topic Re: Current Card Combos in Credit Cards

Current Card Combos

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 17:55:18 GMT

Here are my top card combos that I use:

Chase ink - 5 pts on cable/internet

CSR - 3 pts travel/dining (If redeemed on UR Portal, additional 1.5 pts

Amex Gold - 4pts on Groceries/Dining

Chase Unlimited - 1.5 pts on "Other" categories

I am contemplating getting the AMEX platinum this year but not sure if it will be worth it with my CSR.

Share your current card combos.

Re: Current Card Combos

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 19:14:42 GMT

Amex Gold - 4x MRs on dining/groceries and 3x MRs on flights

Citi Premier - 3 TY on gas and travel

Venture - 2 miles on all other purchases

Savor - 4% cash back on Dining/Entertainment. I use this card once a week after the due date for my gold. For example, Amex statement dates are normally 6 days after the due date so I use my Savor during that time span.

This is pretty much my strategy at least until AFs for the Venture and Premier are due later this year. Then I will downgrade my Venture to Venture One and Premier to the Preferred. After that, I will use my Gold for essentially all spend.

Re: Current Card Combos

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 21:09:03 GMT

My combos:

Amex Gold
- Dining/groceries in the U.S. (4x points)
- Airline tickets (3x points)
CSP
- Restaurants (2x points)
  - don't accept Amex
  - are not coded as restaurants in Amex system
  - outside U.S.
- Cheap airline tickets for better travel protection (2x points)
- Other travel expense (2x points)
CF
- Rotating quarterly category (5x points)
CFU
- Everything else (1.5 points)

Personally, I think Amex Plat is good for

Airfare (5x points)
Centurion Lounge/Delta Sky Club Lounges (CSR already gives you Priority Pass)
Fine Hotels & Resorts (F&B or spa credit, free breakfast, late check-out......)

So if you travel a lot or you want these travel benefits from Amex Plat, then you should go for it.

I think CSR and Amex Plat are quite different, one is for dining/travel and one is for the perks.

Re: Current Card Combos

UpperNwGuy — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 21:12:50 GMT

See my signature below.

Re: Current Card Combos

redpat — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 23:43:26 GMT

Plat isn't about getting MR points for daily use the card is more about getting perks. Delta, Centurion and Escape lounges, Hilton and Marriott Gold (get higher points right away on stays w/ status), all amex give you free shop runner and if you can use all the credits that the card offers the net AF is only $50 (550-200 airline credit - 200 uber - 100 saks).

IMO, this card can't be beat for the NET COST if you travel a lot and use Delta, Marriott and Hilton. Add gold and w/ a net cost of $30 and the two amex cards beat the net cost of CSR $70.

Re: Current Card Combos

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Jan 2019 00:12:57 GMT

it seems we have this same topic every week. Perhaps just make a sticky one somewhere...

Re: Current Card Combos

Remedios — Thu, 03 Jan 2019 00:16:38 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
it seems we have this same topic every week. Perhaps just make a sticky one somewhere...

No different than most other threads , really.

OP is new, and stated something of interest to him. No one is forced to participate.

Re: Current Card Combos

quickstrike — Sat, 05 Jan 2019 06:49:36 GMT

BofA Premium rewards - 2.6% everything and 3.5% dining/travel

Chase Ink - 5% cell phone/internet bill

Chase Freedom - 5% rotating

BofA Cash - 5.25% gas, 3.5% grocery/wholesale

I don't travel much so I may downgrade the BofA Premium Rewards. I am contemplating the BBP for 2X MR on everything. Any thoughts?

Re: Current Card Combos

wasCB14 — Sat, 05 Jan 2019 07:12:34 GMT

@quickstrike wrote:
BofA Premium rewards - 2.6% everything and 3.5% dining/travel
Chase Ink - 5% cell phone/internet bill
Chase Freedom - 5% rotating
BofA Cash - 5.25% gas, 3.5% grocery/wholesale

I don't travel much so I may downgrade the BofA Premium Rewards. I am contemplating the BBP for 2X MR on everything. Any thoughts?

