topic Re: Close Premier Reward Gold or No in Credit Cards

Close Premier Reward Gold or No

CostantinoA — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 08:35:40 GMT

I was just approved for Amex Platinum card and I should recieve it in a few days. I upgraded from the green card to Platinum card. I was wondering if I even need the gold card anymore. Is there any benefits to charging on the Gold now VS Platinum card? What are everyone idea's?

Re: Close Premier Reward Gold or No

AverageJoesCredit — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 12:11:44 GMT

Do you want to pay both annual fees? If not, id close the gold.

Re: Close Premier Reward Gold or No

UpperNwGuy — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 12:50:34 GMT

Some people keep both cards because the PRG has more bonus categories than does the Platinum. But you need to have a lot of combined spending to justify both annual fees.

Re: Close Premier Reward Gold or No

K-in-Boston — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 13:17:15 GMT

Mine (daily driver for many years) is potentially on the chopping block in a few months. If you value Membership Rewards and can justify the $95 (after airline credit, which we'll assume you can make use of if the Platinum card even remotely made sense for you to get) annual fee, then it's worth keeping. You'd likely need to put considerable restaurant, gas station and grocery spend on it in order to offset the fee due to 2x MRs - I'd put that at between $5-10k annually depending on how you redeeem your MRs. Personally, a good chunk of my spend in those categories goes to 5% cards (Freedom, it) and the remainder goes to a card that nets me more points in the reward ecosystem I'm using than the MRs for the same spend would give me. If you're paying just to simply have the card, unless there is another really good reason to keep it (i.e. oldest account, or at least significantly older than your you AAoA), it probably makes sense to just close it.

Re: Close Premier Reward Gold or No

MrDisco99 — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 13:34:33 GMT

The PRG gets better points earning that Platinum in several categories. However if you don't see yourself getting value from the card that makes it worth paying another $195 then get rid of it.

If you want to concentrate on MR points you may be better off complementing the Plat with an EDP. That would get you great earnings on gas and groceries, even better than PRG. Not sure if you can PC the BCP to an EDP or not.

Re: Close Premier Reward Gold or No

K-in-Boston — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 13:39:43 GMT

@MrDisco99 wrote:
Not sure if you can PC the BCP to an EDP or not.

No. Amex will only let you PC MR-earning cards to another MR-earning card, and cash back cards to other cash back cards. I tried to do a PC from Blue (older MR-earning card in the ED/EDP family) to BCP - no go.

Re: Close Premier Reward Gold or No

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 13:40:17 GMT

You should keep the PRG if:

A) You use a lot of Amex Offers that can justify the fee (since you can usually put the same offers across multiple cards)

-and/or-

B) You eat out A LOT. How much do you eat out?

Otherwise, ditch the PRG and fill the void with a better card or nothing at all. Don't lose $95 just because it has some extra categories (that overlap with cards you already have).

Re: Close Premier Reward Gold or No

K-in-Boston — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 14:00:19 GMT

Just a quick comment on Komp's "A" there, having both cards I haven't noticed any difference in Amex offers between Platinum and PRG other than card-specific ones (promotional APR on Pay Over Time, spend $5000 by September 30 and get 50,000 bonus MRs up to 3 times, etc.).

Re: Close Premier Reward Gold or No

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 14:10:12 GMT

@CostantinoA wrote:
I was just approved for Amex Platinum card and I should recieve it in a few days. I upgraded from the green card to Platinum card. I was wondering if I even need the gold card anymore. Is there any benefits to charging on the Gold now VS Platinum card? What are everyone idea's?

If I read your signature correctly you have 32k in credit card debt? If so why are you paying annual fees on charge cards to earn rewards?

Re: Close Premier Reward Gold or No

wasCB14 — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 14:46:19 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@CostantinoA wrote:
I was just approved for Amex Platinum card and I should recieve it in a few days. I upgraded from the green card to Platinum card. I was wondering if I even need the gold card anymore. Is there any benefits to charging on the Gold now VS Platinum card? What are everyone idea's?
If I read your signature correctly you have 32k in credit card debt? If so why are you paying annual fees on charge cards to earn rewards?

This was my reaction. I think other posters just didn't see/read OP's signature.

I mean, dining bonus categories? OP shouldn't even be eating out!

Re: Close Premier Reward Gold or No

CostantinoA — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 14:58:16 GMT

I had to pay for a funeral and some business expenses that happened 3 months ago. My balances will be 0 by the end of September.

