Travelcreditcards.com is a credit card comparison resource dedicated to helping travelers evaluate rewards programs. The site was created by Brian Kelly, founder of the popular blog thepointsguy.com. While he continues to feature commentary on the top travel deals and ways to maximize loyalty programs and points as The Points Guy, Brian launched travelcreditcards.com in July 2011 to provide detailed analyses and ratings of individual reward credit cards.

Brian Kelly is The Points Guy. He is the founder and editor of thepointsguy.com, a top travel blog featuring reviews of major airline, hotel and credit card loyalty programs, industry news and top travel deals. A former road warrior, he spent over four years working in recruitment for a major investment bank, traveling over 125,000 miles annually, and spending well over fifty nights a year in hotels. Based in New York, Brian founded The Points Guy in April 2010, and in June 2011 began working full-time as a travel blogger and consultant. He has been featured in The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, The Los Angeles Times, The Independent, and Business Traveler Magazine, among others, and presents at various frequent flyer conferences. Brian consults regularly with airline and hotel loyalty programs, as well as individual travelers.

The first thing you need to do is understand your FICO score. FICO is simply a company (there are others but FICO is the most widely used) that aggregates credit data and sells that information to individuals and companies/banks. It’s a number on a scale of 300-850, with roughly 700 being the average. There are a lot of different opinions on what constitutes good credit, but generally 700+ is a safe bet. Per the FICO website, the five main factors of your credit score are: 35% payment history, 30% amounts owed, 15% length of credit history, 10% new credit, 10% types of credit. Remember, the credit card business is extremely lucrative, so the banks want to have new accounts opened. However, the threshold for which you will get approved for each lender is kept secret. You’ll generally only find out if you apply, but you can research on sites like creditboards.com.

No. However, I do get paid whenever someone is approved for a card. My goal is to provide the information that will lead you to get the cards that make the most sense for you.

Many people think that applying for a new credit card will drop their score greatly. In fact, that’s listed as a fallacy on the FICO website, which explains that if it does, it probably won’t drop much. Per the breakdown, inquiries only factor into 10% of your overall credit score, so as long as you are strong in the other areas like payment history and amounts owed, you should be fine to apply for new cards. That being said, I personally wouldn’t recommend applying for multiple cards from the same bank (ex. American Express, Chase, Citi) within the same month—ideally wait several months. If you apply for several credit cards within a short period of time, multiple requests for your credit report information (called “inquiries”) will appear on your report. Looking for new credit can equate with higher risk, but most credit scores are not affected by multiple inquiries from auto or mortgage lenders within a short period of time. Typically, these are treated as a single inquiry and will have little impact on the credit score. An important thing to note: if you are denied for a credit card, it will not count as a hard inquiry and it will not affect your credit. You do run the risk of being asked if you’ve been denied a credit card recently and some companies may deny you on that basis going forward.

Again, being aware of and understanding your credit score is key. If your score is low, generally the quickest way to improve it is to pay your bills on time and keep your balances low, relative to the amount of credit you have available. If you have had trouble with your credit, I recommend getting it squared away before applying for new cards. While it may be easy to put your head in the sand and avoid it, having good credit is key to many things – such as getting a mortgage or even getting a job – so frequent flyer miles should be the least of your worries!If you have a charge card, your available credit reported is only be the highest you’ve ever gotten your balance up to. This can have a temporary negative effect on your credit if you first charge $10,000 and once your statement closes, it may look like you have $10,000 in available credit and you are using up 100% of it (until the bill is reported as paid in full). So, with charge cards, it may behoove you to have a huge month and pay the bill off so it reports your available credit as a large number. Here is a helpful interview with the President of FICO on how to improve your score.

When it comes to earning travel-related points and miles from credit cards, there are generally three options:

1. Fixed value: You always know how much your point will get you in value. For example: each point is worth one cent towards any flight/hotel. There are no surprises when it comes time to use the points. Additionally, you earn miles on all flights booked, which helps maintain elite status.
2. Transferable: You can earn points in a central pool and then transfer to the participating airline/hotel transfer partner. This allows you the flexibility to get awards through different partners and alliances. Airline awards (except Southwest, Virgin America and JetBlue) are generally not pegged to the value of the ticket, so it is possible to get really expensive tickets for a relatively low amount of miles if you know the system.
3. Co-branded: Your rewards deposit to an airline/hotel program directly. While you lose the flexibility of being able to transfer to different partners, co-branded cards usually get you perks on the airline/hotel, such as elite qualifying miles, lounge access, free checked bags and other perks.