In the absence of a Schwab Platinum, BBP gives pretty poor cash back. If you don't see value in $100 towards airfare extras for a $95 AF, you may be making a big gamble that you can eventually redeem your MRs efficiently.

Re: Current Card Combos

mongstradamus — Sat, 05 Jan 2019 07:44:31 GMT

Gold and CFU for me , and then i have lesser used cards like freedom for 5x and ink cash for 5x for GC.

Re: Current Card Combos

Anonymous — Sat, 05 Jan 2019 07:59:41 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Here are my top card combos that I use:
Chase ink - 5 pts on cable/internet
CSR - 3 pts travel/dining (If redeemed on UR Portal, additional 1.5 pts
Amex Gold - 4pts on Groceries/Dining
Chase Unlimited - 1.5 pts on "Other" categories

I am contemplating getting the AMEX platinum this year but not sure if it will be worth it with my CSR.

Share your current card combos.

OP, from my perspective its silly to keep both CSR and the Amex Platinum and, as someone already said here, the Amex Platinum is not about the points, its about the perks. As this card's main target is wealthy people, they don't actually care about the points, they can afford bussiness class/first class tickets and so on and here, what matters are the perks such as Centurion lounge access, hotel status and so on.

See my signature for my cards.

Re: Current Card Combos

Anonymous — Sat, 05 Jan 2019 08:52:54 GMT

Is it really "silly" to keep both if you can use the credits (roughly $850) etc to virtually erase the annual fees though? I'm not sure I agree with that but to each his own.

Re: Current Card Combos

budugu — Sun, 06 Jan 2019 03:17:48 GMT

Gold + plat credit tracking cannot be easy ( especially 6 50$ Delta gift carD's, monthly GrubHub + Uber and Saks half yealy!). I have a tough time remembering to use gold - GrubHub credits! I wish Amex would just move away from this credits mania - reduce the fee or better / easy perks.

Re: Current Card Combos

wasCB14 — Sun, 06 Jan 2019 03:32:28 GMT

@budugu wrote:
Gold + plat credit tracking cannot be easy ( especially 6 50$ Delta gift carD's, monthly GrubHub + Uber and Saks half yealy!). I have a tough time remembering to use gold - GrubHub credits! I wish Amex would just move away from this credits mania - reduce the fee or better / easy perks.

If the credits were easier to use, they would likely be reduced in maximum dollar amount. In calculating the cost of benefits, Amex considers (and has mentioned as much to investors) that a decent share of customers won't use them.

I don't have Gold anymore (and I know I wouldn't use the dining credit fully), but I don't mind the trickle nature of Uber on Platinum because I do use Uber every month. I'd rather have $200 trickled than a lump $150.

Re: Current Card Combos

Namaste7 — Sun, 06 Jan 2019 03:56:29 GMT

AMEX Gold - 4x MRs on dining/groceries & 3x MRs on flights

AMEX BBP - 2x everything else

Re: Current Card Combos

Anonymous — Sun, 06 Jan 2019 07:46:49 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Is it really "silly" to keep both if you can use the credits (roughly $850) etc to virtually erase the annual fees though? I'm not sure I agree with that but to each his own.

As I mentioned, it is silly from my perpesctive to keep both cards as I don't feel like its necessary to spend $850 on annual fees for things that, otherwise, I'd not spend/buy just to offset the annual fee. I have my own car, I don't take Uber so the $200 Uber credit would be useless for me.

I don't shop at Saks and the only reason why I would shop there is because of the Saks credit - In this particular situation, I'm not offsetting the annual fee, just using it for something that I already paid for. If I don't shop at Saks this credit doesn't make sense.

Amex Platinum offers awesome lounge access and that's a huge plus but, in my situation, I don't think it's worth signing up for that card at the moment. I'd rather go with the CSR and I'd be happy with Priority Pass (as I'm not extremely picky about lounge access) and the extra $50 on the travel credit.

What I meant by silly is that, unless you can 100% utilize the Saks credit and the Uber credit (which by itself is $200 - a big chunk of the annual fee), it could be hard to justify $550 bucks. Also, the CSR's travel credit itself is already 67% of the annual fee and the Amex is 45% and harder to use.

