Hi MPR, this is Pamela Benjamin from Miami Beach Florida. We're going to be discussing our credit card rewards strategies.

Credit cards, you know, sure they're risky and get in over your head. But if you know just a few smart approaches that have picked the right cards, you can get way more cash back free airline tickets.

One of my favorite trips is when we went to Greece and Italy for my 30th birthday. What's your favorite trip, Benjamin?

I would have to be this last spring when we went to Berlin, Prague and Vienna, also on miles. And you know, why was my favorite?

Why? We got engaged on that trip.

Yay!

This is the dream free trips around the world with people you love. Who wouldn't want that? I want that.

I'm Chris Arnold and this is your MPR life kit guide for finding money that you didn't know that you had.

This episode boosting your credit card IQ. So whether you're looking to just figure out how to get a lot more cash back to put in your pocket or find good travel deals, we're going to learn how right after this.

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One day in college, I was coming up out of the dining hall and there was this woman at a table. I still remember this. It was like this blue tablecloth and a little poster and some credit card applications.

And she said something like, you should get a credit card and I was like, okay, I guess today is the day I'm getting a credit card and that is all the thought that I put into it.

And 25 years later, I still have that same credit card in my wallet, or at least same credit card account.

And it gives me like 1% back. I use it to get airline tickets or whatever I want, which is fine.

But I'm realizing now that all of the cards in my wallet, it's a similar sort of random bunch of credit cards without any strategy behind them.

And I could be doing a lot better.

I also made this mistake before I started working at Nerd Wallet.

This is Kimberly Palmer. She's a writer with Nerd Wallet. It's a personal finance website and from the name you can probably tell it working her means that she is like 10 miles deep.

And I had to play the credit card game the right way.

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