topic Re: UR points vs MR points in Credit Cards

UR points vs MR points

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 00:21:08 GMT

I have a question in which I really would like your guys opinions.
I currently have the Chase Freedom and the Saphire Prefered.
I am collecting UR points for travel which will probably only happen once or twice per year.
I am currently at 5/24 and cannot get any other UR cards.
I am debating on getting other cards other than Chase because of this 5/24 rule.
Should I dip my hand in Amex on cards that accumulate MR points, or just primarily stick with Chase due to the low amount of travel that me and my wife do, or get the Amex cards for points ?
The only Amex card that we currently have is the BCE card for cash back.
I am wanting to add more cards, but not sure of the smart path at this point.
I really dont want to spread myself too thin with points, but do love the offers that Amex is giving me on cards that earn MR points.

Thanks in advance !

Re: UR points vs MR points

K-in-Boston — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 00:20:11 GMT

The answer to your question really depends on where you are, where you want to go, how you want to get there, and where you want to stay when you get there. Both programs have their benefits. Signup bonuses are great but you should at least have some basic plan of what you want to use the points for.

Re: UR points vs MR points

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 00:24:04 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
The answer to your question really depends on where you are, where you want to go, how you want to get there, and where you want to stay when you get there. Both programs have their benefits. Signup bonuses are great but you should at least have some basic plan of what you want to use the points for.

Right, and as OP said, spreading yourself too thin can be a real issue if your spend is not too high, where you end up with fairly useless amounts of points in two programs, as compared to "enough" in one.

Re: UR points vs MR points

wasCB14 — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 00:27:47 GMT

I'm currently finding I have a useless balance in a few programs. Not fun.

Granted, I often had no convenient alternative to those hotels and airlines. But it's often best to try to avoid getting orphan points.

Re: UR points vs MR points

K-in-Boston — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 00:47:29 GMT

Orphan points are no fun. Fortunately some of them (Wyndham, Le Club Accor, IHG) I was able to move to Delta. My entire family has Alaskan miles (from Virgin America and/or Cathay Pacific) that we need to do something with before they disappear; I have Southwest points but keep those active by doing RapidRewards Shopping every now and then. You mentioned Best Western never expiring, and I checked and still have a few thousand there from ages ago but not enough to transfer to Air France/KLM, Alitalia, or Aeromexico.

Re: UR points vs MR points

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 00:48:51 GMT

I do plan to start traveling more in the years to come.
But...I want to also get cards that are going to do the best for me at this point.
I would love to go on a cruise with my wife in the near future.
What points give you the most value when dealing with cruise lines ?

Re: UR points vs MR points

SBR249 — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 00:53:24 GMT

I will preface this by saying only you know how you travel and what your situation is.

But if you rarely travel, then you may want to consider pursuing a purely cashback strategy as an alternative. While I know a lot of people get lots of value out of the UR/MR programs, it's hard to beat the simplicity and versatility of getting straight up cash to do with what you please. Of course, it may not be as lucrative as UR/MR if you are willing to wring every % out of those points but if you hardly travel, it may be easier.

Re: UR points vs MR points

K-in-Boston — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 00:54:02 GMT

For a cruise, likely the best option would be to later upgrade your CSP to CSR to get 1.5 cents in the travel portal. I'm not sure of ways to get better points redemption from cruises, other than possibly through cruise line cobranded credit cards.

Re: UR points vs MR points

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 01:13:41 GMT

One of the reasons that I am considering MR points is because Amex sent me an offer in the mail for 50000 MR points for signing up for the
PRG card, and making the spend, instead of the usual 25000.
If the MR points are worth a little travel, I could consider it.
But not sure at this point.

Re: UR points vs MR points

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 04:24:18 GMT

I got 50K on the PRG, plus my spend. Then I apped for the rarely seen 25K with the ED card, bringing my balance to over 80K MR. I also have an upcoming $10K charge I'm putting on the PRG and an $8K charge to ED, that will bring it to 98K MR points. Which I plan to use on ANA Budiness Class to Japan. It will at least take the sting out of the hefty price. As for my lodging, I'm looking at getting either the SPG or Hilton. Still researchig those two. I don't expect to take this trip w/o spending any cash, just looking to reduce the expense of it so my Dollar goes further. As I'd also like to spend a coupe days in Seoul while I'm over there.

I also have over 60K UR points from my CSP Sub and spend, but am planning to use that for later rip.

I think if done right you can get some nice trips just from SUBs alone.

Re: UR points vs MR points

ridgebackpilot — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 05:38:26 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

Should I dip my hand in Amex on cards that accumulate MR points, or just primarily stick with Chase due to the low amount of travel that me and my wife do, or get the Amex cards for points ?

