KGCI: Real Estate on Air - Credit Card Hacks That You Should Know

Episode Date: March 5, 2025

Hello, hello, hello. My name is Beth Riley, and I am with the Flamingo Group. And today I have the pleasure of interviewing Eric Dennerly, and he is an accountant by trade, or that's your job. But your side job is also credit card hacking, which I'm very excited to talk about. And it's also a privilege to have you on your, we know each other personally. You are the partner of my son, Derek, and Derek and Eric, quite the nice names. but I'm super excited to learn about credit card hacking because I know there's a lot of people that really are trying to build their credit and in our society now credit cards are very

important in learning how to build credit. So I'd love to learn a lot of what you did and if you could tell me a little bit about how you learned to do this and how you got to this place. About 10 years ago, I had a friend that came back from you. Europe and we were talking. And I told him, I wish I could go to Europe more. I just can't afford it. It's like, you think I can afford it?

And it just developed into a conversation where he instructed me on the ways of credit card hacking. And ever since then I've been hooked. And so hacking would be all sorts of stuff, isn't it? I mean, when I hear hacking, I think of course software and, yeah, I think of other things. Think of the computer and it denotes some type of negativity, but it's nothing. So what is it at a higher level? Because I know we're going to drill down into it.

Could you tell me a little bit about what it is specifically, what credit card hacking is? So you're utilizing the, what you would call the bonus structure on different credit cards through various banks. generally when a credit card wants your business they'll entice you with a sign-up bonus and those sign-up bonuses can be quite lucrative and a lot of people in credit card hacking will go with various different cards to get their sign-up bonuses and it just noballs into more and more um i traveled the world on it so wow that's nice um can you you tell me, so if somebody were to just start, so when do they start using the card? Right now, we're talking a little bit about you buy something with it. You, you, I think some of your theory

was you get things that you need, not what you want on your credit card, which is what, just the opposite of what we normally think. Yes. So Derek and I just recently got a credit card together. It's the United Mileage Club. It gives you lounge access to all the United lounges at various airports. And we have to spend $5,000 within three months in order to get the sign-up bonus, which is about 50,000 United Airline miles. What? Yeah. We have to figure out ways to utilize a credit card and to spend $5,000 within a three month period. But when you think about it, there are so many different things that you can purchase what you do normally every day and put it on the credit card and pay it off. So things that

you might have paid with your debit card, you can put it on the credit card. So you almost think of it as your bank. Correct. Benefits instead of 10%. I mean, you just said, did you say 50,000 miles? Yeah. You can go around the world with that, can't you? I think it's two round trip tickets to continental United States. Two round tickets? Okay. Well, that's cool. I don't get two round tickets from my bank. No, that's the thing. A lot of people are very under the assumption that their banks should be their main hub for finance when your bank account just, it's a pass-through. Okay. This is brilliant. I love it. I mean, it's going to take my brain a minute because I've, especially, And again, I know this is all about using credit cards responsibly, right?

That's really key, right? Well, the main thing is never utilize these cards for something you're going to carry a balance on because they have an extraordinarily high APR because they're geared for luxury benefits. So if you're going to use these cards and carry a balance, it completely negates any and all type of incentives that it gives you. Okay. So APR is what? Just so that people...

Annual percentage rate. Okay. And that can run. What are you saying this is running from like 18 to 25 percent? What is it? What are the percentages? 25 and up. I've seen 28.

And now with their interest rates going higher, I don't doubt that there could be a 30. I mean, the government does cap it at some point. So there is a ceiling. Okay. Crazy. That's a high percentage. rate 30 is crazy high, but even 28 is. Correct. Yeah, that's why I make sure I pay off my bills every month.

And you're good at it and you're in account and so you're going to think that way. So I mean, I want to always make sure it's clear to everybody. Pay off your balances, pay off your balances every single month. I mean, you know how much is in your checking account? Just don't pay more than what you would be on a debit card. Correct. I get it. Why use credit cards? So these are, I know that you, and again, you've been educating me on this.

