Need help with Amex MR strategy

[CreditJim]

I got the Amex personal PRG and business Platinum in October of last year. I'm currently at about 110k MR points, and looking ahead to the annual fees coming up in about 3 months.

At the moment, the PRG gets most of my spending, I just really like the product and the backup from Amex. I've put it away a few times since I've had it to meet the spend requirements for some of my newer cards ($10k for the AA Exec etc) but I've almost spent the $30k on it so far this year to net me the bonus 15k MR points.

I want to trim down some of my AF cards at this point. The business and personal Amex MR points accrue in one joint pot. I was thinking about applying for the no AF Amex EveryDay, getting the 10k bonus points, and adding that to my pool. Would I then be able to cancel my PRG when the AF was up, without losing all the points I'd acrued using that card?

With the business Plat, I'm thinking long and hard but as both my wife and I both have one, along with gold versions for each of our employees (3) it adds up to a very large AF. We live in Dallas so we do use the Centurion lounge at DFW quite a lot, but that is probably the only benefit we get from it now that so many of its benefits have diminished. I'm thinking about getting rid of that completely when the year is up and switching the entire company to the business SPG, to earn us Starpoints. The AF is much lower, and there's no fee for additional cardmembers.

So I guess what I'm asking is a) can I retain all my MR points by opening the no AF EveryDay card and b) when should I apply for it? I'm guessing I should apply for it now so that I get a slightly earlier member since date? The business SPG I would just open right before the Platinum fee is due as it doesn't show on my credit report and therefore no effect on AAoA.

I also need to decide what to do with my Chase BA (open a no AF card and move the limit to it?) and my lower limit Citi AA now that I have the Exec (probably just close it?).

Edit to add - I would just keep the PRG as out of all my cards, I just like using that one the most, but I'm pretty much set on moving all my spending to my new Barclays Arrival + so that I can keep rewards simple and just redeem for any travel.

[Kenny]

Yes, that strategy of applying for the new Everyday would absolutely be a great one for keeping your MR points around. You already have a MSD established so it really doesn't matter when you apply -- it will be backdated to your original MSD.

[Anonymous]

Getting the ED will preserve your MR points if and when you cancel other MR cards (that is one of the huge advantages, for the first time a free card with full MR capabilities).   Re member since date, you will be able to backdate it to your Amex personal cards, so getting it ASAP isn't really needed, just whenever makes sense.

If you were sticking with MR, I would suggest the Preferred version of the Everyday, but since it sounds like you are not, the no-fee plain Everyday is a good choice.

ETA: Kenny was faster!

[Kenny]

HA! I saw your post when I hit submit.. and I was like wow who knew we were both reading the same post at the same time!

[CreditJim]

Thank-you for your replies. Are there any differences between the PRG and the Everyday cards - other than obviously one being a charge and the other being a credit card, and the different MR structure - but in terms of Amex support etc? I use the Amex premium car rental protection quite often so would still use the EveryDay for car rentals.

[jd352]

I upgraded my PRG to Platinum. Then, I app'd for the Everyday Preferred to make up for loosing the point multipliers with the PRG. This so far has worked out really well for me. I never run enough through the PRG to get the bonus 15k. I do however swipe 30 times so I will get the extra 50% bonus on what I do charge. 

You really just have to do the math on a spreadsheet to see what works best for your spend habits.

[jd352]

---

@CreditJim wrote:

Thank-you for your replies. Are there any differences between the PRG and the Everyday cards - other than obviously one being a charge and the other being a credit card, and the different MR structure - but in terms of Amex support etc? I use the Amex premium car rental protection quite often so would still use the EveryDay for car rentals.

---

There is no difference in car rental protection. There is a difference between your Platinum and PRG card though for rental protection (higher coverage amounts, greater range of cars covered).

The customer support between the PRG and ED Preferred I found to be no different.