Re: Current Card Combos

Anonymous — Sun, 06 Jan 2019 07:53:17 GMT

Discover It - 5% rotating categories

Amazon Prime Store Card - 5% back on Amazon

BBVA Compass ClearPoints - 3% utilities, 2% retail (you choose the categories each quarter - since Disco is groceries 1Q my BBVA 2% is retail but it will be groceries the rest of the year unless I get the BCE I applied for)

NFCU cashRewards - 1.5% on everything else plus extra cash back buying things from the Member Mall. Also my no FTF card.

Capital One QS - for when I need a virtual credit card number for something whether it be a site I haven’t ordered from or a trial subscription to something that could be difficult to cancel otherwise.

I don’t travel so I don’t have a card for that, gas, or dining.

Re: Current Card Combos

mjb59463 — Sun, 06 Jan 2019 08:56:46 GMT

1. Amex Plat- Airfare only
2. Amex Gold- Dining/Grocery
3. Amex BBP- all non-category spend
4. CSP- for where Amex is not accepted

Rest of my cards sit in the sock drawer with each one triggering a charge like Netflix, Hulu, Apple Music, monthly internet, cell phone, etc.

Fully invested into MR for rewards, because their airline/hotel partners are the ones I utilize and value

Re: Current Card Combos

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Jan 2019 01:50:08 GMT

I guess its worth mentioning that I only carry 3 cards with me at all times (because I have a "card wallet" with only 3 slots) and they are

1 - American Express Gold for pretty much everything including dining and groceries.

2 - Chase Sapphire Preferred (CSP) for when Amex is not accepted and airfare when I book through skyscanner.com and find a better deal.

3 - Discover Debit card (just in case I need to withdraw cash or for those situations where the merchant does not take credit cards).

Sock drawer:

- Chase Freedom Unlimited: I use this card when I'm buying something online like movie tickets and whatnot because of the 1.5x back.

- Citi AAdvantage Mileup: Use it to pay for Apple Music (which is like $7 a month) so I can keep the account open (shouldn't have got that card anyway, haha! Got it before I actually got into the points and miles game). No annual fee tho, so I might as well keep it. 10k SUB at least.

- Capital One Quicksilver One: It sits in the drawer and I haven't used that card in YEARS. Like, literally. I do have a balance on the card from an Eurotrip years ago and I am still paying down, haha! Actually, whats interesting is that they just gave me a credit line increase last week without me requesting it, haha! That card hasn't seen a transaction in like 2 years at least. I will most likely cancel this card once I'm done with it, it charges me a $40 annual fee (I believe) and with my current setup, 1.5x back does not justify paying $40 in AF.

- Discover it Miles: Same thing as the Quicksilver, I still have a balance on this card and I've been trying to pay down. I've been focusing on the Quicksilver One first because it has a higher APR but then this one is the next one. I haven't used this card in years again and probably would only use it to pay for in-flight wifi as the card comes with a $30 annual credit for in-flight wifi.

- Amazon Prime Store Card: Amazon purchases for the 5x back, of course.

Next cards:

I've been wanting to get a premium card as I can totally take advantage of the lounge access and some other perks so I'll probably go with new re-launched Citi Presitge once the application liks becomes live.

As I already have some American Airlines miles (due to me having the AAdvantage Mileup card), I'll probably go for the Barclays AA card and then for the Citi AAdvantage Platinum so I can use both cards, get the SUBs and enjoy some cool perks and trips!

Very detailed, I know but I thought it was worth mentioning it!

Re: Current Card Combos

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 02:40:26 GMT

Wallet
Uber - 4% restaurants
Amex BCP - 6% groceries (upgrade bonus)

Home
Citi DC - 2% everything (temp 2.99% apr)
Discover it - 5% categories
Chase Freedom (2) - 5% categories
Amex Plat - 5% airlines (upgrade bonus + retention bonus + temp 0% apr)
Amex ED - MR points
BofA Cash Rewards - 3% gas
Better Balance Rewards - bonus
Merrill Plus - No ftf
Care Credit - 0% financing