Cliff Notes from Module 2 Basics of Points and Miles

Flexible Point Currencies

Flexible point currencies, such as American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One Venture Miles, Citi ThankYou Points, and Chase Ultimate Rewards, allow you the flexibility to use the points to book flights, hotels, vacation rentals, car rentals, entertainment, and cruises.

Point Expiration Guidelines

Flexible points also do not expire as long as they sit in an open account. If you need to close an account, you will want to combine the points into an account you plan to keep open before the closure to avoid losing your points.

Points associated with specific airline or hotel loyalty programs can expire due to inactivity.

Supplemental Article: How to keep your points and miles from expiring?

Minimum Spend

A minimum spend is the minimum amount of money you must spend to qualify for the sign-up bonus associated with a credit card. 

Balance transfers, annual fees, or cash advances do not count toward your minimum spend. Also, purchasing and refunding items to meet minimum spending is not advised.

Chase 5/24 Rule

To be approved for a card from Chase Bank, you must have fewer than five approved credit cards within 24 months. When you apply for any personal card from any bank, it will count toward your five cards in 24 months.

This means that you can only be approved for four personal cards in the past 24 months and still have the opportunity to be considered for Chase cards.

You need to be at 4/24 or below to apply for a business card from Chase Bank.

Being an authorized user on a partner’s account can also count toward 5/24 at times. This is why I avoid putting myself or my partner as authorized users on each other’s accounts.

Since we don't add ourselves onto our partners card as authorized users, I often load the card we are working on a minimum spend on into my Apple Wallet, or for Android users Google Pay.

Business cards from Capital One, TD Ameritrade, and Discover DO count toward 5/24.