ULTIMATE Beginners Guide To Credit Card Points Hacking In 2025 (Updated)

[00:00] all right so you've just clicked on this

[00:01] video that I'm confident will change

[00:03] your life for the better by following a

[00:05] simple four-step process this credit

[00:08] card can affect whether you sit in the

[00:10] back of the plane in cattle class

[00:12] cramped and uncomfortable to sitting in

[00:15] the front of the plane all completely

[00:17] for free in business class being served

[00:20] food and drinks this video is going to

[00:22] be completely free and is made up of my

[00:24] near decades worth of experience

[00:27] learning this process doing it and still

[00:30] practicing what I'll be talking about in

[00:32] this video to this very day by the end

[00:35] of this video you're going to know

[00:37] everything that you need to know about

[00:38] this process which is otherwise known as

[00:41] credit card churning hacking or Point

[00:44] hacking so what is credit card Journey

[00:47] well put simply it's a process where

[00:50] someone uses a credit card to take

[00:52] advantage of sign up bonuses to

[00:54] accumulate as many frequent flyer points

[00:57] and other Reward Points as possible now

[00:59] credit card companies will always offer

[01:01] large sign up bonuses in order to entice

[01:04] new customers to sign up to their cards

[01:07] now you might be wondering what's in it

[01:09] for these companies are they just doing

[01:11] it out of the goodness of their own

[01:13] Hearts well not exactly what these

[01:16] credit card companies are hoping will

[01:17] happen is that you'll sign up for these

[01:19] cards overspend with your new credit

[01:22] card and then not pay off the balance in

[01:25] full every single month and as a result

[01:28] will'll make money off the interest that

[01:30] they'll charge you credit card churning

[01:32] is a process that attempts to avoid this

[01:34] scenario happening and instead to

[01:36] collect points and profit from the value

[01:39] of the signup bonus you can essentially

[01:41] think of it as a way of using credit

[01:43] cards to actually make you money the

[01:46] process follows a very simple four-step

[01:49] process first you research which card to

[01:52] sign up for next you apply for the card

[01:55] and then you make the minimum spend

[01:57] required to receive your sign up bonus

[02:00] and then once you receive it you cancel

[02:02] the card once you've gone through each

[02:04] of these steps it's essentially a

[02:06] process that can be rinsed and repeated

[02:09] we'll go over each of these steps in

[02:10] detail and at the end I'll also talk

[02:13] through some frequently asked questions

[02:15] that are always receive like how this

[02:17] impacts your credit score so make sure

[02:19] you stick around to the end to find out

[02:22] the answer so the first step is

[02:24] obviously going to be choosing the

[02:25] credit card that you're going to be

[02:27] signing up but with so many out there on

[02:30] the market which one do you choose and

[02:32] don't worry I'll share with you a list

[02:34] later of my favorite credit cards to

[02:36] sign up for now whenever I'm deciding

[02:39] which credit card to sign up for next

[02:41] there's always four factors that I take

[02:43] into consideration first and foremost

[02:46] probably the most important factor is

[02:48] the actual rewards and benefits now

[02:51] benefits can be split into two

[02:53] categories firstly the sign up bonus

[02:55] that you'll receive as a new customer

[02:58] and then extra benefits that come along

[03:00] with the card itself what type of signup

[03:02] bonus you receive will depend on the

[03:04] credit card program sometimes it's

[03:06] Frequent Flyer points like quantis or

[03:09] velocity or other times it's Bank

[03:11] specific membership points which can

[03:13] then be redeemed for flights hotels and

[03:15] gift cards and other times it's just

[03:18] cash back directly into your pocket

[03:20] other benefits that come along with the

[03:22] card can include things like Lounge

[03:24] passes at the airport complimentary

[03:26] insurances and reduced Annual fees I

[03:29] always recommend to look through what

[03:31] each card offers and decide what's

[03:34] important to you and your goals if

[03:36] you're looking to travel overseas next

[03:38] year then you might want to focus on a

[03:40] credit card that rewards you with

[03:42] Frequent Flyer points if you're someone

[03:44] who doesn't like to travel then perhaps

[03:46] just focus on credit cards that give you

[03:48] cash back or gift cards that you can

[03:50] then redeem when you do your next

[03:52] grocery shop when going through the

[03:54] benefits I also recommend to try to

[03:56] determine the dollar value that you'll

[03:58] be receiving from this card and this

