How to Get Started With a Travel Credit Card
If you’ve never had a travel credit card before, you might not know how best to get a great first-time card. After all, you’re probably not going to want a travel credit card that requires you to put in a lot of effort if you’ve never had a travel credit card before. The good news is that there are plenty of ways to start learning how best to use a travel credit card. Here are the four things you should do if you’re trying to find your first travel credit card.
1. Look for Sign-Up Bonuses
A sign-up bonus can be a great way to jump-start your travel credit card benefits. When you have a sign-up bonus, you’ll typically have to make a certain number of purchases within a short period of time to be eligible for it. Then, you’ll get the bonus added to your account. When it comes to travel credit cards, you’ll typically get an additional number of points, which you can redeem just like the points you’ll earn otherwise.
2. Check for Extra Rewards Points
Extra rewards points are a great way to get even more out of your credit card purchases. Most of the time, you’ll start with a base reward rate of 1X, which you can then increase by making purchases in certain categories. The Marriott Bonvoy Bold credit card offers up to 14x points per dollar when you book travel at participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels, which can end up adding up very quickly.
3. Find a No-Fee Card
As a beginner in the world of travel credit cards, it might be a good idea to find a no-fee card to start. No-fee cards allow you to try out many of the benefits of travel credit cards without having to make sure you get enough value out of the card to offset the annual fee. Plus, it means you don’t have to pay anything up-front, meaning that you’re able to try out the card essentially risk-free.
4. Know When It’s Time to Move Up
When you’re just starting with a travel credit card, you’re probably going to go with a card that doesn’t offer the same high rewards and benefits that other cards may offer. That means you need to know when it’s time to upgrade to a better credit card. If you start traveling more often or you’ve started becoming interested in getting better percentages on your purchases, you might do better with a higher-value travel credit card.
Conclusion
A travel credit card can be a great way to get rewards for your traveling purchases. Many people sign up for new travel credit cards every day, and if you’ve started traveling more frequently, a travel credit card could be an amazing way to try out new methods of saving money. These four things can help you choose your first-ever travel credit card, ensuring that the card actually helps you save on all of your traveling needs.
