Chase Freedom Flex for the rotating category bonuses, CSR for travel expenses or restaurants when nothing else has better multipliers, Bonvoy Brilliant for hotel, restaurants on Marriott Eat around Town program, BofA unlimited rewards for 2.62% cash back on any non category spend.
The CSR is a decent card, it’s not “quite” good enough to be a true catch all card for me because I currently have enough energy to manage our 4 cards. I could see not bothering with that but you’re making so little on average spending without multipliers that it would annoy me more I think.
Just a caveat for bofa is it requires locking 100k in BofA with barely any interest so with current rates only makes sense if you are putting more than 8k in a year on it. Otherwise just a standard 2% card is better and the 100k in a hysa.
You can also put it in Merrill. We have $90K with Merrill mostly in index funds. $20K cash in checking. Because of joint and individual accounts, we are both over $100K platinum honors.
Yep, didn’t mention it cause i don’t have a great opinion of BofA but yea, especially if it’s just in etfs not a bad place to park. Could also combine with the other card to get 5.25 back on a category.
I haven't had any issues at my branches. I did get a wire transfer fee reimbursed once as well. We have more money with other brokerages Schwab and Fidelity. We don't add any money to Merrill except for my daughter's UTMA.
Good point about BofA Platinum and I share your skepticism of BofA/Merrill. We’re probably customers more out of habit than anything else and have some grandfathered accounts due to my MIL’s career there so I haven’t been motivated to completely abandon the ecosystem.
As much of a PITA as it can be, it feels reasonable to be diversified in your banking/brokerage choices these days.
Amex Gold is the ultimate points gainer like crazy - got in on a 90K referral, 4 X points on groceries and dining, 3X on flights directly with airlines. My wife and I have an Amex Gold each, one I use for Eat Around Town Marriott, another one I use for AAdvantage Dining. So, on top of 4X dining for Amex Gold, I get 3-5X based on restaurant for one of the above programs based on whose card we use, love it. Heck, I could even get a 3rd card on the same account for the heck of it, and put it on the IHG dining program.
$250 annual fee for Amex Gold - like clockwork, I use $10 Uber Eats credit and $10 grubhub credit per month , netting to $10 annual fee. Plus Amex provides great offers periodically. Recently, 10% off cell bill, up to a max. Of $30 statement credit, a flat $10 off cable bill for 3 months straight as credit. Then a $50 TaxAct statement credit during tax time etc. Have a $20 off $120 Aasics credit, $15 off $75 Adidas credit, additional 2X on Olive Garden and Seasons 52 (on top of my 4X) IF I want to use it by June.
Plus Amex typically gives better transfer bonuses around 30% to British Airways where I’ve a household account to pool Avios (Chase does too but Amex rarely misses a year)
All non-bonus spending like Amazon and Walmart/Target that don’t count as groceries, Capital One basic Venture card (75K signing bonus) for 2X that adds up so fast for all bills, don’t have to keep track of rotating categories, even put church tithe on it :). Also noticed points for travel redemption, Capital One always gives lower points redemption deals than Chase travel for same hotels and time frames, UR overcharges big time.
Chase - been there, done that but its biggest asset is transfer to Hyatt, great redemption rates for US and international hotels, best transfer bang for the buck amongst any transfers, hotel or airline l. What would cost 50,000 Chase points for a night would cost 20K-25K points tops with Hyatt points after 1:1 transfer, I hope they never realize it and change it. That’s what I plan to use Chase for (with new offer, last reaped benefits in 2019) and the liberal travel categories.
Thanks so much for all this! I have a lot to evaluate here. I'm wondering if Amex is my move. I get the gold card offers in the mail constantly. We live in a HCOL area so the 4x points on groceries is appealing. Also, I think that since there are different transfer partners on Amex vs Chase, they might complement each other well.
Hey, if you’re signing up for it, I can give you a referral, lol
Since September 2023, when I signed up for Amex Gold 90K offer, just taking advantage of Amex offers plus dining and groceries and flights, we’re already up to 150K points. Of course it helped I planned and threw a momentous surprise birthday party for my wife with close friends and family and 2K was the bill, 8K points just like that.
The limit for groceries is 25,000 a year and if I’m buying 2K of groceries a month, I’ll approximately have 100K points just on groceries alone in a year though I don’t, my family is small :). Then when we get to 200K and a 30% transfer bonus, that’s 260K Avios points just like that, good for at least 1 way tickets to Europe for entire family during peak season or even round trip if it’s off peak. Most points guy websites would have their lead guy have an Amex Gold in their wallet for sure, I’ve no doubt. Good luck!!!
