Why I Don't Do Credit Card Hacking
The speaker explains why they don't pursue credit card hacking despite frequent travel and high spending. They use a simple 1.5% cash back card to avoid overspending incentives and prefer to allocate their time toward earning more money rather than optimizing card bonuses.
Summary
The speaker addresses the question of their favorite cash back credit card and admits they've considered getting into credit card hacking—the practice of opening multiple cards to capitalize on sign-up bonuses and transferring points. They note their family travels frequently, flying approximately 10 times per year, which would seemingly make them ideal candidates for rewards optimization. However, they currently use a straightforward 1.5% cash back card on all purchases for simplicity and transaction tracking.
They explain their resistance to more complex rewards cards stems from past experience. When using cards with rotating bonus categories and promotional periods, they felt psychologically incentivized to spend money they wouldn't have otherwise spent. This created a paradox: either they missed out on bonus points (creating FOMO) or they spent extra money chasing those bonuses, ultimately leaving them worse off financially.
The speaker acknowledges they spend considerable amounts on their credit card annually—more than a typical annual salary—which means they're potentially leaving significant money on the table by not optimizing. However, they've calculated that the time and effort required to track multiple bonuses, manage different cards, and execute point transfers would be better spent on income-generating work. They conclude that earning more money through their time is a more efficient use of their resources than attempting to optimize rewards, though they express openness to reconsidering this approach in the future.
Key Insights
- The speaker discovered that using category-based bonus cards made them feel psychologically compelled to spend money in categories they wouldn't normally spend in, and even choosing not to spend meant missing out on bonus points—a lose-lose scenario
- Despite spending more than a typical annual salary on credit cards and traveling 10 times per year, the speaker consciously chooses not to pursue credit card optimization
- The speaker calculated that the time required to track bonuses, manage multiple cards, and transfer points could be more productively spent earning additional income
- The speaker uses a single 1.5% cash back card specifically for ease of transaction tracking and to avoid the complexity of managing multiple rewards programs
- The speaker remains uncertain about their decision and expresses that credit card hacking might be worth pursuing at some future point
Topics
Transcript
[0:00] What is your favorite cash back credit card that you use, if any? I This is one area where I think at some point I would like to get into like credit card hacking. I see the videos from these guys who are constantly opening up new credit cards, taking advantage of the uh the the like new bonuses, the bonus points, and then transferring those bonus points cuz my my family we do a fairly good amount of travel. You know, this year probably on average once every [0:30] like we're probably just as a family we're flying places 10 times this year. And so we do a good amount of traveling, so I feel like I'm I'm…
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