Currently have PRG and BCP cards with amex (also have SPG but its not relevant to this analysis).
AFs on PRG and BCP are going to hit next month. I'm going to close the PRG, since the AF is not warranted (I don't spend enough on the categories). I want to protect my MR points.
My thought process is this. I app for Amex everyday card to protect my MR points. I downgrade my BCP to BCE. Eventually I will close the BCE and move the credit line over to the everyday card.
Reasons I have come to this conclusion. Taking a look at the numbers it seems like I would need to spend $115 a week on grocery store spend (I don't really buy fuel) to hit the 6k annual cap. I figure my grocery spend is closer to $80 a week. Also, with the everyday I feel like it would be easier to hit the 20 transactions a month compared to the 30 required for the everyday preferred. Note: I do not have access to grocery stores with self checkout, so I cant really do a bunch of small transactions, but I go to the grocery store probably 3-4 times a week (so I would just need a few more misc charges to hit the 20). I'm not sure of the break point on when the AF on the preferred would be offset, but I have a feeling I would come up short given my current spending habits on groceries. There doesn't seem to be a good reason to keep the BCP, since I would be putting the spend on my everyday card to make the 20 transactions. Also, if I am not capping out on grocceries then I don't think the BCP would be justified anyway.
Does my logic make sense or am I missing something that would justify picking up the AF version and/or sticking with BCP?
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@longtimelurker wrote:
@red259 wrote:Currently have PRG and BCP cards with amex (also have SPG but its not relevant to this analysis).
AFs on PRG and BCP are going to hit next month. I'm going to close the PRG, since the AF is not warranted (I don't spend enough on the categories). I want to protect my MR points.
My thought process is this. I app for Amex everyday card to protect my MR points. I downgrade my BCP to BCE. Eventually I will close the BCE and move the credit line over to the everyday card.
Reasons I have come to this conclusion. Taking a look at the numbers it seems like I would need to spend $115 a week on grocery store spend (I don't really buy fuel) to hit the 6k annual cap. I figure my grocery spend is closer to $80 a week. Also, with the everyday I feel like it would be easier to hit the 20 transactions a month compared to the 30 required for the everyday preferred. Note: I do not have access to grocery stores with self checkout, so I cant really do a bunch of small transactions, but I go to the grocery store probably 3-4 times a week (so I would just need a few more misc charges to hit the 20). I'm not sure of the break point on when the AF on the preferred would be offset, but I have a feeling I would come up short given my current spending habits on groceries. There doesn't seem to be a good reason to keep the BCP, since I would be putting the spend on my everyday card to make the 20 transactions. Also, if I am not capping out on grocceries then I don't think the BCP would be justified anyway.
Does my logic make sense or am I missing something that would justify picking up the AF version and/or sticking with BCP?
Mainly makes sense! (And some would recommend SM for grocery spend anyway to get the 5% on your first three weeks per month, but that might impact your 20 a month goal).
The only thing to consider about EDP rather than ED is that it isn't all about the grocery spend (ignoring gas for now). You also get 25% extra on uncategorized spend (1.5MR vs 1.2MR) so if you have enouigh of that, and you value MRs enough, that might justify the annual fee.
Interesting point although I would need to hit the 30 each month for that. A lot of my spending, such as cable/internet/phones etc are covered by other cards with more lucarative bonuses. I'm starting to toy with the idea of a citi card for benefits and restaurant spend, which would divert further spending away from this card. I would hit 30 transactions on some months, but its hard to guarantee every single month. Assuming I could buy gift cards to pay for my student loans I figure I would have around 14k per year of non-cat spend in addition to my groccery spend of $80 a week. Still the 30 would require some sort of effort to be worked out.
You know in thinking this over I noticed the signup offer is 5k more for the preferred card. However, it just occured to me that for the first quarter groccery spend is a bonus on the freedom so that would be three months out of 2015 where I would want groccery spend to go on my freedom. Therefore, I do not see the preferred winning out and will likely go with the non-AF version. This would be my fourth amex card since last jan so hopefully I don't run into any problems.
@red259 wrote:You know in thinking this over I noticed the signup offer is 5k more for the preferred card. However, it just occured to me that for the first quarter groccery spend is a bonus on the freedom so that would be three months out of 2015 where I would want groccery spend to go on my freedom. Therefore, I do not see the preferred winning out and will likely go with the non-AF version. This would be my fourth amex card since last jan so hopefully I don't run into any problems.
Both cards are good but that is an very short term out look, are you planning on keeping EDP/ED for an long time? One thing i would think about if you are still thinking about edp is if you can hit 30 swipe spending per month? 50% bonus could be pretty good. I guess it really comes down to how many swipes you would use Everyday cards for.
@longtimelurker wrote:
@mongstradamus wrote:
@red259 wrote:You know in thinking this over I noticed the signup offer is 5k more for the preferred card. However, it just occured to me that for the first quarter groccery spend is a bonus on the freedom so that would be three months out of 2015 where I would want groccery spend to go on my freedom. Therefore, I do not see the preferred winning out and will likely go with the non-AF version. This would be my fourth amex card since last jan so hopefully I don't run into any problems.
Both cards are good but that is an very short term out look, are you planning on keeping EDP/ED for an long time? One thing i would think about if you are still thinking about edp is if you can hit 30 swipe spending per month? 50% bonus could be pretty good. I guess it really comes down to how many swipes you would use Everyday cards for.
Right, 30 a month (unless you do some unneeded splitting of purchases) is quite hard if you are using other cards for maximizing rewards per transaction. I had trouble even with the 20 for ED, and had to take a "loss" on some transactions just to get the monthly bonus. So if you commit to MR, it makes a lot of sense (obviously if you can redeem them well!). Otherwise, maybe not.
It comes down to your spending for me i guess. I guess i buy an lot of groceries lol because i nearly hit 30 spend on just groceries and gas which is nice since they 3x and 2x respectively. I think if you are trying to rack up MR for travel EDP is an pretty good way to do it. If you are more interested in "cashback" any MR card isn't worth it at all for the paltry .5% value.