What's your ideal CC portfolio?

[RaiseMyScoreASAP]

I have been rebuilding for three years. I am still not where I want to be, but I am well on my way. Part of the journey for me is deciding what products fit your needs, spending habits and goals. Aside from the sign up bonuses--which are temporary injections of utlra benefits, I am interested in what standard portfolio I want as my "permanent" cards. For me, I value the travel rewards, the flights, the hotels, the hotel upgrades, the priority boarding, elite status with hotels. I doubt that I would qualify for elite airline status because I simply don't travel with the level of fequency. When I do travel, I want it to be as painless as possible and actually enjoyable.

My Ideal Collection:

HAVE NOW AND KEEP

AMEX PRG

Chase Freedom

Discover it

HAVE NOW AND WILL SOCK DRAW, CANCEL, DOWNGRADE, OR MOVE CREDIT LINES

Barclays Arrival+

Barclays Apple

US Bank Cash+

MUST GETS

AMEX EveryDay Preferred

Chase Freedom Unlimited

CSR

IDEAL ADDITIONS

AMEX Hilton Reserve

Chase Marriott

Chase Hyatt

Chase United

POSSIBLE ADDITIONS

Barclays AA Aviator or Citi AA

Delta AMEX Gold

AMEX SPG

AMEX Platinum

In this mix I have a good mix for the Membership Rewards, Ultimate Rewards, hotel branded and airlines. For me it's not about having huge credit lines, it's about the benefits the cards offer. Also, cash back options are covered with the Chase and Discover.

Is this overkill or what are duplicates? What is missing? Which ones would you add or delete? I considered the Citi Thank You Rewards options, but their transfer partners are very useful. With each one of these I can articulate exactly what about the card I find attractive. 

I look forward to seeing your lists and comments!

[Anonymous]

Good post.

I have a Barclays Apple & Rewards MC cards I hope to close. 

I would like a couple of cards with either PenFed or NFCU.

I've given up on Chase & Citi.

If I can, I plan to move over my tiny limit on my ED card to my BCP.

I have limited income, so no Ritz, CSR, or high end card even if my score got past 720.

If you can shoot for the moon, more power to you.

I'm learning to be happy with what I've gained, and thanks to myFico I have more credit than I ever envisioned. 

Good luck.  Hope you get there.

[Enjay]

I actually think I'm exactly where I want to be. I just added a CSR which will be my everyday card. I use Penfed Platinum Cash Rewards for gas. I have a number of other cards  but I'm going to use those two and no others. My credit is as good as it can get and I don't want to keep track of more than necessary anymore. I think I'm getting old!

[daybreakgonesXe]

Nice listing! Your ideal list is going to be what you find most useful. Sometimes it's better to put most of your spend on one card or certain rewards program to maximize rewards/benefits instead of having them split between multiple rewards programs, especially if you have a mix of travel/cashback cards. So be careful with having too many different cards unless you can find a use for all of them AND be able to redeem the points/cash back efficiently.

Here's my personal list:

Main Drivers:

Freedom (have)

CSR (have)

Ink Cash (which btw the sign up bonus was increased to $300 for those who don't want to pay the annual fee up front on the Ink Plus. I still need to meet spend on the CSR, so unless this bonus sticks around until December, I'll have to hold off)

Freedom Unlimited (will convert regular Sapphire after BT is paid off)

^^^ I'd like to try to run most if not all of my spend through these UR guys since I like to cruise once a year and that often involves having to book flights/hotels anyways. I can make easy use of the travel credits and benefits to cover the 1-2 bigger vacations a year, plus a few occasional weekend get-aways.

Some cards I'll keep/consider adding to my lineup because the return is great:

GM BuyPower Card (have)

Discover IT (have)

BBR (need)

Nusenda Platinum Rewards (need)

Amazon Store Card (need)

Cash+ (need)

Orbitz Rewards (need)

Upromise (need)

Fort Knox (need)

SimplyCash (need)

But again. If my daily drivers wind up being Chase, I made not need a lot of the above cards, if any of them. At the same time, it's good not to keep all your eggs in one basket in case something happens to your accounts, so always useful to have back-ups.

Seems counter-intuitive to have one main card/rewards program driver, yet want to diversify at the same time, but that's just the nature of the credit card world. Good luck on your journey

[Anonymous]

Currently:

Amex PRG

Amex BCE

Discover IT

Chase Freedom

NFCU Cashrewards

Capital One Quiksilver

Dream:

Amex PRG

Amex BCE

Chase Saphire Preffered/Reserve

Discover IT

Im close to what i want.  

