The annual fee on my CSR is due August 1st. I did not recieve the SUB as it was a PC from a CSP (previously a discontinued Fairmont card). I have not paid any AFs at this point and have taken advantage of the $300 travel credit. August 29th I should drop to 4/24 unless Synchrony starts reporting the PayPal credit account I closed in early May in which case I will have to push it to November which is really cutting it close.
I was thinking I'd downgrade to a Freedom card and then app for a new CSR in September, combine the limits and close out the Freedom (3 cards is about as much as I want to juggle). As it is, I spend about $300-400 on airfare every month and $200-500 on dining and maybe $100 or so on miscellaneous bills that fit the "travel" category. However, those numbers are subject to change as I've just graduated and will be looking to move away from a LDR into a house or condo with my partner. I don't foresee as much routine spend on airfare, but am anticipating a hike in dining and parking expenses. Having said that, I've got upcoming vacations to Costa Rica this December (Paid), Italy in April (Paid), and Japan hopefully in August (Pending) so I'd like to continue taking advantage of lounge access as well as the global entry credit once my inconviently expired passport is reissued.
The alternatives would be to either keep the CSR I currently have and just pay the fee and be done with it, downgrade to Freedom and apply for the Citi Prestige as I've already recieved 75k points on the Benz AmEx Platinum, or carry out the above plan. Comments, questions or concers?
If you didn't receive a SUB for CSP or CSR since they were both product changes, you should be eligible for the SUB on Reserve. You can only have one Sapphire product (unless you already had multiples) and are only eligible for a SUB if you have not received a SUB for a Sapphire product in the previous 24 months.
Citi Premier would actually be a far better earner for you on travel categories (exhaustive list of travel categories) than Prestige (air, hotel, travel agencies), and usually comes with a significantly better SUB and a much lower AF. If you can make use of the 4th night free, that of course changes. I'm actually considering PCing my Diamond Preferred to Prestige for that benefit. Of course TYPs are not for everyone with their limited transfer partners.
Unless Amex has decided that you have opened and closed too many accounts (which they'll warn you about if you're not eligible before continuing with your application), previously having the MBUSA Amex Platinum does not exclude you from receiving a SUB on the vanilla Amex Platinum, or any of the other non-MBUSA cobranded ones.