[04:00] will become extremely important when we

[04:02] talk about the next factor that we

[04:04] should be considering now sometimes the

[04:06] dollar value is straightforward to

[04:08] calculate but other times it might be a

[04:10] little bit harder for example the azed

[04:13] frequent fly black card has a sign up

[04:15] bonus of 90,000 quantis points plus $200

[04:19] cash back now the $200 cash back is

[04:22] obviously straightforward to Value but

[04:24] how do we know how much those Quantus

[04:26] points are worth now with frequent fly

[04:29] points there there are multiple ways

[04:31] that you can use your points so to give

[04:33] you a rough estimate of what each

[04:35] frequent flyer point is worth based on

[04:37] what you redeem here's a rough breakdown

[04:41] by far the worst Redemption value is

[04:43] going to be redeeming your points from

[04:45] gift cards or purchasing products at

[04:47] just 50 cents per Point booking hotel

[04:50] rooms usually gives you around 80 cents

[04:52] in value whilst booking reward flights

[04:54] will vary between 1.5 cents when booking

[04:58] economy flights or all the way up to 5

[05:00] cents when booking first class flights

[05:03] so those 90,000 quantis coins could be

[05:06] worth as little as

[05:08] $450 or as much as

[05:11] $4,500 now I like to be a little bit

[05:13] more conservative when valuing my

[05:15] frequent fly points so I typically value

[05:18] it at 1.5 per point because whilst it

[05:22] can be worth a lot more it's a lot

[05:24] harder to find business class reward

[05:26] seats let alone first class reward seats

[05:29] so in total when we add in the $200

[05:32] cashback offer the total value that we

[05:34] receive from the a andz frequent fly

[05:37] black card is approximately

[05:40] $1,550 the second factor to consider is

[05:43] the annual fee of the credit card every

[05:46] credit card that offers any type of

[05:48] rewards will typically have an annual

[05:50] fee that will need to be paid and

[05:52] generally speaking the higher the credit

[05:54] card sign up bonus the greater the

[05:56] annual fee the a andz black card for

[05:58] example has a an annual fee of

[06:01] $425 which can seem quite high if we

[06:04] look at that in isolation but when we

[06:07] look at how much value we'd be receiving

[06:09] from the sign up bonus you still end up

[06:12] ahead over

[06:13] $1,000 the third factor to consider is

[06:16] the minimum spend required to receive

[06:18] the sign up bonus every credit card has

[06:21] a minimum spend amount that you need to

[06:23] achieve usually within 90 days from

[06:26] activating your card ideally we want the

[06:29] minimum spend to be as low as possible

[06:32] this way we can meet that minimum spend

[06:34] easily within the 3 months or quicker

[06:37] remember the goal is to rinse and repeat

[06:39] with credit card churning so the quicker

[06:42] the better my word of advice when it

[06:44] comes to credit card churning is to not

[06:46] spend on things that you don't need just

[06:48] to meet the minimum spend criteria this

[06:51] is the Trap that Banks want you to fall

[06:53] into and this will actually negate the

[06:55] value that you receive from that sign up

[06:58] bonus later on in the video I'll share

[07:00] with you some tips that I've picked up

[07:02] along the way that make meeting your

[07:04] spend criteria really easy the last

[07:07] factor to consider is the waiting period

[07:10] nearly all banking institutions will

[07:12] have a policy where you can only receive

[07:14] the credit card signup bonus if you

[07:16] haven't held a similar card in the

[07:18] previous 12 months these policies can

[07:21] change between Banks so it's always

[07:23] important to read the terms and

[07:25] conditions and product disclosure

[07:27] statements a lot of banks whilst they

[07:29] operate operate under different names

[07:31] fall under the same parent company for

[07:33] example with the St George Platinum Card

[07:36] the policy states that if you're an

[07:37] existing customer who's held credit

[07:40] cards with St George Bank of Melbourne

[07:42] or Bank of South Australia you aren't

[07:45] eligible now I know sifting through all

[07:47] of this information can be a lot of work

[07:50] so here's a list of my favorite cards to

[07:52] sign up for which in my opinion are good

[07:55] options I've separated them all out

[07:58] based on the different typ types of sign

[08:00] up bonuses that you might be interested

[08:02] in so there should be something for

[08:04] everyone now it's important to note that

[08:06] sign up offers from credit card

[08:08] companies change all the time so in

[08:11] order to stay up to date with the latest

[08:13] credit card deals and offers I

[08:15] personally like using comparison sites

[08:17] like rewards.com which easily which

