How to boost your travel budget
Credit card perks can save you big bucks.
To splurge on vacation is human. To save is divine — and doable, with the right credit card perks. Even if you don’t have thousands of points and miles socked away, the traveler-friendly benefits on your credit cards could easily trim costs on a summer getaway. Check your plastic for these valuable extras.
Waived baggage fees
With many major airlines, checking a bag costs $25 each way — but perhaps not with your airline’s co-branded credit card. These cards typically charge annual fees, but they also often pay for themselves by waiving checked bag fees for you and at least one person on your reservation.
❚ Savings: $100 for a couple checking one bag each on a round trip.
❚ What to know: You may have to book the flight with your airline card, and typically this perk covers only passengers on your reservation.
No foreign transaction fees
If traveling abroad, opt for a credit card that doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees. That’s what David Rae and his hus- band did while traveling in Europe last year.
“We had three weeks of meals that we put on a credit card,” says Rae, a certified financial planner at DRM Wealth Management in Los Angeles. By paying with cards that didn’t apply these extra charges, which generally add 3 percent to international purchases, they saved plenty.
❚ Savings: $30 for every
$1,000 spent internationally, assuming a 3 percent fee.
❚ What to know: Foreign transaction fees can be applied online, too, when booking a trip through a website based in another country.
Primary rental car coverage
At car rental agencies, “they definitely lay on the pressure” to purchase pricey rental car coverage, says Kristin Addis, CEO of travel blog Be My Travel Muse. But because she uses a card with primary rental car coverage when booking, she feels confident about declining the auto collision damage waiver at the counter. “I just make sure that I understand what’s really covered” with the credit card policy, says Addis, who was traveling in Lombok, Indonesia, at the time of this interview.
With primary coverage, you won’t have to file a claim with your personal auto insurance for certain types of damage. Instead, your card will reimburse you up to a set amount. (With secondary coverage, your deductible may be covered, but you’ll have to file a claim with your auto insurance first.)
❚ Savings: Around $10 to $30 a day.
❚ What to know: To qualify for coverage, you’ll need to book with a card that offers this benefit and decline the auto collision damage waiver at the rental counter. Read your card’s policy to see what damage is covered and whether exclusions apply.
Claire Tsosie is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email: claire@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @ideclaire7. NerdWallet is a USA TODAY content partner providing general news, commentary and coverage from around the web. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.