[Anonymous]

AMEX Blue Cash Preferred

Citi Double Cash (I already have).

AMEX Premier Rewards Gold.

DiscoverIt (5% rotating, which I already have).

Security Service Power Travel Rewards World MasterCard

Security Service MasterCard with low APR for carrying balances.

Gas and dining would obviously be put on the Security rewards card, with groceries on the BCP, whatever spend the 5% offer from Discover is from that quarter would be put on that card, travel expenses would be put on the charge card, and the rest would be put on the Double Cash. 

[galahad15]

J/c, why do you want to close the Cash+, since you have the two 5% cashback categories plus the one 2% cashback category?

[Kevin86475391]

Interesting thread.

I'm exclusively a cash back person. I virtually never travel and have no desire to start. So that makes finding the best rewards cards fairly simple since I just look at what card will give me the best percent back in the areas I spend the most. i don't have to worry about trying to stay loyal to point programs like UR or MR, and I don't really care how long it takes to redeem my cash back (within reason), so I mostly ignore thresholds and don't worry about trying to consolidate my spending on one or two cards to redeem more quickly.

Anyway, the cards I have and will definitely keep are:

• Discover It & Freedom - For rotating 5% categories (Mostly dining, online shopping, and groceries. I have no use for their home improvement or gas quarters)
• Bank of America Cash Rewards - For 2% on groceries (when Discover and Freedom aren't doing higher redemptions) and rarely 3% gas (I buy virtually no gas and 3-6 months out of the year can typically do 5% with Discover or Freedom, but on those other occasions)
• Citi Double Cash - My original 2% on everything else rewards card
• Blispay - My now preferred 2% on everything else rewards card since I've never been overly fond of Citi, but I still mostly split the two.
• Target Redcard store card - For 5% at Target, where I shop quite a lot

Don't really need and will probably/may eventually close:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred - I honestly only got this for the attractive signup bonus, and still use it for 2% dining when Freedom and Discover aren't in category, but I obviously don't need it since I have other 2% options without an AF. I'll close it a bit before the AF is due.
• US Bank Cash Rewards - I seldom use this. I got it years ago thinking it would give me 3% back on Kroger-branded grocery items. Turns out I didn't read the fine print and the redemption rate essentially drops it down to 1.5% instead, which I have no use for. I've thought about PC-ing to the Cash+ and still may at some point, but I don't really need that either. Right now I keep it because it doesn't cost anything, is no trouble for me to monitor, and is my go-to "hmm, this merchant seems sketchy" card in case the info is stolen and the card needs to be replaced (because obviously I wouldn't really care if I didn't have this card for a few days or so while it's being replaced).

If Chase ever forces people to do a PC from the Freedom to the Freedom Unlimited I'll have no use for that card either. As long as it has rotating 5% I love it though. I'd happily get another 1-2 rotating 5% cards if they'd cover the other 2 or 3 quarters when restaurants, groceries, and online shipping/Amazon aren't covered by the Freedom and Discover It. I never have a reason to take 1-1.5% or less rewards though, so no Freedom Unlimited please!

I've thought about getting the Amex BCE in the past, but have decided against it. The extra grocery bonus I'd get is fairly negligible and I'm not that fond of Amex.

If a new 2% or higher 'everything card' came out, or a new rotating 5% card, I'd consider it if it fit my spending, but otherwise I'm set.

[RaiseMyScoreASAP]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Currently:

Amex PRG

Amex BCE

Discover IT

Chase Freedom

NFCU Cashrewards

Capital One Quiksilver

Dream:

Amex PRG

Amex BCE

Chase Saphire Preffered/Reserve

Discover IT

Im close to what i want.  

---

Don't give up your Chase Freedom card when you get your Sapphire Preferred/Reserve. You can move the points from Freedom and Freedom Unlimited to the UR.

My two MUST MUST haves are the EveryDay Preferred and the CSR (or at least the CSP). 

[Gmood1]

My ideal portfolio is one where I don't have more than one or two cards with the same lender. Preferably one card per lender is the goal. Doubt I get there completely, since Chase has their hands in everyone's pot.lol

Diversifying is my goal.

Had US Bank and Barclay's..dropped like a bad habit.

Still have

Capital one

Blispay

Amex

BofA

Chase

PenFed

USAA 

Navy Fed

NASA Fed

Citi

FNBO

BBVA

Discover

Synchrony bank