This Week’s Money Map:

• 💳 Get up to $2K in credit card bonuses to boost your spring finances

• 🚗 Can your credit score tank your car insurance?

• 🍹 Access airport lounges without flying first class

• 📈 MG Book Club week 6: Why you don’t need a financial guru to build wealth

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💳 Get up to $2K in credit card bonuses to boost your spring finances

Spring is all about new beginnings, and it’s also a great time to freshen up your finances. If you’re planning upcoming travel, household upgrades, or just looking to stretch your spending, here are the best credit cards that could help you earn hundreds of dollars in rewards with minimal extra effort.

Best for everyday spending
If you spend heavily on groceries or gas, the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express could be a smart pick. This card offers a $250 welcome bonus after you meet the spending requirement, plus it earns up to 6% cash back at supermarkets. The annual fee is waived for the first year, making it an easy way to maximize essentials without upfront costs.

Big rewards for big-box shoppers
If you do most of your household shopping at places like Walmart, Target, or Costco, the U.S. Bank Shopper Cash Rewards® Visa Signature® Card is worth a look. This card offers $250 bonus after qualifying purchases, plus up to 6% cash back at select major retailers. There’s a $0 intro annual fee for the first year, and it can easily pay for itself if you regularly shop for home essentials.

Simple and flexible cash rewards
The Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card offers $200 cash back after qualifying purchases, with a flat-rate 2% cash back on everything you buy. No categories to track and no annual fee. It’s perfect for anyone who likes a no-fuss approach to earning rewards.

Best for dining and entertainment lovers
If your weekends revolve around restaurants, concerts, or streaming subscriptions, the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card could help you save more. You’ll earn $200 cash back with your intro bonus and enjoy 3–8% back on dining and entertainment. 

Most flexible bonus
The Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card gives you a $200 bonus and the flexibility to pick your top cash back category each month, from gas to online shopping. If your spending habits change, your card can, too.

Best for small business owners
If you’re running a small business or a side hustle, business credit cards help you earn as you spend. This month, the Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card from Chase offers $750 cash back after meeting the minimum spend — all with no annual fee. This card also earns a flat 1.5% back on every purchase. 

Quick tip before you apply
Welcome bonuses are a great deal — but only if you pay your balance off in full each month. Carrying a balance can wipe out any rewards earned with interest charges. Plan your spending ahead of time to meet bonus requirements without stretching your budget.

🚗 Can your credit score tank your car insurance?

Think your credit score only matters for loans and credit cards? Think again. Insurers use something called a credit-based insurance score (not the same as your credit score) to predict risk. In most states, a lower score can jack your premiums by up to 114%.

Why use credit score to calculate premiums?
Actuarial studies show that drivers with poor credit are statistically more likely to file claims. In other words:

Lower credit score = higher risk = higher premium (even if you’ve never had an accident)

To be clear, insurers evaluate multiple factors beyond just credit, and the weight given to these factors varies by company. While your credit — whether excellent, good, fair, or poor — can impact your rate, it serves as just one piece of the overall picture.

Your strategy
So, what can you do about it?

• Check your state's rules: California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Michigan have restricted or banned using credit for insurance pricing.

• Bundle strategically: If you have poor credit but a clean driving record, some insurers will weight your driving history more heavily when offering bundle discounts/

• Request an "extraordinary life circumstance" exception: Federal law requires insurers to consider credit score exemptions for major life events like divorce, serious illness, or job loss.

• Boost your credit fast: Paying down credit card balances can improve insurance scores within 30–60 days. Set up auto-payments to avoid late fees and check your credit report for errors.

• Shop around: Not all insurers weigh credit the same. Some insurers penalize poor credit less severely. Compare quotes from at least three companies to find a deal that doesn’t punish your score.

Your credit score could be the hidden reason your car insurance is sky-high. Boost it, compare quotes, and don’t let a number define your premium. Use our guide to finding the best cheap car insurance for drivers with bad credit.

