@CBartowskiwrote: @Aim_High you made some great points thank you! Glad to know I'm not alone in this ... Thanks for the thoughtful response!
You're welcome, @CBartowski, and glad it was helpful. The additional information helps to paint a better picture of your travel and card usage, so thanks for that!
In my case, I knew there was some conflict between the Gold (opened later) and my CSR, but I hadn't ever collected or played with MR points and wanted a taste of that. While I think the Gold card is a great card, like any card the value of it may vary based on circumstances, spend, and redemption. In my case, I just think the CSR fits me better.
You sound like you're still on the fence about your commitment to MRs. If you are, I would consider keeping the Gold card open just a little longer. If food (groceries and/or dining out) is major spend and you're committed to MRs, the Gold card is the logical choice to maximize point accrual. It's more a matter of figuring out how to make the monthly credits as smooth and easy as possible so-as to minimize the AF. I really disliked how they took away the airline fee credit on the Gold after I applied and replaced it with the Uber/Uber eats credit which to me is less useful.
If you call AMEX when the AF posts, you might get lucky with a retention offer on the Gold to buy a little more time. Either way, good luck!
@wasCB14 wrote:Is $40/month really so much in Uber credits?
It's a local ride from A to B and back.
Or a ride to/from a nearby airport.
Or takeout/delivery food for up to three people (or up to three meals for one person).
It seems about as easy to spend $40 as $10.
I think it depends, @wasCB14. For someone who regularly uses ride share services like UBER or who regularly uses food delivery/takeoff services anyway, it's probably easy to spend $40 a month. For others (including myself) who never use ride share and whose use of food delivery/carry out is spotty, the credits are yet another cumbersome AMEX credit. Even the $10 a month is "forced spending" for me to remember before I lose it. I've lost credits on my Gold card every single month after I got it when they cancelled the (much more convenient) annual airline fee credit. These monthly credits for GrubHub/UBER aren't doing it for me, further diminishing the value of MRs. And that is my impression of the bulk of other credits on the charge cards, except for the TSA Global Entry for which I have duplicate reimbursement on other cards.
I have not used Uber or a similar service for a ride since 2019 and I have not used GrubHub or DoorDash since 2020. Any credits in those services is, at best, inconvenient, and Uber in particular, for boring and irrelevant reasons, I never ever use, so any Uber credit is completely wasted on me. This is contributing to probably downgrading my Platinum Card when the annual fee hits again.
Im behind the suggestion of possibly closing the CSR since you already have the CS Platinum. Or consider the Green card ?
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