So just pretend you're talking to me again and talk a little bit about how you should use your credit. The best ways to use your credit card. Well, you know, I'm always on your case about when you use your debit card. I cringe when I see people use their debit card. So you're essentially giving somebody access to your bank account. I never use my debit card for any reason whatsoever. The only time I ever use it is to withdraw cash. an ATM. I constantly use my credit card when I pay any merchant. Generally, when there's

fraud, it happens through merchants, people or hackers. There's a negative kind of people. There's a negative hacker. They can hack into various merchants. Target had a big hack not that long ago where over a million people had their credit card numbers taken. So Generally, when you have your credit cards that you're using, if somebody fraudulently gets your credit card, you're duping it out with that credit card company, that bank. If somebody gets your debit card, they're taking money directly from your bank. It's much more difficult to process any type of claims, fraud claims against your hard-earned cash. Okay. So that's the biggest number one thing I tell people.

Safety. Correct. Okay. That's right. That's number five on this slide, but it really is your number, for you, it's the number one reason. It is. I mean, no, we'll backtrack bonuses are my number one. All right. Tell me, can you give me any stories of different bonuses that you've gotten? Because I know, again, this has been another one of our conversations. Could you tell me a little bit of some of the bonuses that you've gotten over the years? Because I know you've had tons of credit cards and then stopped doing it for a while. Are you wanting to know where I've been with credit card bonuses or how much I've amassed? Can you give me both? At one point, I had 750,000 American Express membership reward points.

I've taken trips to Vancouver and Seattle, stayed at five-star hotels. I've used that to go over to London and back once. recently your son and I just went to Buenos Aires, Argentina. We went there a round trip. American Airlines stayed in a really nice Airbnb. And that was on the credit card? Oh, okay, I didn't know Airbnb was part of this. Okay.

We used our Chase ultimate rewards points to pay for the Airbnb. Okay. So I guess going over the structure could be for a completely different going over each type of creditor and what the different point scheme and structure. That could be a different webinar all in itself. I bet. I think that what's interesting is that what's really breaking me, my perspective is the fact that you're making your money work for you.

Yep. You spend it, right? You're still spending. You're still spending the same money. And I can't emphasize enough that it's, your bank doesn't give you these benefits. They don't. They don't.

So this is how, if you were, again, responsibly, how are you going to manage your money and you actually get benefits? There's some cash back credit cards and things like that, too. Is that correct? There are. A lot of people say cash is king, and I've seen diehard people just only want cash back. it does no it gives me no value i i want to travel so that to me is worth more than the cashback

because i can rig it to where i could probably get a higher return than a cashback credit card yeah with a little bit after you uh started teaching me on this the little bit i saw i would say that your frequent flyer miles i have gotten the most money out of yes and it's it's not a two or three return like I would on my debit card. You have to know where to look, but it could be five and up. Yeah. Nice. Rewards points.

So there's all sorts of things in rewards points. I've seen that you can get gifts. You can buy gifts. You can do a lot with that, that right? Is that right? Yeah. A couple different credit card companies have reward point systems on their, their portals that you can utilize with with that again i pretty much only use it for travel so

yeah skip um we talked about the frequent flyer miles um safety that was one of the big thing i really agree with you on the safety because i've been hacked um i did it was on my credit card my son just recently got hacked and he told me thank god dad you taught me how to do instead of my debit cards. So he's a cashback king. He loves his cash back. So he's a diehard discover person. Yeah, well, one day at a time, you will teach him.

He's still a Padawan learner. Keep vendors honest. This was an interesting, yeah, that was kind of interesting. Could you tell me a little more on that? Keeping vendors honest. It goes into, how do I work this? It talks about how we want to keep the vendors from gouging. So it's hard for me to describe that one.

A lot of times vendors will gouge based on credit cards that they take. For example, a lot of vendors were choosing to raise their prices based on using Amex versus MasterCard or Visa. So keeping it straight across the board keeps the vendors honest and it keeps their prices at a consistent level. Okay. What's a grace period? I utilize this one for cash float. When you pay with your debit card, the cash is immediately taken out of your account. When you're paying with a credit card, there's a 30-day cash float.

