I think you are correct that there are so few "maximizers" that the credit card companies don't care about stacking and other techniques to optimize points. The banks make so much on swipe fees and interest fees to negate the additional value that optimizers are trying to obtain. I don't know anyone else that has multiple cards for various categories. In fact, I was talking to some friends today about cash back vs. travel. They were overwhelmed about having to pick which card to use in a certain situation. They would much rather get a 2-3% cash back card on everything and just use that one card. They didn't want to spend the mental effort to pick which card to use.
That was a great dinner! I’ve given this some thought as well but I’ve also spoke with people at the airport (LGA) that are supposed to acquire new sign ups and they’ve told me that they were pointed at RUclips for reference material to make them better sales people
Hey Chad, forgive me if I’m wrong, but did someone mention that you were coordinating a meetup in NOLA for Labor Day? I’m just a fan, not a creator, but I’m interested
You are right on! I can’t even discuss points and miles with my family for more than five minutes without them checking out. I even have extremely financially savvy friends who think my strategies are crazy even though it yields me tens of thousands in rewards. They just think it sounds too good to be true and too much trouble, yet they will pour over stock materials for hours and hours.
Friends and family think I am nuts!!! Im afraid to even tell them how many cards I actually have. I had a AA, Hilton, and Marriot cards before I set foot on one of their planes or lobbies. Cant wait to be around like minds in Nola!!! Also GO BILLS!!!!
I’ve only met 1 person that uses points & miles the way we do, and it was a random person I went up to the other day when I was downtown 😂 I was so surprised, everyone else pretty much has a few cards, but doesn’t know which ones they have. Problem with dinners now is I only hang out with people in our niche really anymore so everyone wants to use their card haha. Good thoughts Dugroz, totally much smaller than we even imagine.
I could tell from your face reaction there how surprised and proud you were that moment when you found somebody in real life who also likes these stuff haha
Maximizers is the prefect term for us. I was thinking that before you said it. There’s not many of us, I know one guy in real life. I just went to Vegas, I used Resy credits, Uber cash, user statement credits and the aspire resort credit. Yea I’d say I’m a maximizer.
You are spot on! I know an entire family that uses United card because the Dad uses it. No idea why they use it. Dad probably signed up on a plane ride sometime
This was such a cool ride and vibe! I really like the way you did this video! I agree with you that personally I don’t know many people who do what we do. lol. Maybe two people . 😂 Thanks for a great video!
This video did get me to thinking a little bit. I think you're right, there probably is a pretty small number of us who are in this points and miles game. I would say that there being about 10,000 of us is a pretty good hypothesis! Out of my friends, family and co-workers, I don't know of any who have nearly as many credit cards as I do. I have talked with some of these people about credit cards, but it sounds like most of them only have a few, if any in their possession. Out of those I have talked about which cards they have, I don't think any of them have travel credit cards. They seem to have simple cash-back credit cards like the Discover It, the Apple card, and maybe a 1.5% back card from one of the smaller regional banks.
One of my favorite received comments came from a co-worker:."Hey, isn't this credit card game MONEY LAUNDERING?' 😂😂😂😂 He changed his tune when I showed him how valuable Avianca points could be for him going to South America!
Zeros all around. One neighbor wanted to start saving up to copy what I did for business class to japan. They got a Csp, then wife CSP. then eyes got distracted and got the disney card for one time trip. They're already loosing interest after one year and I'm confident they still have both CSPs open (getting charged double annual fee for not much gain)
Really good question… 🤷♂️ I would speculate that airlines love to brag about the rewards program, and how you can get these great redemptions, but don’t actually want people to make high-value redemptions.
Hi dugroz. I believe your hypothesis is sound. here's why (or at least my guess): The CC points & miles game tends to be a middle class thing. Wealthy or upper class individuals may use cards, but dont really care about pts or miles, since they have the resources to buy anything. Lower income folks may not have access to credit lending/funding or do not have any good reward cards. So that leaves the middle segement of the population. Of that population, many are anti-credit ala dave ramsey types. Then another segment of this population uses cards, but only possess a few cards & dont optimize for categories, let alone travel redemptions. Thus, that leaves us CC fanatics who optimize, strategize, & methodigize over cpps & benefits. It would be hard to put an actual #, but i would guesstimate out of a sample size of n=10,000 the actual # of CC pts/miles peps would be be n
@@DugrozReports - oh sorry the “n” is used in statistics to denote the “number” or the population size (N) or the sample size (n) in any given research study. My bad Occupational hazard.
