Welcome to the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course! I'll skip to the secret first:
US military servicemembers (active duty and Guard and Reserve on 30+ day active orders) and their military spouses (as long as listed in DEERS) can apply for ultra-premium credit cards and pay no annual fees on the cards.
You can even get multiple copies of the same card and pay no annual fees on the extra cards.
This is a 5 day course designed to teach you everything I’ve learned about the credit card rewards hobby over the past 10 years and thousands of hours of research, podcasting, and writing.
I’ll provide you with everything you need to know to earn millions of points, redeem them for $1,000s in travel or hotels, and how to get your annual fees completely waived on your credit cards. $895 annual fee cards become $0 for military families.
The main goal is to show you how to earn at least 1-2 free vacations annually and pay no annual fees as a military servicemember or military spouse!
In this post:
About Me
I’m Spencer, an Air Force veteran. I spent 12 years on active duty, flying C-17s around the world.
I grew up and went in college in New England. I currently live OCONUS after separating from the Air Force. I love travelling with my wife, eating great food, and hiking wherever I can find trails.
In the past 12 years I visited 70 countries and saw every US state. In the past 10 years my wife and I have earned over 3 million points while still saving >50% of my income.
I wrote a short book on achieving financial independence in the military. I was also the first publisher to publicly show how active duty servicemembers could get multiple credit cards without paying annual fees.
The Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course
This course consists of 5 emails you will receive in the next week. You will get a link to a daily lesson that contains the theory and practice of travel rewards.
I keep this page updated with the latest best deals and welcome bonus offers. I recommend you bookmark it and return frequently, especially when you are looking for a new card to add to your portfolio.
As a military servicemember or spouse, you could be applying for new cards until you have 20+ cards. Earning welcome bonuses is the highest effective use of your everyday natural spending.
The welcome bonus offers are always changing and what wasn't a great deal last week can become this month's best bonus.
What is this Travel Rewards Strategy All About?
The easiest way to earn a lot of travel reward points is opening certain credit cards that offer significant and above average “welcome bonuses.”
These welcome bonuses of travel reward miles or points can then be turned into nearly free travel and hotel stays by redeeming “award tickets” or “reward nights.”
Generally, a welcome bonus is around 10,000 – 200,000 points. Each point is valued at between 1 cent to 2 cents, depending on the travel rewards program.
That means a 100,000 point welcome up bonus is valued at between $1,000-$2,000. In some cases you can get nearly $3,000+ or more in value from a welcome bonus.
To earn the welcome bonus, each card will have specific terms to meet. Usually this is referred to as a “minimum spending requirement.”
A typical example of a minimum spending requirement could read: “Spend $8,000 in the first 6 months of card membership to earn 175,000 points.”
That means you have 6 months (usually 180 days) from the date you are approved for the card to spend $8,000 on the credit card to earn the 175,000 point welcome bonus.
Note that the clock usually starts ticking the day you are approved for the card, not the day you receive the card in the mail or the day you activate the card. Most of the credit card apps have a bonus rewards tracking feature now.
So let’s say you put your gas, groceries, and everyday normal spending on this credit card for 6 months. After 6 months, you’ve spent $8,000. You’ve followed The Rules of Military Credit Cards and paid off the card every few weeks so you never miss a payment.
After the next statement closes, or even sooner for some cards, the welcome bonus will post to your account! You just earned 175,000 points, or $1,750+ of value, for spending $8,000 of your normal spending.
Since you paid off the card before the due dates, it didn’t cost you a dime in interest or fees.
What about annual fees on credit cards?
Lucky for military servicemembers and their spouses, American Express, Chase, US Bank, and Citi waive the annual fees on their cards.
The credit card companies waive the annual fees to comply with the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) and Military Lending Act (MLA) laws.
The credit card companies are not doing this out of some patriotic duty, but because they can get hit with huge fines if they break the laws protecting military servicemembers and their dependent spouses.
