Traveling doesn’t always need to be that expensive, especially if you’re using the right financial instruments – those that can help you work towards lowering the costs. While it may sound unusual to you that any financial instrument can do that, the truth is that one can. Called a travel credit card, or a kredittkort for reise, this tool will lower your costs, regardless of whether you’re going on a shorter trip within the country or taking a luxurious vacation abroad. Making your future trips more affordable is the purpose of these cards, and using them the right way will certainly have you amazed with just how much you can save. Go here to learn how those work.
Using them the right way is, naturally, a prerequisite of gaining all of those benefits and lowering the traveling costs, which is your ultimate goal. Another prerequisite exists, though, and it comes before you begin using these cards. Choosing them, of course, is what you should put most focus on, as not all of them will suit you specifically, and you shouldn’t just randomly select a card you’ve heard is good for traveling and be done with it. Much more consideration needs to be made, and much more relevant steps have to be taken, and I’ll now teach you about those.
Before I get to listing the actual steps, I want to make sure you know what this choice specifically depends on. Why aren’t all the travel credit cards good for you precisely, and why is there even a need for you to choose carefully instead of grabbing the one you come across first? Well, factors like the frequency of your traveling, the reward types you can easily use, the benefits you actually want the most and the amount you’re willing to pay all play a role in whether the card will be right for you or not. The market is filled with great options, though, and you’ll certainly get to find the best one for you, as long as you take the correct steps towards it.
Table of Contents
1. Go For One With Travel Rewards
Card rewards can be quite different, as the issuers have recognized people’s different needs and different purposes for using these instruments. Cashback ones, for instance, help you earn a percentage of your money back upon spending it, but they’re not the best option when it comes to traveling. There’s a reason why kredittkort for reise exists, i.e. why there are those cards created specifically for people who travel often, as those were designed to offer benefits that suit their particular needs perfectly. So, instead of getting tempted by other types of rewards and benefits, you should always aim at getting a card that offers travel rewards. While that should be completely logical already, this reminder can’t hurt.
2. Decide Between General And Co-Branded
Simply stating that you want a reise kredittkort isn’t enough to get you the perfect one, though. As seen on kredittkortinfo.no/kredittkort-reise and similar useful sites, there are definitely a lot of different travel credit cards people can use, but they differ among one another, and those differences are specifically what you have to focus on when aiming at selecting the best one for you. For starters, deciding between the general and the co-branded cards is definitely a must, as that decision will influence the flexibility of redeeming your points, and it will be impacted by your particular traveling style.
Co-branded ones are characterized by being affiliated with specific airline and hotel loyalty programs, and many of them come with perks such as priority boarding, annual hotel credits or even automatic hotel elite status. So, if you’re a creature of habit and you use the same brands frequently, this could be the card for you, as its affiliation with those brands can offer you specific perks. If that’s not the case, then the general travel kredittkort, not being affiliated with any brands and programs, is right for you, as it allows you to use those points in various ways, transfer them to specific airline and hotel loyalty programs, or use them for direct travel purchases.
3. Look For Great Rewards Along With A Big Initial Bonus
Getting carried away by a big initial bonus, i.e. a welcoming offer that can even be as high as $1000 in the first few months is easy, but here’s the thing. You need to think about the long run. Sure, the welcoming bonuses are a great perk and you shouldn’t completely disregard them, but reaping the long-term benefits of the card should be your goal, and you can do that only if you choose one that aligns with your spending and traveling habits. Understanding which categories you spend most in when traveling, such as gas, dining and similar things, can also help you make the right choice here, as there are category spending bonuses to consider as well. Bottom line, do consider the initial welcoming bonus, but always keep the long run in the picture.
4. Check The Minimum Spending Requirements
Minimum spending requirements are directly related to those bonuses I’ve mentioned above, given that the card issuers will require you to spend a certain amount in a specific period of time so as to achieve the bonus. Those can range anywhere from $500 to $15000, and the time frame during which you’ll have to spend that amount usually goes from three to six months. While some cards allow you to earn the bonus with one big purchase, others will have higher minimum requirements, so that’s another factor to consider when making your choice and aiming for the best kredittkort for reise. Generous welcoming bonuses and low spending requirements are the goal here.
5. Decide Which Travel Perks Matter To You
Not everyone needs or wants the same traveling perks and benefits, so the next thing to do is identify precisely which ones matter to you. Getting a card offering perks you can really benefit from, instead of just going for those perks that sound good and flashy on paper but won’t do you much good in reality, is what you have to do here. Always keep in mind that the perks working for me may not be best for you and vice versa, and especially remember that when your friends start recommending the traveling cards they’ve used. Choosing the right traveling card, naturally, consists of identifying which perks you want included and then going for the one that does include those. Travel insurance, airport lounge membership, hotel elite status, priority boarding, annual resort credits… just some of the perks to consider when deciding which ones you want to get.
6. Do The Math On The Fees
Understanding the annual fees will, of course, also help you make your choice here, as you need to know how much you’ll be paying for all the services and all the perks you’ll be getting. Doing the math to figure out if a kredittkort is worth it is important, because if you don’t do it, you could easily wind up paying high fees and getting pretty much nothing in return. So, do your math before agreeing to anything, as that’s how you’ll make the best choice.