It all depends on your individual travel goals, but there are a few things to note. If you want to redeem your points for coach class travel, going with a fixed rate card like a Capital One Venture may make the most sense. You’ll earn miles and elite status when you redeem fixed redemption points since the credit card company purchases the flight for you, so the airline sees it as a regular ticket purchased by a travel agent.

However, while fixed value points seem like the most logical—i.e.: there are no surprises, you have the ability to book any flight and earn miles, etc—you will never redeem for any truly amazing rewards because the redemption values are fixed, usually at about 1 cent per point. So 10,000 points equals $100 towards flights/hotels/gift cards. Most experienced points aficionados know that the true value lies in transfers of points to airline and hotel loyalty programs. The main value of transferable programs is with first and business class awards since those seats often sell for 10 times or more the price of the lowest coach ticket.The downside of this kind of program is that transferable points are transferred into the airlines own frequent flyer program, so you are at the mercy of their award availability. However, if you educate yourself on the tips and tricks of the program and you are flexible, you should be able to redeem for “low” awards. Ultimately, you should look for a card that offers you value and flexibility, and review the details on the various offerings based on your personal travel goals.

Before you travel abroad, make sure you know if your card currently has a foreign transaction fee. You can simply call your card company (the best bet since card issuers have been changing these fees lately), or check out this chart from creditcards.com. The good news is that there are points and mileage earning cards that don’t have these fees. If you travel abroad extensively, it’s critical you get one of those cards. Tip: if you are applying for a new credit card, always click the Terms & Conditions link before you submit your application. Foreign transaction fees will be listed under Fees -> Transaction fees table (usually the last fee listed).

Some of the top cards with no foreign transaction fees are the American Express Platinum Card, Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase British Airways, Capital One (all cards), Citi Thank You Premier

One of the most valuable aspects of having a Membership Rewards or Membership Rewards First Amex card is the ability to transfer points to 17 airline partners. It is in your best interest to know which programs have the most flexible award rules and cheapest fees so that you can maximize the value of your American Express Membership Reward point transfers.

• Star Alliance transfer partners are Continental Onepass, Air Canada Aeroplan, ANA Mileage Club and Singapore Krisflyer. The Star Alliance also includes United, US Airways, Adria (Ljubljana), Aegean (Athens), Air China (Beijing), Air New Zealand (Auckland), Asiana (Seoul), Austrian (Vienna), Blue1 (Helsinki), bmi (London), Brussels, Croatia (Zagreb), EgyptAir (Cairo), Lot (Warsaw), Lufthansa (Frankfurt), SAS (Copenhagen), Singapore, South African (Johannesburg), Spanair (Madrid), Swiss (Zurich), TAM (Sao Paulo), TAP (Lisbon), Thai (Bangkok) and Turkish (Istanbul). This means is that you can transfer Amex points to Continental, Aeroplan, ANA or Singapore and then redeem on any of the above Star Alliance partners, or to other partner airlines of each program. For more information on each program, visit http://thepointsguy.com/2011/05/maximizing-amex-post-6-star-alliance-transfer-partners/.
• SkyTeam transfer partners Delta, Air France and Alitalia. All three are part of the SkyTeam alliance, which also includes Seoul based Korean Airlines, Moscow based Aeroflot, Mexico City based Aeromexico, Madrid based Air Europa, Shanghai based China Southern, Prague based Czech Airlines, Nairobi based Kenya Airlines, Bucharest based Tarom Airlines and Hanoi based Vietnam Airlines. Within the next couple years there will be several more additions to SkyTeam including Jeddah based Saudi Arabian, Beirut based Middle Eastern Airlines, Jakarta based Garuda and Buenos Aires based Aerolineas Argentinas. For more information on the partners, visit http://thepointsguy.com/2011/04/maximizing-amex-post-5-skyteam-transfer-partners/.
• Oneworld transfer partners British Airways and Iberia. The Oneworld alliance also includes Dallas based American Airlines, Sydney based Qantas, Hong Kong based Cathay Pacific, Helsinkin based Finn Air, Tokyo based Japan Airlines, Lima and Santiago based Lan, Budapest based Malev, Amman based Royal Jordanian, Moscow based S7 airlines and currently defunct Mexico City based Mexicana. This means is that you can transfer miles to BA or Iberia and then redeem for American Airlines flights, like JFK-LAX. For more information on each program, visit http://thepointsguy.com/2011/04/maximizing-amex-post-6-oneworld-transfer-partners/.

Ultimate Rewards points transfer to Continental, British Airways, Hyatt, Marriott, Priority Club and Amtrak at a 1:1 ratio