Allen commented the other day saying:
“Hello Drew,
I have been following your blog for months now, it’s the best travel hacking blog out there for sure.
I was wondering if you can tell me a list of cards you currently possess, or perhaps even do a blog post on it?Thanks!”
Well, you know how to start a question.
I know it’s something I don’t write about often, despite it being important. Perhaps other people have it covered so well. 😉 But forizzle, I am methodical about the cards I have.
At the end of the day there are only a few cards that stick out and are no-brainers to me. Not necessarily as cards I keep, but certainly as cards I use. On the other hand, I will get any card that is good, and that list is certainly longer than worth mentioning here.
The cards I end up using are of a rotating three, unless there is a spend requirement to meet.
Credit Cards That Are A No Brainer:
- Chase Sapphire Preferred
- INK Bold
- an American Airlines card
But more realistically, there are only two currencies that are absolute no-brainers to me: United miles and American Airline miles. Neither have fuel surcharges and are therefore super easy for anyone to use.
US Airways is also a great kind of miles to get, as they don’t pass on fuel surcharges. But for a number of reasons I rarely end up with US Air miles. Mainly, it’s harder to earn US Air miles via credit cards and US Air doesn’t allow oneways… which is not at all conducive to my travel style. Plus, their fees can be annoying. Like a fee for booking over the phone but no option to book online for stopovers or any partners.
And it’s completely unfair to mention American Airlines in this list, because it’s only recently that they’ve had a card without a foreign transaction fee. But they have so many cards that it seems over the last years, I’m constantly using one of them. Plus, I need to diversify away from United (where I use all Chase points).
Cards I Wait For
But there are bonuses that are no-brainers too.
- 100k British Airways Card
- 50k to 75k Amex Plat, Amex Gold (Biz or Personal)
- 50k+ American Airlines Cards
- 55k United card
Of course other bonuses fluctuate too – the Southwest 50k, the Lufthansa 50k, Freedom 25k, etc… In these cases, it’s more like, “if I get that card, I’ll wait for that bonus.” Although… I’ve had all these cards, they aren’t necessarily no-brainers like everything else above.
Of course things change. There wasn’t an AA Executive card until recently – and the 100k bonus, even with a $450 annual fee (which is more like $250 for the first year), is pretty tempting. Few things stay the same, but I assume they do, until they change. If… that makes any sense at all.
Cards I keep
People are really big into annual perks, and I’m big into not paying annual fees. Though, there are a couple of cards that I could keep this year:
- IHG card
- Hyatt card (and still a maybe).
It may seem like crazy-talk to not automatically include the Ink Bold or CSP, but there are two of us and we don’t need both cards- as long as we have one of them so that we can transfer our Chase Ultimate Rewards to a mileage program (…United :-P). And both cards are indeed fine cards. Truly.
Also, I don’t have to keep a single AA card around… but, I do always have to have some AA card around. The 10% back is great for me right now.
However, if I’m paying an annual fee, I better get something out of it. And there is only one card that is an okay bonus for signing up, but once you have it, it’s a complete must keeper – the IHG card.
1) Every year you pay the annual fee on the IHG card, you get a free night at any IHG property. Even the IC Bora Bora (which is like $1,000+ a night).
2) We’ll go through millions of IHG points this year, and the card gives 10% back. That’s huge.
3) The annual fee is only $49. Not as good as no annual fee, but about the best of the fees that exist.
Before I go on though I want to also say that I don’t recommend this card for people just starting out because I value frequent flier miles more than hotel points. What I am saying is that now that I have this card, it’s the only one for which I easily justify the annual fee.
The Hyatt Card is a great sign up bonus (of two free nights anywhere), and the annual bonus is a free night at a category 4. The category 4 restriction is a bigger bummer than I thought.
Last year I used it at the Park Hyatt Hamburg, which was like the only option I had for it. And this year… I still don’t know. Maybe the Grand Hyatt Bangkok. But the fee is $89, and the question is, would I pay $89 for a night at either of those hotels?
Certainly it’s worth it when you compare value. But then consider that I could spend similar amounts of money and earn points. See this is an award certificate, so it doesn’t earn points. It’s basically spending $89 on Hotwire or something else that doesn’t earn points. Is it a deal? Yes, the PH Hamburg is normally very expensive. Is it worth it? I’ve kinda decided not.
I used to keep the Marriott card, but the recent Marriott devaluation was a nail in the coffin. I could have used my cat 5 cert at incredible hotels like the JW Khao Lak, or the JW Shanghai… but now, I can barely find a decent option. I used it at a Marriott in India, where the hotels were cheap. There are fewer good category 5 hotels, and therefore the card is not worth it.
I want to reiterate that many cards can be downgraded. Most banks would rather keep your business in some form, if the only other option is your canceling. Some will downgrade to a no annual fee version (although not all agents know this, or know to recommend it), some will waive the annual fee, some will give a retention bonus, and sometimes when you don’t use the card they don’t offer anything.