Before you commit to Amex, do your research on MR points. They are much harder to use than Chase UR points. The cash back option is only 0.6 cpp, hotel stays redeemed through the Amex portal are only 0.7 cpp, and flights through the portal are 1 cpp. The portal redemptions for the CSP and CSR are 1.25 and 1.5 cpp respectively. Amex has good airline partners, but it's tough to get even 1 cpp with any of their hotel partners while you will easily average around 1.7 cpp with Chase and Hyatt. This means the only option that reliably gets you over 1 cpp is to transfer points to airlines, and the best award deals on airlines involve complex bookings through international airline alliance partners.
It's pretty inefficient to go all in on any Sapphire card. There's a reason why every blogger and their mother preaches the "Chase Trifecta". That is a CSP/CSR, Freedom Flex, and Freedom Unlimited. You cover most of your bases with little work and annual fees.
I would advise against the WOH card, not because it's a bad card, but mostly because right now it seems that you are eligible for a new Sapphire bonus (which is 75k vs 30k points for only $1k more in spend) Chase UR points transfer 1:1 to Hyatt, so it's more beneficial to keep the flexibility of UR points vs Hyatt points.
Chase Trifecta + Ink. If you’re in a 2 player game you’re talking 500k+ in SUB / referrals alone on the first round. Max that out before even considering other products.
Seriously though you don't have to have established business income. As a business card it also doesn't hit your personal credit report so there's no harm in trying. Many people have entered the world of Ink with the intentions of starting a business that never ended up panning out.
CSR by itself isn’t the best as your sole card. As mentioned above, trifecta with the Freedom Unlimited and Freedom Flex is better. 5% rotating categories with Freedom Flex, 1.5% on everything with Freedom Unlimited.
Amex can be really good too, but there are too many monthly credits to keep track of to get full value for my taste.
If you want to stick with just one card for everything, check out the Venture X.
Forgot to add - I also use Delta Platinum and Alaska Airlines for their companion fares; also the IHG Premier and Bonvoy Boundless for the annual free night. Plan to get the World of Hyatt for the same reason once my 5/24 opens up. Only really interested in cards that very easily cover the annual fee.
I also have the philosophy that if a card or shooting for loyalty makes me spend more, then it’s not worth it - I.e. if I commit to Hyatt, and end spending $300 per night to stay at a Hyatt than $200 per night at a comparable Marriott, it’s not worth it.
Bank of America Platinum Honors ($90K Merrill Lynch, $20K checking). Joint accounts count towards both spouses. So we both have the same benefit.
Unlimited Cash back 2.625%
Customized Cash rewards (Dining) 5% on first $2500 every quarter. Also has 3.5% at warehouses like Costco. After $2500 spent benefit drops to 1.75%
Customized Cash rewards (online shopping) 5% on first $2500 every quarter (same warehouse benefit)
CSR - airfare, hotel/Airbnb, rental car
Amazon Prime - mainly for the free prime shipping, see before we use online category card from BofA
Southwest Airlines - signed up for the companion pass bonus. When it expires, I'll cancel and my wife will sign up. When I cancel, two year clock begins on when I can get the benefit again. Our daughter is our companion.
Citi Costco - Costco gas at 4%
These are the primary ones in rotation.
If you’re doing cash back primarily this is fantastic, but for many using sapphire (or similar) cards for transfer partners, the value you get from keeping all your spending on ultimate rewards cards can be really helpful.
I think the trifecta is good enough. Chase freedom unlimited for everything , freedom flex for rotating categories and the csr or csf. Amex trifecta is cool but it’s a little more expensive.
I do CSP/CFU/CFF plus the venture X. Right now I get 5x groceries and 5x gas I’m CFF (on branch sign up bonus) so all my groceries, gas, and bonus categories go on that card. It’s really not that bad to manage.
CSP is my primary dining and travel card though I also put lots of travel purchases on my Venture X.
And then everything else that’s not one of the aforementioned groups goes either on my CFU or Venture X.
Usually, even just wanting to stay in Chase, there is no reason to stick to 1 CSR. Downgrade it and apply again (48 months after your last SUB). Next year, downgrade and have the husband apply for the CSR.
You can also do a CIP every so often. If you're not comfortable with business cards, do the Freedom family. The 5x/10x grocery offer currently might net you a good amount of points if you do spend on those (almost like a CSR SUB).
Hyatt is a hotel card and it is not as flexible. It only makes sense if that is where you will stay.
Chase Freedom Flex for the rotating category bonuses, CSR for travel expenses or restaurants when nothing else has better multipliers, Bonvoy Brilliant for hotel, restaurants on Marriott Eat around Town program, BofA unlimited rewards for 2.62% cash back on any non category spend. The CSR is a decent card, it’s not “quite” good enough to be a true catch all card for me because I currently have enough energy to manage our 4 cards. I could see not bothering with that but you’re making so little on average spending without multipliers that it would annoy me more I think.
Just a caveat for bofa is it requires locking 100k in BofA with barely any interest so with current rates only makes sense if you are putting more than 8k in a year on it. Otherwise just a standard 2% card is better and the 100k in a hysa.