I think your assessment is pretty much on point and I totally agree, and to give my anecdote I have never met anyone else in the points and miles hobby offline
While there aren't many of us, it's more than 10K. One million of us still only represents about ~0.3% of the population. Here in the US, even if you're one in a million, there are still more than 300 people just like you. However, I still only know 1 other person putting points to use.
Most people get these cards for the Flex and never use all or most of the benefits, which the banks love. They dont care until the maximize like us to start into their budget .
I dont know anyone in the game. I have been an evangelist for points and miles..or have tried....but like you Dugroz...some seem interested when they here a story of a redemption, and then it goes by the wayside and never comes up again.
My p2 can't even understand half of what I'm talking about when it comes to points and Miles. She only gets involved when I have to get her to call into reconsideration. Lol
@@AlejandroPerez-ef5ez Thank you TooEasy and Alejandro! I’m always on the phone when Mrs. Dugroz calls, she does security, gives permission to talk with me, and I take it from there! She still despises it, so we avoid whenever possible!!!! 😊😎
I don’t know anyone else who has this hobby. I started 4 mos ago, since we go to Las Vegas often (but don’t gamble) and I found out I could get Caesars diamond status with Wyndham Earner Bus Card. Wow. No more Resort fees! 😊. Now I have 4 new cards and currently working on my IHG bonus.
@@DugrozReports oh I like to eat out (too much), pool, gym, people watching, browsing around. Sometimes we will do some hiking over in red rock area. My spouse like to play poker just a bit, though I never do. I matched our status there so we can go resort fee free to other casino chains also.
Bro, I have said this so many times. This is a very small Niche. Very small. I know of 1 person that is really into the points and miles game. As far as friends and family, some of them may ask me for advice but none of them are in the game. Not even close.
In my normal real life I am the only one who is passionate about credit cards and I have 23 of them. My sister-in-law has 17 credit cards but does not know anything about them 😆
Yeah, I agree that CC maximizers are a rare breed. Like occasionally there’s discussion on CC forums/YT about how crazy it is the USBAR hasn’t been nerfed bc of how easy it is to maximize on mobile wallets+ RTR on travel, but I would bet the majority of USBAR users: a) make 1cpp redemptions or get statement credit, & b) use the physical card a lot & not just for mobile wallet (the horror 😱😄). Not everyone is as particular about this stuff like us.
@@qcman2000 🎉🎉🎉 100% agree with you! US Bank has has years to nerf it if they wanted to, but have not. So it must work for them! Thanks Quality Control man!!! And thanks for being a diehard!
Yeah - in the whole scheme of things, I don't think there's many peeps in the pts maximizing game at all. Most people I know have 1X hotel card and 1X airline card. They don't care about transferrable currency, maximizing pts redemptions, or getting the best/multiple SUBs. Thanks for the info + video!
I have a work team member whose wife just got a CSR but that's the only chase card they have so no combining points with other cards. They also use the 50% points boost through the portal and not transfer partners. I think the worst past is they fly out of LGA or JFK but because they tend to get there just on time they never used the lounges. What a waste.
@@SpartanOfFinance Hi Spartan! That’s one of those situations where you want to help them but it’s head-pounding frustration when they don’t listen!!! 🙈🙈🙈🫣🫣🫣. Thanks for the comment!
Agreed, now that I know what I’m doing, I would love to find one person who I could walk through a card setup avoiding all the mistakes I made, but no takers so far. Personally I know no one else even tangentially in the game. Hey is there a contact person for this NOLA meetup? I would love to consider going.
@@robertjarrell7276 Do you use Discord or are you willing? (You can join and just be in 1 group) The Anthony Venture discord is the place it’s discussed. Super informal.
You are spot on Doug! I don’t know anyone that plays the game that isn’t a content creator and we are a very small community. Thanks for the info hermano!🫵
I think you are correct that there are so few "maximizers" that the credit card companies don't care about stacking and other techniques to optimize points. The banks make so much on swipe fees and interest fees to negate the additional value that optimizers are trying to obtain. I don't know anyone else that has multiple cards for various categories. In fact, I was talking to some friends today about cash back vs. travel. They were overwhelmed about having to pick which card to use in a certain situation. They would much rather get a 2-3% cash back card on everything and just use that one card. They didn't want to spend the mental effort to pick which card to use.
