Everything is up in the air but a few things are coming together which maybe don't make Chase quite the sweet spot it was anymore for me.
First I'm getting most of my meals from Snap Kitchen now, it counts as grocery for Chase, it's possible it might with Amex though I need to test this with the BCE later.
Second, that means restaurants are pretty secondary which sort of obliterates the major use case I had for the CSR.
Third, it appears that even if the big company does marry me, I don't *have* to apply for a corporate card, which means the gravy train of reimbursed travel is still a thing and since we book through Concur which is now Amex Global Travel and it goes to the airline... well I think you're seeing where I'm going for this.
There are big if's here, IF Amex counts Snapkitchen like Chase does, IF I can get a BBP currently, take the swap Zync to the Gold offer, and IF I can get the Schwab Amex which I probably can as it should be obvious to anyone at Amex with a pulse what's going on at that point. I haven't been able to use the points I've gained with Chase other mileage run flights to date to random places around the world via their Expedia partnership, and that really doesn't look like it's going to change anytime soon and as such dumping it into a Schwab account isn't a bad thing. The two gigs went to 2.5 gigs and that, blah.
But expense profile would look like:
10k grocery
Some restaurant spend, unsure how much
Reimbursed travel
All my default spend, of which there's more than there probably should be with my IRS games. Plus the plat's complimentary marriot / hilton status (I'm totally fine with Gold) I can better accomodate my travel coworkers.
This seems far better covered with Amex than Chase or really anyone else, but I'm looking for other opinions as I haven't really kept up.
Many thanks!
#TeamAmex
My experience with Concur hotels is, they are not prepaid, it is only reserved per the corporate arrangement. So if you expect a Platinum to get you 5 MR for hotels through Concur, I have my doubts. Airline bookings are immediate so yes, 5 MR for the win there.
Chase points reimburse nicely for Hyatt. Just sayin.
Platinum and Gold plus BBP will work nicely. A Chase VISA like CSR, or CSP, or Hyatt is a nice backstop where the merchant gives you a blank stare to your AMEX Shiny.
Setting up the Platinum and Gold for airlines is important. If you are using an airline you don't have status, those $200 and $100 fee credits on bag fees are a good route, and then you add it to your reimbursement form.
My thoughts on Chase are, with 5/24 I want to be absolutely certain I won't want that a Chase card again for a long time, before closing. Even with the $550 CSR AF I will likely keep it another year, because of the transaction friction if I want it back later.
@longtimelurker wrote:
@NRB525 wrote:Even with the $550 CSR AF I will likely keep it another year, because of the transaction friction if I want it back later.
Do you see an issue with PCing to say a Freedom for no AF, and then re PCing it when (if!) you eventually need a CSR?
Already have a Freedom and Freedom Unlimited. I was OK with the $150 net CSR fee. The $250 net fee I am mitigating with the Door Dash credits, so I turn a blind eye to the actual AF increase for now. My view to Annual Fees is much different than nearly everyone else. I have spent years paying a certain amount of monthly interest, so part of the AF has to do with "access to credit" or "cost of credit". The benefits of the card also help, but I fully realize the benefits aren't unique, except for the transfer possibility. Which leads to the Hyatt situation. UR points may need to go to Hyatt, and I have my eye on some nice redemption possibilities, but I don't want to commit them to Hyatt yet. I've also only had the CSP / CSR card for not quite two years. My relationship with Chase is checkered by balance chasing back in the day and several closed accounts. So I have an aversion to really punching the bear over much of anything right now. 
It's complicated.
Hotel rewards I haven't honestly figured out yet; admittedly one nice thing about the CSR is it does it all from a travel rewards perspective whereas the Plat is nice for flights and zero on hotels beyond the status.
It's not so much disillusionment with Chase, it's that my spend is changing substantially, moving from ~10k restaurants per year to 10k grocery which Chase doesn't cover at all other than maybe once a year with Freedom or default.
PCing to a CSP is always an option for me, I have plenty of Chase cards in my portfolio it's unlikely that I'm ever going to need another unless they release an even better card for me and I suspect if I ask nicely they'll play ball in that event anyway (CPC, not planning to move my core finances from Chase). The reason to keep the CSR is the sunk cost argument with half a million UR laying around.
Hyatt's aren't generally where I wind up though I did stay at one in Phoenix on the company nickle; thing is though, there's zero incentive for me to spend UR when my travel is reimbursed and that's where I'm really getting stuck with Chase; I mean maybe I could just stockpile them till I retire but how likely are they to be worth a **bleep** by that point?
