Tag Archives: Travel Credit Cards

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Instant Access to Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card After Approval with Apple Pay & Google Pay

Updated at 8:15am PT on 4/23/25: I completed the $5,000 minimum spending requirement and the 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points show as pending in my account – all before even receiving the physical card in the mail.  You can also refer friends and family members to the CSP before receiving the physical card in the mail.  See both updates below.


Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  Last night, I was looking into credit card options since Laura and I have some large purchases coming up in the next few months.  While researching, I wanted to see if the Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card (CSP) (click here to learn more and apply) offers instant access to the card, and I was happy to find out that it does!

According to Chase: “Spend Instantly: Apply for a card, use it the same day. Receive instant access to your card by adding it to a digital wallet, like Apple Pay®, Google Pay™, or Samsung Pay.” You can check out the full details here chase.com/digital/spend-instantly.  In this post, I will show you the process to add the CSP to your Apple Pay Wallet.

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Miles & Points Mantra #2: “Book Flights Now, Then Set Up Google Flights & Points Path Alerts”

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well. I’m kicking off a new series on the blog called Miles & Points Mantra, where I’ll be sharing the personal “rules” I follow when it comes to using airline miles, hotel points, credit card rewards, and all things travel.  I try to follow these rules 100% of the time, but I have been known to break the rules from time to time.  Whether you’re brand new to travel hacking or a seasoned pro, I’d love to hear if you agree or disagree with these “rules.”  I have a long list of mantras to share, but if you have one you swear by (or want me to cover), please share it in the comments section below.  Let’s get started…

Miles & Points Mantra #2: “Book Flights Now, Then Set Up Google Flights & Points Path Alerts”

Whenever I am looking for paid or award flights, the first place I start is at Google Flights. Most of the time, I know exactly where I want to go and have a preferred departure time in mind. In a perfect world, my preferred flight will be the cheapest option, but in reality, it is usually not.  In addition to Google Flights, I use Points Path, which is an awesome browser extension that runs on top of Google Flights and displays the cheapest award price option next to the cheapest paid option. As a paying Points Path Founders Club subscriber, I have the ability to set up 50 award alerts that run simultaneously that I use to track specific flights and I receive email alerts whenever the award price increases or decreases (this happens almost daily).

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Miles & Points Mantra #1: “Use Hotel Free Night Certificates ASAP”

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well. I’m kicking off a new series on the blog called Miles & Points Mantra, where I’ll be sharing the personal “rules” I follow when it comes to using airline miles, hotel points, credit card rewards, and all things travel.  I try to follow these rules 100% of the time, but I have been known to break the rules from time to time.  Whether you’re brand new to travel hacking or a seasoned pro, I’d love to hear if you agree or disagree with these “rules.”  I have a long list of mantras to share, but if you have one you swear by (or want me to cover), please share it in the comments section below.  Let’s get started…

Miles & Points Mantra #1: “Use Hotel Free Night Certificates ASAP”

If you are just starting out and only have 1 or 2 hotel Free Night Certificates (FNCs), it might not be too difficult to remember to use them before they expire.  Fortunately / unfortunately, between Laura and myself, we have earned / received 15 FNCs in the last 12 months from various credit card sign up bonuses, paying renewal annual fees on our hotel credit cards, and from completing a Hyatt Brand Explorer challenge.  15 FNCs means we have to spend at least 15 nights in hotels throughout the year in 4 different hotel brands (Hilton, Hyatt. IHG, and Marriott) within certain categories and point limitations.  The only way I can manage these FNCs is in a spreadsheet.

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When Does the Free Night Certificate from the Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card Post and Expire?

Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  Yesterday, my dad asked me about his Hyatt Free Night Certificate (FNC).  He told me he just booked a Hyatt stay using the FNC but wasn’t sure if he got a good deal on the hotel stay.  I asked him when the FNC expired, but he didn’t know or remember.  I told him how to figure out when the Hyatt FNC posted to his account and how to find out when the FNC expired.  I figured this post would be helpful to others who are in the same situation.  It is really easy to find out, here is how.

Figure out when your $95 annual fee is charged to your Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card.  For Laura’s card, her $95 annual fee posted on February 1, 2025.  You can find this charge using the Chase website, Chase app, or by looking at your credit card statements.

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PSA: IHG Points Sharing / Transferring Between Accounts IS NOT Instant (Mine Took 2 Days)

Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday!  Last weekend, I needed to book a last minute IHG hotel stay that cost 47,000 IHG Points.  Laura had a 40K Free Night Certificate and 3,000 IHG Points in her account.  Since we are both IHG Business Rewards Members (free membership), I decided the *easiest* and *quickest* option would be to transfer 4,000 IHG Points from my account to her account.  I submitted the points transfer request and planned on booking the hotel stay right away.  Unfortunately, IHG had other plans.  After submitting the request, the confirmation message said “Your order has been received and will be processed in the next 72 hours.”  72 hours?!  I was planning on checking into the hotel tomorrow afternoon…

Long story short, instead of transferring valuable Chase Ultimate Rewards Points or Bilt Rewards Points to Laura’s IHG account, she bought 5,000 IHG Points since IHG was running a 100% bonus on IHG Points.  In case you are wondering, the IHG Points sharing / transfer took about 2 days (~46 hours to be precise).

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