@@ronburn Yep. That’s usually how it goes! Thanks Ron!
I've met a few people in real life into credit cards. But finding out about it is like finding a needle in a hay stack.
I think i'm downsizing on the co branded hotels cards!! but thanks for the shout out!!!
@@LukesPointsandMiles Thanks Luke! It was perhaps a BIT of hyperbole!!!! 🤣🤣🤣
That was a great dinner! I’ve given this some thought as well but I’ve also spoke with people at the airport (LGA) that are supposed to acquire new sign ups and they’ve told me that they were pointed at RUclips for reference material to make them better sales people
Do you mean like people at the Chase Lounge selling Chase products?
no I spoke with people who were peddling delta cards in the delta terminal
Hey Chad, forgive me if I’m wrong, but did someone mention that you were coordinating a meetup in NOLA for Labor Day? I’m just a fan, not a creator, but I’m interested
😎
Same here , I never met,personally, in my circles an enthusiast in the credit card game.
@@callmeNeno Ditto. 🏆🏆🏆
You are right on! I can’t even discuss points and miles with my family for more than five minutes without them checking out. I even have extremely financially savvy friends who think my strategies are crazy even though it yields me tens of thousands in rewards. They just think it sounds too good to be true and too much trouble, yet they will pour over stock materials for hours and hours.
@@therewardsmaster977 Yes! Why is that????
😄
Friends and family think I am nuts!!! Im afraid to even tell them how many cards I actually have. I had a AA, Hilton, and Marriot cards before I set foot on one of their planes or lobbies.
Cant wait to be around like minds in Nola!!!
Also GO BILLS!!!!
@@PhilMo78 Agree, extend family thinks something is wrong with me! I basically don’t talk about it to keep the peace 🤷♂️
I’ve only met 1 person that uses points & miles the way we do, and it was a random person I went up to the other day when I was downtown 😂
I was so surprised, everyone else pretty much has a few cards, but doesn’t know which ones they have.
Problem with dinners now is I only hang out with people in our niche really anymore so everyone wants to use their card haha.
Good thoughts Dugroz, totally much smaller than we even imagine.
@@AnthonyVenture thanks Anthony! 🎉 I saw the thumbnail of that video, still need to watch it! Appreciate you stopping by. 🚗
I could tell from your face reaction there how surprised and proud you were that moment when you found somebody in real life who also likes these stuff haha
Exactly! That was a rare find!
@@itzzlazyy That’s right Lazy hahaha.
🎉🥳🎉
Maximizers is the prefect term for us. I was thinking that before you said it. There’s not many of us, I know one guy in real life. I just went to Vegas, I used Resy credits, Uber cash, user statement credits and the aspire resort credit. Yea I’d say I’m a maximizer.
@@AnthonyFinAtlanta excellent! Thanks Anthony!!!
I'm the only one I know that is in the points & miles game. I'm in rural Michigan.
@@BobI-jb4rk Yeah I’m sure rural areas areas are even bigger points and miles deserts! 🤷♂️
You are spot on! I know an entire family that uses United card because the Dad uses it. No idea why they use it. Dad probably signed up on a plane ride sometime
@@AndyKing-r3c That’s nuts!!! Probably better off with a 2% cash card!
Thanks Andy! 🥳
This was such a cool ride and vibe! I really like the way you did this video! I agree with you that personally I don’t know many people who do what we do. lol. Maybe two people . 😂 Thanks for a great video!
Thanks so much, connection!!!! 🚗🥳
This video did get me to thinking a little bit. I think you're right, there probably is a pretty small number of us who are in this points and miles game. I would say that there being about 10,000 of us is a pretty good hypothesis! Out of my friends, family and co-workers, I don't know of any who have nearly as many credit cards as I do. I have talked with some of these people about credit cards, but it sounds like most of them only have a few, if any in their possession. Out of those I have talked about which cards they have, I don't think any of them have travel credit cards. They seem to have simple cash-back credit cards like the Discover It, the Apple card, and maybe a 1.5% back card from one of the smaller regional banks.
