topic Re: Please help: Choosing a travel rewards card! in Credit Cards

Please help: Choosing a travel rewards card!

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Oct 2017 10:50:37 GMT

Warmest greetings. I am struggling with a bit of paralysis of analysis with regard to travel cards and I was hoping for a second opinion. I'll try to mention as much core information about myself as possible here.

I am currently stuck trying to decide between one (1) the following cards:

AmEx Gold - Currently targeted for 50,000 points @ just $1000 (!)
Chase Sapphire Preferred - Pre-qualified at the usual 50,000 points @ $4000
C1 Venture - Pre-qualified at the usual 40,000mi @ $3000

As far as pure points value for the minimum spend goes, it seems like the AmEx Gold would be stupid to pass up. That is clearly the best points or miles per dollar introductory offer I'm going to see. But its annual fee is higher than the other 2, its redemption terms are more restrictive and the value of its $100 annual credit is debatable. But man they're giving the points away here.

The CSP seems to be a really good card to have and I know getting it sooner rather than later makes more sense due to the 5/24 thing I've been reading about. 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. I'm also looking to take out a Chase Freedom (which I want regardless and has a $500 introductory spend offer). I really like the addition of things like Primary car insurance here as well as the enhanced points usage flexibility, but am not sure how to value it personally. I haven't had a car accident in 25 years.

The C1 Venture card seems to be the easiest to use card of the group and I like the idea of being able to use any booking system I want (I'm a fan of Orbitz which I wouldn't be able to use with AmEx Gold, for example) but doesn't offer any frills that I can see and also has a fairly hefty introductory spend requirement to get the bonus miles (everything looks high to my eyes when I look at the AmEx gold's 50,000pts @ $1000 offer).

Hoping for a strong recommendation. Also, would it be bad to get a card and not bother trying to get the signup bonus? Is there a case to be made for having 2 travel cards in my case? Like going CF + CFP now and AmEx Gold later?

Looking for a set (or a few sets) of eyes with experience in these cards to help break my paralysis. Thank you so much in advance.

About me:

37 years old
My current Fico score is 782 (Tu).
I currently have 2 credit cards. One is an old Wells Fargo secured card that is roughly 4 years old. The other is a BoA Cash Rewards card roughly 2 months old.
I carry $0 balance 100% of the time (but now doing the AZEO method thanks to this forum)
I currently do approximately 5 round-trip flights annually between south Florida, northeast Ohio and Seattle, WA primarily. Occasionally I might find myself in NYC, LA or DC. I'm in airports roughly 10 times annually either way. My tickets are usually $100-$225 each way.
I do car rentals maybe 2-3x/year
I eat out 3x-5x a week (bad habit)
Monthly spend on the card would probably be $1k-$1.75k, realistically. Not a big shopper. Most things I buy something relatively expensive and expect it to last.
I lost interest in the premium cards (AmEx Plat, CSR) because my 2 most commonly used airports do not have the lounge chains offered in the cards. the airport lounge access was the only thing keeping them potentially on the board. Barring a change of address, they are dead to me.
I don't care about the annual fees. None of them should be deciding factors.

Re: Please help: Choosing a travel rewards card!

coldfusion — Sat, 07 Oct 2017 11:47:05 GMT

If you have not tried the Chase/AMEX/Captial One prequal sites I suggest you do so.

You have a very thin file and your history with unsecured credit is very short, so IMO the odds of you being approved for the CSR or Venture right now are probably poor. You might have a better shot with the AMEX as it is a charge card, but understand that a charge card is expected to be PIF monthly. Your better first step would probably be to get a Freedom Unlimited or AMEX EveryDay as those collect points usable against air travel, but you need to compare the Chase UR and AMEX MR programs and see which is the better fit for the airline(s) and hotel chain(s) you prefer. You can later pair up with either the CSP or PRG for a nice combination in around a year. Or, you can get a cashback Cap1 card and target the Venture for later. Venture isn't as efficient at redemption for flights as either Chase or AMEX can be but it's more agnostic with the choice of airlines.

For you it's too early in the game to have a good success rate at acquiring premium cards. Not saying it can't happen but odds are not yet in your favor. Not being sure if you can meet the minimum spend is also an important consideration as the points go a long way to make getting the cards worthwhile.

Re: Please help: Choosing a travel rewards card!

