19. The Art of Smart Spending: Tips and Tricks to Meet Minimum Spend Requirements

Points Talk®: Your Travel Dreams, Made Possible by Points

Alex, Pam and Jess

Places & Travel, Education, Society & Culture, How To

4.9 • 734 Ratings

🗓️ 11 April 2023

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Let's talk about credit card minimum spend! This is a GAME CHANGER for racking up those valuable points and miles fast. If you're new to traveling on points, this concept may seem a bit daunting, but don't worry, we've got some tips and tricks to help you out.

First off, we define what we mean by minimum spend. It's the minimum amount you need to spend on a credit card within a specified timeframe to earn a welcome offer. For example, you may need to spend $4,000 in the first three months to earn 60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points or 75,000 Capital One Venture Miles.

Now, you may be thinking, "How on earth am I going to spend $4,000 in three months?" But the truth is, it's easier than you think. You don't need to be spending frivolously or charging things you don't need. We're talking about charging your everyday expenses like groceries, gas, utilities, phone bills, eating out, and even medical expenses. You can even prepay some bills ahead of time to give yourself a boost!

Trust us, meeting minimum spend requirements is easier than you think. Just charge your everyday expenses and pay them off in-full each month. Be sure to choose credit cards with minimum spend requirements that fit your budget, and don't go into debt just to earn points. With these tips and tricks, you'll be earning points and miles in no time!

P.S.—

Make sure to stick around until the end as we'll be sharing some of the craziest things we've done to hit minimum spend requirements. You won't want to miss it—it's sure to give you a good laugh!

Links For All Things Travel Mom Squad: stan.store/travelmomsquad

Episode Minute By Minute:

0:00 A quick challenge from Pam
0:49 Welcome and let’s define what minimum spend actually is
8:31 How to open up a new cards strategically
12:00 How traveling on points can make the big purchase better!
22:00 What Pam saves up all her points for
20:57 How to meet the minimum spend on higher minimum spend cards such as business cards
28:43 A couple small disclaimers and working your way up along the way
31:02 Here’s the craziest thing each of us done to reach a minimum spend!

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Points Talk with the Travel Mom Squad, previously known as the Travel Hacking Mom Show.
0:05.8	Follow the links in the show notes to stay up to date with what the Travel Mom Squad has been up to.
0:10.5	Points and Miles let us travel the world for nearly free.
0:13.7	We primarily get those points of miles from credit card welcome offers.
0:17.1	There is one small catch, though.
0:19.1	We have to spend a certain amount on their credit card to earn those points of miles.
0:23.2	This is called the minimum spend.
0:25.1	But what do you do when you want a credit card with a high minimum spend?
0:28.3	Keep listening to find out.
0:31.8	Welcome to the Travel Hacking Mom Show.
0:33.6	We are three moms who've discovered how to leverage credit card welcome offers to get
0:37.6	hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel expenses for nearly free. We've used credit card
0:42.6	points and miles to take vacations to places like Hawaii, Paris, Greece, the Maldives, Italy,
0:48.0	and so much more. And the best part? We each still have an 800 plus credit score. Imagine being able to
0:54.0	book a vacation without having to
0:55.5	check your bank account. It's totally possible and we're here to show you how. Hey, I'm Alex. And I'm Pam,
1:01.7	Alex's mom. And I'm Jess. We are travel hacking moms. So today we are talking all about minimum spend.
1:08.8	But before we get started, I am going to tell you what minimum
1:11.8	spend actually is. So it is the minimum amount that you have to spend in order to earn a
1:20.1	welcome offer on a new credit card. So let me give you an example. A lot of times the minimum
1:26.0	spend will be something like spend $4,000 in the first
1:31.2	three months to earn 60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points or 75,000 Capital One Venture Miles.
	...

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