PRG, SPG or EDP

[redpat]

It's like alphabet soup.  

I'm looking for another amex card to go with my amex plat that offers better rewards.

I fly United and Delta so I like SPG flexibility, plus 5K in that regard.

Thoughts for the best combo?  I don't carry balances so it doesn't matter if it's a charge or credit card option.

No problems w/ score, income or inquiries.

[Anonymous]

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@redpat wrote:

It's like alphabet soup.  

I'm looking for another amex card to go with my amex plat that offers better rewards.

I fly United and Delta so I like SPG flexibility, plus 5K in that regard.

Thoughts for the best combo?  I don't carry balances so it doesn't matter if it's a charge or credit card option.

No problems w/ score, income or inquiries.

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well i would wait few days or weeks until this travel credit debacle blows over. if it ends up that it was just the system slowing down (folks say no credits since august 20th... ok well it says up to 4 weeks on the amex page)... then go for a 2 card 1 inquiry punch, PRG and Delta.

enter delta skymiles number and last name (or check email for targeted offers) and see if you get the 50 or 60k mile offer. Otherwise incognito browser trick will yield 35k miles and $50 credit after first delta purchase and 1k spend in 90 days.

EDP can be lucrative for MR earning if you have the spending...it can easily become a 4.5 MR/$ on groceries, 3 MR/$ on gas, and 1.5 on everything else, which could translate to a 9%, 6%, 3% card if you transfered and redeemed at a good rate.

SPG I may go for one day, as these points have the most flexibility and value. Others with this can chime on on that.

If it were me I would look at your monthly spending, how much do you spend on gas, groceries, restaurants, general spend, dept stores, book stores, etc.  You are only earning 1 mr point per dollar spent on the platinum... which is not great....use the platinum for credits/lounge access, and pair it with the EDP if you want to bulk up on points. You wont earn as many delta points on non delta purchases with the delta gold.

[TheConductor]

If you actually stay in, play in, or dine at SPG properties I'd say the SPG. The Amex Platinum gets you gold status and a higher Starpoint earn rate on spending at SPG, while the SPG gets you a boost toward earning even higher status and earns you additional Starpoints on everything. They're very complementary, and Starpoints are very easy to redeem at high value, plus you get the block-transfer bonuses.

Given that you alreayd have the Platinum, as an alternative I'd look harder at the Blue Cash Preferred than the PRG. Rewards in much the same categories, but at a lower AF and a higher earn rate in the bonus categories unless you are just a monster superstar at MR redemption values per point. With PRG, you'd be double-paying for a lot of benefits that both the Plat and PRG offer.

Everyday Preferred is also a good third option since it rewards gas and groceries at rates that are more equivalent to the BCP cashback rates without requiring major MR-fu. 

[redpat]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@redpat wrote:

It's like alphabet soup.  

I'm looking for another amex card to go with my amex plat that offers better rewards.

I fly United and Delta so I like SPG flexibility, plus 5K in that regard.

Thoughts for the best combo?  I don't carry balances so it doesn't matter if it's a charge or credit card option.

No problems w/ score, income or inquiries.

---

well i would wait few days or weeks until this travel credit debacle blows over. if it ends up that it was just the system slowing down (folks say no credits since august 20th... ok well it says up to 4 weeks on the amex page)... then go for a 2 card 1 inquiry punch, PRG and Delta.

enter delta skymiles number and last name (or check email for targeted offers) and see if you get the 50 or 60k mile offer. Otherwise incognito browser trick will yield 35k miles and $50 credit after first delta purchase and 1k spend in 90 days.

EDP can be lucrative for MR earning if you have the spending...it can easily become a 4.5 MR/$ on groceries, 3 MR/$ on gas, and 1.5 on everything else, which could translate to a 9%, 6%, 3% card if you transfered and redeemed at a good rate.

SPG I may go for one day, as these points have the most flexibility and value. Others with this can chime on on that.

If it were me I would look at your monthly spending, how much do you spend on gas, groceries, restaurants, general spend, dept stores, book stores, etc.  You are only earning 1 mr point per dollar spent on the platinum... which is not great....use the platinum for credits/lounge access, and pair it with the EDP if you want to bulk up on points. You wont earn as many delta points on non delta purchases with the delta gold.

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I only use plat for booking business travel, SPG hotels and FHR.  Use it for lounges and national rental car excutive upgrade.

My my monthly spend between business reimbursements and other can accumulate some major MR.

[redpat]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@redpat wrote:

It's like alphabet soup.  

I'm looking for another amex card to go with my amex plat that offers better rewards.

I fly United and Delta so I like SPG flexibility, plus 5K in that regard.

Thoughts for the best combo?  I don't carry balances so it doesn't matter if it's a charge or credit card option.

No problems w/ score, income or inquiries.

---

well i would wait few days or weeks until this travel credit debacle blows over. if it ends up that it was just the system slowing down (folks say no credits since august 20th... ok well it says up to 4 weeks on the amex page)... then go for a 2 card 1 inquiry punch, PRG and Delta.

enter delta skymiles number and last name (or check email for targeted offers) and see if you get the 50 or 60k mile offer. Otherwise incognito browser trick will yield 35k miles and $50 credit after first delta purchase and 1k spend in 90 days.

EDP can be lucrative for MR earning if you have the spending...it can easily become a 4.5 MR/$ on groceries, 3 MR/$ on gas, and 1.5 on everything else, which could translate to a 9%, 6%, 3% card if you transfered and redeemed at a good rate.

SPG I may go for one day, as these points have the most flexibility and value. Others with this can chime on on that.