Foreign Fees
It’s important to me not only to earn either AA or United, but to not have foreign transaction fees. This really leaves us with the CSP or Ink Bold for most of our travels. Although now the United card has no fee, I still earn slightly faster with the CSP. I wish the SPG card had no foreign transaction fee as that would be a great compliment to AA. But that new AA Executive card, that has a $450 annual fee, has no foreign transaction fee, for whatever it’s worth.
Cards I Have
Maybe I’ve gone overboard on answering a rather simple question. The question is what cards do I have, and at the moment I don’t even have the Chase Sapphire Preferred. So I figured that this list is based on where I am right now in the swing of things and not the list.
We have the following: Chase Ink Bold, a regular Chase Sapphire MC (downgraded from the preferred), SPG card, American Airlines Visa, American Airlines MC, American Airlines Executive MC, Lufthansa, Club Carlson, Hyatt, IHG for Carrie and I, Freedom card, Amex Gold, Marriott (about to cancel), a Hilton card, and some random Bank of America card from a downgraded Hawaiian Airlines card.
I think next we’ll add the CSP Visa, Barclay World Arrival, and both get the Hilton Reserve card (as part of our plan for a hopeful Bora Bora trip).
Conclusion
A lot of miles come from this way. But on the other hand, I can’t imagine how many dollars get paid in annual fees this way. I no longer assume, “oh this card has some sort of benefit, so I might as well keep it.” Really, I compare the reward to what I could otherwise do with the money. And many/most would buy a cat 4 Hyatt cert for $89. I’m not sure anymore, but I definitely won’t be paying for a Marriott cat 4 cert.
Also, I truly do appreciate people who do use the “Best Travel Credit Cards” tab link provided at the top, as – full disclosure – I do get paid. But don’t just sign up for cards because they are at the top of a page I created. Base it on your needs. Think about where you want to travel, and go through the booking process. Try to avoid annual fees, check out availability, etc…
That being said, United and AA don’t pass on fuel surcharges (with the exception of using AA miles on BA), have multiple sources of earning, and are relatively simple to use. It’s a logical thing to earning United miles via the United card and Chase cards. Then to earn AA via the AA cards and the SPG card (a favorite for many (except for me because I’m always international (but hopefully one day they too will have no foreign transaction fee (I kinda assume they will based on the move of other banks (like the United card no longer having a foreign transaction fee ))))).
These are safe bets for me, that I’d recommend for most. United is better at economy and AA better for premium cabin flyers.
But what I have and what I recommend are often different. I have many cards, but only really need one or two good daily spenders that have no foreign transaction fees. This is what meets my needs.
Drew I have cancelled the sapphire card over 12 months ago if I reapply do I get the bonus?
You don’t need to wait for the United offer, you can get it by using a few little tricks. You can also just send a secured message and Chase will match it for you.
Very interested in what these “little tricks” are…. You mind sharing?
There are links to higher offers that only can be viewed when you’re logged into your account.
Another stipulation is that you can’t already have that card and that you have to have some miles in your account. But if those are true, you can log into United and then view the links.
https://www.theexplorercard.com/50kAFW
Business version: https://www.theexplorercard.com/Business50kAFW
Interesting post Drew. I am coming to the end of my first year of churning cards and struggling with what to keep and get rid of so it is very resonant. One of the things that I find with keeping cards that have good benefits/category bonuses is that it significantly reduces the amount of regular spend that I can mix in with MR on cards that I get to earn miles. For e.g. if I have the CSP I try to use it for all dining other than this quarter where it is the Freedom that is getting a workout. Gas is supplied by gift cards courtesy of Ink Bold. For an average person, it becomes harder to find other charges to put on cards beyond the Staples/CVS route. Maybe I worry too much about having that mix but it always makes me nervous to have too much MR on an account.
Well, the I nk Bold is a good example of that but other cards, I’d only keep if I was actually using, not speculatively. And if you change your mind, go for the business version, for most cards.
Also, any chance we can get a follow option for specific posts so we can get notifications when other readers comment?
I actually moved to Disqus for a while, but then went back. What do you think of that commenting platform? I’ve thought about going back to it.
I am finding the Club Carlson card to be a really interesting option and with both the annual bonus and BOGO nights, I am curious to hear why you don’t have or wouldn’t recommend it?
Great point. That’s probably one, now I think about it, that I left out. But honestly, I haven’t had it for a year even. So I’ve never paid the annual fee for it. So it hasn’t been through the cycle yet. But it’s totally a must right now. I’m using that BOGO like crazy. In fact, last night I used it.
I enjoy that your strategy is from a couple’s perspective. Interesting how you maximize the bonuses and churns with two people. Has American’s changes to stopover rules changed your strategy at all?
Na, I never went AA for stopovers. If that was my goal I’d look elsewhere. But in regards to cards, we just get em all. :-p
Your strategy makes sense for international travel. I think for domestic travel, you can’t do better than the miles you can get from Southwest Rapid Rewards credit cards.
Do you have a link for the Chase IHG 80,000 point sign-up bonus credit card?