What cards would you suggest

[ztnjpv]

Yes, OP:

Chase Sapphire is great for the sign up bonus and can be more valuable if you travel and leverage the points properly or wish to transfer the points to some loyalty program that partners with the Sapphire. That's all nice if you use it the right way. 

However, in light of options available for mundane, high fequency spending like gas, groceries, restaurants etc., it falls flat imho. If I got it, it would be for the sign up and little else. The value at the swipe just isn't there for things I buy in light of competing cards. I'm pretty simple: gimme the cash! Or give me points that are straightforward and have high value to me. 

For example: I just got the Hilton Reserve (PC change from Diamond preferred). I was going to PC to the Forward and then called back and changed to the Hilton Reserve instead...$95 fee and all and no sign up bonus for new applicant status. I actually made a spead sheet of my spending and compared scenarios in combinations with current cards I have. The 3 HH points per dollar on general non-bonus spending was good compared to my baseline of 1.25% with the Cash + (It was still good compared to higher baseline when I factored in the $25 gift card for every $100 redeemed...which is going away). The automatic Gold Status perks and free room for spending $10,000 per year was not only worth the 95 dollar fee but also gave an excellent return since I value that free room at at least $300 for a night I spend in NYC at least once per year. IOW, I value that room AT LEAST 40,000 HHonors points (even more sometimes). Couple that with the 30,000 pts for spending $10,000 on non-bonus spending in a year and that 10,000 dollars is worth 7 or more points per dollar.

[ztnjpv]

bs6054,

You found that the Gold Checking was really that tough to do?

All it takes is an auto-pay to your card every month to avoid the fee. I do mine for like $1 on the first of the month or something. Pretty simple. It also makes the cash redemption easy since I just transfer the money directly into my US Bank Gold Checking with a few clicks of the mouse. But hey, whatever works for you. 

[bs6054]

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@ztnjpv wrote:

bs6054,

You found that the Gold Checking was really that tough to do?

All it takes is an auto-pay to your card every month to avoid the fee. I do mine for like $1 on the first of the month or something. Pretty simple. It also makes the cash redemption easy since I just transfer the money directly into my US Bank Gold Checking with a few clicks of the mouse. But hey, whatever works for you. 

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OK, I was thinking more of autopay in full, which would mean transferring money there every month etc.  So yes, that sounds pretty simple.   But given the changes, I'm not going to putting a lot on the card so the extra 0.25% isn't so enticing.