I use to eat out everyday and never cooked. Now, I am buying food weekly from Whole Foods Market

Re: Close Premier Reward Gold or No

go_FICO_self — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 15:02:14 GMT

@CostantinoA wrote:
I had to pay for a funeral and some business expenses that happened 3 months ago. My balances will be 0 by the end of September.

I use to eat out everyday and never cooked. Now, I am buying food weekly from Whole Foods Market

Lose the card. Not even whole foods prices are that high to justify the AF.

Re: Close Premier Reward Gold or No

K-in-Boston — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 15:06:14 GMT

Don't be so quick to judge others. Regardless of one's debt, if rewards outweigh an annual fee then it makes sense.

FWIW I still have about $100k in revolving debt. I also have very high fixed expenditures and a high income compared to most - would it be better for me to switch to using a debit card and give up many thousands in cash back and travel rewards? No. I've been responsibly paying my entire life and there's no reason that would change.

Re: Close Premier Reward Gold or No

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 15:29:16 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
Don't be so quick to judge others. Regardless of one's debt, if rewards outweigh an annual fee then it makes sense.

FWIW I still have about $100k in revolving debt. I also have very high fixed expenditures and a high income compared to most - would it be better for me to switch to using a debit card and give up many thousands in cash back and travel rewards? No. I've been responsibly paying my entire life and there's no reason that would change.

Yes it would be better for you to switch to a debit card and work on paying down your balances and forget about rewards.

Re: Close Premier Reward Gold or No

wasCB14 — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 15:34:03 GMT

@CostantinoA wrote:
I had to pay for a funeral and some business expenses that happened 3 months ago. My balances will be 0 by the end of September.

I use to eat out everyday and never cooked. Now, I am buying food weekly from Whole Foods Market

My condolences for your loss. Cooking should save money, and some of the stuff at WF is competitively priced.

What are the balances and APRs of the four installment loans? When do you expect to have those paid?

Re: Close Premier Reward Gold or No

K-in-Boston — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 15:45:42 GMT

I'll assume that was sarcasm? If not... as it is I should be revolving debt free in about 4 years or so. If I were to use a debit card that would extend it to probably 8 or 9 years since I wouldn't be receiving cash back or statement credits on purchases I'm making anyway, and I would be paying out-of-pocket for travel rather than letting the credit card companies pick up the tab. That could potentially cost me an extra $100k or more over time! I'll stand by the common sense statement that as long as the net return is better on an annual fee card, it makes sense to use it. It's not like we're talking about MS or shopping sprees to get those rewards. Again, with the PRG unless there's a large amount of spend on the bonus categories and MRs are the preferred rewards earning, it likely doesn't make sense to keep the PRG.

Re: Close Premier Reward Gold or No

CostantinoA — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 15:43:13 GMT

Thank you... I could pay them all off as well but I have them to establish thick file. They are around 5% interest.

Re: Close Premier Reward Gold or No

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 16:00:28 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
I'll assume that was sarcasm? If not... as it is I should be revolving debt free in about 4 years or so. If I were to use a debit card that would extend it to probably 8 or 9 years since I wouldn't be receiving cash back or statement credits on purchases I'm making anyway, and I would be paying out-of-pocket for travel rather than letting the credit card companies pick up the tab. That could potentially cost me an extra $100k or more over time! I'll stand by the common sense statement that as long as the net return is better on an annual fee card, it makes sense to use it. It's not like we're talking about MS or shopping sprees to get those rewards. Again, with the PRG unless there's a large amount of spend on the bonus categories and MRs are the preferred rewards earning, it likely doesn't make sense to keep the PRG.

It is not sarcasm. I wouldn't bring this up but you said would a debit card be better for you and the answer is yes it would. If you are paying interest on 100k of credit card debt that is going to cost you a lot more money in the long run than not paying for your own vacations. Vacations are optional so you are not saving anything by them paying for your vacations. If you cut up your credit cards and used a debit card you would be forced to bring down your debt.

Re: Close Premier Reward Gold or No

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 16:03:13 GMT

@CostantinoA wrote:
Thank you... I could pay them all off as well but I have them to establish thick file. They are around 5% interest.

You don't need to carry a balance to establish a thick file. I have 28 accounts and only have 900 dollars total debt on one 0 percent card. If you just let one card report and pay in full as soon as it posts that will do you just as well as carrying a balance.

Re: Close Premier Reward Gold or No

wasCB14 — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 16:37:37 GMT

@CostantinoA wrote:
Thank you... I could pay them all off as well but I have them to establish thick file. They are around 5% interest.

I'm not a fan of auto loans in general...but since you have two already...I would have thought that would provide enough credit diversity?