PointChaser

Beginner’s Guide

This series will teach you all you need to know about points, miles, and free travel.

  1. Points and Miles Beginner’s Guide: Sign up for a New Email Account
  2. Points and Miles Beginner’s Guide: Join Airline and Hotel Loyalty Programs
  3. Points and Miles Beginner’s Guide: Sign up for Point Management Accounts
  4. Points and Miles Beginner’s Guide: Sign up for Survey Sites
  5. Points and Miles Beginner’s Guide: Shopping Portals
  6. Points and Miles Beginner’s Guide: Insurance Quotes and Purchase Bonuses
  7. Points and Miles Beginner’s Guide: Rewards Credit Cards
  8. Points and Miles Beginner’s Guide: Maximizing Credit Card Category Bonuses
  9. Points and Miles Beginner’s Guide: Qualifying and Applying For Business Credit Cards
  10. Points and Miles Beginner’s Guide: Maximizing Household Spending
  11. Points and Miles Beginner’s Guide: Dining Rewards Programs
  12. Points and Miles Beginner’s Guide: Banking Miles
  13. Points and Miles Beginner’s Guide: Financial Products
  14. Points and Miles Beginner’s Guide: Maximizing Large Purchases
  15. Points and Miles Beginner’s Guide: How to Meet Large Credit Card Spending Requirements
  16. Points and Miles Beginner’s Guide: Airline Elite Status
  17. Points and Miles Beginner’s Guide: Fast Track to Hotel Elite Status
  18. Points and Miles Beginner’s Guide: Airport Club Lounge Access
  19. Newbie Guide To Manufactured Spending: FAQ
  20. Newbie Guide To Manufactured Spending: Walmart Money Orders
  21. Newbie Guide To Manufactured Spending: American Express Gift Cards
  22. Newbie Guide To Manufactured Spending: American Express For Target
  23. Newbie Guide To Manufactured Spending: Visa And Mastercard Gift Cards
  24. Newbie Guide To Manufactured Spending: Green Dot MoneyPak
  25. Newbie Guide To Manufactured Spending: REloadit Cards
  26. Newbie Guide To Manufactured Spending: Paypal My Cash Reload Card
  27. Newbie Guide To Manufactured Spending: Vanilla Reload Cards
  28. Newbie Guide To Manufactured Spending: Prepaid Cards And How To Cash Them Out
  29. Newbie Guide To Manufactured Spending: Earning Miles With Debit Cards
  30. Best Club Carlson Hotels
  31. Best Hyatt Hotels
  32. Best Starwood Hotels
  33. Best IHG Hotels
  34. Points and Miles Beginner’s Guide: Redeeming Hotel Points:
  35. Points and Miles Beginner’s Guide: Point-earning strategies with different programs
  36. Points and Miles Beginner’s Guide: The In’s and Out’s of the Chase Ultimate Rewards Program
  37. Points and Miles Beginner’s Guide: The In’s and Out’s of the Amex Membership Rewards program
  38. Points and Miles Beginner’s Guide: Redeeming miles
  39. Other ways to travel free or cheap
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17 responses to “Beginner’s Guide”

  1. Sherry Fritsch Avatar
    Sherry Fritsch

    I would use the gift card from Carlson at the Aruba Radisson, my favorite place to vacation !

    Reply
  2. Anthony Avatar
    Anthony

    This is a great guide. I found myself signing up for many things and managing the digital login info has become a large task. May I suggest an addition to the Beginner’s Guide?

    Sign up for a password management account. This way all usernames and passwords are stored in one location and can be accessed anywhere. There are many free sites/services that exist.

    Reply
    1. PointChaser Avatar
      PointChaser

      Thanks for the tip, Anthony! I don’t use any password management accounts, so I can’t really recommend one. Please feel free to leave your own recommendation in the comment section.

      Reply
      1. Anthony Avatar
        Anthony

        I’ve used securesafe for many years for mostly business and personal passwords. Now that I’m obsessed with chasing mile and points its adds a more complex layer of needs so I’m progressing to google docs which can be accessed via desktop and mobile platforms while utilizing the 2-step authentication for added security

        Reply
        1. anthony Avatar
          anthony

          After using securesafe and then google docs to save passwords, I have progressed to 1password. So much faster using this. I manager 5 bluebirds, and multiple miles/point programs/credit cards for more than one individual.

          Reply
    2. Brad Meyer Avatar
      Brad Meyer

      Dashlane is pretty good!!

      Reply
  3. Don Avatar
    Don

    is there a way to earn points/rewards when paying my mortgage?

    Reply
    1. PointChaser Avatar
      PointChaser

      There is! Please see this post: https://www.pointchaser.com/earning-miles-on-mortgage-and-rent-payment/

      Reply
  4. Don Avatar
    Don

    If I apply for 3 credit cards and my credit score lowers by 12-15 points, how long before my score goes back up 12-15 points?

    Reply
    1. PointChaser Avatar
      PointChaser

      In the next couple of months (as your new credit line gets reported), your score will jump back up.

      Reply
  5. Don Avatar
    Don

    I have Amex Business Sky Miles Gold and Amex Starwood Preferred Guest cards. I’m thinking of applying for another 1 or 2 Amex cards. What would you suggest?

    Reply
    1. PointChaser Avatar
      PointChaser

      I’d pick up an SPG Amex Business card, since those points are valuable and hard to come by. I also like the new Amex Everyday cards. It’s all about what you’re trying to use your points for.

      Reply
  6. Bea Avatar
    Bea

    Hi, I’ve been reading your posts for a while and find lots of valuable information. This guide is awesome. However, the 20-25 links are not clickable and the resources link gives me error. Do you mind to update that please? Thanks a lot.

    Reply
    1. Ariana Arghandewal Avatar
      Ariana Arghandewal

      Thanks for letting me know Bea. It’s been a while since this page was updated, so I didn’t realize it had so many errors.

      Reply
  7. shan Avatar
    shan

    Ariana,

    Is there a email Id I could email you my question

    Reply
    1. Ariana Arghandewal Avatar
      Ariana Arghandewal

      Yes, you can email me at ariana at pointchaser.com

      Reply
  8. Agatha Avatar
    Agatha

    Ariana,
    The best blog with good tips ever.more power to you!!!Anyway,I’m a newbie in CC world esp.with points and millage. With my family getting bigger I think I have to be wise.Well at least I realized it after 36 yrs.lol!.Enough of this.Can you pls recommend the best cc to use to buy tickets to Philippines. I already have chase saphire and freedom card.But as of now I only have 40,000 points.We are planning to travel by June and I want to buy tickets maybe next next week. I hope you can help me.regards!

    Reply

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