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Oct 2017 13:19:16 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Warmest greetings. I am struggling with a bit of paralysis of analysis with regard to travel cards and I was hoping for a second opinion. I'll try to mention as much core information about myself as possible here.

I am currently stuck trying to decide between one (1) the following cards:

AmEx Gold@ - Currently targeted for 50,000 points @ just $1000 (!)
Chase Sapphire Preferred@ - Pre-qualified at the usual 50,000 points @ $4000
C1 Venture@ - Pre-qualified at the usual 40,000mi @ $3000
As far as pure points value for the minimum spend goes, it seems like the AmEx Gold would be stupid to pass up. That is clearly the best points or miles per dollar introductory offer I'm going to see. But its annual fee is higher than the other 2, its redemption terms are more restrictive and the value of its $100 annual credit is debatable. But man they're giving the points away here.

The CSP seems to be a really good card to have and I know getting it sooner rather than later makes more sense due to the 5/24 thing I've been reading about. 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. I'm also looking to take out a Chase Freedom (which I want regardless and has a $500 introductory spend offer). I really like the addition of things like Primary car insurance here as well as the enhanced points usage flexibility, but am not sure how to value it personally. I haven't had a car accident in 25 years.

The C1 Venture@ card seems to be the easiest to use card of the group and I like the idea of being able to use any booking system I want (I'm a fan of Orbitz which I wouldn't be able to use with AmEx Gold, for example) but doesn't offer any frills that I can see and also has a fairly hefty introductory spend requirement to get the bonus miles (everything looks high to my eyes when I look at the AmEx gold's 50,000pts @ $1000 offer).

Hoping for a strong recommendation. Also, would it be bad to get a card and not bother trying to get the signup bonus? Is there a case to be made for having 2 travel cards in my case? Like going CF + CFP now and AmEx Gold later?

Looking for a set (or a few sets) of eyes with experience in these cards to help break my paralysis. Thank you so much in advance.

About me:

37 years old
My current Fico score is 782 (Tu).
I currently have 2 credit cards. One is an old Wells Fargo secured card that is roughly 4 years old. The other is a BoA Cash Rewards card roughly 2 months old.
I carry $0 balance 100% of the time (but now doing the AZEO method thanks to this forum)
I currently do approximately 5 round-trip flights annually between south Florida, northeast Ohio and Seattle, WA primarily. Occasionally I might find myself in NYC, LA or DC. I'm in airports roughly 10 times annually either way. My tickets are usually $100-$225 each way.
I do car rentals maybe 2-3x/year
I eat out 3x-5x a week (bad habit)
Monthly spend on the card would probably be $1k-$1.75k, realistically. Not a big shopper. Most things I buy something relatively expensive and expect it to last.
I lost interest in the premium cards (AmEx Plat, CSR) because my 2 most commonly used airports do not have the lounge chains offered in the cards. the airport lounge access was the only thing keeping them potentially on the board. Barring a change of address, they are dead to me.
I don't care about the annual fees. None of them should be deciding factors.

I don't know what airlines fly direct on your regular trips but I would focus on a card that earns points for that airline. I would think Chase points would be worth a lot more for you if you fly Southwest or United. Amex points are overrated. I had a hard time finding a use for my 50k Amex points. Ended up being a 40 percent bonus to transfer to British Airways and getting 550 dollars worth of hotel out of the points. To me Southwest points are the most valuable as they have a constant value while the other point values sites listed are theoretical value. So if you don't care where or when you fly and you can book a year in advance you can get the value some claim. Or you buy business tickets that you would never pay for if you had to pay for yourself.

For or example I am looking for flights to Ireland in May of next year and I have a hard time seeing flights even worth a penny an American Airline mile.

Re: Please help: Choosing a travel rewards card!

trant3 — Sat, 07 Oct 2017 13:55:48 GMT

If you're looking to keep the card after the first year then you'll have to look past the intro offer. IMO, based on your travel and spend, CSP may be the best fit. Intro spend is much higher but point value is better than the other two, travel benefits is better (primary car rental insurance, etc)

Re: Please help: Choosing a travel rewards card!

UpperNwGuy — Sat, 07 Oct 2017 14:04:39 GMT

What frogman1 said. If you live near a United hub or a city served regularly by Southwest, get the CSP. If you live near a Delta hub or a city served regularly by Jet Blue (and can live with Jet Blue's limited list of destinations), get the PRG. If you live near an American hub, get the Venture (or, better yet, the Citi AAdvantage or Barclay Aviator). It's not enough to have a good plan to earn points. You also have to have a good plan to redeem them.

