In the points and miles world I am fortunate to meet many people who have similar interests as I do. We all want to travel as much as possible and ideally, for free! For those who do not travel for work and are not racking up points and miles by actually flying and sleeping in hotels, credit card bonuses are typically the best way to increase your point balances and travel for free. People are always asking me “what is your best credit card recommendation?” And as many of us know, it really depends on your particular situation — your travel goals, the cards you already have, your typical spend, etc. It is really a personalized answer. Although the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is still the No. 1 card for newbies and the Chase Ink Preferred gives the highest welcome offer there are many other great cards out there.
For those now looking where to even start with a credit card or what credit card to apply for next, there is a new tool that does it all for you — Travel Freely. It will hold your hand and guide you to earning the most number of points and miles through credit card offers. It knows all of the credit card rules so it will only recommend cards for you that you are actually eligible for. Not only that, it is a great place to keep track of all of the credit cards you’ve applied for in the past. It will count your 5/24 status for you, let you know which annual fees are coming up and remind you when the minimum spend is coming up to meet a certain bonus. You’ll even receive an email reminder for some information.
Best of all, it is absolutely free!Â
CardGenie Recommendations
Once you enter all of your current credit card information, the CardGenie will spit out recommendations for you. It takes into consideration the cards you already have and then uses a backend algorithm taking into consideration bank rules and the best offers available. It also takes out of the equation any card you are not eligible for are so there is no guessing game. For example, last year Marriott put many restrictions on their credit cards where if you had one card you may or may not be eligible for another one of their cards. The CardGenie will automatically not show those cards based on the rules and which cards you’ve already entered into the tool.
Who is this site geared towards?
Even though Travel Freely is probably best for Beginner and Intermediate users, I find using it incredibly useful. For awhile I’ve been using an Excel Spreadsheet to track everything, but this tool is much cleaner. I am also the dedicated person in my extended household for keeping track of everything points and miles related so to have this tool to keep track of other family members has been great. It also provides a nice reminder on when you are ready to apply for your next card. Even as an expert in the credit card world, I still love someone else automatically creating my to-do list for me!
Currently, you can add 2 users and 2 business users to a single dashboard. If you have more users you are managing, you’ll have to create a new account.
It is also important to know that from a security standpoint this tool is incredibly safe. You are not linking to the banks, all the information is manually entered by you. The only information this tool has is the name of the card and the date opened. No credit card numbers are entered and your information is not stored anywhere. If you are slightly concerned about security, you can always enter a slight variation of your name so there is no way for anyone to tie those cards entered to the actual name with the credit card companies.
Full disclosure
I recently met Zac (the founder of Travel Freely) and have had many phone calls with him over the past few months. After using the site myself and hearing more about his vision, I am a big fan of the site. He also has big plans to continue to enhance the site.
Travel Freely makes money by credit card sign ups. This is similar to how most sites make money, including Deals We Like. With that being said, Travel Freely has promised to always promote the best available credit card offer, even it is not an affiliate link. This is the exact same way I run my site and will never promote an inferior offer for my own financial interest. Since we both run our sites in the same manner and have the reader/users best interest at heart, we have formed a partnership.
Since the site is free to use and will only help you out, I definitely suggest taking a look. You can sign up here. You are also welcome to comment below with your experience or suggestions for the site. Zac is very open to feedback!
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.