In our quest for rewards, I find that I see more and more people that are what I think of as "over optimizing". When you have so many cards for so many specific situations/purposes, it seems like it is hard to reap any one benefit or actually get to redeem a reward. Or even if you can redeem (i.e. no minimum), the reward is miniscule, and it seems it would make more sense to build up rewards in one or two systems of your choice. In my personal spending I've found I do better by concentrating spend on a few cards (typically BoA Cash, Amex Magnet , and Costco Visa) vs trying to chase every penny in rewards and never really building up anything or getting anywhere. I played the game of having somewhere around 10-12 cards before and trying to use them all and pay them down and chase the rewards just got exhausting for not enough benefit. Obviously this is a personal thing, and some don't mind all the tracking (and things like Mint can make it somewhat less of a hassle), but I can't help but wonder if they'd do better by streamlining somewhat.
I think it's easy to want to maximize every area of spend, but I think after awhile this seems to be self defeating. I've posted about this kind of thing before, and I know some people agree with me and some feel strongly about the opposite viewpoint.
I see this same thing on reddit, various other credit forums etc so it's not unique to here at all. Before putting in the next FOTM app, consider running the numbers and see how much additional rewards you'd actually stand to gain, keeping in mind you are already earning rewards on your existing cards, so it's an incremental difference and diminishing returns apply as you only spend so much every month. It almost seems to defeat the purpose once you get past a certain threshold of cards/reward programs.
There's also the aspect that I think all the dedicated cards can trick you into overspending on xyz category if you're not careful.
Just some food for thought, happy Saturday night everyone 
Also if you have lower income levels, the more cards you have, the harder it is to be able to actually utilize the rewards you do have because they are too thinly spread.... Sometimes its actually better to take some non optimized spend so you can cashout your rewards... or use instruments where its easier to cash out without a minimum...
Is it worth the effort to satisfy another cards requirements just to get a little reward... sometimes its not worth the hassle or the price of admission to juggle multiple cards......
-J
I consider myself lucky to have business spend that gives me a huge chunk of our MR and UR points.
Personal Cards: Amex Plat | Amex Delta Res | CSR | Citi AA Exec Business Cards: Ink+ | Amex BGR
Agree that too many cards can water down rewards. Low income doesnt allow for great rewards but there are some so not a dead end all the way. Sometimes people just like collecting cards, nothing wrong with that, just have to be careful.
Ive been using my Disco Chrome almost exclusively and i gotta say, feels good just using one card and not stressing over which card to use
. If i could have zero debt and start agsin id definetly love to go 3 Card Monty
Ive been using my Disco Chrome almost exclusively and i gotta say, feels good just using one card and not stressing over which card to use
. If i could have zero debt and start agsin id definetly love to go 3 Card Monty
I enjoy the game and don't really have much of an issue building up enough points/miles even though I also spend them all the time.
I use store cards for 5-30% off or back on every purchase and use Cash+ (and sometimes Discover) for 5% cash back. I use Altitude Reserve for 4.5% back toward revenue flights wherever I can use Apple Pay. Everything else is either there for BTs or primarily for building up Membership Rewards, Ultimate Rewards, ThankYou Points, Marriott points, or SkyMiles. In addition to the different reward structures, there are also targeted offers for many cards that can make it much more lucrative.