If it were me I would look at your monthly spending, how much do you spend on gas, groceries, restaurants, general spend, dept stores, book stores, etc.  You are only earning 1 mr point per dollar spent on the platinum... which is not great....use the platinum for credits/lounge access, and pair it with the EDP if you want to bulk up on points. You wont earn as many delta points on non delta purchases with the delta gold.

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Question, by getting SPG and EDP, because EDP MR can be 4.5 on groceries, 3 on gas and then transferred to SPG is that better than using the SPG card?  I think you get 2.25 and 1.5 SPG points instead of 1 by using SPG card.  PRG would be 1.  

So I think the way to go is SPG and EDP.  This rate is better than CSP UR rate I think.

[Open123]

If you're going to continue your Plat, then I'd go with the SPG.  In general, I find SPG points the most valuable and it's a natural compliment to the Plat with Gold status, which allows you to earn 5X at SPG properties and restaurants.

The EDP is nice, especially the 1.5% MR points per spend, but MR points aren't nearly as flexible as a similar amount of SPG ones. 

[Anonymous]

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@redpat wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

---

@redpat wrote:

It's like alphabet soup.  

I'm looking for another amex card to go with my amex plat that offers better rewards.

I fly United and Delta so I like SPG flexibility, plus 5K in that regard.

Thoughts for the best combo?  I don't carry balances so it doesn't matter if it's a charge or credit card option.

No problems w/ score, income or inquiries.

---

well i would wait few days or weeks until this travel credit debacle blows over. if it ends up that it was just the system slowing down (folks say no credits since august 20th... ok well it says up to 4 weeks on the amex page)... then go for a 2 card 1 inquiry punch, PRG and Delta.

enter delta skymiles number and last name (or check email for targeted offers) and see if you get the 50 or 60k mile offer. Otherwise incognito browser trick will yield 35k miles and $50 credit after first delta purchase and 1k spend in 90 days.

EDP can be lucrative for MR earning if you have the spending...it can easily become a 4.5 MR/$ on groceries, 3 MR/$ on gas, and 1.5 on everything else, which could translate to a 9%, 6%, 3% card if you transfered and redeemed at a good rate.

SPG I may go for one day, as these points have the most flexibility and value. Others with this can chime on on that.

If it were me I would look at your monthly spending, how much do you spend on gas, groceries, restaurants, general spend, dept stores, book stores, etc.  You are only earning 1 mr point per dollar spent on the platinum... which is not great....use the platinum for credits/lounge access, and pair it with the EDP if you want to bulk up on points. You wont earn as many delta points on non delta purchases with the delta gold.

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Question, by getting SPG and EDP, because EDP MR can be 4.5 on groceries, 3 on gas and then transferred to SPG is that better than using the SPG card?  I think you get 2.25 and 1.5 SPG points instead of 1 by using SPG card.  PRG would be 1.  

So I think the way to go is SPG and EDP.  This rate is better than CSP UR rate I think.

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AFAIK you cannot transfer MR to SPG.

[redpat]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@redpat wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@redpat wrote:

It's like alphabet soup.  

I'm looking for another amex card to go with my amex plat that offers better rewards.

I fly United and Delta so I like SPG flexibility, plus 5K in that regard.

Thoughts for the best combo?  I don't carry balances so it doesn't matter if it's a charge or credit card option.

No problems w/ score, income or inquiries.

---

well i would wait few days or weeks until this travel credit debacle blows over. if it ends up that it was just the system slowing down (folks say no credits since august 20th... ok well it says up to 4 weeks on the amex page)... then go for a 2 card 1 inquiry punch, PRG and Delta.

enter delta skymiles number and last name (or check email for targeted offers) and see if you get the 50 or 60k mile offer. Otherwise incognito browser trick will yield 35k miles and $50 credit after first delta purchase and 1k spend in 90 days.

EDP can be lucrative for MR earning if you have the spending...it can easily become a 4.5 MR/$ on groceries, 3 MR/$ on gas, and 1.5 on everything else, which could translate to a 9%, 6%, 3% card if you transfered and redeemed at a good rate.

SPG I may go for one day, as these points have the most flexibility and value. Others with this can chime on on that.

If it were me I would look at your monthly spending, how much do you spend on gas, groceries, restaurants, general spend, dept stores, book stores, etc.  You are only earning 1 mr point per dollar spent on the platinum... which is not great....use the platinum for credits/lounge access, and pair it with the EDP if you want to bulk up on points. You wont earn as many delta points on non delta purchases with the delta gold.

---

Question, by getting SPG and EDP, because EDP MR can be 4.5 on groceries, 3 on gas and then transferred to SPG is that better than using the SPG card?  I think you get 2.25 and 1.5 SPG points instead of 1 by using SPG card.  PRG would be 1.  

So I think the way to go is SPG and EDP.  This rate is better than CSP UR rate I think.

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AFAIK you cannot transfer MR to SPG.

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SPG is a transfer partner so I can transfer MR at 50% of each MR point to my SPG Hotel account can't I?  Not my SPG CC.  Isn't the same point value for stays if I use those points vs cc points?

[Anonymous]

I think the conversion is 1000 MRs to 333 SPG points. Maybe there is some bonus multiplier I'm unaware of.

I'd get EDP, so you can earn a lot of MRs and convert them to Delta miles. Use your URs for United.

[redpat]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I think the conversion is 1000 MRs to 333 SPG points. Maybe there is some bonus multiplier I'm unaware of.

I'd get EDP, so you can earn a lot of MRs and convert them to Delta miles. Use your URs for United.

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Just went on Amex transfer partners 1000 MR is 500 SPG points.