credit cards – Client News and Media Recognition

The Wall Street Journal Endorses The Frugal Travel Guy

November 1, 2011November 1, 2011Blueplate PRLeave a comment

As the go-to blog for credit card sign-up bonuses for frequent flier miles

Rick_02xsm — Rick Ingersoll, author, The Frugal Travel Guy blog

November 1, 2011 (Hilton Head Island, SC) – “Do you want 500,000 frequent-flier miles for free? It can be done, fairly easily,” wrote the Wall Street Journal’s Scott McCartney in his WSJ blog “The Middle Seat,” recently. “Hard-core frequent-flier junkies are churning credit card sign-up bonuses into first-class trips to exquisite destinations.”

To learn how to do this while keeping your credit score intact, McCartney suggests following Rick Ingersoll, author of the award-winning blog The Frugal Travel Guy, who “tracks card bonus offers closely.”

In the article, entitled “Miles For Nothing and Your Trips Are Free,” Ingersoll is the only frugal travel blogger McCartney mentions as an expert at amassing frequent flier miles “where [credit card] promotions can be churned into free miles or at least very inexpensive miles that can be turned into expensive tickets,” he notes.

While there are a host of other ways to garner frequent flier miles and rewards points, credit card sign-up bonuses offer the most miles in one move, sometimes as many as 100,000 in one application. And Ingersoll is the recognized expert in that type of travel hacking.

A retired mortgage banker, Ingersoll is perhaps naturally aware of the benefits and pit-falls of credit cards in general and “card churning” to amass miles in particular. As a former banker, he knows how to make sure credit card applications have a minimal negative impact on someone’s credit score and how to meet the minimum spend in the required time to receive the bonuses. And he consistently cautions his readers to remember, “Your good credit is your most important asset.”

Ingersoll began travel hacking as a hobby and was so successful at it (he has a “bankroll” of over a million miles) that he “just decided to start spreading the word,” he said, by blogging. Today, his blog averages 6000 views per day and has received the Budget Travel Award for travel blogs from Tripbase.com for the past three years.

Ingersoll has been interviewed on CNN and by a host of travel media. He runs the successful “Chicago Seminar” on travel hacking each year with other leaders in “the game,” as he calls it, which has now become the largest single gathering of frequent travel enthusiasts in the nation. Scott McCartney’s endorsement in the Wall Street Journal is a welcomed addition to his accolades.

“It’s quite an honor to be singled out by a writer for the highly respected Wall Street Journal,” Ingersoll said.

For more information on Rick Ingersoll and The Frugal Travel Guy, visit www.frugaltravelguy.com.

About Rick Ingersoll:

Rick Ingersoll, author of The Frugal Travel Guy blog and The Frugal Travel Guy Handbook, is constantly on the lookout for the best credit card and debit card sign-up bonuses. He posts travel tips daily on debit and credit card deals and on other interesting promotions with the goal of reducing his readers’ travel costs today and for the rest of their lives. He is also available for seminars and speaking engagements. A retired mortgage banker, Ingersoll and his wife live in Hilton Head Island, SC, and Traverse City, MI, when they’re not traveling the globe. www.frugaltravelguy.com.

Affordable Flying: The Frugal Travel Guy’s Top Travel Deals

October 6, 2011Blueplate PR2 Comments

Rick Ingersoll discusses the best deals out there for frequent travelers

by Kim Weiss

Rick Ingersoll is the author of the popular Frugal Travel Guy blog, which is read around the world and averages 6000 views per day. He is constantly on the lookout for the best credit card and debit card sign-up bonuses, and he posts travel tips daily on these and other technique to help his readers reduce their travel expenses for the rest of their lives.

Yet with all the new deals he’s constantly finding, his “Top Travel Deals” remain constant. What are they? He took the time recently to explain.

No 1: Specific credit card companies that offer huge sign-up bonuses.

“The number of cards offering big bonuses with no first year fee is growing rapidly,” Ingersoll said. “If you need 50,000 Continental or British Airways miles, or 50,000 Hyatt, Priority Club, or Marriott hotel points, you should apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred Guest card. And the Chase Ultimate Rewards points are easily transferrable, one to one, to the Hyatt, Priority Club and Marriott programs.”

No 2: The new Business Gold Rewards Card from American Express “Open.”

“This card offers 50,000 Membership Rewards Points with no first year fee,” he said. “The minimum spend is $10,000, but you have a lengthy five months to complete that spend. If you have property taxes to pay or you have an extension to pay your income taxes in October, you can use this card to pay both and get to that minimum spend pretty quickly.”

No 3: Using your good credit to secure free travel.