🍹 How to access airport lounges without flying first class

Tired of waiting in crowded terminals with overpriced snacks and nowhere to plug in your phone? You don’t need elite status or a first-class seat to enjoy the perks of an airport lounge. With a few smart moves, anyone flying coach can enjoy a quieter space, free refreshments, and better Wi-Fi — even on a budget.

Here’s how to unlock lounge access without flying like a CEO.

Use the right credit card
Some travel credit cards offer complimentary lounge access as part of their benefits. For example:

• Chase Sapphire Reserve® includes Priority Pass™ membership and now also Escape Lounges.

• Capital One Venture X offers access to Capital One Lounges and Priority Pass™.

• Amex Platinum gives entry to Centurion Lounges, Delta Sky Clubs (with a Delta flight), and more.

Pro tip: These benefits often require you to activate lounge memberships separately. Don’t skip that step.

Pay for one-time lounge access
Not a frequent traveler? You can still buy a day pass, often for $50–79, from most major airlines. Apps like LoungeBuddy and DragonPass offer discounted entry — sometimes up to 30% off — and allow you to pre-book without any membership.

Look into annual memberships
If you often fly with one airline, a lounge membership might be worth it. Options like Priority Pass™ or memberships from Delta, Alaska, United, or American Airlines offer unlimited or limited visit plans starting around $329 per year. Some even allow guests or family members at no extra cost.

Try status matching or limited perks
You don’t need thousands of miles to get elite benefits. Airlines like Alaska and Delta occasionally match your hotel loyalty status (like Hilton Gold) to grant temporary elite perks, including lounge access.

Some co-branded airline credit cards also now include two free visits per year, like the United Explorer Card.

Ask during delays
If your flight is delayed for several hours, politely ask a gate agent if complimentary lounge access is available. Many airlines — including Delta and United — quietly extend this as a goodwill offer during long delays.

Before you fly
A little planning can turn your next airport experience into something much more comfortable — even relaxing. You don’t need to fly first class to enjoy first-class treatment.

Want to explore more ways to fly smarter? Check out MoneyGeek’s best travel credit card recommendations for May 2025.

📈 MG Book Club week 6: Why you don’t need a financial guru to build wealth

Last week in our review of Ramit Sethi’s I Will Teach You to Be Rich, we unlocked the power of automating your money — a simple system to save, invest, and spend without stress. This week, we’re taking it a step further with a surprising twist: you don’t actually need a financial advisor to grow your wealth. Sethi makes a strong case that not only can you do it yourself, you might even do it better.

Experts don’t have a crystal ball
We’re taught from a young age to trust experts — from doctors to mechanics to money managers. But when it comes to investing, the data tells a different story. Fund managers and TV pundits love to predict the market, but studies show they fail to beat the market more than 75% of the time.

Even worse, their advice often comes with high fees and emotionally charged forecasts that can cause everyday investors to panic and sell at the wrong time. As Sethi writes, “Expertise is about results.” And the reality is, most experts don’t consistently deliver them.

So what should you invest in?
Sethi breaks it down into two types of investment funds:

• Mutual funds are managed by professionals who try to “beat the market” by picking winning stocks. But this “active management” rarely works long-term — and the fees can seriously eat into your gains.

• Index funds, on the other hand, are passively managed. They track the performance of a market index (like the S&P 500) and rely on computers — not people — to do the work. They charge much lower fees and, over time, often outperform mutual funds.

You’re more capable than you think
One of the most empowering messages of this chapter is that building wealth doesn’t require special skills or insider knowledge. It just requires consistency, low costs, and time in the market — not timing the market.

And once you set it up, the system runs itself. You can grow your money while focusing on your life.

Action step: Start investing without the stress
Skip the noise, skip the stock tips, and skip the high fees. Start with a simple, automatic investment into an index fund through your Roth IRA or 401(k). You can use this investment calculator to estimate how your investment will grow over time. Don’t let “not being an expert” hold you back.

See you next week as we finally dig into how to build your own low-cost portfolio — step by step.

Smart Cents gives you actionable tips and mindset shifts to help you reach your financial happy place. Thanks for being a part of our community.

The MoneyGeek Team

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