79. Maximize Your Savings with Effective Travel Budgeting: Your Guide to Flexible Destinations and Deal-Hunting with Shelly Blancq (Part 2)

This is part 2 of Shelly Blancq’s series on Traveling Hacking and Budget Travel. 

Shelly discusses her experiences and strategies around credit card hacking, particularly with a focus on travel rewards. She starts with discussing how she used a Capital One card due to its straightforward points system and low barrier of entry. The Venture X card, which comes with an annual fee of $95, offers up to 60,000 to 75,000 points upon spending $3,000 in three months. These points can be used to offset travel-related purchases at a value of 1 cent per point. The speaker then transitioned to using Amex and Chase credit cards, as they offered better transfer partners, enabling more lucrative rewards. Transferring points to specific loyalty programs could result in significantly better value, she exemplified this with a flight from JFK to Chicago costing 5,000 Chase points instead of $250.

Key Points:

• Shelly highlights the Capital One Venture X card as a good starting point for those new to credit card rewards, with a low annual fee and straightforward rewards system.

• Transitioning to Amex and Chase credit cards can offer better rewards due to their better transfer partners, potentially giving significantly more value for your points.

• Shelly advocates for smart spending and strategic utilization of business credit cards and special offers to maximize points without incurring additional expenses.

About Shelly Blancq

Shelly is a travel expert with one eye always on the budget. She and her husband take multiple international and domestic trips a year- all on teachers’ salaries. She is committed to finding the best ways to spend your travel budget and hack your way to free flights, upgraded hotel rooms, and fancy rental cars so you can spend money on what matters most- the experiences. 

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/travel-more/id1664095534

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