Thanks so much John!!!! 🥳🥳🥳 totally 💯!!!
One of my favorite received comments came from a co-worker:."Hey, isn't this credit card game MONEY LAUNDERING?' 😂😂😂😂
He changed his tune when I showed him how valuable Avianca points could be for him going to South America!
@@fogrunr5075 😄😄😄 did he do it?
@@DugrozReports I'm sure he will...
Great!
Money laundering? I love how “people “ pick up and use catch phrases without having any idea what they mean! 😂
@@robertjarrell7276 Yeah well it was also tongue-in-cheek humor😎🤣🤣🥳🥳
Zeros all around. One neighbor wanted to start saving up to copy what I did for business class to japan. They got a Csp, then wife CSP. then eyes got distracted and got the disney card for one time trip. They're already loosing interest after one year and I'm confident they still have both CSPs open (getting charged double annual fee for not much gain)
@@FlyinRyan31310 Ouch. Yeah, that’s how it goes! 🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️
Great job on RUclips ♥️
@@vickiarnold7300 thanks Vicki! 😎
I met one guy at church ⛪️ that I am now good friends with who is also deep into travel hacking.
@@seand99x Oh wow! That makes for a lot of fun!!!!
If it's so little of us, why is award availability so hard to find lol
Really good question… 🤷♂️
I would speculate that airlines love to brag about the rewards program, and how you can get these great redemptions, but don’t actually want people to make high-value redemptions.
Hi dugroz. I believe your hypothesis is sound. here's why (or at least my guess):
The CC points & miles game tends to be a middle class thing. Wealthy or upper class individuals may use cards, but dont really care about pts or miles, since they have the resources to buy anything. Lower income folks may not have access to credit lending/funding or do not have any good reward cards.
So that leaves the middle segement of the population. Of that population, many are anti-credit ala dave ramsey types. Then another segment of this population uses cards, but only possess a few cards & dont optimize for categories, let alone travel redemptions.
Thus, that leaves us CC fanatics who optimize, strategize, & methodigize over cpps & benefits. It would be hard to put an actual #, but i would guesstimate out of a sample size of n=10,000 the actual # of CC pts/miles peps would be be n
@@docsays I like all the examples! And I think you are 100% right! I’m not sure what “n” means???? 🤔
@@DugrozReports - oh sorry the “n” is used in statistics to denote the “number” or the population size (N) or the sample size (n) in any given research study. My bad Occupational hazard.
@@docsays Ah gotcha. So basically < 1%. Mr. Roz struggled with that one. 😊🤣
Spot on ! Thanks for another chat in the car
@@KeyKEYadventures You bet! Thx Key!
I think your assessment is pretty much on point and I totally agree, and to give my anecdote I have never met anyone else in the points and miles hobby offline
@@kura_bot I think your anecdote is the norm!
Have you ever recruited someone?
Thanks Kura!
nah I have never tried to recruit someone, I don't think I could if I wanted to
Roger that! 👆👆👆😎
While there aren't many of us, it's more than 10K. One million of us still only represents about ~0.3% of the population. Here in the US, even if you're one in a million, there are still more than 300 people just like you. However, I still only know 1 other person putting points to use.
@@travelpointsfamily All good points (pun intended! 😄). Not really any way to get a good count, that’s for sure.
Most people get these cards for the Flex and never use all or most of the benefits, which the banks love. They dont care until the maximize like us to start into their budget .
@@davidhamilton6187 thanks David! And thanks for being a diehard!!!! 🏆😎
I dont know anyone in the game. I have been an evangelist for points and miles..or have tried....but like you Dugroz...some seem interested when they here a story of a redemption, and then it goes by the wayside and never comes up again.
@@JonsCreditAndTravel Ditto. Thanks Jon!
My p2 can't even understand half of what I'm talking about when it comes to points and Miles. She only gets involved when I have to get her to call into reconsideration. Lol
We never had to call reconsideration yet. I just tell my P2 to unfreeze her credit because its time for another card 😂😂
@AlejandroPerez-ef5ez we literally have go over what to say like 5 times. Pretty funny
@tooeasy4217 that would be me and my wife if we needed to call 😅😅
@@AlejandroPerez-ef5ez Thank you TooEasy and Alejandro! I’m always on the phone when Mrs. Dugroz calls, she does security, gives permission to talk with me, and I take it from there! She still despises it, so we avoid whenever possible!!!! 😊😎
@DugrozReports my p2 is the same hahaha
I don’t know anyone else who has this hobby. I started 4 mos ago, since we go to Las Vegas often (but don’t gamble) and I found out I could get Caesars diamond status with Wyndham Earner Bus Card. Wow. No more Resort fees! 😊. Now I have 4 new cards and currently working on my IHG bonus.