[08:20] summarizes all the points that we just

[08:22] went through alternatively you can use

[08:25] sites like finder.com or point.com or

[08:28] just watch some of the videos that I

[08:30] post regularly alternatively you can

[08:32] also sign up to my free Weekly

[08:34] Newsletter where I share the latest

[08:36] credit card updates and offers to my

[08:38] readers the next step in the process is

[08:41] to actually apply for the credit card

[08:43] now the application process is pretty

[08:45] straightforward and usually takes around

[08:47] 10 minutes you'll need some form of

[08:50] identification to verify your identity

[08:53] online which can come in the form of

[08:55] your driver's license and your Medicare

[08:57] card and proof of in income documents as

[09:00] well like your pay slips if everything

[09:02] is fine you'll usually be preapproved

[09:05] instantly with final approval coming

[09:07] between 1 to 5 business days after that

[09:10] the actual credit card usually arrives

[09:12] in the mail within five business days

[09:15] the third step is to actually begin

[09:17] using a credit card to meet the spend

[09:19] criteria remember I aim to meet my

[09:22] minimum spend criteria as quickly as

[09:24] possible if you can reach it within the

[09:27] first month of activating your card with

[09:29] just your usual spending habits then

[09:32] great but this isn't always achievable

[09:34] as more premium credit cards will

[09:36] typically have higher spend criterias

[09:39] attached to them and can be as high as

[09:42] $6,000 or more now $6,000 is a lot of

[09:46] money especially if you're single and

[09:48] trying to be frugal and not spend on

[09:51] unnecessary things now aside from doing

[09:53] the obvious and paying for everything

[09:55] using your credit card here are three

[09:58] tips that I've picked up along the way

[10:00] that help me meet my spend criteria and

[10:03] the last one is my favorite pay for your

[10:06] family's bills whenever my family have

[10:09] any bills due like their quarterly water

[10:11] bills electricity bills I always offer

[10:14] to pay for them now obviously my family

[10:16] members will always pay me back via bank

[10:19] transfer but by doing this method you

[10:21] can immediately slash off several $100

[10:25] of your minimum spend criteria for

[10:27] example my partner just recently paid

[10:29] off her mother's annual home insurance

[10:32] bill which is over

[10:34] $1,000 the great thing about these large

[10:37] quarterly bills is that most of the time

[10:39] I've also found that they don't actually

[10:41] charge any additional fees to pay them

[10:44] using a credit card as well now

[10:46] unfortunately sometimes not all bills

[10:48] and payments always accept credit card

[10:51] as a form of payments on top of this

[10:53] credit card companies often don't count

[10:56] specific payments toward your minimum

[10:58] spend criteria

[11:00] these typically will include payments to

[11:02] the ATO and bpay payments however you

[11:05] can get around this by using my second

[11:07] tip which is to leverage a thirdparty

[11:10] payment solution these are payment

[11:12] platforms like snip or rent pay which

[11:15] allows you to make payments for bills

[11:17] that typically don't accept credit cards

[11:19] as a form of payment all that might not

[11:22] typically be counted towards your

[11:24] minimum spend criteria using these

[11:26] Services essentially still allows you to

[11:28] use your credit card and have that

[11:30] payment count towards your minimum spend

[11:33] criteria however it is important to note

[11:35] that a lot of these third party payment

[11:37] platforms will typically have added fees

[11:40] on top so you'll need to weigh up in

[11:42] your own situation whether or not it's

[11:45] worth it to pay those additional fees if

[11:48] it's the difference between you actually

[11:50] meeting your spending criteria then I

[11:52] think it definitely might be worth

[11:54] considering and lastly my personal

[11:56] favorite is buying gift cards this this

[11:59] is the method that I always use to meet

[12:01] my spend criteria essentially the

[12:03] strategy is to pre purchase gift cards

[12:06] at places where you know you'll be

[12:08] shopping in the future for example you

[12:10] can pre purchase gift cards to use at

[12:13] Kohl's and WW worths you're going to be

[12:15] buying groceries in the future anyway so

[12:18] it's not like you're spending money on

[12:20] something that you otherwise wouldn't

[12:22] these gift cards can even be purchased

[12:24] at a slight discount through sites like

[12:26] shopback cash rewards and mcari Market

[12:29] Place alternatively another great method

[12:32] is to actually buy Vanilla Visa or

[12:34] MasterCard gift cards from warw worths

