Amex Gold or CSR or?

[Anonymous]

I will be entering a FT MBA program this summer and have quite a few expenses coming up which I would like to use.      towards a SUB.

I currently have a Chase Freedom and a CSP (have had both for over 4 years, FICO is 800+ ), and am wondering which card I should sign up for next. 

As I understand it, upgrading my CSP to a CSR will not include any SUB, so that option is off the table. I've been looking at Amex Gold and Plat as alternatives. I think the Gold is a great card but also realize that the 4x on dining is restricted to the U.S. I will do a fair amount of domestic/intl traveling and eating out over these next 2 years (and probably after as well). 

Would appreciate any advice or suggestions. Thank you

[arunkumarmm]

Amex gold is 4x on restaurants world wide not just US

[seattletravels]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I will be entering a FT MBA program this summer and have quite a few expenses coming up which I would like to use.      towards a SUB.

I currently have a Chase Freedom and a CSP (have had both for over 4 years, FICO is 800+ ), and am wondering which card I should sign up for next. 

As I understand it, upgrading my CSP to a CSR will not include any SUB, so that option is off the table. I've been looking at Amex Gold and Plat as alternatives. I think the Gold is a great card but also realize that the 4x on dining is restricted to the U.S. I will do a fair amount of domestic/intl traveling and eating out over these next 2 years (and probably after as well). 

Would appreciate any advice or suggestions. Thank you

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Are you primarily looking for a dining card? Interested in cash back or a points card? Looks like you're okay with AF?

[Anonymous]

You can downgrade the CSP to a Freedom Unlimited and get a new Sapphire product. Chase Inks have comparable SUBs too

[BronzeTrader]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I will be entering a FT MBA program this summer and have quite a few expenses coming up which I would like to use.      towards a SUB.

I currently have a Chase Freedom and a CSP (have had both for over 4 years, FICO is 800+ ), and am wondering which card I should sign up for next. 

As I understand it, upgrading my CSP to a CSR will not include any SUB, so that option is off the table. I've been looking at Amex Gold and Plat as alternatives. I think the Gold is a great card but also realize that the 4x on dining is restricted to the U.S. I will do a fair amount of domestic/intl traveling and eating out over these next 2 years (and probably after as well). 

Would appreciate any advice or suggestions. Thank you

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Those are totally different cards.  AmEx Gold is more for the 4x earning on dining and grocery.  CSR is more of a general travel card and for the UR point transfer.  But the higher annual fee makes CSR less attractive.  A lot people are cutting CSR for CSP.

Citi Premier is also a great card with just $95 annual fee.  There is rumor that it will have 3x on dining, gas, supermarket and most travels.  Then it is probably better than most of the cards including AmEx Gold and Chase CSP or CSR.

[Citylights18]

The AMEX equivalent to the CSR is the AMEX Green because its 3x dine, travel.

I'm considering whether to get a AMEX Green or upgrade my CSP to a CSR. I guess I am a fan (within reason) of lender diversity simply for the fact that different card networks come with different offers and perks. 

If I go from CSP to CSR I can go from 2x to 3x in dine/travel and from 5x to 10x in Lyft. But offers like Dashpass and the 5% on Doordash purchases through 5/31 remain the same regardless of card. 

You can upgrade your CSP to a CSR and pay an effective AF of $155 or stack the CSP with an AMEX Green for $150 AF and have 3x dine/travel but opens the door to more bonus offers. It doesn't have priority pass but it does have a loungebuddy credit of $100 in case you want to try it.

[KJinNC]

If your goal is actually the card and its rewards, those are two choices with very little overlap. I would get whichever fits your anticipated spend/needs better.

If your goal is capitalizing on a great SUB, they are both viable options. You actually just missed (by a week and a half) a great SUB on the Amex Delta Platinum, assuming you can use SkyMiles. 80k SkyMiles with (I think) $3k spend in 3 months. Plus another 20k miles at your one-year anniversary, for a total of 100k miles. But that offer expired on April 1 and I don't know what they replaced it with.

I guess my advice would just be, do math to decide which (if either) of these cards will make sense in the long run. I love the Amex Gold. But, I get a $100 annual statement credit for it due to the CAP program. If not for that, I am not sure it would be a better option than other cards, like BCP/BCE and Propel. I wanted a CSR until they raised the annual fee recently, at which point I decided that Amex Platinum made more sense for me, since I get a $150 CAP statement credit for it. Etc, hard for anyone else to pick for you as it depends so much on personal spend. JMO, good luck!