There are so many great credit cards out there that a card’s annual benefit would have to be pretty competitive to pay the annual fee year after year.
In fact, I’ve now seen lists of people saying which cards they are keeping, and listing 20+ cards each with fees from $89 to $450 a year. That is insane. Easily $2,000 in annual fees for credit cards. Money that could have gone to flights that go places and earn miles/status.
As I commonly say, “you can go broke saving money”. For me, a great example of that is people who have a ton of credit cards they pay annual fees on. Seriously, it adds up. Even if you just keep a card for one extra year, that alone would add up. But keeping cards for a ton of years, think about how much money you’ll spend vs the benefit.
Nearly all credit cards offer a ton of upfront value, and many of them attempt to give annual benefits. But I find most annual benefits not worth the costs. Period.
In order to keep a card I need 2 of 3:
- Good annual benefit
- Good earning from spending
- Low annual fee
I could imagine paying a large annual fee for large benefits, but these aren’t “large benefits” for me.
From my perspective, there are three categories of cards with annual fees. “Not even close to worth it”, “still not worth it” and “barely worth it”.
There could be exceptions, of course. Like someone with the AA card who doesn’t have another one, but would spend enough miles that the 10% miles back benefit would give great value. There are almost always exceptions, but they are few and far between, in my opinion.
Keep, Cancel, Downgrade, Retention
Of course it’s not always black and white. You don’t always have to keep or cancel. Sometimes when you call the agents will offer extra bonuses to keep the card. I almost always decline unless it’s to waive the annual fee. I just don’t want to pay to have a credit card. Ridiculous. But also some allow you to downgrade to more basic versions of the card when they exist. I would do that if I can have a no annual fee version of the card.
Credit Card Annual Fees “Not Even Close To Worth It”
While this category is by far the largest category, I’ll try to be nice and pick on cards with really bad values.
The most obvious would be cards that have little/no annual benefit but high annual fees:
- Chase Sapphire Preferred – $95 annual fee
- Amex Premier Rewards card – $175 annual fee
- Gold Delta – $95 annual fee
Then there are cards with really terrible annual benefits and high annual fees. Most common are cards that just give club lounge passes:
- United Explorer – $95 annual fee – 2 club lounge passes
- British Airways – $95 annual fee – rip off of a companion pass
For most of these I don’t see why anyone would pay it. Would you pay $95 for two club lounge passes? No. You would be out of your mind. (Mine don’t even get used). So why then pay $95 for two club lounge passes? Seriously.
Then there are cards that I would put on the list, but I wouldn’t make it such a hard rule to put on the worthless list. For example the Ink Plus could have spending value at 5x on office supplies. Without regular spending on the 5x bonus, why keep the card? It’s just a normal card at that point. Or the SPG card is the only way to get SPG points really.
None of these cards have any value without major spend, and even then, most don’t have any value over other cards that might have no fee or also have benefits. There cards have no competitive edge, just enticing sign-up bonuses.
Credit Card Annual Fees “Still Not Worth It”
There are many cards that are often justified as “keep cards” but I really question how great the benefit is.
Most hotel cards fit this bill. They offer a free night at a restricted number of hotels when you pay $75+. The reality is that the restriction is often for hotels that I wouldn’t pay more than $100 for.
- Marriott card – $85 annual fee – free night at category 1-5
- Hyatt card – $75 annual fee – free night at category 1-4
The exception here could be the Hyatt card. We personally canceled it after 12 months had lapsed and then realized the $75 bill. We weren’t using the card and I honestly wouldn’t pay $75 for the night, I generally aim for $20-$30 a night averages via good rewards programs. See 6 ways to get amazing hotel deals.
However, if you travel a ton, you could run across Hyatt properties worth more than $75. For example we used our category 4 cert at the Grand Hyatt Muscat and it was seriously going for $500 a night. Apparently there was a big event, but it was over $350 on all the other dates I checked anyways.
But I would be lying if I said I saved $500 a night. I could have stayed at more IHG hotels to get more IHG points and spent that night at the InterContinental. I could have done the other amazing hotel deal opportunities. Although, I was grateful to have the free night at the Hyatt, I wouldn’t recommend buying a $75 free night certificate. I don’t like paying that much money, and most people can use other points, or won’t find hotels that will give significant “value” back.
