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Please help: Choosing a travel rewards card!

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red259
Super Contributor

Re: Please help: Choosing a travel rewards card!


@yfan wrote:

OP is right - for the 50K/1K offer on the Gold (assuming it's the PRG) - it would be stupid to pass up. Point value, while it is highly dependent on the individual using them and what one considers 'value', is roughly the same between UR and MR points according to most people who write about credit, with a very slight edge (around 10%) to UR points.

 

It is also true that although American Express has been getting into it with point earnings, Amex's real value is in benefits and services. It is not an accident that Amex has consistently held the top or near-top spots in the JD Power Credit Card Satisfaction survey for years. This year, Amex got back the crown (after losing it to Discover last year) while Chase ranks right below industry average.

 

However, the same JD Power survey also shows that customer satisfaction is highest with cashback cards, and lowest with miles cards, so make of that what you will.


While I agree that its best to jump on high signup offers when they come around the OP also wants to get the freedom card so depending where they are at with the 5/24 that could be closing them off from chase cards going for the gold card. Also, I do not agree with Chase URs being close in value to Amex MRs. That is going to be highly dependent on location and which travel partners a person can use. I have found that I have many more options to redeem chase URs with than Amex MRs. It boils down to the fact that you can get a bunch of points in a program and if you have no viable way to redeem them they are not worth it. Also with the CSP/Freedom combo OP would have an easier time going forward building up their point balance with their spend, unless they are specifically spending heavily in the Amex Gold categories. The freedom unlimited card earns 1.5 pts per dollar so its a good card to have in the long run if you want to earn in the Chase UR program. If OP is not close to 5/24 then they can take advantage of the amex and pick up the chase cards in the near future.  

;
Starting Score: EQ: 714, TU 684
Current Score: EQ: 725 7/30/13, TU 684 6/2013, Exp 828 5/2018, Last App 8/5/17
Goal Score: 800 (Achieved!) In garden until Sepetember 2019
Message 11 of 16
MrDisco99
Valued Contributor

Re: Please help: Choosing a travel rewards card!

Figure out what you want to do with your points.  Then figure out which cards will get you there.

You could get the CSP and the PRG and use both sets of points toward a shared transfer partner like FlyingBlue, Singapore, or British Airways.  You could cancel one of them after the first year if you don't want to pay the fee to continue the account.  Lots of potential options.

Message 12 of 16
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Please help: Choosing a travel rewards card!

I want to thank everyone so much for the responses. I've been reading them all day on my phone but couldn't reply because my home internet was down until now. 

 

For what it's worth, I went into my local Chase branch and got the Freedom and CSP cards with ease.

 

To answer some of the questions, I'm pretty airline agnostic. I'm happy to fly on United, Southwest, Delta, American, JetBlue, etc. I'm based near the Fort Lauderdale, FL airport, so all of the major airlines fly out of here and all of the aforementioned go to my usual destinations (Cleveland, OH, New York, NY, and Seattle, WA).

 

It is exceedingly likely that I'll also go ahead and grab the AmEx Gold Premiere as well. It works with some of those airlines (JetBlue is my favorite airline of all of them to fly) and I feel like 50,000 points @ $1,000 spend is just too good to skip.

 

Until the last few months I had been using my debit cards for purchases exclusively for more than 15 years. I feel bad about all those years of lost credit building, lost cashback and rewards...but as they say in my fraternity, "failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently". Thanks to the good people at this nice forum, I am beginning again more intelligently and I look forward to joining the 800 FICO club in not too long.

 

Cheers to all and if you all have any other tips, trust me: I am listening.

Message 13 of 16
Meanmchine
Super Contributor

Re: Please help: Choosing a travel rewards card!

@OP  " But I am not 100% confident that I can comfortably hit their $4000 in 3 months introductory offer. Not that I don't have the finances so much as because there really isn't a lot of things I'm looking to buy this holiday season that would account for all of that $4k. "

 

Just add me to your Christmas gift list and that should put you over the top

>3/2016 EX 644 CK-TU 642 CK-EQ 660 WalMart- 671.
>5/2023 All 3 reports 840ish (F8) F9s = 850 but my app finger is still twitching
Message 14 of 16
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Please help: Choosing a travel rewards card!

lol. and done.

Message 15 of 16
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Please help: Choosing a travel rewards card!

i got both chase csp and amex prg, i like them for different reasons. Awards booked with UR often do not earn qualfiying miles or spend dollars with the airline they are booked on (they are considered bulk fares). with Amex the airline treats you as if you purchased an actual ticket, therefore amex rewards could be valued higher for those who travel often. with bulk fares you can't upgrade to first class or use the fare towards earning status with your airline. However, the CSP has primary insurance coverage for rental cars, not secondary coverage like most (amex prg, barclays, citi). As noted earlier depends on what airlines are near you. IMO, I see amex as more of a heavy traveler card, where as CSP is for the average traveler.
Message 16 of 16
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