I am wanting to add more cards, but not sure of the smart path at this point.
I really dont want to spread myself too thin with points, but do love the offers that Amex is giving me on cards that earn MR points.

Thanks in advance !

In general, I suspect you'll find that UR points are more flexible and useful than MR points. I've paid for lots of travel with both, but if I had to choose, I'd go exclusively with UR points anyday.

For a long time, I was an exclusively UR points guy. Then I was given an AMEX card at work and told I could keep the MR points. I took my entire family to Hawaii for a vacation on those MR points, but I had to do it by booking the trip on All Nippon Airways (Japan). Booking with MR points was quite a contrast to the ease of putting UR points to work.

The good news is: You don't have to choose! You can carry cards that earn both points and use them to maximize your earning potential. Good luck!

Re: UR points vs MR points

redpat — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 11:45:34 GMT

Both are great. You can earn additional MR points through Amex offers and you can earn additional UR points through Chase's UR shopping portal. For that reason you could consider having two reward programs, plus a SUB to jump start MR points.

Re: UR points vs MR points

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 14:04:25 GMT

I currently have an offer from Amex for the PRG card with a 50000 sign up bonus or the Platnum card w/ a 60000 sign up bonus.
I know that the Platnum card will have an extremely higher annual fee compared to the PRG.
it's only a 10000 point difference.
I only travel a couple times per year, so trying to decide which card to get.
I would love the lounge access but wondering if I would get a bang for my buck with my low travel.

Re: UR points vs MR points

mongstradamus — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 16:50:05 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I got 50K on the PRG, plus my spend. Then I apped for the rarely seen 25K with the ED card, bringing my balance to over 80K MR. I also have an upcoming $10K charge I'm putting on the PRG and an $8K charge to ED, that will bring it to 98K MR points. Which I plan to use on ANA Budiness Class to Japan. It will at least take the sting out of the hefty price. As for my lodging, I'm looking at getting either the SPG or Hilton. Still researchig those two. I don't expect to take this trip w/o spending any cash, just looking to reduce the expense of it so my Dollar goes further. As I'd also like to spend a coupe days in Seoul while I'm over there.

I also have over 60K UR points from my CSP Sub and spend, but am planning to use that for later rip.
I think if done right you can get some nice trips just from SUBs alone.

Depending on if there are any hyatt in the areas you want to travel to transferring some UR to hyatt isn't a horrible way to spend them. Maybe PH/Andaz in tokyo could be quite good. Check how much cpp you would be getting.

Re: UR points vs MR points

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 17:01:10 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
One of the reasons that I am considering MR points is because Amex sent me an offer in the mail for 50000 MR points for signing up for the
PRG card, and making the spend, instead of the usual 25000.
If the MR points are worth a little travel, I could consider it.
But not sure at this point.

Even if you don't travel much you can get 700 dollars out of the PRG card. You can get 100 dollar airline gift certificate this year and next plus you could get a 500 dollar gift card to places like Crate and Barrel and Home Depot with your 50k sign up bonus. Me and my wife both got this card and now have new Washer and Dryers for free. Home Depot was having a 40 percent off sale with free delivery and our state had tax free weekend on home applicainces.

Re: UR points vs MR points

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 18:14:25 GMT

If it were me, I'd hold off on the Platinum until you can get the 100K SUB. Just go for PRG for now, 50K is the highest I've seen it go.

Considerng you can only get them once in lifetime, might as well make it count.

Re: UR points vs MR points

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 19:10:47 GMT

That's Awesome !
PRG it is then.....
Thanks to everyone for their great wisdom.

My wife received the same offer in the mail.
Maybe we both can take advantage of the 50000
SUB offer. :-)

Re: UR points vs MR points

SouthJamaica — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 22:37:51 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I have a question in which I really would like your guys opinions.
I currently have the Chase Freedom and the Saphire Prefered.
I am collecting UR points for travel which will probably only happen once or twice per year.
I am currently at 5/24 and cannot get any other UR cards.
I am debating on getting other cards other than Chase because of this 5/24 rule.
Should I dip my hand in Amex on cards that accumulate MR points, or just primarily stick with Chase due to the low amount of travel that me and my wife do, or get the Amex cards for points ?
The only Amex card that we currently have is the BCE card for cash back.
I am wanting to add more cards, but not sure of the smart path at this point.
I really dont want to spread myself too thin with points, but do love the offers that Amex is giving me on cards that earn MR points.

Thanks in advance !

Since you don't travel much you shouldn't add any more travel rewards cards.

Re: UR points vs MR points

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 22:43:52 GMT

Good advice, but we will be traveling a bit more starting next year.
The 100000 MR SUB points would be beneficial to us at that time.