For most people the American Airlines cards aren’t going to be worth it. 10% back is great if you’re burning a ton of miles. But there are always other AA cards and having more than one doesn’t give you 20% back. Most likely you should get rid of that sucker.
Credit Card Annual Fees “Barely Worth It”
Let me list them all:
- _
- _
Kidding… but almost not. Seriously, I can think of one card that I absolutely love.
IHG MasterCard. It’s the perfect combo. A low $49 annual fee and the huge benefit of a free night at any one of IHG’s hotels.
Before the devaluation I would definitely say that the Club Carlson card was worth it, both for the benefit and the bonus, but now it’s probably on the scrap list.
Personally, any card that is giving you 5x on a spend you can actually make use of is worth keeping. Like the old Amex Blue card (that’s dead now?) that gives 5% cash back but has a $75 annual fee. You could make that back easily in one $2,000 trip to CVS.
Any no annual fee card. The Chase Freedom card is a sweet card that I’ve had since 2008. The sign up bonus is tiny right now, but it gives a capped 5 points per dollar on rotating categories and has no annual fee. So… yea… My budget for the cards to keep list is $0. That’s always a good price.
Conclusion
Seriously people. Write down all the cards you think you might keep this year and add up how much money that would be. Add it up.
I’m not saying don’t keep any cards, just think about how much money you would gladly spend on having the bonus. And if you think “I’ll probably use this card a ton”, ask yourself how many cards you need to have as daily spenders?
Basically, don’t spend money on benefits you won’t use, even if it’s in the form of credit card annual fees.
I want to ditch my ink card, since I’m not finding opportunity to generate the spend to make this card worth the annual fee. But I’ve closed out all my other chase cards that are in the ultimate rewards program and allow partner transfers. If I close this one as well, then I’d have a good chunk of UR points unavailable to me, until I sign up for another card. What can be done?
Keep it open or get a Chase Sapphire Preferred. If you haven’t applied with 24 months, you should be eligible. Or transfer all your points out. But I only do that if I have a booking, to hedge against devals.
Gary – i had the same problem last month when i had annual fee on both my CSP and Ink. When i called for retention offers for both the cards, i didnt get any for CSP but was offered 10k points if i spend 5k in 3 months. I thought that was a good deal to keep my Ink, close my CSP, get some points to cushion the annual fee and also retain the partner transfer privileges. Hope this helps.
Well, just to clarify my above comment – i got the retention offer for the Ink card. Also I actually didnt cancel CSP. I downgraded to Freedom. As far as i am concerned, it was like hitting many birds with one stone 🙂
How do you transfer Ultimate Rewards points without keeping either Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Ink Plus?
This ^
Plus Chase Sapphire at least has good travel and dining 2x which can more than make up for the fee.
And Ink can be quite a bit harder to get.
I agree. The CSP is a great everyday card for the frequent traveler. Getting 2pts on most transactions while traveling is a pretty good deal, especially when you can transfer UR points to a multitude of pretty solid partners.
The CSP+Freedom+Ink rounds out to be a ton of very flexible points that we use all the time.
1) There’s two of us.
2) You can get them again.
I’d say a broke couple successfully claiming two businesses and having pre-planned alternation is the exception, not the norm. 😉
It might be the exception, but that exception is by choice. Chase does almost zero investigation into whether your business is legitimately driving revenues, or whether it’s just you selling a few things on eBay. It’s not incredibly difficult to successfully claim two businesses — people simply choose not to.
Hyatt card for 75 dollars is worth it for me. I get a 350 dollar room that I would pay 100 for as a once a year splurge, plus platinum status which gets me an upgrade usually and slightly later check out.
I can not average 20 or 30 dollars a night like you. Most of the ms stuff you choose not to write about, so I do not really understand how to do so (I am not that smart) and is difficult for me as I am rarely in the great satan, and do not have legal status there, although I have a relatives mailing address and a SSn. Brg besides being time consuming are difficult to get and only for one night . Mistake fares are in places that I can not easily go to or do not want to go to. Promos to earn points like club Carlson or iHg — perhaps, but they do not have hotels where I usually travel.
I do appreciate all of your material, and I have learnt a lot , but I do not think that one can get hundreds of nights a year in 2015 at twenty or thirty dollars a night without ms being the major contributor. Or by being a blog owner and (deservedly) having the cost of ones travel being offset by the earnings of the blog. Ok , two people doing iHg at 5000 a night, but then one has to be where the deals are, rather than where one wants or needs to be.
