CardWise Compass / A clearer path to free travel.
Hi {{first name | friend}}!
Today’s mistake (and fix) is an important one that people can easily forget.
Last issue, we covered annual fees and how to check whether your card is earning its keep. This week: mistake #6 is the most quietly damaging one in this series, as it can undo all the other progress we've talked about.
Estimated read time: 3 minutes
Today's Issue at a Glance:
Signal: The Chase Sapphire Preferred is still offering an all-time-high 100K bonus points (easily worth $1,500+ in travel value)
Strategy: Credit card debt or interest erases any potential benefits from points
Scenario: How a $3K unpaid balance cancels nearly half the CSP sign-up bonus
Step: One simple step that protects every point you'll ever earn
Signal
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is still offering 100K Ultimate Rewards points after spending $5K in the first 3 months, its highest bonus ever. The $95 annual fee can instantly be offset with a $100 annual hotel credit. (There’s a reason I keep sharing this offer: the bonus is going away soon and this is such a great travel card. Feel free to send friends your own referral link!) This section will rotate as deals change.
Also, if you have a small business / side hustle, the Chase Ink Business cards have no annual fee and also still have the highest sign-up bonuses ever (100K points!) right now.
Some links I share are referral links, which are a free way to support my work. But I'll always prioritize you getting the best offer, whether or not I benefit.
Strategy
If you remember one idea from this week's newsletter, let it be this:
Points and interest run in opposite directions. The goal is to let one work without the other.
Credit card interest ranges from 20-29% APR for most cards. At that rate, an unpaid balance consumes your points value outright.
The whole points world runs on one assumption: you pay in full each month. When that's true, every card can work for you. When it's not, the math flips hard and fast.
Scenario
Say you open the Chase Sapphire Preferred at the 100K point sign-up bonus referenced above. You hit the spending requirement, earn the bonus, and start planning a trip.
But in the same period, you carry a $3,000 balance at 24% APR. That's $720 in interest over the year.
At 1.5 cents per point (a good, but conservative value for Chase points), $720 in interest equals 48,000 points of value erased. Nearly half the sign-up bonus, gone.
When you pay in full, there’s zero interest, so every precious point stays yours.
Step
Set up autopay for the full statement balance on every card you carry. Not the minimum. The full balance. It takes just five minutes on your bank’s website/app, and this will never impact you. (I accidentally made this mistake once; it was a good lesson!)
If you're carrying balances right now and working through it, I'd gently suggest holding off on new cards until you're able to pay in full each month. The points world gives back far more from that position instead of playing catch-up or taking on debt.
Next issue, we'll cover mistake #7: not using your cards' existing benefits, and how to find the perks already sitting in your wallet that you might not know about.
If this was helpful, would you reply and let me know? And sharing this link with a friend who travels allows them to grab their own copy of the points guide.
Blessings, and I hope to hear from you soon!
Ross
CardWiseTravel.com