Re: Please help: Choosing a travel rewards card!

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Oct 2017 14:55:15 GMT

I'd say CSP, it's 2.5% when you redeem instead of 2%, and if you travel outside the US it'll give you no trouble getting accepted (and no foreign fee either), as Amex will (i.e. in Europe).

To meet the min spending you can use plastiq (plastiq.com) to pay mortgage/rent for a couple of months, or buy gift cards to spend later.

Moderator edit. While there is no prohibition against using the word ‘Manufactured Spending’ or even telling people what that means, you can not advocate for or discuss how to do it. Your last sentence is fine as is but please don’t go further than that. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Irish80
MyFICO Moderator

Re: Please help: Choosing a travel rewards card!

NRB525 — Sat, 07 Oct 2017 15:50:27 GMT

@coldfusion wrote:
If you have not tried the Chase/AMEX/Captial One prequal sites I suggest you do so.

You have a very thin file and your history with unsecured credit is very short, so IMO the odds of you being approved for the CSR or Venture right now are probably poor. You might have a better shot with the AMEX as it is a charge card, but understand that a charge card is expected to be PIF monthly. Your better first step would probably be to get a Freedom Unlimited or AMEX EveryDay as those collect points usable against air travel, but you need to compare the Chase UR and AMEX MR programs and see which is the better fit for the airline(s) and hotel chain(s) you prefer. You can later pair up with either the CSP or PRG for a nice combination in around a year. Or, you can get a cashback Cap1 card and target the Venture for later. Venture isn't as efficient at redemption for flights as either Chase or AMEX can be but it's more agnostic with the choice of airlines.

For you it's too early in the game to have a good success rate at acquiring premium cards. Not saying it can't happen but odds are not yet in your favor. Not being sure if you can meet the minimum spend is also an important consideration as the points go a long way to make getting the cards worthwhile.

Sorry, just have to say a lot of this advice is not correct.

OP has a 782 score

OP has a 4 year old card. Secured has no bearing on this, does not reduce the value of the card toward generating credit history.

There will be no problem for OP getting any of these three cards.

Re: Please help: Choosing a travel rewards card!

NRB525 — Sat, 07 Oct 2017 15:57:15 GMT

OP, you have a rent payment or a mortgage payment, correct? For the CapOne, and the Chase, paying rent or mortgage one or two months with the card will help significantly to get through the spend requirement. AMEX is not possible for this, but the $1k spend is fairly easy.

Is is there an airline you fly regularly? Can you focus your flying onto one airline, for about the same price? Doing that earns you miles for butt in the seat time, and may influence which card works best for your travel and rewards earning.

You ARE in the airline frequent flyer programs, right?

Re: Please help: Choosing a travel rewards card!

red259 — Sat, 07 Oct 2017 16:09:33 GMT

With the chase 5/24 rule I would get the CSP before getting those other cards which you can pick up later. The question is will you have a use for Chase UR points? You should not sign up for the CSP if you can't make the signup spend. To make the spend you can use a third party service like plastiq to pay bills you could not otherwise pay with a credit card (there is a fee for this service so its not the best option but works in a pinch). If there are some bills you can prepay a month in advance I'd do that and sometimes what I do is I let my bills build up right before I get a new card so I have double payments I need to make (I do it with bills that don't hit me with late fees).

Re: Please help: Choosing a travel rewards card!

yfan — Sat, 07 Oct 2017 16:09:56 GMT

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.

Re: Please help: Choosing a travel rewards card!

red259 — Sat, 07 Oct 2017 17:20:30 GMT

@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.

Re: Please help: Choosing a travel rewards card!

MrDisco99 — Sat, 07 Oct 2017 19:23:47 GMT

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.

Re: Please help: Choosing a travel rewards card!

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Oct 2017 19:29:14 GMT

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.

Re: Please help: Choosing a travel rewards card!

Meanmchine — Sat, 07 Oct 2017 19:47:58 GMT

@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

Re: Please help: Choosing a travel rewards card!

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Oct 2017 20:37:23 GMT

lol. and done.

Re: Please help: Choosing a travel rewards card!

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 04:34:11 GMT

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.