There’s a lot of explicit writing on MS out there. Frequent Miler, others, FlyerTalks manufactured spend forum, etc…
If IHG doesn’t have hotels where you travel… I doubt any rewards program will help. They are the biggest of the main rewards programs.
I haven’t stayed at a pointbreaks hotel in probably ~9 months and I live out of hotels, so I understand that. But all you need is good earning.
Some of these may be worth it for ongoing benefits along with the renewal ones. For example, the United Explorer gives checked bag benefits. Some people may make excellent use of those. The CSP gives 2x on all travel and dining (important categories for me), plus, for now, a 7% rebate. Most of the others have their own ongoing benefits. I think you make the excellent point, though, that each card deserves a hard look each time an annual fee is due with a bias toward probably dropping it. Still, some of the retention bonus offers are worth quite a bit more than the cost of the card, so I am open to keeping them. I will probably drop these two the next time around, if I don’t get a good retention offer.
Annual bonus for sapphire (7%) and freedom (10%) were gone already.
Paul – Depends when you got the cards. I signed up too late for the CSP, but you have the 7% if you had the card since at least August(?). I know I qualify for the 10% freedom bonus through the end of the year, have had for 3 years.
Either way, there are exceptions for sure.
I personally never check bags and don’t fly United so that benefit doesn’t save me money, and I feel like most people here feel the same in that regards.
CSP also has really good travel insurance benefits. For me personally, I’m willing to pay $95 a year to get primary car rental insurance. Also trip cancellation, delay and lost/delayed baggage insurance could pay for years of annual fees if you ever need to use them once.
But between Carrie and I we always have a CSP or Ink Plus. Not worth keeping when I can get the bonus and not pay the annual fee.
Does Ink+ have travel insurance benefits?
One other thing that probably doesn’t apply to you, but applies to some of your readers. I get the impression that you guys are last minute planners, correct? I bet you don’t know where you will be in three months, for example. I think a lot of people in this hobby who have office jobs and are more date constrained are long term planners. They do things like book award tickets when the booking window opens so they can get four business class seats for their family or whatever. If you want to put the taxes and fees on the CSP so you get the insurance benefits, you need to have the card open for the 11 months between the booking window and the date or travel.
Also, I wouldn’t want to put a car on the Ink card if I am not travelling for business. I suppose you could argue that travel is your business, but I would be out of luck on a personal trip. Insurance companies will look for any reason to deny someone and I wouldn’t want to chance it.
My wife and I alternate between CSPs, but we’ve still paid the annual fee a few times for the benefits on trips already booked. $95 doesn’t really bother me though for a little piece of mind. I guess that is what Chase wants me to think!
All visa signature cards have primary insurance, Ink Plus being one of them.
You make a good point about keeping a card. But all you need for that, is to keep A card. I’m fine with that.
What doesn’t make sense is saying:
“I’m going to keep ___ card because of car insurance. & I’m going to keep ___ card because of flights, & I’m going to keep ___ card because I’ll spend on it a lot, & I’m going to keep ___ card because the annual bonus is worth it to me”.
I’m sure 1 card will fit all those descriptions. Otherwise you can justify 20 cards, and people honestly do, and honestly pay $2,000 a year because of having primary car insurance.
Ditto w/ the primary car rental,especially when renting for my Better 1/2. But I am thinking of getting the Ink Cash and cancelling my Ink Plus.
For me, the CSP has been an absolute no-brainer. To offset the (admittedly-high, especially with no annual benefit now that the 7% dividend is gone) $95 annual fee, and assuming a very conservative UR point value of 1.7 cents, I only have to generate about 5,600 UR points in a year to offset the annual fee. Given the 2x restaurant category alone, that’s about $233/mo in dining out… which I can nearly reach in one meal. (Lots of kids and living in Europe, you see.) That ignores the 3x restaurant bonus on Fridays, 2x travel (which, again, we do a LOT of), etc.
So yes, purely in terms of annual fee vs. annual benefit, CSP is a losing effort. I deeply wish it had better renewal benefits. But as an everyday spending card—chip+sig, no foreign transaction fees and good (not great) exchange rates, auto rental benefits (shoot, I’ve saved $95 about five times this year just in not having to pay the European CDW in countries not traditionally covered), etc.—it’s pretty hard to beat and almost definitely worth the $95/year, at least in my book.
