New credit card could have you traveling free for spring break

With massive travel reward point bonuses on the table this fall, consumers who sign up for a new credit card could be flying free for spring break.

But if you are like most people, you will file this information away in the back of your mind and forget to act on it until it is too late.

A new data analysis by the consumer website Nerdwallet.com has found that 83 percent of consumers apply for credit cards at the wrong time. That leaves 15,338 miles on the table, or about $177.

Pro tip: You need about five months' lead time. So if you want to travel over spring break in March or April, get a new card by October or November (for the full table, see nerd.me/1XIYQW0).

Reuters spoke with Nerdwallet's credit card expert Sean McQuay about the ins and outs of applying for new credit cards and how to maximize the benefits.

Q: Your study works out the best time to get a new credit card. How do you figure this out?

A: Consumers need to give themselves enough lead time to meet the spending requirements, get the points loaded into the account and then book the travel with reasonable notice.

Q: How are people missing this window?

A: The biggest thing is they are not planning sign-ups in advance. They may have received a mailer or saw an ad online, and then they sign up right then. I can't blame people for that because nobody had done a timeline analysis before.

General travel cards give the best offers in November, but the majority of sign-ups peak in summer time — April through August. That's telling me that they see these cards and say, I want to travel, but by that point it's far to late to fund that summer's travel.

Q: You also have done an analysis of the relative value of cash-back cards vs. travel reward cards. Which is better?

A: The break-even was $8,600 worth of travel in a year.

Q: A new card on the market — the Chase Sapphire Reserve — is offering 100,000 reward points, but comes with a hefty annual fee of $450. Is this a game-changer?

A: I've never seen 100,000 before. The highest I've seen was Chase Sapphire Preferred with an $800 sign-up bonus, which was available during two short-term offers. But this is 100,000, which is valued at $1,500.

I do think it's part of a larger trend. But it takes months, if not years, to spin out a new product. Existing players would need to do a lot of work to keep up.

Q: Is there any sort of financial detriment to signing up for many cards, just to glean the rewards?

A: It hurts your credit score less than you think to sign up for a card and then cancel it. (Note: Make sure canceling doesn't delete your points.)