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C H A P T E R s i X

Credit Card Signups

By far the most fastest, easiest, and most lucrative way to earn miles (especially for Americans) is
through credit card signups. In fact, about 80% of the miles I earn year in and year out come from credit
card signups, and in one year alone I’ve earned over 1 million frequent flyer miles JUST through credit
card signups. Yes, you read that right; 1,000,000!

But wait; before you can go and sign up for the best credit card deals out there, you NEED TO CHECK
YOUR CREDIT SCORE!

I can’t stress this enough. Without a high enough credit score you’ll get denied for the best credit cards
out there, the ones that offer tens of thousands of miles. You’ll not only be wasting your time but you’ll
be hurting your credit score by getting denied, which makes you that much further away from getting
the cards to begin with.

/// CHECKING YOUR CREDIT SCORE

So first things first, check that score. And while it may not seem like a sexy first step, the good news is
that it’s quick, easy, and best of all, free.

The two best free services to use to check your credit score are Credit Sesame and Credit Karma. Since
these are just approximations (albeit pretty good ones) of your credit score, I’d recommend checking
both. It never hurts to be safe, and since both these sites are completely free forever, there is no reason
not to!

The most accurate credit score you can get comes from myfico.com. You can get a free 1 week trial but
if you don’t cancel after 7 days, you’ll be charged $18.99 a month for a minimum of 3 months! If you do
decide to go this route, just make sure you call and cancel. I usually do it immediately after getting my
score so I don’t forget.

You can also obtain a free copy of your credit report once a year through the government at annualcre-
ditreport.com. It won’t give you a score but it will give you the actual copy of your credit report. I recom-
mend doing this, especially if your credit score is below 700, so that you can see what exactly is on your
report and go about fixing it.If you are below 700, don’t get too discouraged. Many people, including
myself, have had their credit score below 700 before, brought it up, and are now able to get the best
cards out there! It may take a little work at first (and be a little frustrating) but the payoff of free travel for a
lifetime is well worth the minor inconvenience. For more information, you can check out my page on the
blog entitled “How to Improve Your Credit”.

/// PICKING THE RIGHT CARD

There is no shortage of cards out there to choose from and with different offers popping up all the time
it helps to be aware of all the offers. You can see all the most up to date offers that I recommend on the
Best Current Deals page.

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