@PCG: You are forgetting the opportunity cost. The “1.7 cent” valuation compared to something like Citi Double Cash which is 2 cents per dollar spent, you are only earning 1.4 cents per dollar on dining/travel, and losing out almost everywhere else. to make up for it, you would have to spend about $7000 on dining/travel, or almost $600/month, and that is JUST to break even on the annual fee.
As a contrast, you can earn ~2.5% or more back on dining on a plethora of cards currently: Citi Premier, Hilton AMEX (inc. no fee version), Freedom (rotating), Hyatt, Amex SimplyCash, Discover IT, etc. etc. There are enough to churn through that it makes zero sense to spend $95 to keep the CSP.
I think you’re a good example of someone who keeps a card because they use it, use it a lot, and use it with a category bonus.
However, I think Ben is right. It’s paying for a card that has a ~2% value instead of using a 2% card that has a fee waived.
I do however like the ease of using one card.
You missed the part where he lives in Europe, Citi Double Cash 3% FTF = loss for him. Same goes for Freedom and simplycash. CSP gives flexibility, so that counts out Hyatt, and Hilton. Premier might be valid, if he uses those travel partners, discover IT if he can use those rotating categories.
I also live overseas, and get really tired of hearing “But this card is so much better than X.”
Just to touch on the other ‘benefits’ of CSP:
-Chip & Sig: Most cards have that now, or will within the next several months
-No FTF: Again, many cards have that, including no annual fee cards.
-Auto Insurance: Probably another half dozen consumer cards offer that, enough that you can churn through them and always have one.
And that’s my point. It’s not that they don’t have benefits… it’s just that other cards can provide those benefits… so why pay?
I have paid the annual fee on Sapphire and likely will again. Two main reasons:
1) Amazing customer service. Apparently, that’s not worth any value based on this very simplistic look at things in the article. Value is NOT all about money. The fact that my card always works and if I have a question I get a helpful representative quickly are two very important things to me.
2) Despite a legitimate business and EIN, I’ve been declined on Ink twice. The applications are getting harder and harder (just read the reports online), so if you want transferable points, you might not get the option to pick and choose. I spend a lot on Freedom and use CSP as a UR transfer medium.
Additional value for all the included insurances on CSP…I’ve never had to use any, but based on my experiences with other banks, I can’t imagine that it’s easy to claim even if a different card offers similar coverage.
I’ve never had to call customer support, but I do know Chase connects you to real people with those cards.
But it’s true that you need the CSP or Ink and if you can’t get the Ink… that’s a bummer.
Did you try calling? Usually they are pretty good with the reconsideration line, especially if you have history with them, use Chase, and haven’t applied for a million cards that month.
Drew, I think I already know the answer, but you should add AMEX Platinum, Citi Prestige and Citi Executive to your lists.
Yea, I thought about the Amex Platinum. It’s (in my opinion) an over rated card and most people justify the $450 by using the $200 airline credits each year, but I generally don’t plan on paying for flights.
Then again… I just paid for the Beijing fare on AA. So for most people, I don’t think the $200 credits make up for the $450 fee. I never used the benefits personally and I got the card once in 2011 for 100k and haven’t since.
Citi exec and prestige is a cancel for sure for me. The fee isn’t even worth the sign up for me. Exec was obviously worth it for 100k if you avoided the fee.
I do like using the AmEx $200 credit for food and beverage on the plane and I must admit the Centurion lounges in the U.S are knock out amazing. Hopefully they will keep adding more…and the car insurance saved us a few hundred bucks in damages a month ago.
I like the Citi Prestige: for Citigold customers (or in branch applications, sometimes) the fee is $350, automatic $250 travel credit, which I use for low cost carrier tickets (often better than miles on network carriers), leaves you with $100 fee. I get more value out of the PriorityPass lounge membership in free meals and drinks alone, not even considering the 3x points on travel spend. And Citi Prestige is much better internationally – fewer blocks than Chase!
It depends on circumstances and retention offers (like you said in your post). Was going to cancel my Amex PRG, but was offered 25k pts as bonus for just paying the fee. Coupled with the airline credits that I can get this year and next on the card, it becomes a no brainer to retain another year.
Yea, if you use the card you can almost expect a retention offer. Especially with Citi. When I canceled my last card I got three different offers. Declined all but, interesting that the agent persisted.