So there's your grace period. Plus, if you have an interest-bearing checking account, you're going to get interest on that money. Albeit it's not going to be a very high interest rate, but hey, sense can add up. Okay. Grace period insurance. I think that would go hand in hand with the safety, but a lot of credit card companies give you insurance on your cart. So, yeah, when I was in London, last month, there was a little fender bender we had.

My third. And the Kachar company, they fronted the bill, so God love Chase. Good. Universal acceptance. Especially since you're a traveler, I bet you this is definitely true. I have yet to find a place that doesn't take Visa or MasterCard. Third would be Amex and Discover. is a truly United States-only brand.

Discover is? Yeah. And is Discover a little easier to get? It used to be because they were really wanting their customer base because all the other competitors have been around since the 50s. And then starting in the 80s, Discover card came into the picture. And at first they were offering really high credit limits and cash back, which completely disrupted the whole credit card system back then. So nowadays, I think that getting a

discover would be just on par with the other three. Okay. And then building credit, which is what we're talking about because we're going to help people get credit in order so they can purchase real estate, right? Exactly. And is that something that Ethan's using it for? Yes. I've gotten them on the right track as far as monitoring their credit scores and making sure they're not going over a specific utilization percentage. And just for anybody listening, Ethan is your son. So I just wanted to make sure who's Ethan. I'm sure people are thinking. Let's talk about the different hacks that you have. This one, of course, you had the number one you spoke about earlier. Why is it so important to pay off the balance every month?

It's a twofold. You never want to carry a balance on any type of travel card. They said the interest rates are astronomical. If you do need to carry a balance, utilize a different type of card that has a lower APR. Okay. Those type of cards generally don't have any travel bonuses. But there are a tool that you can utilize.

when you need that type of usage on your card. Second would be, you know, if you are not paying your balance every month, then you're not creating good credit habits. Okay. You're not hacking correctly. Correct. You're not hacking the system. We did talk about this earlier.

Use your card for needs, not wants. Can you kind of drill down on that? Is this for your credit card bill? I mean, is this for your heat bill, water bill? Help me all the little on this. Those are all your needs. I pay all of my utilities on my credit card. If I could pay my mortgage on my credit card, I would.

Anything that you can pay on your credit card that doesn't have a really high convenience fee, I generally do because the rewards I get so far exceed that convenience fee. Okay. But there's a difference in your needs and wants. Like, I really would like new running shoes, but that's just not something I'm going to put on my card right now. All right. Although it seems like the perfect thing to put on your card. It does when I can afford it.

Okay. Okay. Hack number three. Use your credit card as a budgeting tool. Yes. Like I said, you can put pretty much almost all of your monthly expenses on a credit card and having that all on one credit card where you can see your daily purchases. Yep. It'll help you with budgeting. You can set up a budget. Keep to that budget. Don't go over that budget. I'm a big, big advocate of American Express. They have a couple different cards where it allows you to carry a balance, but you can elect to do a pay your bill off every month and not carry.

It keeps people in check, and it gives you really good rewards as well. Those are for the people to have a hard time with credit cards in the past. Okay. a good entry. Now, if you don't pay AMX off in that month, doesn't it have a super high APR? What is it?

What happens with that? From what I've been told, the APR is ridiculously high, and there's also a fee involved. And they might allow you to use that charge card on the next month. So there's a lot of penalties involved. It's a stinker.

It is. That's why I tell people, if you've had an issue in the past, that's probably one of the best cards you can get that'll help you. And will it help you with your credit rating to go up again? Yes. If you have a problem? Okay. Amex should be paying me right now. Because you've promoted it so well? Yeah, Amex really should be paying me this. Heck number four, use a rewards card.

Can you give us some ideas of different, you've mentioned Amex, you've mentioned, Disclose, discover. Go ahead. If you could give us some ideas of ones that have really good. So right now the best card on the market is going to be your Chase Sapphire or MX Platinum. Okay. With the Chase Sapphire, you get a specific multiplier based on certain categories. For example, you would get a five multiplier on, I believe it's travel, a four multiplier on dining. Now, let's say you go out and spend $100 on dinner. You use your chase card. You've got 400 ultimate reward points there.