[12:37] or calls when they're running promotions

[12:40] during these promotional periods you can

[12:42] earn bonus everyday reward points or

[12:45] flyby points these points can then be

[12:47] redeemed as everyday or fly by dollars

[12:50] and used to offset your next grocery

[12:52] shop or actually be transferred to

[12:55] Velocity or the quantis frequent flyer

[12:57] program at a rate of 2 one for example

[13:00] assuming ww worths or KES is running a

[13:03] promotion for 10x points per dollar

[13:05] spend on Vanilla gift cards by

[13:08] purchasing a $500 gift card you would

[13:11] earn 5,000 everyday reward points or fly

[13:15] byy points this is worth $25 to spend in

[13:18] store at Kohl's or Woolworths or can be

[13:21] transferred for $2,500 quantis or

[13:25] velocity points now remember what we

[13:27] talked about before early earlier in the

[13:29] video each Quantas point is worth

[13:32] approximately at least 1.5 per point

[13:36] which gives you an approximate value of

[13:39] $37.50 now in order to charge the card

[13:42] there is a $7 loading fee that you'll

[13:44] need to pay but regardless whether or

[13:47] not you choose to use those points to

[13:49] offset your next shop or transfer them

[13:51] across to a frequent fly program you're

[13:54] always going to end up ahead a good side

[13:57] to check to know when these promot ions

[13:59] are running are freep points.com auu

[14:02] these preloaded gift cards essentially

[14:04] act as debit cards so you can use them

[14:07] anywhere you can use a debit card I

[14:09] personally use these cards to make my

[14:11] tax payments towards the ATO the final

[14:14] step in the process is to receive your

[14:17] sign up bonus and then cancel your card

[14:19] once you've met the minimum spend

[14:21] criteria it can take between 10 to 15

[14:24] business days for those bonus points to

[14:26] land in your account once you've

[14:29] received your bonus points then go ahead

[14:31] and make sure you pay off your credit

[14:33] card in full making sure that there's no

[14:35] remaining balance and then call up your

[14:38] bank over the phone and then request to

[14:40] cancel the card at the same time whilst

[14:42] you're on the phone I always ask for a

[14:45] pro Rider refund on my annual fee since

[14:48] I've only used the credit card for 2 to

[14:50] 3 months and the annual fee is meant to

[14:53] cover the full year I try and make a

[14:56] case to get a pro Rider refund this

[14:58] method method isn't always guaranteed to

[15:00] work as a lot of the banks are now

[15:03] getting stter on refunds but here's an

[15:06] example of me getting a full refund on

[15:08] my A&Z freaken fly Black Card of

[15:12] $375 if you are successful in getting a

[15:15] refund then you'll typically receive a

[15:18] check or a bank deposit in your

[15:20] nominated bank account which may take up

[15:22] to 2 weeks to arrive or be processed

[15:25] once you've successfully canceled your

[15:27] card then You' basically completed the

[15:30] process and now you can go back to step

[15:32] one and start the process all over again

[15:35] and that's basically the credit card

[15:37] training process in a nutshell all right

[15:39] so next let's go into some frequently

[15:42] asked questions that I always receive

[15:44] whenever I talk about this topic does

[15:46] opening and closing too many credit

[15:48] cards hurt your credit score I always

[15:51] get this question in my comments and the

[15:54] short answer to this is no I've been

[15:57] credit card tring for nearly a decade

[15:59] now and my current credit score with

[16:01] Equifax is 980 and with Experian it's

[16:05] 830 which both puts me in the excellent

[16:09] category most people who ask this

[16:11] question tend to not understand how

[16:13] credit scores even work so let me share

[16:16] with you some insights based on my own

[16:18] personal experiences from opening and

[16:21] closing credit cards for the better part

[16:23] of 10 years how your credit score is

[16:26] determined is based on three main

[16:28] factors your repayment history credit

[16:31] inquiries and credit history with each

[16:33] of them having different weightings

[16:35] towards your credit score making your

[16:37] monthly repayments on time and in full

[16:40] will help boost your credit score whilst

[16:43] missed payments decreases it a strong

[16:46] repayment history is crucial to

[16:48] achieving a high credit score because it

[16:51] makes up roughly 60% of your total

[16:54] credit score secondly your inquiry

[16:56] frequency or the recentness of your

[16:59] credit inquiries can have an impact on

[17:01] your overall credit score as well every

[17:04] time you apply for a loan or credit the

[17:07] financial institution will pull up your

[17:09] credit report to evaluate their risk