Same here, 25k point retention offer, no spend requirement. I was surprised because I hardly used the card since I got it with the 50k bonus last year. Figure if you wanted to you could just cash it in for $250 (not that you should) there’s no reason not to keep it at that point. Esp since you can’t get the sign up bonus twice anymore. Plus the $100 waiver starting June is just bonus.
It would be hard to convince me to keep the Club Carlson now though…
Anyways, refreshing post compared to so many blogs listing $450 fee cards that are “worth it” to keep.
Agreed. This is a refreshing take, even if I disagree with many of the individual comparisons. Most bloggers stay in many more hotels, and fly much more, than their readers. So it’s great that there is someone willing to admit that there is a reason why CC companies try so hard to keep people.
In my case, though, I don’t own a business, and I am not willing to swap cards every year with a partner. So the CSP is, to my mind, worth a minimum of $75 from maxing the Freedom card (30k points @ 0.25 extra). Add Trip Delay, Baggage Delay, CDW waiver in Europe, are all easily worth more than $20. (And don’t forget the 25% back on magazine purchases through the UR portal for us neanderthals.)
Given that, I conservatively value the CSP at 0.5 cents gained per dollar spend on travel/restaurants (and that’s on domestic economy, which is what I bet most people actually use.)
That said, most people are probably better off (psychologically, if not financially) with the Citi DoubleCash or Fidelity Amex.
United Explorer opens up award inventory. Instead of 2 or 3 seats, there are 8. Do a search on DansDeals. He did a great write up. That card is the only way I got 7 people SFO-DTW on the same flights.
Doesn’t matter to singles or couples, but HUGE to families travelling.
I also like the +10K miles after $25K spend benefit. That’s why I keep this card. We want to fly LH in F just once.
I actually wrote about that last year and tested it out. :-p
http://travelisfree.com/2014/10/27/is-united-award-availability-better-for-credit-card-holders/
#travelfamilyproblems
That’s a good point, but I never said you should go without the United card. 😉
@Tom – I agree with you on AA Executive and AMEX Platinum, but the Citi Prestige is a big ‘it depends’. If someone lives in an AA hub or takes AA a lot, the 1.6 cents/point redemption value with no blackout dates can be a huge benefit, as well as the Admirals Club access when flying AA and Priority Pass (with 2 guests complimentary) when flying anyone else.
Plus, it is the only card I know of where it is a straight $250 airline credit – not just incidentals or limited to a certain airline or requiring a phone call to get it reimbursed – but just a plain airline credit. Air taxes, a cheap flight that didn’t make sense with miles, etc.
While I’m not going to renew after year 1 with it, I can definitely see the value in doing so for some, especially those without status who travel on economy flight awards often and use AA a fair amount.
i love the new video. At least I think it’s new at the top of the page. Anyway, the AA Platinum card 10% return on miles used is a good benefit. I got my 10% miles back not long after I redeemed my miles and was able to cancel my card before ever paying the annual fee. I just ditched my United card when they wouldn’t let me in the lounge with 3 passes and 4 people. I thought you could at least get 1 child in as a guest, but NOPE. Me + 3 children. So… I’ve never been in a lounge and I have multiple passes to do so. We chose to eat wherever we wanted for $25.
Yep, brand new. 😀
You didn’t miss much. Lounges in the US (with exception of the Centurion and a few first class lounges) are bare bones. Peanuts… literally.
Slightly off topic, but I hope you’ll indulge me: what is the best card on which to charge a mistake fare when booking through an OTC?
I got in on the cheap fares to JHS on Friday, and worrying that it might disappear before I paid, I just whipped out my Amex Fidelity 2% card and got it done. (I had reasons to not use Barclays Arr+ but that’s really off topic.)
Reading this post and being reminded of the bennies specific cards have – like trip cancellation insurance – is there a “best” card to use when booking through Expedia, etc. to get a cheap/mistake fare? Would trip cancellation insurance tied to a card be applicable if booking through a OTC?
Thanks!
There was a mistake fare to Greenland? I’m jelly….
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisimiut_Airport
Oops, meant JNB ! I still wonder about the best card when booking through Expedia et. al. ….
Honestly, I’m not sure about that. I dont think a specific card would help for something like a mistake fare being honored. MAYBE it could help if you booked positioning flights and it wasn’t honored. Still a stretch, but I’ve never heard anything about it.
I just pick the best card for earnings on airfare.
