Youve got plenty of time to figure out what to do it after you get the bonus. Look at it this way, the bonus is at least $1,000 which would technically cover 10 years of annual fees. So if you haven't figured it out by 10yrs, close because then you'll start to go in the negative. I'm confident you'll sort it out much sooner. Snag the bonus and park it. As your lineup, and the economy evolve, you may be surprised at where it fits in best for you long term.
And chase has been adding so many additional offers due to COViD that you may find accelerated rewards for regular things like groceries, dining or gas. And if not, you can always downgrade it to a no AF card with them
you got plenty of options
You're absolutely right about that. I came across this recent article outlining some likely changes coming to the Sapphire lineup: https://thepointsguy.com/news/chase-sapphire-cards-refresh/
Those could prove useful. The travel portal, maybe not so much. We rarely use major hotels (heading to a beach condo in October and have a Nashville trip booked at the Drury next June, neither of which could be booked through their portal). Dining would be short of my Savor by a point still. I'm just wondering about the online grocery bonus. What does that mean, exactly? Would using the Kroger app to order curbside pickups count as an online grocery purchase? Hmmmm......
But you're right.......time is on our side.
@ReturnOfTheCredi wrote:You do make a completely valid point. I guess I was thinking about it from a more "average" spender perspective.
I spend around $3,000 a month and PIF. At any given time, I think my utilization is 1-3% (but only due to a couple of promotional purchases I may be carrying here or there).
So just a quick reminder for those not in this category...........think it through before you close out cards.
Exactly, but for someone who pif, utilization really isnt a problem. Like i alluded to earlier, having some extra cushion might be good if a need arises and you need or want to park a balance. Low rate CU cards are great for this dual purpose. To add, also one of the cooler, ingenious user names here
@credit_is_crack wrote:
@tcbofade wrote:...and in my case, it would.
Thus, I'm keeping WAY too many open, empty accounts solely for the purpose of utilization padding.
Hopefully, we'll start trimming the herd next year.
When you get to a point where the padding hurts (like keeping cards open, but also have annual fees attached), then it's time to accelerate the process. I'm pretty frugal (the rich don't get rich by spending all their money!) so I have very few cards with annual fees, and the ones I do have are offset by the perks of the card. I don't have any AF cards where I end up in the negative.
After you hit a certain credit line from all the card collecting, you're really going to see banks just throwing more and more at you. Then the thinning begins!
There also comes a time where you hit the ceiling on what banks will give based off ones income and dti. I think im near that point so its much harder to get approvals anyway so thinning makes sense, when i can do it safely for cranberry
@longtimelurker wrote:Obviously a key benefit to slimming down the portfolio is ease of maintenance. In general, as you add more and more cards, you are likely to hit diminishing returns: a slight increase in rewards on a very narrow slice of spend. As a nasty exercise, it might be worth calculating the cost/benefit of a serious credit card hobby! I am thinking of those with complex spreadsheets that record every detail of each card. Increased rewards - value of Time spend vs using a flat 2% might be interesting!
Of course, it it's fun, that's different. (Although, if it really is fun, that's a problem in itself!)
This is a great point @longtimelurker . For a while I got sucked into itemizing everything so you end up with 15 cards for 15 categories. I migrated quickly when I realized my tracking didn't work well when I balanced the time it took as it overlapped with my drinking time lol (lots of double entries!). Today I clump them and use only 4 from day to day, then rotate them out for another 4 the next month. My bill cards are stationary but this way 11 are used organically all the time, and I get the biggest bang for my buck. The rest are special case (Amazon/Macy's/bestbuy/travel), but I've gained so much more time back and the rewards grow faster.
@longtimelurker wrote:
Of course, it it's fun, that's different. (Although, if it really is fun, that's a problem in itself!)
I may or may not be guilty of this.
@tcbofade wrote:
@longtimelurker wrote:
Of course, it it's fun, that's different. (Although, if it really is fun, that's a problem in itself!)
I may or may not be guilty of this.
You will find no judgements here!
@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
To add, also one of the cooler, ingenious user names here
I appreciate it, man! It's not one I use anywhere else beyond here, but when I was trying to come up with a name, I think Episode VII had just been released so it was top-of-mind. It came across my brain and I was like, "Yeah, that's pretty cool." And here I am. 