topic Re: Card Strategy: what next after Chase 5/24 ? in Credit Cards

Card Strategy: what next after Chase 5/24 ?

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 21:30:54 GMT

Hello,

In 2 years i did my 5 cards and completed Chase Trifecta but I am now looking for strategy what to do next ?
I want to build up my travel points with next cards but not sure what would be best order and did anyone find good strategy to maximize profit ?
Do i start with Hotel cards like Hilton and Marriott ?
Do i start building AMEX trifecta ?

This is what I have in order that i got it.
1. CapitalOne Platinum
2. Chase Freedom Unlimited
3. Amex Blue Cash
4. Chase Sapphire Reserve
5. Chase Freedom Flex

Re: Card Strategy: what next after Chase 5/24 ?

dragontears — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 21:40:26 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello,

In 2 years i did my 5 cards and completed Chase Trifecta but I am now looking for strategy what to do next ?
I want to build up my travel points with next cards but not sure what would be best order and did anyone find good strategy to maximize profit ?
Do i start with Hotel cards like Hilton and Marriott ?
Do i start building AMEX trifecta ?

This is what I have in order that i got it.
1. CapitalOne Platinum
2. Chase Freedom Unlimited
3. Amex Blue Cash
4. Chase Sapphire Reserve
5. Chase Freedom Flex

Do you frequently stay at Hilton? Marriott?

Do you like the transfer partners Amex has?

Where are the "gaps" in your spending?

Can you clarify what you mean by "maximize profit"?

Re: Card Strategy: what next after Chase 5/24 ?

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 23:14:06 GMT

Well I don't stay anywhere frequently. Idea is to build up points for travel to vacation destinations.

I am just looking for some logical order what cards and in what line should be applied to get maximum points.

If anyone has some guide or strategy for this it would be what i am searching for.

Re: Card Strategy: what next after Chase 5/24 ?

Aim_High — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 00:23:58 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Well I don't stay anywhere frequently. Idea is to build up points for travel to vacation destinations.
I am just looking for some logical order what cards and in what line should be applied to get maximum points.
If anyone has some guide or strategy for this it would be what i am searching for.

Welcome to My Fico Forums, @Anonymous.

Collecting many different travel cards and dabbling in a lot of different travel points systems isn't something to be done casually. If you have a lot of spending (personal and/or business), you're a frequent flier, already have elite status with hotels or airlines, and know how to play the points game, it's possible to diversify and juggle it all successfully. But if you're new to the game and the above don't apply, it's probably better to proceed slowly, learn from our community members and other card websites, and evaluate what will work for you. It's easy to get in over your head very quickly if you're not careful and then you just have to either lose points or cash them in a poor redemption value when you close cards that aren't working for you.

Points don't have a fixed value. You never really know their value until you look back and see what you got for them. They can be risky since they are subject to devaluation. Many people prefer dealing in simply cash as a result. Optimizing point value takes some time, patience, and knowledge. It's often suggested that since points value can be perishable, that only going for SUBs or saving them up in quantity is best done with a specific short-to-medium term use in mind. If you don't have any idea of what you will do with them, they may not be what they seem.

Congratulations on putting together the Chase trifecta! It's awesome. Maybe spending some time accruing points with spending versus SUBs on new cards would be the next course of action? Get to know that system and see how it will work for you.

Remember that adding more cards and points currencies will dilute the value of each, to some degree. You'll want enough points in each currency for meaningful redemption. If your spending is not high enough, you can reach a point where you can never accrue points quickly enough in any of those programs to be very useful.

AMEX Member Rewards points work very well for some people and very poorly for others. If you're in one of those categories above (frequent flier; heavy spending; elite with airlines/hotels, etc.) you may find the ability to leverage those points for much higher value (2 cents per point or more) than if you redeem for cash (6/10 of a cent) or with gift cards or through the AMEX travel portal (1 cent to 1.5 ccp.) So my biggest advice if you continue to add new travel programs is to do your research and make sure you know what the point value will be to YOU, based on how you will redeem. Then decide which program(s) to add, as long as they fit within your overall travel strategy.

Re: Card Strategy: what next after Chase 5/24 ?

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 00:54:35 GMT

Hello,

Thank you.

I spend a lot of money in shops on groceries and will have more expenses in future. I am looking how to use that expenses to get some new cards that will give me nice vacation or getting to vacation place.

With Chase I see I have travel covered really well so I am thinking maybe to focus on hotel cards ?

But since i am new in the game for last 2 years, I am looking for a path that would make some logical sense not to cut myself out of the points game by making wrong selection of next card.

Re: Card Strategy: what next after Chase 5/24 ?

Aim_High — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 01:09:49 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello,

Thank you.

I spend a lot of money in shops on groceries and will have more expenses in future. I am looking how to use that expenses to get some new cards that will give me nice vacation or getting to vacation place.

With Chase I see I have travel covered really well so I am thinking maybe to focus on hotel cards ?

But since i am new in the game for last 2 years, I am looking for a path that would make some logical sense not to cut myself out of the points game by making wrong selection of next card.

Have you spent very much time on the Chase travel portal? You can use your Ultimate Rewards points there for hotel stays as well as flights or rental cars, with no need to diversify into those hotel cards. Not that they are a bad thing to have, but again, if you spread your spending and points acquisition into too many currencies (points), they may be harder to redeem.

If you decide to add another type of card, either airline points or hotel points can be useful ... if you have an idea of how you would use them. And if you decide to add either, you would need to consider what types of places you stay that would be more useful. For example, there are cards to Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, IHG (Holiday Inn, etc), Choice, Wyndham. All of these chains have many different sub-brands. If you stay at a Renaissance hotel, it's a Marriott property. If you stay at a Days Inn, it's a Wyndham property. If you stay at a Hampton Inn, it's a Hilton property. Doing a little research will help you to pick which hotel chain to target that would best suit your needs.

Re: Card Strategy: what next after Chase 5/24 ?

xenon3030 — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 00:55:09 GMT

In a few months, I also become 4/24.

For the moment, I do not plan to apply for Chase while I may apply for a few cards with high cashback/MR or high SUB. I may check Citi again (Citi Premier, Custom Cash). Premier has 80k SUB with 95$ AF. Not sure if I do not want it after the first year, it would be feasible to PC it to custom cash or the other cards.