Welcome to Michelle is Money Hungry, a podcast focused on having real and empathetic conversations about the intersection of money, policy, and politics. In my view, personal finance and money isn’t just about working hard. In today’s episode, I’m speaking Zac Hood, the creator of Cash Freely and Travel Freely free apps that help consumers better optimize their cash back rewards and mileage points. Zac’s story is so relatable to me because he’s a regular guy who used to be a teach, runs a small non-profit and has a young family. He’s also someone that I know here in Denver and trust to share with my audience. I hope you enjoy learning more about Zac and the cool free apps that he’s designed. Let me know what you think. Please note: nothing in this episode should be construed as financial advice and is for entertainment purposes only. Do your due diligence always.
In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please read my disclosure here.*
CashFreely
As a result of my debt experience, I was really skittish about ever getting another credit card. I hate to admit that when it was finally time to sign up for my first card in years-I chose badly. I hate this new credit card and I wish that I had known about CashFreely when making this decision. What I love about this free tool is the following. It helps credit card users stay organized when using different cash back programs.
You don’t have to worry about leaving cash on the table. CashFreely helps credit card users optimize the different cash back rewards programs that may be a part of current cards you’re using or future cards that you may be considering in the future. And just maybe, that extra cash can be applied as an extra payment on your student loan. Again, this is a free app or you can use the website and I think you should check it out. Click on the link in my show notes
TravelFreely
Do you prefer mileage points? you can check out TravelFreely at the following link.
Listen to the Episode
How to Keep Mileage Points Organized
Zac-Introduces himself
Michelle-I ask how he got into entrepreneurship and Zac shares how entrepreneurship runs in his family.
Zac-I would love to give it a try (to start a business) but wasn’t sure what the idea would be. Travel Freely was an organic creation.
Michelle-Why travel points? Why was this attractive to you as a teacher and non-profit founder
Zac-Growing up I loved to travel, discovering new people and their stories. The non-profit is in Belize helping children. That experience really influenced me wanting to see other parts of the world and meet other people. I’m from Nashville and there is a way to do things there. My teaching salary was so small that I qualified for affordable housing in downtown Nashville. There was no money for extra. I played tennis in college and got an opportunity to play in Southern France (one the coolest experiences in my life) when I was wrapping up that trip I was on an overlook and heard a voice (in my head) saying “This is where you will get engaged one day” 10 years later I ended up I was at that point but wasn’t sure how I could do that (afford a trip to France to propose) and my friend told me about a credit card with 100,000 mileage points good enough to for two roundtrip tickets to France.
Despite that, I grew up in Nashville listening to Dave Ramsey and thought credit cards were evil. I emailed my friend back and insisted that there’s no way that this was true! The friend emailed me back with proof of the received mileage points. I was skeptical but went for it. I ended up getting the points and took my future finance to that spot. I’m definitely the poster child of not having a lot of income and was able to do this. I was blown away that this was even possible to do. I looked at the strategy, how it affects my credit score and wondered how people didn’t know about using monthly expenses smartly in order to hit these reward bonuses. I started getting points and miles and it led to a ton more travel.
- US Open Finals in NYC
- Hawaii Honeymoon
- 1 month in Spain with the hookup for a place to stay through a friend.
If you’re strategic and smart about it you can get more bonuses.
Michelle-I have questions. How is the average person supposed to do this? I’m blocked on Twitter by Dave Ramsey. People who know me know that I’m very careful about sharing credit card related content. Were the people around you giving you feedback that clued you in on developing a tool because they wanted to do the same thing?
Zac-I remember staying at a luxury Hyatt at Big Sur in California and my parents were like “What?!” because they had lunch there one day because they couldn’t afford to stay. I started noticing the questions that people were asking. One Christmas I was at a family gathering and my brother-in-law was sharing his mileage points for a specific card and his mom was ticked because she hadn’t been receiving the same points. The turning point was a small conference in downtown Denver and the response to a presentation that I did. I was planning on quitting a week later.
Michelle-How does TravelFreely lead with the consumer in mind and what are the key pain points that it addresses?
Zac-What if I created a system that was super easy, held people’s hands and kept them organized. The organization piece was key because people expressed fear around managing multiple cards. I didn’t see anything out there that did that and there wasn’t anything out there for absolute beginners and inspiring people to take their dream trips. I also set up timely alerts and reminders about their cards.
- Keep things simple
- Recommend the ACTUAL best offers vs. the offers that would earn me the best commissions
- My commitment was to treat people like a friend vs. a business opportunity/conversion in order to build trust with the app. We post the best offers.
- I found other sites that shared why too much unnecessary information. I kept things simple and relevant to my app users.
- Send reminders based on specific credit cards
Michelle-I wanted to clarify that users aren’t adding their actual credit card details to the app. I love the app privacy.
Zac-The apps don’t interface with any personal details or credit card numbers. You literally add the NAME of the card that you have and the date it was opened. Everything else is auto-populated. We’re not synching or adding personal details. Respecting privacy and security.
- 85-90% of CashFreely/Travel Freely users love that they don’t have personal details to the app.
Michelle-Why did you develop another app during COVID? What is the user need that wasn’t being addressed?
Zac-The new site is CashFreely.net There’s just a subset of people who just want cash back and don’t really travel. When COVID hit, no one was traveling. The day I went full-time with the app was the same day COVID shut down the school I work at (decided before COVID was a thing) March 19, 2020.
Michelle-I can’t stop laughing at the irony
Zac-In the midst of all of that we created the mobile app and noticed the shift to cashback. It took about a year for me to do this. The overall focus of both apps is big easy wins.
Michelle-What is life like now? What’s it like helping others to live out their dreams (smart)?
Zac-Life is very hard right now. We have a 3 month old, the 3 ½ year old takes a lot of energy and time. There’s a lot of juggling. My long-term dream is to live abroad. Right now things are fairly domestic.
Michelle-What’s the next trip that you’re dreaming of.
Zac-Yes, New Zealand. Not anytime soon.
Michelle-I share a mistake I made getting my first credit card in years and why I wished I’d known about CashFreely and Travel Freely tools before applying for that card.
Follow Zac
- Travel Freely
- CashFreely
- Both are in the app stores for IOS and Android
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