I have too few cards (only 45); help me grow my portfolio

[Anonymous]

OK, joking (sort of); just trying to counter the dozens of posts along the lines of "I have five cards which is way too many, help me pare down." 

But seriously, I'm considering adding either the Chase Sapphire Reserve or the Merrill Edge right before or after the first of the year.

CSR will net a quick $550 cash (potentially more if I redeem the URP's more efficiently), plus $200 in travel reimbursements. Probably will cancel after the first year to avoid annual fee. I presume this card still has primary rental car insurance coverage?

Merrill will net 50k points worth $500 cash or $1000 worth of airfare, and no annual fee so no reason to cancel after the first year.

Given that we already have banked 165k United miles, 250k American miles, and 120k USBank FlexPerks points, and not enough vacation time to use them, I'm leaning towards redeeming either the Merrill points or the CSR URP's for cash (horrors, I know).

Thoughts?

Chris.

[Anonymous]

Which ones do you use the most?

[redpat]

CSR is subject to 5/24, I don't know how long ago you apped for your 45 cards.

If you are over 5/24 branch preapproval overrides that.

ML looks like your best bet.

Good luck on 46 and 47.

[Anonymous]

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@KillerWaves wrote:

Which ones do you use the most?

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You mean which of the 45 cards I currently have do I use the most?

Well, that's difficult, as it changes so often.

This past year, Discover it Miles was the winner with $21.2k in spending, but that's because I was in the first year of that card, so effectively 3% back on everything. Discover it Miles was near the top in 2015 as well, for the same reason. Now it's in the sock drawer. Same pattern with so many other cards.

Factoring out the startup bonus cards, as far as year-over-year use, USBank Travel Rewards Visa tends to make it toward the top of the list, then the SallieMae M/C, but that's going away. Fidelity Rewards at straight 2% also sees a good degree of spend, dependent of start-up offers or limited time promos from other cards which make them worth more than 2% CB. Going forward, my CCU Visa will be getting right at $500 or $1000 spending per month, so between $6k and $12k per year, which will put it up there as well. After that, the quarterly cards (Chase Freedom and Discover it) suck up spending for the applicable categories which give them a respectable chunk of my spending.

Chris.

[Anonymous]

Just curious.. how much do you spend in AF's OP?

[redpat]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Just curious.. how much do you spend in AF's OP?

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Not much look at his sig.

[Anonymous]

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@redpat wrote:

CSR is subject to 5/24, I don't know how long ago you apped for your 45 cards.

If you are over 5/24 branch preapproval overrides that.

ML looks like your best bet.

Good luck on 46 and 47.

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Good point, thanks. Personally, I'm at 9/24 so I'm not even going to try for the CSR myself. But DW is at 4/24, so if I apply in her name, she should squeak in under the wire. We've each plundered the CSP in the past if that's of any relevance. Either of us could apply for the Merrill, though I got some pushback from BofA/FIA when I applied for the Fidelity back in '14, because of how many cards and how much credit I already had (the fact that I already had four BofA cards may also have been a factor). I did get the card, it just took a call to get them to reconsider, and they gave me such a small limit I called again to move credit from my other BofA cards so I had headroom on the Fidelity. So I might do the Merrill card as DW too. I'm thinking along the lines of having DW apply for the CSR first. Then after we've reached the spending requirement, one of us applies for the Merrill Edge.

Chris.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Just curious.. how much do you spend in AF's OP?

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It's complicated.

Generally, I hate hate hate annual fee cards, but I do abandon my priciples if it seems to make sense.

The Marriott card charges $85 a/f, but for that I get a free hotel night, which so far we've been able to make use of. But compared to other places we could stay, barely more than a break-even, though, so this one's always on the bubble for cancellation.

The USBank Travel Rewards cards have an annual fee of $49 -OR- 3,500 points. My card is still in its first year, so yet to pay the annual fee. For DW's card we've always chosen to pay the annual fee with points. We use the card for a good deal of charitable contributions during the year, and the extra points have made it worth keeping. With two cards with the identical rewards structure, it raises the question of whether it's worth it to keep both. But every year so far on DW's card, they've offered enough "bonus" opportunities over the year to earn at least 3,500 extra points, so really no downside to keeping it. We'll reevaluate that going forward.

Every year with the AA cards (both Citi and Barclay) I call to cancel. If they waive the fee or offer a rentention deal that's worth my while, I'll keep the card for another year. For example, last year on the Barclay Aviator cards, they gave me a 15k mile bonus for spending $1,500. To me, that more than compensated for the annual fee. For DW, they just waived the annual fee. Citi AA last year was fun. I called to cancel because of the $95 annual fee, they told me if I spent $95, they'd give me a $95 credit, thus compensating for the annual fee. Then after the annual fee hit, I called to cancel anyway, and they refunded the $95 annual fee. Nice $95 gain.

All other annual fee cards are: plunder for the first year, then call before a/f hits and either get it waived, downgrade to a free card, or cancel.

Chris.

[Anonymous]

  CSR is more of a Nov/Dec app IMO - keep in mind you'd be able to use your 2017 & 2018 travel reimbursement while only paying one annual fee if you use it before your Dec statement cuts.  The risk is not knowing the 100k bonus will still be available.

  I'm not as familiar with Merrill but I always try to shoot for the highest historical bonus if possible. 

  Also, go on vacation!

[wasCB14]

How many do you have for rewards/benefits/perks? And how many are just for utilization/AAoA/diversification?