Hi,
The AF for my Citi Premier is due this month. I don't get enough value out of it to justify the $95 and will probably PC it to the Custom Cash. I do however need a no FTF card that is a Visa or Mastercard (due to acceptance limitations of the Amex Gold abroad), and preferrably without AF. It does not need to be primarily a travel card, but should have no FTF.
I have the following cards and prefer to not sign-up for a new CC, i.e. PC only.
| Card | Age | Credit Limit | Notes | Possible PC card |
BoA Cash Rewards | 4 y 6 mo | $60,000 | Travel Rewards | |
WF Platinum | 4 y 6 mo | $1,800 | CLI today, was $1,000 before | Autograph |
Amex Gold | 3 y 10 mo | no CL | charge card | n/a |
Chase Freedom Unlimited | 3 y 6 mo | $12,500 | started as a CSP, PC'd to CFU | none without AF and no FTF |
Citi Premier | 1 y | $6,400 | AF due this month | none without AF and no FTF |
At first I thought I would PC the WF Platinum to the Autograph, but the low CL of $1,800 might be a problem - I would probably feel most comfortable with at least $4,000 CL. I had it increased today, but despite income of $140k and a FICO8 of around 770 WF gave me only $800 CLI - though admittedly the Platinum is my sock drawer card.
My best guess seems to be PC'ing the BoA Cash Rewards to Travel Rewards. It sees limited use as my "online shopping" card (this is the 3% category I selected), the majority of my spend goes to the Amex Gold (supermarkets, restaurants, flights) or Citi (gas).
Is there any no AF and no FTF card I missed and I could PC one of my existing cards to?
I guess I could PC both the WF and the BoA, use the WF the majority of the time and only when CL gets short and I cannot use the Amex, use the BoA.
Thanks for your inputs!
I guess I could PC both the WF and the BoA, use the WF the majority of the time and only when CL gets short and I cannot use the Amex, use the BoA.
Thanks for your inputs!
@Bostonito wrote:
Card Age Credit Limit Notes Possible PC card
Your chart is well done, and you haven't missed any no AF / FTF cards. So your only choice is to:
1. PC BA Customized Cash to Travel Rewards
But then you'll have two 1.5% everything cards, so
2. PC Freedom Unlimited to Freedom Flex - to get a 5% rotator
IF you spend $833 or LESS / month on GAS:
PC Citi Premier to Custom Cash AND PC WF Platinum to Active Cash
Why Active Cash instead of Autograph? Since you already wrote that you have restaurants and flights covered by AE Gold, you'll have all the features of Autograph covered by your other cards, BUT this way you get to add a 2% everything card, and end up with 3-5% rewards on gas - depending on how much over $500 / mo you go on gas. I have added this scenario to your chart above
IF you spend $833 or MORE / month on GAS:
PC Citi Premier to Double Cash AND PC WF Platinum to Autograph
Why Autograph? Solely for it's 3% gas benefit; all the other features of Autograph would be covered by your other cards. Why Double Cash? You get to add a 2% everything card.
What do you think?
13Oct22 Exp F8: 812
Hi calisig,
Thank you very much for taking the time to provide that breakdown. You raised some very good points I had not thought about.
On average I spend only $150 per month on gas.
I think I will go with the following setup:
- (unchanged) Amex Gold: restaurants (4%), supermarkets (excl. Walmart) (4%), flights (3%)
- BoA Cash Rewards -> Travel Rewards: foreign spend (1.5%)
- Chase FU -> FF: drugstores (3%), bonus categories (5%)
- Citi Premier -> Custom Cash: gas (5%)
- WF Platinum -> Active Cash: any other spend (2%), incl. online shopping not covered by CFF bonus categories
The only category I haven't really covered is hotels (agnostic, i.e. not tied to a certain brand) and AirBnb, but for both my spend is rather limited since Covid (approx. $600-800 per year).
I am also missing transit (Uber + Lyft, approx. $300-400 per year).
My best bet is probably the WF Active Cash for 2% domestic spend and the BoA Travel Rewards for 1.5% foreign spend, unless I am missing a better card to use. The WF Autograph would offer 3%, but I think I benefit more from 2% "any other spend" with the Active Cash than from 3% hotel+transit + 1% "any other spend" with the Autograph.
@Bostonito wrote:Hi calisig,
Thank you very much for taking the time to provide that breakdown. You raised some very good points I had not thought about.
On average I spend only $150 per month on gas.
I think I will go with the following setup:
- (unchanged) Amex Gold: restaurants (4%), supermarkets (excl. Walmart) (4%), flights (3%)
- BoA Cash Rewards -> Travel Rewards: foreign spend (1.5%)
- Chase FU -> FF: drugstores (3%), bonus categories (5%)
- Citi Premier -> Custom Cash: gas (5%)
- WF Platinum -> Active Cash: any other spend (2%), incl. online shopping not covered by CFF bonus categories
The only category I haven't really covered is hotels (agnostic, i.e. not tied to a certain brand) and AirBnb, but for both my spend is rather limited since Covid (approx. $600-800 per year).
I am also missing transit (Uber + Lyft, approx. $300-400 per year).
My best bet is probably the WF Active Cash for 2% domestic spend and the BoA Travel Rewards for 1.5% foreign spend, unless I am missing a better card to use. The WF Autograph would offer 3%, but I think I benefit more from 2% "any other spend" with the Active Cash than from 3% hotel+transit + 1% "any other spend" with the Autograph.
Your Hotels budget is up to $800 / year. At 1.5% on your Travel card, that = $12. If you were to get a better travel card to get 3% hotels, that would only net you another $12! I generally don't get another card unless it is going to make me at least $100 over what my existing cards make / year. So your 1.5% BA Travel card is fine for that. Same with Uber / Lyft - at $400 spend / year any of your existing cards are fine. I noticed you have the AE Green card, and I think that covers some Uber. CFF earns 5% on all travel booked through the Chase Travel Portal, so you could try that and see if you like it, but I don't think that covers AirB&B.
Someday you may need to add another card when your spend in travel gets higher, but I think that setup above will work out great for you for now - enjoy
You are right, and it puts things into perspective if you look at it like that - the $12 more is certainly not worth jumping through hoops.
The green Amex is not the Amex Green, but rather the Corporate Amex. I am not using it, but my employer pays for it and it discounts the Amex Gold AF by $100 every year, so it's an easy decision to not close the card.
@calisig wrote:
Someday you may need to add another card when your spend in travel gets higher, but I think that setup above will work out great for you for now - enjoy
Thanks again for your advice!
One more thought: planning Custom Cash for gas at $150 / month only nets you $36 more per year than if you got Autograph for gas. And if you had Autograph, you would make up $12 for hotel, and another $6 for Uber. So if you really liked the Autograph / Double Cash setup better than Custom Cash / Active Cash, it would only cost you $18 / year based on what you have shared of your current budget. Point is if your gas spend stayed the same, it really doesn't matter which of these two combos you get. Either will be an upgrade to your current setup. So get the combo you like better.
Just thought of one more thing: When you convert your BA Customized Cash Rewards to Travel Rewards, by default they will probably convert it as a Mastercard, which would retain it's account number. If you convert your CFU to CFF, it will convert from a Visa to a Mastercard. Citi would remain a Mastercard and WF would remain Visa. That would leave you with three Mastercards and only one Visa. Since I think Visa is a little bit more accepted internationally than Mastercard, you may want to specify that you want your travel card, Travel Rewards, in a Visa and not a Mastercard. This would result in two Visas and two Mastercards - which would give you more balanced options on both networks. Good luck