At end of the day, everybody’s calculus is a little different. But I have to agree that CSP is one overrated card due to its lack of scalability. By the time you earn 20000 UR with CSP, I have 50000 with Ink. I have United Explorer and intend to fully milk all the benefits it offers (threshold bonus, 50k sign on bonus, and other flight benefits) before I cancel. Chase needs to do something about this card – what’s the point of earning 1 United mile per dollar when there are no companion cert and no elite qualifying miles. Sure with threshold bonus, it’s a WHOPPING 1.4 miles per dollar. You can do much better than that. Only thing it’s good for is the occasional increased shopping portal bonuses for cardholders.
Totally agree. Yes, you can get a spend bonus, but you can surely get a better spend bonus elsewhere.
What’re your thoughts on the Citi Hilton Reserve? Surprised that hasn’t been discussed anywhere yet…
Obviously not worth it. You have to pay $95 and spend $10,000 for one free night. You get some 30k Hilton points too with that spend. Do the math. 2% cashback forgone = $200. 30k points are worth $120ish, so your one free weekend night is costing you $175. I think that is above Drew’s price point. Now if you travel for work, stay at Hiltons and get 10x, that would change everything.
I’m going to do both. 😀
I actually really like the card though. 3x on all spends plus the $10k requirement for the free night is 30k points and a free night for the fee. But better I plan on both. I’ll hit the $10k, but really I’ll cancel before 13 months.
It’s a great card and I could see how someone would easily justify it, but the only reason to keep it is if you plan on getting the 4th free night and that’s another year away.
I like the new design (though the fonts are large), but the video at the top won’t go away and it pushes all your content down. If someone doesn’t want to watch it, is there a way to get rid of it?
Scroll down? It’s just like any other header except with a video.
Honestly, we’re still changing a lot of things this week. Then we’ll try to take in a ton of feedback after a month or so. And really, if you find it annoying, that’s good to know.
My guess is that as we keep the site speed faster, it won’t matter much to people as they can scroll quickly. But maybe you don’t agree?
Of course, scrolling down! 🙂
I work on websites for a living, trying to optimize their design so take my word (or check for yourself) that no major site or blog would block access to content like that permanently. Almost always, there’s either a dismiss option that persists or after a certain amount of time, you’ve made your point with the video. Unless you really think the people whom the video is for (I assume, new visitors) are much more important to attract than usability for existing users.
So do you think any other card worth it’s annual fee other than IHG card? For instance, how do you earn SPG points, which is considered to be the most valuable points out there?
I earn it on the SPG card, but I won’t pay the annual fee. I can’t think of one off the top of my head.
I have to disagree about AMEX PRG. If anything, the new changes to the program make it better. Yes, they raised the AF to $195. But they also added a $100 airline fee credit, which essentially means you have a $95 AF. For that, you get unlimited 2X MR at grocery stores and gas stations, which can be leveraged for a lot more than $95 worth of stuff. Just my 2 cents.
And also forgot to mention, they are adding 2X MR for dining starting some time in June.
I got 5x on groceries already… that seems like a big downgrade for $195 (or $95).
The Southwest card is one with high annual fee and not great benefits (unless maybe if you fly Southwest on paid tickets to earn 2x points). I just cancelled mine.
Yea, agreed. Forget that sucker.
Great post, Drew. I am a newbie in this points and miles game. Recently discovered your site. Have to say, it is hands down best site on this topic!
Like the balance of fees and benefits lens in this post. Do you have any posts/guides on folks like me who are new to this? what would be starter set of cards to get if you don’t have many yet and how do you got about building a good points/miles balance?
Thanks again for awesome site and welcome any suggestions you have for my questions!
Hey Dave, thanks much for commenting.
In terms of earning points, I’d say there are three things I’d recommend.
1) when you sign up for the newsletter you get a “complete guide to earning miles with credit cards” as a sort of welcome gift. If you haven’t signed up, do it. If you already have, dig it up and read it. It’s a GREAT post, if I say so myself.
2) There’s a post on freakinflyers on rules for signing up for credit cards here: http://freakinflyers.com/6-rules-applying-for-miles-credit-cards/
3) Not nearly as complete as the other posts, I had a recent post on my favorite cards: http://travelisfree.com/2015/04/03/4-great-credit-cards-2-great-programs/
Hope this helps, if you need anything, hollar!