@@abspasadena Thanks Robert! Very cool with the Wyndham card!
I don’t gamble either; what do you like to do in Vegas???
@@DugrozReports oh I like to eat out (too much), pool, gym, people watching, browsing around. Sometimes we will do some hiking over in red rock area. My spouse like to play poker just a bit, though I never do. I matched our status there so we can go resort fee free to other casino chains also.
Great!!!! Thanks for joining! 🏆
Bro, I have said this so many times. This is a very small Niche. Very small. I know of 1 person that is really into the points and miles game.
As far as friends and family, some of them may ask me for advice but none of them are in the game. Not even close.
@@SledgeIncTeam Exactly. My experience exactly. Thank you Sledge! 🫡
In my normal real life I am the only one who is passionate about credit cards and I have 23 of them. My sister-in-law has 17 credit cards but does not know anything about them 😆
@@MrCaptainPlanet 🫣🫣🫣🤣🎉
Yeah, I agree that CC maximizers are a rare breed.
Like occasionally there’s discussion on CC forums/YT about how crazy it is the USBAR hasn’t been nerfed bc of how easy it is to maximize on mobile wallets+ RTR on travel, but I would bet the majority of USBAR users: a) make 1cpp redemptions or get statement credit, & b) use the physical card a lot & not just for mobile wallet (the horror 😱😄). Not everyone is as particular about this stuff like us.
@@qcman2000 🎉🎉🎉 100% agree with you! US Bank has has years to nerf it if they wanted to, but have not. So it must work for them!
Thanks Quality Control man!!! And thanks for being a diehard!
Yeah - in the whole scheme of things, I don't think there's many peeps in the pts maximizing game at all. Most people I know have 1X hotel card and 1X airline card. They don't care about transferrable currency, maximizing pts redemptions, or getting the best/multiple SUBs. Thanks for the info + video!
@@jimmyjames6492 you’re welcome! Thanks as always Jimmy. 👍👍👍
Well, Chase just shut down the business cards of Constantino's Points... Bummer.
@@fogrunr5075 Was he the guy who also had all of his Amex points confiscated at one point? 🤔😢
@@DugrozReports Yes it is.
- oh snap! damn, thats bank #2 for shutdowns for him.
@@docsays The AMX shutdowns hurt him. Chase, not as much really because they were mostly cards that he wasn't using.
Very odd! 😢🫣
I have a work team member whose wife just got a CSR but that's the only chase card they have so no combining points with other cards. They also use the 50% points boost through the portal and not transfer partners. I think the worst past is they fly out of LGA or JFK but because they tend to get there just on time they never used the lounges. What a waste.
@@SpartanOfFinance Hi Spartan! That’s one of those situations where you want to help them but it’s head-pounding frustration when they don’t listen!!! 🙈🙈🙈🫣🫣🫣. Thanks for the comment!
Agreed, now that I know what I’m doing, I would love to find one person who I could walk through a card setup avoiding all the mistakes I made, but no takers so far. Personally I know no one else even tangentially in the game.
Hey is there a contact person for this NOLA meetup? I would love to consider going.
@@robertjarrell7276 Roger that. Would be cool to have a Padawan. 😎
@@robertjarrell7276 Do you use Discord or are you willing? (You can join and just be in 1 group) The Anthony Venture discord is the place it’s discussed. Super informal.
@@DugrozReports Sure, thanks! I’ll look for it
Anytime
I know one person who maximizes no AF card SUBs anndddddd that’s it 😂
@@Xavier_ID. And even that is fairly rare!!!! Thanks Xavier! 😎
You are spot on Doug! I don’t know anyone that plays the game that isn’t a content creator and we are a very small community. Thanks for the info hermano!🫵
@@CesarJoel That’s probably why we are all buds …. There are so few of us!
Thanks bro, happy 4th!