We will cover these fee waivers more in future lessons, but this benefit gives military servicemembers and spouses a HUGE edge on other credit card travelers!
What can I achieve by earning lots of travel reward miles and points?
For Christmas 2023 I flew my wife, her parents, and myself first and business class on Singapore Airlines from Auckland New Zealand to Paris, France and back.
The total cost was about 500,000 points and $1,000 in fees. These tickets would have cost over $30,000 had we just booked them with cash.
This year I stayed at a $1,600/night Ritz Carlton resort (60,000 Marriott points), 4 nights in Dubai (40,000 Hilton Honors points), a night in Bucharest, Romania (20,000 Hilton points), and have 6 nights reserved next year at Hilton properties in Australia, Scotland, and England, all on points.
I’m a Diamond member of Hilton (free room upgrades and breakfast) and a Platinum Elite member of Marriott, without much travel at all this year.
I also purchased $3,300 of United Airlines TravelBank …and paid $0 out of pocket for it. Since 2017, I've almost always flown exclusively lie flat business or first class on international trips.
When my wife’s flight through Hong Kong got cancelled due to a Super Typhoon, I was able to book her an Emirates flight direct…and upgrade her to business class for only 48,000 points.
I just flew first class from Hawaii to Korea, roundtrip, for only $300 cash and 45,000 points on a government fare ticket. Yes, you can legally upgrade your TDY and PCS travel with your own money and points.
Every year, my wife and I get:
- $4,200 of hotel credit
- $2,800 of restaurant credit
- $2,100 of lululemon credit
- $2,100 of digital entertainment credit
- Airport lounge access around the world
- $700 of Saks Fifth Avenue credit
- $1,400 of United Travel Bank credit
- $1,400 of Uber cash
- $600 of travel credit
- Free annual Uber One membership
- $1,200 of Hilton Resort credit
- Hilton Diamond status
- Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite Status
And when you're active duty or a military spouse, you pay no annual fees for any of these benefits. It's free money in your pocket, every year.
You can seriously upgrade your travel experience or satisfy your wanderlust with points and miles. Military life includes a lot of travel. Why not do it for free?
Is this strategy for everyone?
No. You have to be able to follow the rules as set out in the next post. You should only follow this strategy if you are responsible with credit cards.
- It helps to have a excellent credit rating (minimum 700, 750+ is ideal).
- Keep your travel plans flexible
- It helps to be organized and keep track of your bonuses, logins, and credit card details
- If you can, start planning your credit card strategy well in advance of your date of intended travel. Usually 3 months minimum is required but sometimes a year in advance is necessary to see your plan work.
How long can you do this for?
Each credit card company has instituted rules to prevent abuse of the system. For instance:
- American Express only allows one bonus per card per lifetime.
- Chase has a “5/24” rule that prevents anyone who has opened more than 5 credit cards from ANY bank in the last 24 months access to any Chase credit cards. So if you opened 4 AMEX Cards a year ago, open a single Chase card today, tomorrow you will not be able to open any more Chase cards. This is why I suggest you start with Chase cards before moving on to the other credit cards available. Update 2025: The Chase 5/24 rule has been softened, but I still recommend you start with the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card.
- Here is my optimal order in which to open cards to maximize the military benefits.
Despite these limitations, there are over 30 excellent travel and cash back cards available on the US market today. New cards are released nearly every month.
Even though Amex only allows one bonus per card per lifetime, they frequently update cards and change the name, which means it's a new product and you can be eligible for the bonus again.
Is this completely “free” travel?
For international flights, you can usually expect to pay $50-100 in fees for business or first class round trip tickets, plus the points required. For a domestic flight in the States, it’s usually only $11 in taxes for a round trip flight.
Hotel stays are usually completely free with no associated taxes or fees if you use points.
So while it’s not completely free travel, it’s pretty close!
Ready to learn how to do it? Click here to continue on to Lesson 2, the Rules of Military Travel Reward Cards!