Owen Beiny (@thepointspartner) is better known as The Points Partner. He is a former CEO that has spent the last 20 years traveling around the world for free by using credit card points, air miles, upgrades and benefits. He joins Chris Van Vliet from his house in Los Angeles, CA to talk about how anyone is able to sleep on a bed on an airplane for free, what the best credit cards to get are, he breaks the myth that having too many credit cards harms your credit score, his favorite destinations to travel to, the best free trip he has ever taken, how you can do exactly what he does and much more!

On common misconceptions:

“I like to start by dispelling some common myths. It is not bad for your credit score if you get multiple credit cards, it is healthy if you do it correctly. Also, you don’t need to spend millions on your credit cards to be able to do it. I find it offensive that people think that, I have worked my butt off for 20 years with a calculator to help people do this without those barriers.”

On maximizing credit card points:

“Instead of credit cards that give you one point per dollar that you spend, look at where you spend your money each day and choose the cards that will give you the most on food, gas, travel, these can give you 3, 4 or 5 times the amount of points. If you know what you are doing, which is my job to teach people, then credit card points can be worth 7 times what airmiles are. 7 times the amount. But you can’t use them the way that the credit card companies imply, you have to learn the art and the skillset of transferring your points out of the credit card companies, which is what I do. If you look at credit card points as a currency, they are no different to dollars, euros or yen, you buy them at a rate and you sell them at a rate. We are not buying them technically, we are getting them from spending money on our credit cards. And we are not selling them, we are redeeming them for free travel. But the concept is still the same, but it is not weighted the same. If you buy currency, there is a 50/50 chance of selling them. But with credit card points, the points only represent 30% of the transaction. 70%, the majority is the selling side, if you don’t know how to sell them, you have missed out.”

On making the points work for you:

“If you have 100,000 points, to the average consumer that is worth $1,000 in free travel, so you get roughly 1% back. But if you use your points correctly, they are worth $7,000 in travel. With some credit cards, even the sign up bonus for getting the card gives you that amount. If you get 2 or 3 cards and get them at the right time, you can get up to $30,000 in free travel just from the sign up bonuses. People assume I am a billionaire, I’m not. Last year I did $136,000 of free travel, which people think is a joke. That is why I opened up an Instagram account, because I show people how I travel for free. I explain which card I use, how I booked it, and all the details.”

On Owen Beiny’s history:

“Originally I was part of a paparazzi company in London. My job was to get 1,500 photographers and have them chase celebrities around planet earth and getting photos of them. I spent my entire working life on a plane chasing celebrities. Back in 2005 I got a phone call to cover the breakdown of Britney Spears in Los Angeles. It was the week that she shaved her head. It was also the week that I was coming to America, I was coming to America all the time. I came out for a week to cover Britney Spears, but her breakdown lasted longer. I was flying backwards and forwards, but to cut a long story short I ended up living in Hollywood. The industry went in the wrong direction, I quit while it was still at the top and looking for something else to do. Aside from chasing celebrities, my only other skills was flight related, as I had spent so much time on planes. I found all the tricks to be upgraded, so I came up with the idea to do something with credit card points.”

On what is good credit:

“When people talk about credit they talk about a credit score. That is a quantification of how trustworthy you are to lend money to. That is not what a credit card company uses, they look at your credit profile. They look at how many people have lent you money, when did you pay them back? How much did you borrow? And all of the details. A credit score of 700 is where you can go on my website and start to apply for travel credit cards.”

On Owen Beiny’s proudest trip:

“Just before the pandemic, me and my best friend went from Los Angeles to Tokyo. We did a week in 5* hotels across Japan, took the bullet train to Osaka, went to Shanghai, China for New Year’s Eve, spent the night in a 5* hotel, business class back to Los Angeles. In total it was $22,000 in travel, out of pocket it should have been $118, but I used points just to make it free. I explain to people on Instagram how this can be done, I am not a cheater or a travel hacker, I hate that term. I keep everything in the terms and conditions, the police don’t hate me, the airports don’t hate me. This can be done by anyone.”

On the best credit card to get:

“There is no such thing as a good credit card or a bad credit card. However, there is a good credit card for you and a bad credit card for you. So what is good or bad? Start off by printing out your credit card statement from last month. Is you spending in any of these 6 areas: Food, drink, gas, travel, marketing or office supplies. If you spend your money in any of these categories, which everyone does, you need to find the cards that will give you more money for one of these. For example food and drink, there are 2 credit cards that clearly whoop everyone else. The Citibank Premier card has a $95 annual fee and a 80,000 point sign up bonus, that is $3,500 worth of travel if you know what you are doing. This will also give you 3x the points on food, drink, gas and travel. You can use that card for everything day to day and you can crush it. The other card is the American Express rose gold card. This has a $250 annual fee, but it will give you $240 in places that you already use like Grubhub, Seamless, Uber, a whole bunch of places. It comes with a 60,000 point bonus for signing up and 4x food and drink bonus.”

On what Owen Beiny is grateful for:

“The capacity of other people, the people around me and credit card points.”

Featured image: Instagram