What Card Next?

[ayeecorreia]

I've got an upcoming 5 month work trip and am looking for a new card or 2 to maximize the sign up bonus.

I'm looking at;

CS Amex Plat

Marriott Brilliant

United Infinite

Annual fees are waived due to military. I've already got the Hilton Aspire. Credit scores are 750+ across the board.

Also open to other suggestions.

Thanks!

[trumpetman595]

I would suggest the BofA Premium Rewards Card as it has a high signup bonus of $500 for 3,000 spend and pays for itself with the $100 incidental airline credit every year. Since you already have a relationship with BofA, you could potentially benefit from the preferred rewards program as well.

[NoMoreE46]

Thank you for your service. 

Would Capital One waive the $395 AF for the Venture X?

[ayeecorreia]

Thank you very much.

They do waive the annual fee. That's another good option

[RootDet]

Well some of your list is chase, so how is your 5/24 status?

[xenon3030]

If the AFs are getting waived without limitation, then shopping the prime travel cards with the highest AF from multiple places should be quite interesting (CSR, Amex Plat, US Bank Altitude Reserve, BOA Elite, Citi AA, etc). It would help to use either monthly or annual perks that several cards provide. The only consideration would be accumulation of HPs that typically should not be the case, if applying for Amex cards only.

A combination of multiple Amex cards might be also good, while they might have some overlaps on perks like Amex Plat and Gold. If Plat works for you, you may also get several from various places.

[unsungivy]

With AF being waived as military, go for the big boys. Either the CS Platinum or the Marriott Brilliant (you could also pick up a Green if you never had one and get THAT sign up bonus in addition to the CS Platinum, and then product change the Green to another Platinum after a year). My household is military and has both cards... I've read about how due to product changes etc, you can keep getting Platinums which will add up to significant monthly credits for food/rides via Uber, and completely offset streaming service fees as well as mini shopping sprees at Saks (buy gift cards in person at a Saks for the $50 bi-annual credit, and then you can use them together at will).

The Brilliant is outshined for spend by the Biz counterpart (better in categories plus a room rate discount), but is good for status and room night credit... with the change to the credit being monthly food as opposed to hotel statement credit, it's not as useful as before for an active spend card, however. So it really depends on your investment in Marriott loyalty. Although a 5 month trip IF you stay at a Marriott throughout it will be a huge boost, it's the type of thing you have to play the long game on for lifetime status, so if you are only sometimes staying at Marriott rather than exclusively, its value is questionable... getting a bunch of Marriott points as a SUB is only good if you will stay at Marriotts to use said Marriott points. P2 has both the Brilliant and the Biz for the room night credits, and feels they are well worth that.

Just a heads-up, found out that Barclays will only waive AF for active duty military if you had the card BEFORE you were activated.

[unsungivy]

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@xenon3030 wrote:

If the AFs are getting waived without limitation, then shopping the prime travel cards with the highest AF from multiple places should be quite interesting (CSR, Amex Plat, US Bank Altitude Reserve, BOA Elite, Citi AA, etc). It would help to use either monthly or annual perks that several cards provide. The only consideration would be accumulation of HPs that typically should not be the case, if applying for Amex cards only.

A combination of multiple Amex cards might be also good, while they might have some overlaps on perks like Amex Plat and Gold. If Plat works for you, you may also get several from various places.

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Actually, they don't need to be from different places... IF they start off as something else, like a Green, and you product change TO Platinum.

[FinStar]

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@unsungivy wrote:

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@xenon3030 wrote:

If the AFs are getting waived without limitation, then shopping the prime travel cards with the highest AF from multiple places should be quite interesting (CSR, Amex Plat, US Bank Altitude Reserve, BOA Elite, Citi AA, etc). It would help to use either monthly or annual perks that several cards provide. The only consideration would be accumulation of HPs that typically should not be the case, if applying for Amex cards only.

A combination of multiple Amex cards might be also good, while they might have some overlaps on perks like Amex Plat and Gold. If Plat works for you, you may also get several from various places.

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Actually, they don't need to be from different places... IF they start off as something else, like a Green, and you product change TO Platinum.

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@unsungivy I think they're referring to the AENB affinity/partner (i.e. "places") not the original card type. They can clarify if anything. For instance, one can have the 'vanilla' Plat, CS Plat, MS Plat, GS Plat, etc. The only downside (if at all), none of the affinity/partner Platinum versions can be downgraded to Gold/Green. They only exist as Platinum products whereas the 'vanilla' version has a downgrade path.

[StephenH]

Venture X as previously mentioned is a solid option with a good sub and a variety of transfer partners. You can very easily maximize your points and cap1 pays you $5 to keep the card year over year when you take the travel credit and annual card membership bonus into account.

I would also recommend checking out Chase Marriott Bountiful. There's a very solid sub atm and an array of benefits to go along with it. But it's more about the long play here... after a year of being a Bountiful card member you can PC to The Ritz Carlton Card. 

Since you already have the aspire, you should definitely consider going the Ritz Carlton route