If you’re considering signing up for a travel credit card, consider transferring points to transfer partners and cash back. However, you should first consider the number of miles you’ll earn with your new credit card before you make your decision. Then you can calculate the value of your miles in terms of flight costs and cash back. By doing so, you’ll be able to decide which rewards are worth the most and which ones aren’t.
Bank of America Travel Rewards credit card
The American express platinum card allows you to redeem reward points for cash, gift cards, or statement credits. They can be redeemed for travel-related purchases, like hotels, flights, car rentals, and vacation packages. And unlike some other cards, there are no blackout dates when using your rewards. Redeeming your points is easy, too. All you need to do is use your card.
With the Bank of America Travel Rewards credit card, you can spend your reward points on a variety of activities, including dining, amusement parks, museums, and art galleries. Its no-annual-fee feature allows you to earn unlimited amounts of reward points for every purchase. You’ll never have to worry about reaching a cap on your reward amounts, either. And because your points will never expire, you can use your rewards on anything you want to do.
Earning potential
When you earn reward points on a travel card, you can use those points for a number of different things. You can either opt to receive them as cash back on your statement, book travel using the points you’ve accrued, or transfer them to partner travel programs. As you’re accruing points, consider your options carefully. You might end up saving them for a later date. You may find that you’d rather spend them on other things, such as a trip to the zoo.
Many rewards cards have a welcome bonus. For example, a 60,000-point welcome bonus is worth $600 in travel or statement credit. That’s almost double the normal value of 60,000 points. In addition, the bonus is transferable to partner hotels and airline partners. If you can transfer the points, you’ll be rewarded with even higher earnings. Ultimately, earning potential is the key to maximizing the value of your points, so make sure you’re choosing a travel card with a high value per point.
Gift cards or merchandise
Redeeming reward points of a travel card for gift cards or merchandise is not always the best choice. For example, a $100 gift card from The Cheesecake Factory costs ten thousand points, while a $25 Krispy Kreme doughnuts card is worth only three hundred points, or $42. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t redeem your points for something you would actually use. After all, a gift card is just as good as cash!
To redeem reward points from a travel card, you must log in to the online portal of the travel credit card issuer. This will give you a list of the various redemption options and their values. Depending on the program, your rewards can gain or lose value. In Chase’s case, boosted points value can be used for travel purchases. In this case, you can choose the desired redemption option and redeem your points for gift cards or merchandise.