+1
I'm sure you are going to get a chorus of voices "explaining" how if you keep a spreadsheet either in your head or on your electronic device(s) and if you do a.b.c.d but not e. or f. and then do g. and f. you'll come out better by paying the AF up front for the "better" card.
I'm with you, too much effort and I don't fly much anymore so its not really sour grapes for my current lifestyle. Even when I did spend 40% of my life in hotels and in the air, I doubt I'd have had the interest or discipline.
Bottom line (IMO) is for most/many people the high AF cards are either a financial wash or a loss, for those that truly do benefit it's a good choice especially if their expenses are covered by their employer 
Freedom Unlimited is really only a good card to have if you're pairing it with other cards to rack up URs. With the CSR, yes it has a $450 annual fee, but it also comes with a $300 annual travel credit in addition to a lot of perks. If you think of Chase cards in terms of only cash back, they're not great cards outside of the Freedom's 5% categories each quarter. However, if you have a Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, and CSR, that's a powerful combination to rack up URs, since Travel and Dining would be 3x, Freedom categories would be 5x, and everything else would be 1.5x when put on the Freedom Unlimited.
They key here is that URs are only worth 1 cent when you redeem for cash, but if you redeem for travel through the Chase portal, you're effectively getting 7.5% back on the Freedom categories, 4.5% back on travel and dining, and 2.25% back on everything else. That's a pretty good return, and can be even better if you instead transfer those URs to travel partners to get more than 1.5 cents per UR.
The CSR AF is $450 but you get $300 of that back in a easy to use travel credit. Chase’s definition of travel is very broad. This makes the card a $150 net AF.
With the inclusion of Priority pass. Most lounge visits are $29-$59 each visit. So every time you use a lounge the cost of the annual fee is reduced. For those that fly quite often. If you use the lounge 3 times. You’ve recouped the entire AF and any lounge visits after that are free and the card is paying you to have it.
The above doesn’t even consider points. So if you use the perks the AF is free and any rewards you earn is pure profit.
While the CSR has a minimum of 1.5CPP redemption on the portal. It’s value really shines with its transfer programs. Depending on the transfer program you can get some real value out of it. TPG values chase at 2.1CPP.
For ease of calculation. I will use the minimum 1.5 CPP for explaining this to you.
A CSR at 1.5 CPP is 4.5 % return on dining and travel. That’s triple what most no AF cards give you.
When paired with a freedom card. The 5X points becomes a 7.5% return at the minimum. If you take advatange of the transfer partners. It could easily be 8-10% return.
With the FU, yes it’s only 2.25% on spend at the minimum but when you consider that’s for Normal non cat spend. It’s very good especially if you use the perks of the CSR and basically killed the cost of the annual fee.
With the inclusion of Priority pass. Most lounge visits are $29-$59 each visit. So every time you use a lounge the cost of the annual fee is reduced. For those that fly quite often. If you use the lounge 3 times. You’ve recouped the entire AF and any lounge visits after that are free and the card is paying you to have it.
The above doesn’t even consider points. So if you use the perks the AF is free and any rewards you earn is pure profit.
While the CSR has a minimum of 1.5CPP redemption on the portal. It’s value really shines with its transfer programs. Depending on the transfer program you can get some real value out of it. TPG values chase at 2.1CPP.
For ease of calculation. I will use the minimum 1.5 CPP for explaining this to you.
A CSR at 1.5 CPP is 4.5 % return on dining and travel. That’s triple what most no AF cards give you.
When paired with a freedom card. The 5X points becomes a 7.5% return at the minimum. If you take advatange of the transfer partners. It could easily be 8-10% return.
With the FU, yes it’s only 2.25% on spend at the minimum but when you consider that’s for Normal non cat spend. It’s very good especially if you use the perks of the CSR and basically killed the cost of the annual fee.
If you don't travel, the UR direction is not for you. The biggest benefit, and the #1 reason the playas go with Chase Sapphire or Amex MR point systems is the ability to swap points between various loyalty point systems. By trading points, they get sometimes 8/1 value for UR's, and a substantial bonus from MR's, Starwood, Mariott, airlines, etc.
If you don't travel and frequently use those businesses, just go with pure cashback and don't worry about Chase or Amex, outside of their cashback cards.
@UpperNwGuy wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Hello everyone,
So I'm new to credit cards. I currently have 4 cards: 1 alumni related card ($10k), Citi Costco ($5.5k), CareCredit ($2k), and NFCU's Visa Signature Rewards.
My question is: What's all the hooplah with Chase UR? I can understand the Chase Freedom card with the rotating categories and no AF, but the Chase FU is a paltry 1.5 points (right?). I mean sure you can use the CSR to get 2.25 points per dollar spent, but the card has a AF of $450. Why should I bother using a Chase Trifecta when I can just get a straight 2 points per dollar spent using the NFCU card?
A lot of people who use the Chase cards seem to talk about racking up all sorts of points by spending all sorts of money on dining and travel. I currently don't go out much to eat, and I haven't started traveling (yet). My idea of making money is to save as much as possible by not eating out much and only travelling to places I really want to go. With all that being said, why should I sign up for the CSR and get into the UR program when the max it's going to get me is a paltry 0.25% increase after having spent an additional $400 for an AF.
Thanks for your replies.
Your question confuses me because you didn't identify which of NFCU's three signature visa cards you have:
-- NFCU cashRewards Signature Visa (no annual fee)
-- NFCU Go Rewards Signature Visa (no annual fee)
-- NFCU Flagship Rewards Signature Visa (annual fee)
OP is referencing the flagship as it is the only card from NFCU with a 2 points per dollar structure on any purchase.
CSR is designed for people who spend a lot. Based on your brief description, your spend is very limited. If you don't spend enough to overcome the $450 AF, minus the $300 in credits that are easy to take advantage of for big spenders but may be a challenge for others, then the card isn't right for you.
I'd also suggest that the NFCU card is OK, but not actually that enticing with the $49 AF. There are many cards out ther offering 2% with no AF. The other thing to consider is that with 2% rewards and $49 AF, you'd need to spend $10k per year on the card to get better returns than a 1.5% card, and again based on your description that might not be the case.
