Travel credit cards offer a host of perks for travelers. Some such perks include discounted first-class flights, free checked baggage, complimentary meals, and elite hotel room access, among many others. To access these benefits, users simply have to use their accumulated travel credit points while being aware of the card company’s usage rules associated with their services. While this seems easy, it frequently leads to users making common mistakes with their travel credit card.

1. Allowing travel miles or points to expire
Most travel credit points come with a set expiry date. This means that if users do not redeem these points within a certain amount of time, they will lose them once that deadline passes. Credit card holders who do not make the most of such use-it-or-lose-it rewards are essentially wasting this money. To prevent points from expiring, one can use them to make small purchases or redeem them for travel plans regularly.

Further, it is important for cardholders to know the rules of their travel credit card. One can set calendar alerts on their phone to avoid missing out on travel credit card benefits due to expiration.

2. Buying points and miles when not needed
Many credit card companies enable users to purchase miles or points flexibly to reach their next redemption faster. Although this makes things convenient, buying points or miles is not a wise decision, even when they are available at reasonable prices. It is best to avoid doing so without a specific reason.

The only two exceptions are when new points are accessible to users for free or at significantly low prices or when users are just a few hundred points or miles away from reaching the required amount for booking a hotel stay or flight using points.

3. Spending too much
Most travel credit cards today come with spending-centric offers that provide customers with a lump sum of bonus points after they meet a set spending threshold. Many cardholders, especially new ones, do not think much and spend recklessly to claim as many bonus points and benefits as possible. Not knowing how to meet the spending requirement is a big mistake. People who spend their hard-earned money to reach a spending threshold disrupt their monthly budget and earnings/spending ratio.

Credit card companies want their customers to spend as much as they can, but this is something users must understand and keep their expenditures under control.

4. Not transferring points
Many travel credit cards offer users the option of transferring points to multiple hotel and airline partners for redemptions. Essentially, this means that a single travel credit card becomes redeemable at multiple spending points for users, making things very convenient for them. Unfortunately, a lot of credit card holders are unaware of this specific benefit. They may use their points for a single purpose or a set number of uses. This is one of the biggest mistakes people make when using travel credit cards. Doing so limits the scope of their travel credit card and prevents them from experiencing its full set of benefits available to them.