My now, many of you have realized that it is important to utilize credit cards in the “miles and points game.”
Going through college, I wasn’t eligible for credit, simply because I never needed a credit card, had a car I owned, and never had a need to borrow money. By by senior year, I realized it was essential to have a credit card, and build up credit. While I had carried a USAA American Express branded credit card for several years, I was never really a fan of using it. Funny enough, my first “big boy” credit card ended up being an American Express Platinum Card – something that still shocks my parents to this day.
In any event, this leads me to the reason behind writing this post. There are many people that simply can’t get a credit card, can’t pay their bills on time, and can’t keep good relationships with banks. While these people will never be in a position to travel the world for reduced prices thanks to this valuable currency we all like to use, it opens an eye into how a majority of the world lives. People that travel off of miles, points and other related currencies are only a small fraction of the population. Ever smaller are the people who are able to open credit cards, have lines of credit and utilize them to their potential.
I recently came across a fascinating documentary on YouTube, released by American Express, showing a few families and individuals and how they live day to day, paycheck to paycheck. Many of these folks can’t apply for credit, and can’t ever have a credit card.
For many who read this blog, I know we “live” off of credit cards – but in an entirely different sense than the people pictured in this documentary. We’re always looking for the next place to earn an extra point, looking for the next biggest bonus, and trying to find cards with better ancillary features than the next. To those in poor economic conditions, they are lucky if they can even open such a card, let alone figure out how to use the benefits on it (if such benefits even exist).
Take a look at this video – you’ll be glad you did, and you’ll have a better appreciation for that First Class seat, for 5-star hotel the next time you travel.
Jamie Larounis is an avid traveler, blogger and miles/points educator. Traveling well over 100,000 miles a year and staying in hotels for over 100 nights, he leverages miles, points and other deals to fly in first class cabins, and stay in 5-star hotels. The Forward Cabin shares his experiences, musings, reviews, tips, tricks, resources and industry news with you, the fellow traveler.
Very interesting film…. and also makes a good case for why PayDay Lending and Title Lending Companies should be shut down.
It is interesting that one of the people on the show uses a NetSpend reloadable debit card, instead of a Bluebird or Serve Card (both AMEX cards and they are sponsoring this video).