CSP - 1 year - and AF

[Ghoshida]

So, I completed one year with the CSP - my first AF card, and they just billed me for the $95 AF. 

First off, I was able get that card thanks to this forum; it took me 6 months of gardening and strong will to pay down debt, with good help from my SO, and the helpful advice of members here. 

Anyway, I decided to keep the card and pay the AF, based on some back-of-the-envelope calculation.

I'm not a frequent traveler; but there's some travel here and there, plus there's a good chunk of dining. Mind you, whenever I could get 5% CB, I put it on Cash+ so car rentals and fast food don't get charged on my CSP; still. 

Over the past 24 months, I collected 120k points (not including approx 3.5k pending current statement)

The breakup is as follows:

CSP bonus 45k

Freedom transfer 26.5k

Referral bonus 15k

CSP use 33.5k 

For going forward, I'm discounting the bonuses (though one can argue that referral bonuses are in fact ongoing). I'm also not counting them to offset the AF because I could always close the card now and keep all of it to myself.

My CSP use is approx 70-30 split between category and non-category in $ value; I spent ~$19.5k on the card. If I were to not use the CSP and put the spend on a 2% card (right now, the best I have is 1.5% Q/S or the Venture but hypothetically) then I'd get $390 CB roughly. The Freedom CB will give me another $265 (no need to use another card, almost all of it is at 5%). So without CSP, my earn from this spend will be about $655. 

With CSP, my 60k non-bonus points give me about $900. I redeemed about 50k points earlier this year; 20k on Southwest and 30k on Singapore for United travel. Southwest gave me 1.6cpp and Singapore / United about 3cpp (Business class to Hawaii, one way). I'm not a very good award ticket hunter so I keep my redemption threshold at 1.5cpp. Any better and it's extra profit. 

So paying the AF of $95, gets me a net of $805; about $150 more than my next best cashback option. All of this assumes that my spend pattern remain similar going forward; I don't see a reason for it to differ a lot. 

As you could see, I'm deriving a good chunk of the value from the travel partner transfer. But to the cashback enthusiast, it's still at a conservative rate; something that you could get without spending months on value deals. And as you can see, the CSP enhances the value of the Freedom by a good amount.

Hope it helps those who're thinking about getting a CSP / keeping a CSP beyond their first year.

[CreditCuriosity]

Love my CSP.. It is my main driver.. Really for eating out and bars, but use this and plan on keeping it as my AF hits this Dec.  Referrals and transfers from the freedom work awesome for me.  Over 90k UR's now.  I have been meeting a ton of other spend bonuses as well or it would of been considerably more just within the first year between the freedom/CSP w/regards to URs.  I figure I can easily get 3-5 people to signup next year for it and take the bonus as well from that and have a very nice trip with the URs/MR/Hotel stays I have from all my cards.  

[Anonymous]

I've contemplated transferring all my URs to Hyatt, closing CSP, then applying again in a few years. CSP is basically the one card that doesn't give me a lot in the way of statement credits and ongoing rewards (though I did benefit from the Visa Checkout promo).

I want to remain on Chase's good side so nothing bad happens to IHG and Hyatt which have a lot of ongoing value. I also rent cars occasionally, so the primary insurance has some tricky-to-define value.

Maybe I won't get an extra $95 of value from CSP in the second year, but it's still an AF that makes sense for me to pay. I've not been declined for anything since I had a FICO score, and my willingness to pay AFs on good cards may be part of that.

If I get and close other AF cards, they will be with Citi, Barclaycard, and BofA.

*ETA: It is also possible I will want to transfer points to other UR partners like United, and I'll be spending a lot on UR cards after the Costco switch.*

[CreditCuriosity]

Good point on the primary renters insurance.. The is a big benefit there alone.  Not many cards offer this that I can think of off hand.

[NRB525]

Good analysis OP.

Consider transfers to Hyatt also. There are many 3c and 4c options for nights there.