How Are Travel Credit Cards Useful?

Knowing the right way to use a credit card is an art. When you increase the use of the card, you may earn more reward points together with a long bill. So, you should know how the card must be used to only profit you with rewards and still manage the expenses within the permissible limit of your wallet. The same applies to travel credit cards.

With travel credit cards, one can earn points that can be redeemed for air tickets, hotel stays, etc. You may also be entitled to get cashback and free vacations. Few major reasons to say why exactly a travel credit card can be of help are as follows:

Sign-up Benefits

• A good sign-up bonus is all that you need to choose a travel credit card. You may get a heap of bonus points on sign-up that can be used to redeem while booking a flight ticket. In this case, you may have to put in a very small amount from your pocket and still fly. Just keep an eye on the recent credit card promotions offered by various banks.
• In another case, the credit card issuing company may ask you to make transactions of a specified limit within a certain span of time. This can fetch you cashback, reward points, gifts and what not.

Travel Protection

• Some travel cards provide you with a sense of relief as they provide travel insurance that covers you and your belongings when you are travelling. The criterion is that you must book the flight ticket with the travel card that provides free insurance. Such an insurance covers baggage delay, baggage loss, trip cancellation, flight delay, missed flight, personal accident, medical expenses, emergency evacuation, repatriation and many more cases.
• In case of a medical emergency, the policy also allows a friend or a family member to visit you to stay by your side for your speedy recovery. Also, when you are away on the trip if there is a burglary at your home, the insurance reimburses the loss to a certain extent.

Overseas Expenses

• Every Malaysian Ringgit you spend overseas will fetch you two to eight times more points as compared to the local spend. With overseas spending, you can acquire more points in a short span.

Privileges and Benefits

• A travel card can provide you with a good deal of privileges and benefits such as access to airport lounges, complimentary ride from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to your home, waiver of the annual fee, discounts on dining, stay at luxury hotels at special prices, free membership at golf clubs, etc. Citi Premiermiles Visa Card promises to provide unlimited travel Wi-Fi at exclusive rates as low as RM11 per day. Some cards also provide you with a Concierge to plan your trip well and for any kind of assistance during the trip.

Points Redemption

• Some travel cards allow you to redeem your points with flight tickets of over 40 airlines. However, you must know that each airline may require their own specified number of points for you to be eligible to redeem for flight tickets.
• Another thing to remember is that a few banks have an expiry on the points you earn while the other banks provide points without an expiry.

You now know how a travel card can be of use, you must also know that paying the card bills by the due date is very important. If you miss out on bill payment, it directly affects your credit score. A low credit score will hamper your plans of getting a big loan in the future. So, be smart while using travel cards and do not let it take over you.