On the theme of Getting Organized I have to give a big shout out to mint.com for helping me keep track of my money (and lack thereof), Mint is a free, online tool that allows you to link up your Checking, Savings, Money Markets, CDs and Credit Cards, Loans etc to give you a good snapshot of your Net Worth. They also have a budgeting tool where you can set budgets and goals, they don’t charge for the service and have Apps for your phone too. Mint makes money by recommending you ways to save, whilst some might be good exercise caution whenever changing loans, credit cards etc to make sure that it is really in your best interest.
Whilst on the subject of awesome, and free online tools there is nothing better than keeping an eye on your credit score for free.
FICO (Credit score from Fair Isaac) – monitoring your credit score is critical, as you go through different phases of life you will seek to build debt, reduce debt, increase debt again… hopefully after a while and from learning from my mistakes you’ll do it in a savvy manner. There are 3 main Credit Bureaus that report when applying for debt such as Credit Cards, Home Loans, Car Loans etc they are Equifax, Experian and Transunion. Monitoring all these sites and scores is very expensive, and not in the Saverocity toolbook for this stage of our financial independence, we certainly value the data, but not at $14.95 per month!
FAKO (as in Fake- get it?) In step two great companies that give you a rough feeling for your credit score based upon similar algorithms to the big 3 firms, but not exactly the same, they do give you good insight on what you are doing well, such as paying down your balance; and what you are doing poorly, such as applying for too many credit cards (they think you are going to rack up a ton of debt and elope to Mexico!) The two firms I use for this are Credit Sesame and Credit Karma, I am not sure which one I prefer for now, and they both give me a different score so I just use both, since they are free. I suggest signing up for both and tracking your score – try to get it and keep it in the mid 700’s at least, and ideally 800 or above.
I also think that AwardWallet is a great site, though that doesn’t track your money – it is like Mint.com for your Frequent Flier Miles and Hotel Points – and trust me if you want to travel well and still save, this is the way to do it. We’re launching a blog page within Saverocity for Travels that will show where we go and what we get to do (and how we do it on a shoestring budget) for 2013. Here is a link for AwardWallet it is free to signup for their basic service and if you use my link I get a bit closer to keeping my Premium service for free, a Win/Win.
Nicely laid out. Since we really do not plan ahead much more than a year, if that, I have not been able to decide which programs to focus on, and more often pick a card to get based on a good bonus. I would like to get more organized about it. I am also starting to think that perhaps I should focus more on hotel points since they are so much easier to redeem, and just buy air tickets. Already had one change (for the worse) in our Israel/Turkey trip when a flight cancelled. Alternatively, perhaps I should buy miles when the deals are good, so I can book awards that do not have to be saver space. That might allow me to travel in Bus for the price of coach, depending on how cheap/expensive the miles are. Finally, maybe I should focus on Chase URs. Meanwhile, I am speeding through the minimum spends on the cards I got in mid May. I hope I have a better plan before the next set of apps!
Hi Elaine,
I’ve only just started planning so far ahead, but once you start booking more trips it becomes natural. I still have a solid base of Avios for last minute long weekends, where we plan to fly less than 4 hrs (don’t want the weekend to be spent on a plane).
You are right that one of the biggest issues when using miles is equipment changes, I actually lost (without notification) several legs of my last few flights, it seems to be exacerbated by Partner travel.
As for Hotel points over miles… tough call there. If you plan a long trip, like your Israel/Turkey one with few flights – hotel nights ratio then saving on the hotel makes sense, but for us we move around a lot in short hops, so the hotel is typically the cheap part (plus we are willing to stay in cheaper hotels than you would find on the programs like Hyatt).
I would definitely think about URs as an addition, they are not as good as SPG for redeeming, but easier to earn due to multipliers. Drop me a note if you are having problems meeting spend, i’ll be happy to help.
I agree that building up balances on hotel cards limits the kinds of hotels where you can stay. My husband much prefers cheaper, smaller and more personal hotels over the chains, and we often rent a flat for a week or so when we travel, but in some cases the chains are best. When we flew out of Milan a few years ago, we were able to drop off our rental car at the airport the night before and stay at a hotel that was literally in the terminal – so convenient for an early morning flight and we saved on the car rental too. We booked that on an OTA last minute, but I could see using hotel points for something like that in the future.
I do have a question for you about award travel – what happens if you are en route, flying on an award ticket with multiple legs, and something goes wrong such that there must be a change. For example, a flight is late or cancelled. Are you then limited to an alternative that has award seats, or do they rebook you the way they would a paying passenger? And who does it? For example, what if something goes awry in Athens, when we are en route to TLV on a US Air awards ticket? Will they get us on something or am I left trying to contact US Air for help? Thanks!
I think it is case by case regarding the cancellations, personally what I have done in the past is try to deal with it on location, as that is, for me, easier to grasp the needs when talking in person with someone at the airport. However, there are times when that won’t get you to your goal, so you need to call up the HQ in the US. For that reason it is always good to have the contact numbers of the most helpful desk, even if it is above your current status.
In the past my Star Alliance partner awards have all been booked through the Round The World Desk – these are seasoned pro’s that get the system and are good people, trying to help. I would call a desk like this if the airport doesn’t help. I’ve not flown through US Air (yet) but would look for the equivalent or their top status desk – Chairman. So I would take with me 2-3 numbers, my current status line; Chairman status line and if they also have a dedicated RTW desk line, that too. I would start at the top and work backwards. I find the higher the level the better equipped they are to help you out, though some airlines, like British Airways, won’t even let you talk if you aren’t at the correct status and dial in above your level.
Overall SNAFUs like this require tact, patience and politeness to resolve. One time I was in Paris CDG after flying in from Cairo, our flight was delayed and we had ongoing flights on another airline – AA (separate tickets) that we were sure to miss now, as our arrival into London was pushed back – the people on Air France booked us all the way to New York on different flights -free. Just by being nice. The people next to us were having a fit, with the DYKWIA attitude, and they got stonewalled….
So while there may be “rules” it is often at the discretion of the rep at the airport or that airline’s policy. I didn’t plan to have a phone with me to be able to make phone calls en route – well, I’ll have my iPhone but usually we do not use it out of the US – I typically carry an old flip phone into which I can put a SIM card for the country I am in. I guess I better figure out Sprint’s policy on international calls! I wonder if Twitter would be a good way to go too. But I will be sure to locate whatever numbers I can find for help desks with US before I leave. I am starting to think that cash-back may be a lot easier than award travel!!!! I just posted the question in the “Star Alliance booking using US Dividend Miles” thread on Flyertalk. I’ll let you know if I get any other good advice from them. Thanks, Matt!
Sounds good – also, you might want to get the Skype App for your iPhone, I find that very useful when travelling, many hotels have free wifi, as to some airports.
Great idea! I will get it for my ipad too. I should have thought of that. Thanks!
Matt in addition to being redeemable for hotel or airfare aren’t Membership Rewards and Ultimate Rewards redeemable for a close approximation of cash, specifically as American Express or Visa gift cards or statement credits? Did you consider this in your example “if cash was tight…”?
I didn’t really consider that to be honest. But know I do I am not sure… the reason is that they would get less than 1c per point I believe? I forget the rate, but believe the Gift Cards are not even 1:1 ratio?? I had thought that it wasn’t a good use of points due to the multipliers not being applicable, but I don’t do a lot of OD/Staples GC purchases, so perhaps you are onto something here – if we could earn 5x and redeem at a little under 1:1 there might be some money here (working in costs of acquisition of course) time to get a spreadsheet out!! Thanks Will!