Welcome to the forum, and congrats on getting these cards.
Honestly, that's not "too many" cards for simple scoring purposes. Your question should be framed in a way that figures out what you want out of any cards, for the long term. These hotel and SW cards may not align with your future travel goals or spend profile, but presuming you keep the Discover cards, it sounds like you are not particularly excited about the non-Discover cards.
I would suggest keeping the cards cards for another year, perhaps closing the one SW card with the highest AF, but you only have had these cards for a short time. Without a definite idea what you will replace them with, it is not a bad idea to see how these work. Use the Hyatt night when it becomes available as a nice night away, local to you. Same with the IHG. Track your SW and Hilton points for promos and to understand the program-specific benefits.
And keep learning about other options, including looking at the broad appeal of the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. You may find that card answers for a significant part of your travel goals. Given you have some recent cards it is important to see if one of the Chase cards works, before boxing yourself out by applying elsewhere first.
Good luck!
@Anonymous wrote:Thank you everyone for the welcome and your responses so far!
We currently do not have any major travel plans upcoming, other than a potential move in 5-6 months for a job. I have done extensive research into both CSR and CSP, and while I'd love to get the CSR, our willingness to part with $450 for an AF and inexperience with UR gives us pause. That's why I think combining something like the CSP and Freedom Unlimited could be a good initial trial with the UR system since the AF is waived the first year.
That being said, while we are not frequent travelers, we are fans of the Hyatt card. It is our everyday spend card, so we rack up a ton of Hyatt points and have already gotten to take advantage of the annual free night while in New Orleans for an interview two weeks ago. However, the CSP would get us the same amount of Hyatt points (even more with the CSR) as the Hyatt card, but with the added flexibility of transfering to other programs (or booking directly). The only thing that we would be missing is the Hyatt bonus from spend at the hotel and the annual free night.
To reply to NRB525, I actually have loved these Chase cards so far! I just want to simplify our wallets and find the best combination to replace them.
I'd really look hard into the CSR if I were you, actually for the overwhelming majority of consumers I'd say ignore the CSP and go CSR.
An absurd amount counts as travel in Chase's book: parking garages, Uber, Lyft, mass transit, the list just goes on and on. Then there's that gigantic bonus currently offsetting years of AF even if you get absolutely nothing which hits travel or restaurants which isn't realistic.
Even with my stupid restaurant habits (I know I know) at $600 per month, that math comes out to around $125 above and beyond my current CSP and I rack up enough to get the $300 travel credit without trying that hard just on my current lifestyle to say nothing of what I suspect I'll be doing in a month... so I come out way ahead of the AF differential between CSP and CSR.
TBH I'll probably just PC to it (which I'm sure I can do) if I can't get the CSR outright for the bonus as unless I really start cooking which seems unlikely with a travel gig, I still come out ahead. Basically if you travel at all you should be in the CSR quite likely, and if you eat at restraunts regularly you should be in the CSR; of course do the math but don't let the $450 sticker price scare you, it's simply excellent as a credit card if your spend falls into the 3x categories.
@Revelate wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Thank you everyone for the welcome and your responses so far!
We currently do not have any major travel plans upcoming, other than a potential move in 5-6 months for a job. I have done extensive research into both CSR and CSP, and while I'd love to get the CSR, our willingness to part with $450 for an AF and inexperience with UR gives us pause. That's why I think combining something like the CSP and Freedom Unlimited could be a good initial trial with the UR system since the AF is waived the first year.
That being said, while we are not frequent travelers, we are fans of the Hyatt card. It is our everyday spend card, so we rack up a ton of Hyatt points and have already gotten to take advantage of the annual free night while in New Orleans for an interview two weeks ago. However, the CSP would get us the same amount of Hyatt points (even more with the CSR) as the Hyatt card, but with the added flexibility of transfering to other programs (or booking directly). The only thing that we would be missing is the Hyatt bonus from spend at the hotel and the annual free night.
To reply to NRB525, I actually have loved these Chase cards so far! I just want to simplify our wallets and find the best combination to replace them.
I'd really look hard into the CSR if I were you, actually for the overwhelming majority of consumers I'd say ignore the CSP and go CSR.
An absurd amount counts as travel in Chase's book: parking garages, Uber, Lyft, mass transit, the list just goes on and on. Then there's that gigantic bonus currently offsetting years of AF even if you get absolutely nothing which hits travel or restaurants which isn't realistic.
Even with my stupid restaurant habits (I know I know) at $600 per month, that math comes out to around $125 above and beyond my current CSP and I rack up enough to get the $300 travel credit without trying that hard just on my current lifestyle to say nothing of what I suspect I'll be doing in a month... so I come out way ahead of the AF differential between CSP and CSR.
TBH I'll probably just PC to it (which I'm sure I can do) if I can't get the CSR outright for the bonus as unless I really start cooking which seems unlikely with a travel gig, I still come out ahead. Basically if you travel at all you should be in the CSR quite likely, and if you eat at restraunts regularly you should be in the CSR; of course do the math but don't let the $450 sticker price scare you, it's simply excellent as a credit card if your spend falls into the 3x categories.
^^^WHAT HE SAID!!! 