“There is no more effective or lucrative way for someone with a good credit score and financial discipline to amass frequent flier miles than to take advantage of a host of credit card sign-up bonus offers,” Ingersoll says. “Of course, this method is not for those who don’t handle credit wisely and who don’t, or can’t, pay off their cards’ balances in full every month. It takes a good credit score and the ability to follow promotion directions to pull this off.”

The effect on your credit score per credit card application is only two to five points, according to Ingersoll. “I’ve received over 90 credit card sign-up bonuses over the years and still have excellent credit. This is a terrific mileage earning technique, but remember: You must meet the minimum spend requirements in the amount of time they give you, and you must pay your cards in full at the end of the month. If you can’t do that, this technique is definitely not for you.”

No. 4: American Express Platinum for points and lounge access.

“The American Express Platinum Card has a rather steep annual fee of $450, but it gives you 25,000 Membership Rewards points, $200 in airline incidental spend credit, and lounge access for one full year,” Ingersoll said. “There are also two ‘Mercedes Benz’ versions of this card that offer 5000 or 50,000 points, depending on the annual fee. The more expensive card provides lounge access as well. I can’t vouch for these other versions, however.”

No. 5: Bank Direct Mileage Checking for American Airlines.

“Why do I like this program? Because you can earn up to 22,000 American Airlines frequent flier miles by making direct deposits into it for three months, using its bill pay function for 12 months, and, most importantly, you can earn 100 miles per month per $1000 you keep in the account,” he explained. “There’s also a 1000-mile sign-up bonus.”

Ingersoll noted that miles earned are typically non-taxable, and that the Bank Direct program requires maintaining a $2500 minimum balance to avoid monthly fees.

No 6: The best all-around travel credit card, year after year: Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) credit card from American Express.

“The SPG card is simple the best for travel,” he said. “It allows you to earn a 10,000-mile sign-up bonus, there’s no annual fee for the first year, and you have the opportunity to earn 15,000 more points with just a $5000 spend over the first six months. This is my go-to card for everything.”

No 7: US Airways’ 40,000-mile card with no first year fee.

No 8: FlyerTalk tip – 75,000 American Airlines miles

On on FlyerTalk.com, the primary online community where frequent travelers around the world exchange knowledge and experiences, “there’s evidence that people are still getting 75,000 American Airlines miles for personal cards on the same day they apply and that amount again on the business card if they apply 90 days later,” he said. “That’s a good deal in anybody’s book.”

Rick Ingersoll is a retired mortgage banker who got into the “travel hacking” game as a hobby. But as he continued to amass miles and points and he and his wife began to enjoy travel the world for free or nearly free, he was inspired to share his tips and techniques with others by blogging. He also published The Frugal Travel Guy Handbook.

Today, Ingersoll receives a constant stream of thanks from readers who have been able to travel at prices they can afford since they began following The Frugal Travel Guy.

The Frugal Travel Guy Explains The “Bump The Bonus” Technique

May 16, 2011Blueplate PRLeave a comment

How to get in on new bonus offers on credit cards you already have.

May 16, 2011 (Hilton Head Island, SC) – Rick Ingersoll, author of the blog “The Frugal Travel Guy” and a frequent resource for budget travel reporters and

Rick_02sm — Rick Ingersoll, The Frugal Travel Guy

columnists, tells his readers that applying for new credit cards that offer big sign-up bonuses is one of the fastest and easiest ways to increase anyone’s frequent flier account balances.

Now he’s telling them about another way to get even more bonus points and miles out the credit cards they already have in their wallets.

He calls it the “bump your bonus” follow-up technique.

“When you sign up for a new credit card to get the sign-up bonus, you typically meet the minimum spend and wait for your points to post to your account then move on to the next big sign-up bonus,” he said recently.

“But many times, those same card issuers will raise the sign-up bonus for even newer applicants, or put out a targeted offer that gives more miles or points than you received when you recently signed up.”

If you find out about the increased bonus, do you just resent it and move on? Absolutely not, says this travel hacker.

“In many cases, if you contact the card issuers by email, secure email, or phone, they will gladly increase your sign-up bonus to match their current best offer,” Ingersoll said. “I call it ‘Bump the Bonus’ and I’ve received hundreds of thousands of miles and points by following up with my existing cards and keeping my eyes open for their newer, larger bonuses.”

Ingersoll admits this technique won’t always bring results, “but all it takes is a call or email to find out. If you don’t ask for the bonus bump, I can assure you, you won’t get the bonus bump.”

Ingersoll advises his readers to take the time to review their current credit cards and scour the Internet for the card issuers’ current best offers. “There may be more points in your account for doing so,” he said.

And as always, he stresses that applying for credit cards to get frequent flier miles and points must be paired with the commitment to always pay the bills on time to minimize the affect on your credit score.

For more information on Rick Ingersoll and his many other frugal travel tips and techniques, visit The Frugal Travel Guy blog at frugaltravelguy.com.