So these are just some of the things that the reward, this is how the rewards add up. Okay. Whereas if you use your debit card, you don't get anything. No, you get 3%. If your bank offers that. If, if I don't get anything for my bank. I do have points, though. I do travel on my credit, but it's credit card.

It is not my debit. Exactly. Huh. Yeah. Ooh, this is a good one. Go forward. Your utilization ratio. is probably one of the biggest parts of your credit score.

Staying under 10% of your total credit limit, that gives you a really low utilization, and that can dictate your credit score. Once you get to over 10%, it starts to negatively reflect on your credit score, it could drop it anywhere from 30 points to, 100. Wow. Yeah. The utilization and adverse credit, like charge-offs or something, those are the biggest pie of what your credit score is made out of. Okay. Charge-offs is though when you've actually shut down a card, isn't it?

No, a charge off could be a default of some sort of possession, foreclosure, medical bills that you've gone into default. That's also a pretty big chunk of your credit score. Okay. What's next? Okay. So as I help people focus in on what they're doing, you know, the 80-20 rule where what you focus on expands, I guess would be an easier way to do it.

what should they be spending most of their time focusing on in trying to use a credit card hack? 80% of your time should be using the research. Figure out what you're, I should just say this, that not every credit card is made for each person. Okay. everybody has different spinning habits, different spending needs. A lot of people might be better off using card X where I'm better off using card Z. It just depends on your needs, what works best for you. So utilizes time figuring out which credit card company offers the type of rewards based on spinning habits that best fit you.

So they should still start with a bud. Correct? Absolutely. So start with the budget and then work from there. Absolutely. But you want to know where you're spending habits are within the budget. What do you spend the most on? Right.

Okay. Oh, that's interesting. What credit card? Did you already say it was Chase Sapphire? And you also mentioned another one. Did we drill down on the other one? one? The best card to use. Yeah, you said Chase Sapphire and then you had another one. Chase Sapphire had the multipliers. So for people that are just starting to get their toes wet with credit card hacking,

travel rewards, the best card on the market right now is the Chase Sapphire preferred. It has a $95 annual fee, but the multipliers are pretty high. And you can, wreck up some substantial points based on your specific spending. You're going to have to go to chase.com to see what the multipliers are to see if that suits your spending needs. I believe there are sign-on bonus right now is 80,000 ultimate reward points. Yeah. Yeah. I want to get the card again. I've had it. Okay. Well, maybe you could get an LLC or something and figure it out from there. I don't know, you do that, not me. It could be another hack of mine.

Yeah, there you go. Have I missed anything for like for to help somebody just get an idea of what's going on and what this means? I think that we've given, you've done a really good job in helping us understand the basic rules. So I have an email account set up for people if they want to email. email me if they have any type of a question or they need a help on narrowing down a specific type of credit card. It's Hr.H, the points king at gmail.com. Hr.H. The what? It's Hr.H is his royal highness. I think you're going to like that one.

Quince king. Okay, we've got it. H-R-H the points king at channel.com. Okay. That should be, that'll be in the notes for sure. And they can reach out to you if they want to ask you questions specifically about these different credit cards. Absolutely. Okay. Well, maybe we should meet up again and talk after I get the Chase Sapphire preferred and see what I can make happen with that.

So if people really, really want to learn. more about this. I can most certainly do different various tutorials to talk about each individual bank's point system. You have your Amex, which is membership rewards. You have Chase, which has ultimate rewards. City has thank you points. And Capital One just started in with the game.

I'm not too well versed on their point scheme yet, but I'm learning about it. Then you have various airline credit cards that you can utilize as well. So I'd be more than happy to do a different tutorial to go over each individual one. Okay. Well, now we know where we're going to go next. We'll see how everybody likes this. Please, everybody like it and make sure that we know what you want to hear more of. and then we will come back and start it all over again.

So thank you so much. I truly appreciate it. And again, my name is Beth Riley. I am with the Flamingo group. Here. My flamingo is over here. There we go. There's my flamingo.

Remember us when you're thinking of buying or selling real estate. And we look forward to talking to you again soon. Thank you very much, Eric. It was a pleasure.