Travel hacking is a marathon… not a sprint!

Travel Hacking in Canada is the art of mastering rewards programs and credit cards to travel -almost- for free. However, there are some important rules to know.

Moderation is always best

Everyone would like to be able to afford a dream trip in 3 months thanks to points & miles, spending as little as possible thanks to credit card sign-up bonuses in particular.

Yet, we tell you daily in the community: the game plan is essential to your reward earning process. Of course, there may be cases where, within a few months, a lot of money can be saved on:

But in the vast majority of cases, for a family, this action plan should be spread out over a year.

Credit card applications

Sure, you can apply for several credit cards on the same day in order to reduce the impact of these applications on your credit report, but you have to be smart about it too!

Ask yourself:

Diversify your credit card applications throughout the year: first, you’ll apply for a CIBC credit card, then a BMO credit card, and finally a Scotiabank credit card. And in the meantime, several American Express cards, depending on welcome offers.

Repeated bonuses

Contrairement aux États-Unis où le marché a connu ces dernières années un grand renforcement des règles sur les bonus à répétition, le Canada semblait épargné jusqu’à présent.

Toutefois, dans les dernières années, les émetteurs semblent chercher à freiner cela en imposant de nouvelles restrictions. Par exemple, American Express a progressivement relevé ou étendu les seuils permettant d’obtenir des primes de bienvenue de la :

Même si la règle “d’un bonus à vie” avait été mise en place en 2015 par American Express, celle-ci n’a jamais vraisemblablement été appliquée jusqu’en 2020. À ce moment, les actions d’American Express ont été drastiques.  Elle a fermé sans préavis et unilatéralement tous les comptes qu’elle considérait avoir abusé de cette règle. Tous les points accumulés dans les comptes des titulaires des cartes ciblées ont été annulés.

Puis, la Banque Scotia a introduit récemment une nouvelle limitation requérant ne pas avoir détenu le même produit au cours des derniers 24 mois afin d’obtenir la prime de bienvenue comme pour la :

Ensuite, la Banque TD a introduit une règle ne permettant pas d’obtenir une prime de bienvenue si on a déjà ouvert le même type de carte au cours des 12 derniers mois comme pour la :

Limitations on application

Aside from repeated bonuses, some issuers want to protect themselves from points hoarders.

So take your time and space out your requests to certain issuers!

The means to reach requested expenditures

In this article, we have discussed many ways to achieve the spending required by credit cards issuers to help unlock bonuses:

All these tips are still entirely valid today.

Second, there are ways to apply for for cards that require little or no minimum spending. My colleague Aline has listed various strategies to easily earn points. In addition, there are also ways specifically for credit cards that earn cash back.

On the other hand, American Express has put a stop in 2019 on other means used such as prepaid gift cards that are “cash equivalents.”

Do not confuse the following:

In this case, moderation is much better. Rather than racing to unlock your bonuses through this method, take your time.

Besides, it’s not optimal to sign up for two credit cards simultaneously, each asking you to spend $3,000 in 3 months, and then not be able to reach that level of spending. Therefore, it would be wiser to apply for to only one card in this case.

Take…. your…. time, like in a marathon!

Abusive behaviour and red flags

In an effort to eliminate any behaviour that appears abusive to an issuer, avoid:

Indeed, the last thing you want is to receive a call from the card issuer fraud department!

So if you know you’re in the wrong… you don’t call a credit card company: you keep a low profile. And avoid any “abnormal” behaviour.

The basic rules of smart travel hacking

Let us remind you of the basic rules of smart travel hacking:

Bottom Line

Milesopedia is here to help you understand:

And the Milesopedia community is here to help and answer your questions.