[17:12] profile to lend you money this is what

[17:14] is called a hard inquiry each hard

[17:17] inquiry will negatively impact your

[17:20] credit score whilst on the other hand

[17:22] closing your credit card will actually

[17:24] increase your credit score which is why

[17:27] I always close down my credit card

[17:29] before applying for a new one because it

[17:32] helps offset the decrease that I'll

[17:34] receive from that hard inquiry the good

[17:37] thing is that inquiries only make up

[17:39] around 30% of your overall credit score

[17:42] lastly with your credit history having

[17:45] an extended credit history with one

[17:47] credit card can look favorable for the

[17:50] bank this shows them that you can

[17:52] properly manage your debts and so I

[17:54] always like to have one credit card open

[17:56] at all times which I call for my keeper

[17:59] card this is a card that I essentially

[18:02] never close and this essentially shows

[18:04] lenders that I have a good track record

[18:06] of staying with one provider for a long

[18:09] period of time and as an added benefit I

[18:12] can use this credit card as a fallback

[18:14] when I'm in between Ching credit cards

[18:17] any negative history like defaults or

[18:19] overdue payments will negatively impact

[18:22] your credit score here but overall this

[18:24] component only makes up around 10% of

[18:27] your credit score how how long should

[18:29] you wait to close a credit card after

[18:32] receiving your sign up bonus another

[18:34] very common question that I get asked is

[18:36] when should you cancel your card once

[18:38] you have received your sign up bonus do

[18:41] you cancel it straight away wait another

[18:44] month and should you apply for another

[18:46] card before you cancel this one the

[18:49] general rule of thumb that I always have

[18:51] is that you should always cancel your

[18:53] card before signing up for another card

[18:56] and the sooner a credit card is

[18:57] cancelled the sooner another application

[19:00] can be made for another credit card

[19:03] which ultimately allows you to turn a

[19:05] greater number of credit cards

[19:06] throughout the year if you're just

[19:08] starting out with credit card churning

[19:10] then I would recommend to churn between

[19:13] 3 to four credit cards a year so say you

[19:16] opened a new credit card in January

[19:18] you'd want to wait a total of 3 months

[19:21] before opening your second card in April

[19:24] and then another 3 months before opening

[19:26] another card in July and then finally

[19:29] open your last card in November this way

[19:32] you have the full 3 months to meet your

[19:34] spend criteria so you don't have to

[19:36] overstretch yourself from a spending

[19:39] perspective and once you receive your

[19:41] signup bonus feel free to cancel the

[19:43] card immediately does the sign up bonus

[19:46] expire if you close your credit card now

[19:49] this depends on the sign up bonus that

[19:51] you receive if you're earning frequent

[19:53] fly points like quantis or velocity then

[19:56] no the bonus points will not expire

[19:59] however it is important to knowe that

[20:01] your contest and velocity points do

[20:04] expire if your account has been inactive

[20:07] for more than 3 years and you haven't

[20:09] earned any points in that period of time

[20:12] now when it comes to sign up bonuses

[20:14] that award you with bank specific reward

[20:17] programs like American Express or City

[20:19] bank then yes these points can expire

[20:23] for example with American Express once

[20:25] you close your credit card and you don't

[20:28] have any remaining credit cards with

[20:30] American Express then you have 30

[20:32] business days to use your reward points

[20:35] or they'll expire each bank will have

[20:38] different terms but generally they will

[20:40] allow you a period of time to actually

[20:42] spend your points before they expire

[20:45] after canceling your credit card but my

[20:47] advice is to always spend all of your

[20:50] bank specific Reward Points before you

[20:52] cancel the card and that guys is

[20:55] everything that I had to share with you

[20:57] in today's video if you've made it this

[20:59] far in the video then thank you so much

[21:02] drop me a comment with the word travel

[21:04] down below so I know you've made it this

[21:07] far and if you've enjoyed the video or

[21:09] learned anything new then make sure to

[21:11] hit that like button down below because

[21:14] it really does help out the channel and

[21:16] consider subscribing for more for more

[21:18] credit card related content in the

[21:20] future next if you're interested in how

[21:22] you can actually book business class

[21:24] reward flights using credit card points

[21:27] then you might want to check out this

[21:29] video right here