Travel credit cards allow you to book trips conveniently, saving you money and offering travel perks. Furthermore, you can earn miles or points for every dollar charged on travel or everyday expenses. You can go on to redeem the points for free or discounted airfare, hotel stays, online shopping, and seat upgrades.

Before getting a credit card, it is essential to know its pros and cons. Fortunately, this article discusses that.

What Are The Pros Of Travel Cards?

• You can get points or miles on your daily spending and travel purchases on your travel card. Therefore, it is easy to rack up rewards even if you don’t fly often.

• You can redeem the earned points as a statement credit or save them for future travel.

• You can get valuable perks with some travel cards, including hotel room upgrades, airport lounge access, dining discounts, and entertainment and travel insurance.

• With some travel cards, you can transfer miles or points to other partnered travel or airline travel programs, providing more ways to redeem the points.

• Apart from travel, redeeming the points as cashback, merchandise, or gift cards is possible.

• You can earn free nights or flights faster with co-branded airline and hotel credit cards than other travel cards. Spendings during your travel get your rewards with an airline or hotels loyalty program.

• You can get big introductory bonuses from top travel rewards cards as an incentive to sign up.

What Are The Cons Of Travel Cards?

• There’s an annual fee on most travel cards, and premium travel cards can cost more than $500 per year.

• There may be restrictions, or blackout dates, on redeeming your rewards

• Redeeming your travel points for things other than travel can diminish the value of your rewards. If the annual fee on your card is sizable, it is essential to consider this.

• You may get charged foreign transaction fees, including overseas purchases. The fee is about 2% to 3% of the purchase amount. So, using your card abroad regularly can cancel out the rewards.

What Should You Consider Before Opening A Travel Card?

Before opening a travel card, you must ask key questions about your travel frequency and the amount you spend annually. For travel cards with annual fees of more than 2 to 3% of your annual travel spend, you should ensure that the signup bonuses and rewards make your investment worthwhile. Other questions you can ask include if you travel at peak times or if your travel dates are flexible. Also, why do you need to travel the most? Is it for discounted flights or to unlock hotel upgrades?

Things To Consider When Choosing A Travel Card

After determining that opening a travel credit card is right for you, the next step is to choose one that suits your needs. Questions to ask yourself when choosing a travel credit card include what you will charge to the card and how often apart from travel. Also, do you have big grocery bills, eat out a lot, use mass transit, or want big bonuses at the gas pump? Another question you can ask yourself is if you plan to use the card a lot abroad. If that’s the case, it is best to get a card without foreign transaction fees to avoid extra charges.

It would be best if you also considered the card’s annual percentage rate, the extras that come with the card, and the card’s perks that you can use.

Essentially, you will likely find a card that matches your needs and spending habits if you do enough research. After opening a travel card, ensure that you annually review the card’s features, benefits, and terms, making sure it is the best card for you at all times.

Conclusion

Travel cards give you convenience with booking trips and saving you money. Because travel cards have their pros and cons, you must do enough research, helping you choose the best card that suits your needs.