LONGTERM Card Hold & Spend Strategy Shared

[Anonymous]

Took some thinking, but I think this is where I am at as far as what I will hold and how to spread out the spend. If this helps anyone, great! If anyone sees opportunities/better cards I have overlooked, great! Feel free to comment, thanks :-)

Holding
CSR - $450 ($150-AF after travel credits)
AMEX Platinum - $550 ($50-AF after Saks credit, Airline credit, Uber credit)
Chase Ink Preferred - $95-AF
Chase Southwest Priority - $149 ($74-AF after SW credit)
Chase Southwest Premier Business - $99-AF
Discover - $0-AF
Costco Citi Visa - $0-AF (with COSTCO membership)

Amazon Prime Visa - $0-AF

Spending
ALL GAS - Costco CITI Card 6% Cashback w/executive
ALL COSTCO - Costco Citi Card 4% Cashback w/executive
ALL Dining - CSR - 3 pts/$1
ALL Rental Car - CSR - 3pts/$1 & goes towards travel credit
ALL Cable/Cell Phone - INK PREFERRED - 3pts/$1 AND provides full insurance on ALL phones on plan!
ALL AIRFARE (non reward) - AMEX Platinum - 5pts/$1
Other Grocery Stores: AMEX Blue Cash Every day? 3% cashback

Amazon Prime Visa - $0-AF - 5% Cashback ALL Amazon & Whole Foods!

thanks!

[staticvoidmain]

This makes a lot of sense to me. I was actually planning on going towards this goal.

Amex Plat for all airfare/hotel

CSR for all other travel and dining.

In my current portfolio:

Costco = Still would be used for Gas and Costco purchases (same as yours)

Amazon = Still would be used in Amazon, exclusively.

Uber = SD, would only be used for the phone insurance (same as your Ink card) / to be replaced by CSR

PayPaL = Would let it go, to SD. / to be replaced by CSR/Amex Plat for simplification.

Delta = Already in SD, but keeping for annual companion certificate.

Cards already in SD: Cap1, Sam's.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Took some thinking, but I think this is where I am at as far as what I will hold and how to spread out the spend. If this helps anyone, great! If anyone sees opportunities/better cards I have overlooked, great! Feel free to comment, thanks :-)

Holding
CSR - $450 ($150-AF after travel credits)
AMEX Platinum - $550 ($50-AF after Saks credit, Airline credit, Uber credit)
Chase Ink Preferred - $95-AF
Chase Southwest Priority - $149 ($74-AF after SW credit)
Chase Southwest Premier Business - $99-AF
Discover - $0-AF
Costco Citi Visa - $0-AF (with COSTCO membership)

Spending
ALL GAS - Costco CITI Card 6% Cashback w/executive
ALL COSTCO - Costco Citi Card 4% Cashback w/executive
ALL Dining - CSR - 3 pts/$1
ALL Rental Car - CSR - 3pts/$1 & goes towards travel credit
ALL Cable/Cell Phone - INK PREFERRED - 3pts/$1 AND provides full insurance on ALL phones on plan!
ALL AIRFARE (non reward) - AMEX Platinum - 5pts/$1
Other Grocery Stores: AMEX Blue Cash Every day? 3% cashback

thanks!

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https://www.costco.com/executive-rewards.html

Calculation of 2%

Reward Reward is approximately 2% of pre-tax purchases (less refunds) of most merchandise purchased through: front-end registers, most ancillary business registers at Costco warehouses and Costco websites in both the U.S. and Canada by U.S. and Canadian residents and qualifying purchases made directly from Costco Travel once travel is completed. In the U.S., Rewards are not calculated: (i) on purchases of cigarettes or tobacco-related products, gasoline, Costco Cash Cards, postage stamps, alcoholic beverages in certain states (including Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee), and at food courts; (ii) on membership fees; (iii) on purchases not recorded through Costco’s front-end registers and transactions done on or through websites not hosted by Costco even if accessed through Costco.com, including all business, consumer, and insurance services, the Online Photo Center, and the My Publisher website; (iv) on miscellaneous fees, deposits and taxes, including sales tax and shipping; (v) where prohibited by law or regulation; (vi) on purchases made by anyone other than the account’s Primary or Primary Household Cardholder; (vii) on travel purchases: surcharges, gratuities, trip protection, travel purchased through a third party, upgrades, rental car equipment, resort charges and port charges; and (viii) on certain other categories as determined at Costco’s discretion, which may change without notice.

[wasCB14]

I'll use my Platinum for at-the-airport extras (bag fees, Sky Club guest fees) as well as airline gift cards. Beyond that, I like to use CSR for the travel insurance.

svm,

Why Platinum for hotels? Would you be booking discount prepaid rates via Amex?

[staticvoidmain]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

svm,

Why Platinum for hotels? Would you be booking discount prepaid rates via Amex?

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Would it not be a good deal? I am only thinking about it at this point. This is actually interesting because OP left out hotel spend plans.

[wasCB14]

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@staticvoidmain wrote:

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@wasCB14 wrote:

svm,

Why Platinum for hotels? Would you be booking discount prepaid rates via Amex?

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Would it not be a good deal? I am only thinking about it at this point. This is actually interesting because OP left out hotel spend plans.

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I tend to like the flexibility to change plans. Sometimes I'll book a prepaid rate, but in those cases I tend to book directly with the hotel where CSR gives 3x. Sometimes Amex does run nice offers for prepaid hotel spend, though.

I just want to be sure you understand that Amex Platinum does not give 5x on all hotels.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the post OP.  Looks solid.

Personally, even though I live in a United/SW hub and several of the Chase 5/24 cards are perfect for me, it's going to be awhile before I qualify to apply.

The Amex Platinum holds little value for me in terms of transfer partners, but may be a stop gap.  I am also looking at the US Bank Altitude and the City National Crystal as my stop gap premium travel cards until I can qualify for the Chase cards.

I spent my early game building an optimized cash back portfolio, as noted in my signature.

Currently, I am in the mid-game racking up SUBs on various keeper cards and other cards that have easy downgrade paths.  Just finished my IHG SUB spend requirement.  Working on my Hyatt SUB spend.  

[UpperNwGuy]

Here's my long term credit card strategy:

Chase Sapphire Reserve ($150 net fee) - dining and travel (including hotels) except for United airfares

Chase United Explorer ($95 fee) - United airfares for international trips

UNFCU Azure (no fee) - true chip+PIN for unattended payments on international trips

PenFed Power Cash Reserve (no fee) - all non-travel non-dining domestic spending except cell phone bill

NFCU cashRewards (no fee) - cell phone bill (for the insurance)

If Chase would provide an optional "true chip+PIN" capability, I could close the UNFCU Azure.

If PenFed would provide cell phone insurance, I could close or sock-drawer the NFCU cashRewards.

Then I would be down to three cards.

[wasCB14]

OP, do you have a lot of off-category spend? Is it mostly domestic or international?

[Anonymous]

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@staticvoidmain wrote:

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@wasCB14 wrote:

svm,

Why Platinum for hotels? Would you be booking discount prepaid rates via Amex?

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Would it not be a good deal? I am only thinking about it at this point. This is actually interesting because OP left out hotel spend plans.

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OP rarely stays at hotels as OP is in entertainment and is very lucky to have close friends all around the world. But, many hotels are of course 5x via Amex Platinum and the CSR UR portal has great deals too.