The best credit card tips for June 2016
You may have been聽hoping to relax as school lets out and the weather warms up. But graduations, Father鈥檚 Day and vacations could聽keep you busier than you expected 鈥� and you may lean on your credit card to pay for all that summer fun.
If you use it wisely, you can whittle down some of those expenses with rewards.
Every month, the Nerds round up a new set of pointers聽to help you maximize rewards and minimize costs with each use of your credit card. Here are our tips for June聽2016.
Book travel on a credit card; get a sign-up bonus
June is the perfect time to book a well-deserved getaway for later this summer. Using the right credit card to book your trip now can earn you some free travel later in the year with a sign-up bonus.
Most travel credit cards offer bonuses as incentives for people聽to sign up for and use the聽card.聽Cardholders usually have to spend a few thousand dollars over three months to get the bonus.
Typically valued聽from $200 to $500, sign-up bonuses equate to substantial sums聽of cash聽that can be used to book travel or purchase other items for free.聽If you鈥檙e聽getting ready to purchase the , and entertainment for your summer excursion, using聽a new travel card won鈥檛 only earn you rewards, it also can help put a large dent in that bonus spending requirement.
Just be sure to sign up at the right time.聽Apply at least five months before you want to redeem your rewards, and keep an eye out for , which offer even bigger bonuses.聽If you sign up for a travel card now, you could spend聽enough during the summer to collect a bonus in the fall 鈥� right in time for holiday travel.
Max out your rotating-category card鈥檚 rewards
For rotating-category rewards cards, June is the last month for the second-quarter spending areas. If you have this type of card, max out your bonus categories while you can.
offer a 5%聽bonus rewards category that changes every quarter. Bonus rewards can be earned聽up to a certain amount of spending, usually $1,500, after which the card will earn 1% back. If you use a rotating-category card, try to hit聽the quarterly rewards cap; otherwise you鈥檙e essentially leaving cash on the table. And don鈥檛 forget to opt into the third-quarter categories if your card requires it.
Bonuses cover spending on common categories including restaurants, gas, groceries and entertainment. You shouldn鈥檛 have much trouble hitting your limit if you remember to use the right card.
Pay off a student loan with credit card points
Credit card points aren鈥檛 just for trips and retail spending; they can be used to pay off , too. Whether you鈥檙e a new graduate or a parental co-signer, check to see whether聽any of your cards come with points good for loan payments, especially now that graduation has passed.
Not all credit cards allow points to be used for student loan payments, but for , using points this way聽offers the highest redemption value. Of course, if you have a card that offers cash back, you can simply put that money toward your loan, too.
Kevin Cash is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email:聽kcash@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: . This article first appeared at .
