Gen Z Guide to FI

With all my travel hacking from last year, I wanted to give an update on how my credit score is doing.

I recently closed my Barclay American Airline Aviator Mastercard. I wrote about it here. It gave me 50,000 AA points after I made 1 purchase last year. It was the easiest card I’ve hacked. I finally used the points for one leg of my spontaneous Canada trip a few weeks ago. You can read about it here. I left it open for almost a year but it wasn’t really providing any value so I called the customer service line and closed it this month.

My last credit score update was in June 2023 when I took a travel hacking hiatus. Now, my TransUnion credit score is 786 and my Equifax score is 797. Note that I opened 6 credit cards in 9 months. I also closed one of my student loans which was one of my oldest lines of credit. Even with all those changes, my credit score is even higher than when I started.

Once again, I am making sure to pay all of my cards on time and in full EVERY MONTH. No debt is involved in this travel hack business baby.

Now, I’m researching new cards to open while closing and downgrading some of my cards from last year. To avoid the annual fee, I am closing once I hit 11 months – 1 year before the statement closes. Hopefully this way, I stay within the good graces of the banks in case they let me open the card again the future.

I have been booking travel for the rest of the year with the miles I earned from last year. But it’s time to get back on my travel hack grind!

Of course, I’ll be reporting back to you all on what cards I get and what cards I close.

xoxo GZFB