transfer partners to get the best redemption. Otherwise these points are worth 1.25 cents each in the Travel Portal

Want more information on the Chase Sapphire Preferred? Here’s an in depth look at this card!

Credit Card #2 – Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is another card I’ll always have in my wallet! You’ll get 2X on everything, so it’s easy to accumulate points when you aren’t working on a new card Sign Up Bonus. There is an annual fee of $395, but the benefits far outweigh the cost.

You’ll get Priority Pass Lounge access included with this card which is a huge benefit. Another benefit is a $300 credit annually when you book any travel with the Capital One Travel Portal. This is great for car rentals, hotel stays when a chain isn’t available etc. It also has great transfer partners so you can transfer the points and get a higher rate of return on your points!

Capital One is known to not approve new applications if you’ve had a lot of recent credit pulls, so we recommend getting this card early.

Its $95 dollar annual fee sister card Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is a great option if you don’t want the high annual fee or don’t think you need the “extras” that come with that card.

How to Use It: Use this card for all spend when you aren’t working on a Sign Up Bonus or it doesn’t fit in a bonus category on another card since you get 2X points.

Want more information on the Capital One Venture X? Here’s an in depth look at this card!

Credit Card #3 – Chase Freedom Flex

The last card is the Chase Freedom Flex® Card which is a rotating 5X points category card with NO annual fee.

This is a great card to have to compliment card #1. Collecting those 5X points then transfer to the Sapphire to make them worth 1.25 cents each.

We love that it doesn’t have an annual fee and you can really rack up major points with those 5X categories that rotate each quarter. You must activate the rotating categories each quarter.

  • Earn 5% on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
  • Earn 3% on dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery services.
  • Earn 3% on drugstore purchases.
  • Earn 1% on all other purchases.

How to Use It: Max Out the 5X rotating categories and you can get 6 Standard Hyatt Category 1 Nights for FREE every year!

The Wrap Up

This three card strategy is a great way to get your toes wet in the credit card travel points collecting. If you are looking to add to your card strategy make sure to read our post “Can I get a Business Credit Card?” to start opening business account (they don’t count towards 5/24 the majority of the time!) to collect even more points for almost free travel.

For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.

Opinions  expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.

The comments section below is not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all questions are answered.

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