About The Frugal Travel Guy:

Rick Ingersoll, author of The Frugal Travel Guy blog and The Frugal Travel Guy Handbook, is constantly on the lookout for the best credit card and debit card sign-up bonuses. He posts travel tips daily on debit and credit card deals and on other interesting promotions with the goal of reducing his readers’ travel costs today and for the rest of their lives. He is also available for seminars and speaking engagements. A retired mortgage banker, Ingersoll and his wife live in Hilton Head Island, SC, and Traverse City, MI, when they’re not traveling the globe. For more information visit http://frugaltravelguy.com.

The Frugal Travel Guy Shares: What To Look For In a Travel Rewards Credit Card Offer

April 14, 2011Blueplate PRLeave a comment

Rick Ingersoll suggests which offers to take, which to reject.

April 14, 2011 (Hilton Head, SC) – Rick Ingersoll, the frugal travel expert who authors the popular “Frugal Travel Guy” blog, is the first to admit that the biggest and best frequent flier mile offers come from credit card companies.

But are they really the right offers for you? Are the rewards that come with applying for them really worth the effect on your credit score?

Ingersoll spent his pre-retirement years as a mortgage banker and personal finance consultant. He knows a thing or two about credit as well as frugal travel. And he offers some sage advice on knowing which rewards offers to accept and which ones to reject.

“Credit card offers come from numerous sources,” Ingersoll said. “Some are generated from purchased email lists and some from past relationships you’ve had with banks, retail stores, or travel related companies. Some of them even suggest that you’ve been pre-approved. That’s not really the case.”

You may have seemed to be eligible to the offering firm at the time they generated the mailing list, Ingersoll said, but be assured they will check your credit again if you go through with the application.

“Every time your credit is checked by a credit card issuer a hard inquiry is done and reported on your credit report,” he said. “It can negatively affect your credit score by two to five points and will remain on your credit report for two years. Don’t indiscriminately apply for offers you really don’t want.”

Ingersoll said he always looks for offers that provide the following: (1) Clear and printed information on the terms and conditions of the offer, (2) the particular size of the sign up bonus and what you must do to earn the bonus, and (3) proof that the sign up bonus is worth considerably more than the annual fee charged.

“As a travel freak, I want to know up front how many miles or points I’m going to earn,” he said. “If I can’t print the terms, I don’t believe the terms.”

As for the size of the sign-up bonus: “If a card offers me 100,000 airline miles if I complete $10,000 of spending on the credit card in 30 days, I’m not going to take that offer,” he said. “I’m not sure I can meet those terms and conditions in such a short time period. I am more apt to apply for cards that have bonuses awarded on ‘first purchase’ or a more reasonable minimum spend with a reasonable time frame, say 90 or 120 days. Remember, you must be able to prove you met the sign up bonus requirements if something goes wrong on the issuer’s end of the deal.”

Is the sign-up bonus worth the annual fee? “A one-night free hotel stay doesn’t really excite me as a sign up bonus, particularly if there is an annual fee for the card,” he said. “That’s not much of an incentive to my mind. I typically look for a minimum value of $500 or more in sign up bonus before I’ll apply for a credit card. I value airline miles at 1.5 to 2 cents each and hotel points at roughly 1 penny each except Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) points, which I value at 2.5 cents each. It takes a sign up offer of 25,000 airline miles or more before I consider the offer worthwhile.”

Insisting that a person’s credit is one of his or her most important assets, he adds, “Each application negatively affects your credit score, so you want to get the biggest bang for your application.”

What if you are not going to pay off your card balances in full each and every month? “Then applying for credit cards is not for you, no matter how big the frequent flier mile reward may be,” he said. “The interest expense and possibility of late fees will eat up any potential gain in a hurry.”

For the right individual, applying for credit cards for their sign-up bonuses can have its financial benefits, especially for frugal travel hackers who can amass thousands — even millions — of miles and points this way, Ingersoll said.

“But you must be aware of the pitfalls as well,” he added. “Discipline and a plan of attack are musts for successful card churning.”

For more information and advice on frugal travel, visit http://frugaltravelguy.com.

About The Frugal Travel Guy:

Rick Ingersoll is the author of The Frugal Travel Guy Blog, which is read around the world and averages 5000 views per day, and The Frugal Travel Guy Handbook. He is constantly on the lookout for the best credit card and debit card sign-up bonuses. He posts travel tips daily on debit and credit card deals and on other interesting promotions with the goal of reducing his readers’ travel costs today and for the rest of their lives. He is also available for seminars and speaking engagements. A retired mortgage banker, Ingersoll and his wife live in Hilton Head Island, SC, and Traverse City, MI, when they’re not traveling the globe.

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: