Seriously.

If this is a new hobby, do not change your spending habits to hit SUBs.

There is a common misconception that people who use points and miles to travel have spent millions of unnecessary dollars to generate millions of points that they then use to travel with while drowning in debt. This is not true. One of the core tenets of this hobby is to open up new travel and points credits cards as they become available, use your organic spending habits to hit the minimum spend for the SUB, then move on. After all, why would I put $10,000 on one card to earn 10,000 points when I could split that across 3 cards and earn 150,000 points?

That said: If you can’t hit the minimum spend required for a card with organic spend, you should not sign up for that card. Your monthly organic spend is the money you already spend in a month, less mortgage payments, car loans, and any other bills you can’t pay with credit.

If your organic spend is $1,000 a month, then you should be looking for cards that have a minimum spend of less than $1,000 x months allowed to reach the minimum spend. For example:

---

• Card A has a minimum spend required of $4,000 in 3 months.
• $4,000 / 3 = $1,333
• $1,333 is more than my $1,000 organic spend so I should not apply for this card

Although there may be some cards today that you are disappointed to not open, the offers on most cards change regularly. In the case of Card A above, if you wait 3 months, they might come out with a new offer:

• Card A now has a minimum spend required of $4,000 in 6 months.
• $4,000 / 6 = $667
• $667 is less than my $1,000 organic spend so I can apply for the card with this offer

---

What types of minimum spend are required for SUBs? It really varies!

• Typically the minimum spend on a personal card will be lower than the minimum spend on a business card.
• On the low end, I have seen cards that require 1 purchase to hit the minimum spend plus payment of a $99 annual fee. Seriously – you could go to the store and buy one pack of gum!
• On the high end, some business cards have minimum spend of $20k in 3-months, or even $30k in 6-months, oh my!
• A typical minimum spend (Oct 2025) for a personal card is $3k-$4k in 3-months.

What counts as organic spend? Any recurring spend that is required of you during the month. Just to name a few items, this could include:

• Groceries, restaurants, take out, delivery, or food subscriptions (Green Chef)
• Gas
• Electric
• Internet
• Subscriptions (Netflix, Spotify, Siruis)
• Garbage
• House maintenance or repairs
• General shopping (clothes, toiletries, electronics)
• Pet food
• Monthly rent
• Dinner out with friends
• Holiday gifts
• Life insurance
• Car insurance

What doesn’t count? It is not possible to pay everything with a credit card. You will likely not be able to pay the following with a credit card, although it never hurts to ask:

• Mortgage
• Car/Auto Loan
• Contractors often don’t accept credit
• Daycare may or may not accept credit

Are there any other ways to hit minimum spend? Yes, there are some more advanced techniques such as reselling items, but I would avoid this when starting out as the learning curve is steep and such activities inherently carry some risk. A better option is you could look for opportunities across friends and family to pick up a bill and get paid back. For instance, maybe you have a family trip and someone has to book the rental unit. Volunteer and have everyone pay you back with Venmo, Zelle, or PayPal. Or maybe you are out to eat with friends or planning to attend a concert – volunteer to put the bill on your card and let your friends pay you back individually. Or maybe you are involved in organizing an event for school or a sports team – again, you could pay up front then have everyone else pay you their portion. Another option to explore could be using your credit card to pay for your medical or prescription drug costs. For example, if you have an HSA and an eligible health-related bill to pay, you can pay with a credit card, and then pay yourself back from your HSA, instead of paying your bill directly from your HSA.