New Everyday Card

[ramblin_wreck08]

I have been using my PRG as my everyday card for around a year and a half now.  It worked well for my spend, as I was in a position where I traveled a few times a year for work, and I wanted to transfer the points to airlines for reward travel.  Doing this netted me pretty nicely over the period.  However, I have recently changed jobs and now work for an airline.  MR points aren't worth all that much aside from transferring to airlines, it appears, so I'm now looking for a new everyday card.  Just last week I upgraded to the Chip and Signature version, so I may wait a little while before I cancel to not tick off Amex.

Anyway, what card would you guys recommend? My annual spend is around $25k, with around $4k on groceries and $5k on gas. My other big category is dining out, and I expect I will be spending a bit more on hotels now that I have flight benefits.  The Amex BCP and the Chase CSP were my first two thoughts, but I am open to any suggestions.  Thanks in advance.

[Creditaddict]

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@ramblin_wreck08 wrote:

I have been using my PRG as my everyday card for around a year and a half now.  It worked well for my spend, as I was in a position where I traveled a few times a year for work, and I wanted to transfer the points to airlines for reward travel.  Doing this netted me pretty nicely over the period.  However, I have recently changed jobs and now work for an airline.  MR points aren't worth all that much aside from transferring to airlines, it appears, so I'm now looking for a new everyday card.  Just last week I upgraded to the Chip and Signature version, so I may wait a little while before I cancel to not tick off Amex.

Anyway, what card would you guys recommend? My annual spend is around $25k, with around $4k on groceries and $5k on gas. My other big category is dining out, and I expect I will be spending a bit more on hotels now that I have flight benefits.  The Amex BCP and the Chase CSP were my first two thoughts, but I am open to any suggestions.  Thanks in advance.

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for category cards I think you have the 2 picked out

but if you want a good flat 2% every day card then I would get Fidelity Amex!

[cottoncrown]

The Amex Hilton Honors card has restaurants, supermarkets and gas as the bonus categories (5 points or dollar). No annual fee. The value is placed at about .5 cents per point, but for a no fee hotel card that's pretty good at 2.5 cents per dollar. The sign up bonus is 40,000 points. I think it would be pretty good for your situation and no need to worry about any fees.

[wHiTeSoL]

Why not that barclay arrival? You will be able to use it to offset even things you get a discount on from work. (discounted travel etc)

[FastForward]

Have you considered the Chase Freedom/CSP combo? Basically, the CSP would be your everyday card with the Freedom utilized for its 5% rotating categories to supplement/maximize your points earnings (since your Freedom points can be transferred to CSP or simply redeemed as cash back, giving you some flexibility and more options). IMO, that combo would work well with your spend categories.

[FastForward]

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@wHiTeSoL wrote:
Why not that barclay arrival? You will be able to use it to offset even things you get a discount on from work. (discounted travel etc)

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+1 I like this suggestion also. Just started using my Arrival card and can definitely see using it as an everyday card in the future too. :-)

[ramblin_wreck08]

Thanks for all the recommendations.  I wound up going with the BCP, as a large portion of my spend is focused on gas and groceries.  I was approved today, but do not yet know my CL.  I called in and asked, but was told that, while it approved me, the system had not yet determined a credit limit for me.  Weird, but I guess I'll have to wait.

[Themanwhocan]

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@ramblin_wreck08 wrote:

Thanks for all the recommendations.  I wound up going with the BCP, as a large portion of my spend is focused on gas and groceries.  I was approved today, but do not yet know my CL.  I called in and asked, but was told that, while it approved me, the system had not yet determined a credit limit for me.  Weird, but I guess I'll have to wait.

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You can check the status periodically on this site:

https://www262.americanexpress.com/eaol/welcome.do?inav=open_applicationstatus