CSP vs Arrival

[jaraico]

i have had both and wanted to share my personal experience with both

i am a casual flyer. i fly cross state twice a year and to vegas twice a year. since i live in so cal i also do roadtrips to L.A., san fran & vegas.

so for causual use i prefer the arrival and this is why:

you can book hotels with third party agencies which is often cheaper that chases rewards mall

i rent cars alot, i know all the tricks and coupon codes lol so i like the freedom of booking my car however i like and then redeeming my points to pay for it.

i like being able to book a hotel and have 90 days to build up some points to pay for it. (with csp you have to wait until you have points)

i only fly southwest so transferring points to any airline isnt that exciting

you get two miles for EVERY transaction with arrival but with CSP its only travel and dining.

for all the points you reddem towards travel you get 10% back which is crazy cool!

the only thing i miss about my csp is the better cash back value

with arrival you get 25$ for 5000 points, with csp you would get 50$ for 5000 points.

i personally i enjoy the freedom of booking hotels, cars and flights my way and redeeming them after.

[CreditScholar]

As a general rule: for lower-end travel the arrival will often win out. However the more high-end travel one does, the advantage shifts to the CSP.

Yes there are some exceptions to this (short-haul via Avios), but I find that it holds true more often than not.

[jaraico]

very much agreed. theres a lot of people who apply for csp who would be better served by arrival =]

[CreditScholar]

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@jaraico wrote:

very much agreed. theres a lot of people who apply for csp who would be better served by arrival =]

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+1. There are a lot of people who (aside from signup bonuses) would be better served with no AF cards, often since they simply don't earn (or spend) enough. It doesn't stop people from applying though.

[Anonymous]

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@jaraico wrote:

very much agreed. theres a lot of people who apply for csp who would be better served by arrival =]

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That's certainly true, and there's another subset who don't really travel at all (so the Arrival isn't the solution) and would be better off with Fidelity Amex or Quicksilver, or depending on spending patterns, something like Cash Plus.   But even those should probably get CSP for the first year anyway, to get the bonus!

Edit: beaten by creditscholar!

[Open123]

Both CSP and Arrival bonuses are excellent!  No reason to just settle for one, especially since Barclay pulls only TU.

Agreed, which card is the better option really depends on an individual spending level and redemption preferences.  The CSP is great when one has an overall banking relationship with Chase combined with the INK and Freedom cards.  Some UA and Hyatt redemptions were some of the best values in the industry.

The Arrival can certainly be better for general redemptions for statement credits for the person who prefers not to redeem through a specific rewards program.  However, unless the FTF is an issue, as Lurker has observed, the FidAmex and Quicksilver are the two best cashback cards, in my view.  The former's 2% with no fee, and the latter's 1.5% with no fee and redemption restricitons are both best in class.  

[lexrjSD]

+1 for the ARRIVAL, I'm going to PC my CSP to a CS and sock drawer it.

CSP only makes sense for ppl that can't afford 1st class travelling but want's to use their hard earned points to squeze a 1st class ticket by transfering points.

CSP looks nicer too but who cares.

Open123 - I couldn't disagree more with you on applying for cards because of their bonuses only.

[Anonymous]

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@lexrjSD wrote:

Open123 - I couldn't disagree more with you on applying for cards because of their bonuses only.

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Why do you disagree with Open123 on that?  

[longtime_lurker]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@lexrjSD wrote:

Open123 - I couldn't disagree more with you on applying for cards because of their bonuses only.

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Why do you disagree with Open123 on that?  

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I disagree with the whole idea of apping solely for the bonuses, because I will be apping for the CSP because I have the Freedom. And while I am a full-time student (income like 30k, when you include my fed loan refunds) so the Arrival may make more sense. I see it as getting the 20% reduction in prices of travel through UR redemption even more of a bonus, as I consider the Freedom a 1.1-5.5% CB card, before redemption.

TL;DR: The AF is similar to the Arrival's, I already have a relationship with Chase, I see that I can get more redemption value with UR (I max out the amazon quarter with books, 7,500 points to me is like 6.9% back on travel), and because I work at a Hilton hotel, I really only need to worry about redeeming for flights.

[lexrjSD]

I believe credit cards should be used for the following purposes:

1) Improve overall credit (Limits and Score)

2) Maximize returns on spending (not extra spending, but spending that is going to be done regardless).

Getting credit cards for the sole purpose of bonuses it's counter productive if you're trying to grow your credit card limits and overall credit, might even burn you with some financial institutions depending on what you're doing.

I'm a strong believer that you should only have the cards that matches your spending patterns in order to maximize rewards. When you need credit (car, house and etc), it looks much better to the lender if you have less cards with high limits than a bunch of cards with low limits.

There are always exceptions, for example: if you already have established credit and won't be needing credit anytime soon I guess you could get some bonuses to pay for a trip or something, but those are rare situations in my opinion.