Anyone Rethinking Travel Points Cards?

[longtimelurker]

---

@RehabbingANDBlabbing wrote:

If I were to get one of these kinds of cards, it would definitely be the Chase Sapphire Preferred. The $300 credit is easy to use for travel, even if you take just 1 trip a year, and I like the ability to get a good cash redemption for the UR points (and the 50% bonus for CSR). On top of that, it has good multipliers, like the 3X on dining and travel (really 4.5X after the bonus). 

---

Sounds like you mean the Reserve!

[MAZDA3]

For the time being, i'm switching over to my NFCU cash back cards. I have enough FF points for J class awards to SE Asia for the next three years. Currently holding a CX award to BKK in January that i'm a little nervous about - not that the flights themselves will cancel, but that CX will cease to exist. Should have used those those points this year but I wanted to compare EVA and China Airlines. 

[CreditUnionFan]

We have a CSR in the house, but at this point we're probably not going to renew as a CSR, but downgrade to something else, maybe the CSP to keep the primary rental car coverage.   With travel prospects down for the forseeable future, it's hard to justify the $450 fee.

[Anonymous]

---

@CreditUnionFan wrote:

We have a CSR in the house, but at this point we're probably not going to renew as a CSR, but downgrade to something else, maybe the CSP to keep the primary rental car coverage.   With travel prospects down for the forseeable future, it's hard to justify the $450 fee.

---

The primary rental insurance and entry level flight cancellation insurance make the CSP a must have in any wallet IMO. Even if you have better earnings cards or mostly gravitate towards cash back. 

[VanderSnoot]

I know this thread is a little old, but I'm reviving it because I've been surprised so many people here are still applying for travel cards. Even when the economy opens up, it's going to be a while before traveling (particularly air and hotel) is safe. All of my trips are canceled for the next 15 months, so there's no way to recoup the annual fees. I'll downgrade or cancel when the anniversaries hit.

[Revelate]

---

@VanderSnoot wrote:

I know this thread is a little old, but I'm reviving it because I've been surprised so many people here are still applying for travel cards. Even when the economy opens up, it's going to be a while before traveling (particularly air and hotel) is safe. All of my trips are canceled for the next 15 months, so there's no way to recoup the annual fees. I'll downgrade or cancel when the anniversaries hit.

---

Actually I was just wondering what people thought now.  I'm waiting to see what happens with this latest round of Congressional give and take (not picking sides, just I know one of them wants corporate liability shield) and if that happens my CSR use case is intact.

If that doesn't happent though, I don't know.  I actually have my AF coming up soonish, I think July, I'm seriously considering downgrading during this and saving $400ish as other than some amount of restaurant spend which is going back to very limited once I get a workable refrigerator, if I'm not travelling for work I have near zero use for the card.  

[CreditUnionFan]

You remind me that I've already tried to call Citi about my AA card, which renewed, but with travel scrapped, the annual fee isn't justifiable. 

P2 applied for a Venture, but it was $0 AF for the first year under the offer P2 received.  I used P2's Global Entry benefit, so with the Cap One Venture, if P2 wants Global Entry, a $0 AF card is a great way to get it back.  50,000 points after $3k spending is easy, even without travel.  Worst case, we'll load up our local transit cards or pay road tolls, if it works for travel reimbursement.  We've gone from $120+ each month for tolls, down to $10 for the last six weeks, and those were trip(s) to blood donation site(s).  

We're definitely planning to downgrade P2's CSR, because P2 didn't receive any retention offers so far.      At this point we may just use the benefits from my PenFed card.  (that somewhat-useful Amex has new life in its Visa reincarnation!)

[CreditUnionFan]

I feel your pain about a somewhat workable refridgerator.  We had our fridge die.  We had an outside fridge, and an outside freezer, but shuffling back and forth to the garage sucked for those two weeks.

We were fortunate that our fridge died the same week that a major chain had a sale going on, and we picked up a $3k fridge for $1.1k.  It's bigger than we wanted, and a bit noisier than the LG it replaced, but it keeps food cold. I wonder if someone at BoA was shocked that I suddenly used that card with the Preferred-Rewards-boosted 3% on home improvement stores?

I tried ordering from Sears Outlet, but after being told that delivery would be 3-5 days, and not receiving a notification by day 5, I had to cancel the order.  On the bright side, Sears Outlet posted the charge, and then credited the charge, so it reset the activity on my 20+ year-old Sears card.

[Anonymous]

I'm probably going to downgrade my CSP before it comes up to renew. Chase cards are sort of blah for me at the moment, outside of the Freedom's 5% categories.

I've been stacking points on a no-fee Amex Hilton since December. I'll use those sometime. Maybe not in the next few months but they'll be there. I don't know about getting on a plane before there's a vaccine, but I see myself taking a driving vacation to the beach or some secluded spot.

The Amex Green Card was *almost* tempting with the recent inclusion of $10/mo cellphone benefit. It would be worth it if it was a permanent thing.

It's perhaps a bit morbid, but it's interesting to see what these huge banks are thinking. My hope is that once all of this is over that they compete a bit more for people in average income brackets. It'd be really interesting to see a premium tier card that was focused on something other than travel and luxuries.

[kdm31091]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I'm probably going to downgrade my CSP before it comes up to renew. Chase cards are sort of blah for me at the moment, outside of the Freedom's 5% categories.

I've been stacking points on a no-fee Amex Hilton since December. I'll use those sometime. Maybe not in the next few months but they'll be there. I don't know about getting on a plane before there's a vaccine, but I see myself taking a driving vacation to the beach or some secluded spot.

The Amex Green Card was *almost* tempting with the recent inclusion of $10/mo cellphone benefit. It would be worth it if it was a permanent thing.

It's perhaps a bit morbid, but it's interesting to see what these huge banks are thinking. My hope is that once all of this is over that they compete a bit more for people in average income brackets. It'd be really interesting to see a premium tier card that was focused on something other than travel and luxuries.

---

I think the problem is that for the most part, the reason premium tier cards can be worth it is because you can get outsized value for the (travel) points - so it makes sense to reward travel spend.

It will be interesting to see though because travel is going to be slow for awhile. We will see how all the programs react.

I think the Green refresh was kind of "meh" to begin with, and now with the CLEAR credit and LoungeBuddy being entirely useless, it's not really worth a signup unless you will get the bonus and max out the cellphone credit. You'd still have some effective annual fee but not too bad.