Chase UR and AMEX MR Rewards

[mongstradamus]

One of the major reason I like to have gold card and to less extent the EDP is bonus spending at grocery stores , there are no chase cards right now that have more than 1.5x for grocery stores. While I realize you could buy GC at staples for grocery stores and get 5x , but that isn’t easy and for smaller non chain GC you can’t really do that. 

While visa is more accepted overseas or generally a lot more in the area I live in, I will try and use my Amex card over. Chase cards when I can. I am a bit down on UR valuations . For me when I did the calculations for UR and MR values MR always comes out better for me because i know how i am going to use my MR and UR. MR will go to ANA and UR to hyatt , MR will always get me the better value. With that being said I will keep all most if not all of my chase cards for bonus categories. Most of my chase cards are no AF cards so there is no harm in keeping them. THe only one that has an AF is probably my CIP, but 3x travel and cell phone insurance i think makes it worth while for me. 

[MrDisco99]

I collect MRs rather than URs for a few reasons...

- Gold plus BBP means I earn points a lot faster than I could with Chase.

- Lots more transfer partners, including DL which is the airline that makes most sense for me locally.  That said, I would only redeem for SkyMiles if I really had to.

- Amex actually wants me to have their cards.  Chase 5/24 prevents me from being part of their system.

- Amex doesn't pressure me into spending real money on travel like CSR does.  With my Gold card, I can just buy some gift cards to cash in the airline credit and even sell them for cash if I need to.

Of course there are some disavantages to MR points...

- MR points really only offer good value on transfers to flight partners.

- Amex cards are not accepted everywhere

- Amex travel protection benefits are not as good as Visa Infinite.

That said, collecting MRs with my Gold and BBP still makes the most sense for me.

[Anonymous]

I’m doing both right now. Haven’t really decided which will end up getting my every day spending, but I guess I’d lean towards chase. I like that they made a good travel card with solid earning categories at home too (CSR). The AF pits it up against the platinum, but given the way I use the credits on both, I end up netting cheaper on the CSR than my Amex gold. I also like how the calling the Chase customer service line results in speaking with a stateside representative within about 30 seconds. The Platinum card may be better about that than the gold. 

 But, on the other hand, Amex has Delta, which is all I fly. It might not be the best use of points, but I always have a SkyMiles balance that I can potentially top off. 

[Peteyglad]

I am an Amex guy for the most part. I live in Atlanta so Delta being a main transfer partner is a huge deal. My hotels of choice are Hiltons so it just makes sense to go with Amex vs. Chase.