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How do you maximize your CC points?
Posted on 9/27/26 at 8:46 am
Posted on 9/27/26 at 8:46 am
My main CC point driver has been Chase, and I used the points primarily to take advantage of the travel bonus/savings through Chase Travel. Now that it's gone, I'm looking to the best avenue to use points.
My other cards have probably $3k in accumulated points, and I just sit on them without a plan. My discovery was usually low and they would often have 10% off Fandango at Home gift cards, and I'd use the points to buy discounted cards to use on my streaming collection. Now that Capital One bought Discover, I've come to realize the Capital One gift card discount selection sucks.
I have OnePay to get the 5% from Walmart and its kind of useless. Clearly a card marketed towards poor people b/c they want you to put the points in savings or crypto accounts. I guess I should just cash out those points and put it in an actual account on my Charles Schwab
My other cards have probably $3k in accumulated points, and I just sit on them without a plan. My discovery was usually low and they would often have 10% off Fandango at Home gift cards, and I'd use the points to buy discounted cards to use on my streaming collection. Now that Capital One bought Discover, I've come to realize the Capital One gift card discount selection sucks.
I have OnePay to get the 5% from Walmart and its kind of useless. Clearly a card marketed towards poor people b/c they want you to put the points in savings or crypto accounts. I guess I should just cash out those points and put it in an actual account on my Charles Schwab
Posted on 9/27/26 at 8:50 am to SlowFlowPro
quote:
Now that it's gone
I guess you mean the reversion to 1.0x redemption value and you have to find the point boost options?
I still use chase and transfer to travel partners directly
Posted on 9/27/26 at 8:56 am to UltimaParadox
quote:
I guess you mean the reversion to 1.0x redemption value and you have to find the point boost options?
yes because the boost is random and doesn't seem to ever be available when I need it
Posted on 9/27/26 at 8:57 am to SlowFlowPro
Amex business plat. 35% back on all flights we book with our chosen airline. So we get back 3-5k a year just from that benefit.
Posted on 9/27/26 at 9:16 am to SlowFlowPro
i use cards that do cashback rewards. Then invest the cashback (about $2,300/yr) and retire early.
Posted on 9/27/26 at 10:00 am to SlowFlowPro
quote:
Now that it's gone, I'm looking to the best avenue to use points.
Wait, what? I've relegated my Sapphire to places that don't accept Amex and haven't used points in a couple of years.
They did away with the UR travel booking bonus?
Posted on 9/27/26 at 11:13 am to Lsut81
quote:
Wait, what? I've relegated my Sapphire to places that don't accept Amex and haven't used points in a couple of years.
They did away with the UR travel booking bonus?
They changed it to a "point boost" system only available on specific items
LINK
A non-Chase articlea bout it and how from October 2025 to April 2026 they've already made major drawbacks
quote:
As a reminder, at launch the floor was 1.5cpp. It’s now dropped to 1.15cpp, with there being another lower-than-1.5cpp tier at 1.3cpp. It’ll therefore be important to do the math when you do see Points Boost rates listed as Chase doesn’t list the redemption ratios.
quote:
Chase appears to have devalued Points Boosts for both hotel and flight bookings. While there’s still good value that can be had, those opportunities seem to be far less common than they once were and Points Boost redemptions now drop as low as 1.15cpp.
Nerdwallet: Chase’s Points Boost on Flights Is a Massive Points Bust
quote:
We checked 81 domestic and international roundtrip itineraries covering 13,316 departure flights. Selected routings included airports to target both Chase partners (including United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, British Airways and Air Canada) and non-partner hubs. Here’s what we found.
Fewer than 10% of flights qualified for Points Boost. Out of more than 13,000 flights, only 1,259 (9.5%) had at least one seat that qualified for Points Boost pricing, which is primarily available on premium economy and first class seats.
Only 3% of the Points Boost itineraries were in economy. All of the economy tickets we found were in United’s Economy Plus (economy with upgraded legroom). The remaining 97% of flights were in business or first class.
The prices for those economy tickets were sometimes outrageously high; Numerous flights were priced higher on United economy with Points Boost than a first class ticket cost without Points Boost. If you want to fly economy, it now appears that your points will be worth 1 cent each when booking flights through Chase.
More than 80% of the Points Boost options we found were on United Airlines. Other airlines that appeared include Air Canada, Emirates, EVA, Qantas and LATAM. No Points Boost options were found for Chase partners Southwest Airlines and British Airways, or non-partners Delta Air Lines, American Airlines or Alaska Airlines.
For most domestic first class tickets, we found the pricing comparable between Chase’s travel portal and booking direct with United. These tickets appear to be the one potential spot of value in the new Points Boost program.
Posted on 9/27/26 at 11:19 am to SlowFlowPro
It’s all coming to an end in retirement, but as much as I travel for work having a United card (always fly out of IAH) and Marriott card has been a dream. My wife and I take a couple vacations a year and never pay for the flight or hotel.
Posted on 9/27/26 at 11:22 am to BabyTac
I've thought about channeling my inner Up in the Air and becoming brand loyal to a hotel chain. I don't travel a great deal for it to really impact my life, though. Flying out of LC (not a requirement with HOU/NO so close) only permits me 2 flying options (United/AA)
Posted on 9/27/26 at 11:25 am to SlowFlowPro
If you don’t travel much, the hotel points don’t add up fast enough to amount to much. I’ll prob cancel the card and look into something else once work travel ends.
If you live in a major hub tho, the airline card is worth keeping for perks and priorities.
If you live in a major hub tho, the airline card is worth keeping for perks and priorities.
This post was edited on 9/27/26 at 11:27 am
Posted on 9/27/26 at 1:35 pm to SlowFlowPro
quote:
becoming brand loyal to a hotel chain
One of the smartest pieces of advice I got 21 years ago was to be loyal to a hotel chain (Marriott in my case,) and it didn't matter which.
COVID killed my work travel, so I have no status anywhere anymore (been on *A since 2008.) However, if I'm burning UR or AMEX points, it's business class travel overseas. The points boost issue doesn't seem to have as big of an impact on my plans for 2027.
Posted on 9/27/26 at 2:03 pm to SlowFlowPro
It’s sad that we are clearly past the golden age of credit card points. It was a good run while it lasted.
Posted on 9/27/26 at 2:41 pm to Joshjrn
I think the Flyertalk premium forum is a decent replacement. I've always been a bit perplexed by people that crow about getting a "free" flight to Vegas ($229 fare) with points. To me, that's never been the point. It's getting the $5k seat for a long haul for "free."
Posted on 9/27/26 at 2:51 pm to LemmyLives
quote:
I think the Flyertalk premium forum is a decent replacement. I've always been a bit perplexed by people that crow about getting a "free" flight to Vegas ($229 fare) with points. To me, that's never been the point. It's getting the $5k seat for a long haul for "free."
Similarly, for me, it was always to experience things I otherwise wouldn’t have been inclined to justify the expense for. I’ve stayed at thousand dollar a night hotels for pennies on the dollar. But now, booking things for “free” is nice, but I’m flying and staying exactly as I would have, otherwise.
Posted on 9/27/26 at 3:57 pm to Joshjrn
I am noticing the return of sign up bonuses. I've seen them get up to $300 lately
Posted on 9/27/26 at 5:10 pm to SlowFlowPro
quote:
f sign up bonuses. I've seen them get up to $300 lately
The annual fees are beyond the pale at the Reserve/Platinum level. Priority Pass is a complete joke at IAH.
Posted on 9/27/26 at 5:14 pm to SlowFlowPro
quote:
I am noticing the return of sign up bonuses. I've seen them get up to $300 lately
I don’t remember them going away.
Posted on 9/28/26 at 7:28 am to SlowFlowPro
I have CapitalOne Venture X. They normally have 25% discounted gift cards. I normally wait until Lowe’s, Home Depot or Apple get a discount
Posted on 9/28/26 at 7:38 am to LemmyLives
quote:
The annual fees are beyond the pale at the Reserve/Platinum level. Priority Pass is a complete joke at IAH.
I only do signup bonus cards with no annual fee, FWIW
Posted on 9/28/26 at 7:39 am to notiger1997
quote:
I don’t remember them going away.
When interest rates were super low around Covid I remember them getting stingy. I went a few years without signing up for a new card. Ended up with a Whitney card which was a huge mistake. The worst rewards on Earth and they didn't even pay me the bonus.
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