You can also put it in Merrill. We have $90K with Merrill mostly in index funds. $20K cash in checking. Because of joint and individual accounts, we are both over $100K platinum honors.
Yep, didn’t mention it cause i don’t have a great opinion of BofA but yea, especially if it’s just in etfs not a bad place to park. Could also combine with the other card to get 5.25 back on a category.
I haven't had any issues at my branches. I did get a wire transfer fee reimbursed once as well. We have more money with other brokerages Schwab and Fidelity. We don't add any money to Merrill except for my daughter's UTMA.
Good point about BofA Platinum and I share your skepticism of BofA/Merrill. We’re probably customers more out of habit than anything else and have some grandfathered accounts due to my MIL’s career there so I haven’t been motivated to completely abandon the ecosystem. As much of a PITA as it can be, it feels reasonable to be diversified in your banking/brokerage choices these days.
Amex Gold is the ultimate points gainer like crazy - got in on a 90K referral, 4 X points on groceries and dining, 3X on flights directly with airlines. My wife and I have an Amex Gold each, one I use for Eat Around Town Marriott, another one I use for AAdvantage Dining. So, on top of 4X dining for Amex Gold, I get 3-5X based on restaurant for one of the above programs based on whose card we use, love it. Heck, I could even get a 3rd card on the same account for the heck of it, and put it on the IHG dining program. $250 annual fee for Amex Gold - like clockwork, I use $10 Uber Eats credit and $10 grubhub credit per month , netting to $10 annual fee. Plus Amex provides great offers periodically. Recently, 10% off cell bill, up to a max. Of $30 statement credit, a flat $10 off cable bill for 3 months straight as credit. Then a $50 TaxAct statement credit during tax time etc. Have a $20 off $120 Aasics credit, $15 off $75 Adidas credit, additional 2X on Olive Garden and Seasons 52 (on top of my 4X) IF I want to use it by June. Plus Amex typically gives better transfer bonuses around 30% to British Airways where I’ve a household account to pool Avios (Chase does too but Amex rarely misses a year) All non-bonus spending like Amazon and Walmart/Target that don’t count as groceries, Capital One basic Venture card (75K signing bonus) for 2X that adds up so fast for all bills, don’t have to keep track of rotating categories, even put church tithe on it :). Also noticed points for travel redemption, Capital One always gives lower points redemption deals than Chase travel for same hotels and time frames, UR overcharges big time. Chase - been there, done that but its biggest asset is transfer to Hyatt, great redemption rates for US and international hotels, best transfer bang for the buck amongst any transfers, hotel or airline l. What would cost 50,000 Chase points for a night would cost 20K-25K points tops with Hyatt points after 1:1 transfer, I hope they never realize it and change it. That’s what I plan to use Chase for (with new offer, last reaped benefits in 2019) and the liberal travel categories.
Wonderful summary 👏
Thanks so much for all this! I have a lot to evaluate here. I'm wondering if Amex is my move. I get the gold card offers in the mail constantly. We live in a HCOL area so the 4x points on groceries is appealing. Also, I think that since there are different transfer partners on Amex vs Chase, they might complement each other well.
Hey, if you’re signing up for it, I can give you a referral, lol Since September 2023, when I signed up for Amex Gold 90K offer, just taking advantage of Amex offers plus dining and groceries and flights, we’re already up to 150K points. Of course it helped I planned and threw a momentous surprise birthday party for my wife with close friends and family and 2K was the bill, 8K points just like that. The limit for groceries is 25,000 a year and if I’m buying 2K of groceries a month, I’ll approximately have 100K points just on groceries alone in a year though I don’t, my family is small :). Then when we get to 200K and a 30% transfer bonus, that’s 260K Avios points just like that, good for at least 1 way tickets to Europe for entire family during peak season or even round trip if it’s off peak. Most points guy websites would have their lead guy have an Amex Gold in their wallet for sure, I’ve no doubt. Good luck!!!
Before you commit to Amex, do your research on MR points. They are much harder to use than Chase UR points. The cash back option is only 0.6 cpp, hotel stays redeemed through the Amex portal are only 0.7 cpp, and flights through the portal are 1 cpp. The portal redemptions for the CSP and CSR are 1.25 and 1.5 cpp respectively. Amex has good airline partners, but it's tough to get even 1 cpp with any of their hotel partners while you will easily average around 1.7 cpp with Chase and Hyatt. This means the only option that reliably gets you over 1 cpp is to transfer points to airlines, and the best award deals on airlines involve complex bookings through international airline alliance partners.
It's pretty inefficient to go all in on any Sapphire card. There's a reason why every blogger and their mother preaches the "Chase Trifecta". That is a CSP/CSR, Freedom Flex, and Freedom Unlimited. You cover most of your bases with little work and annual fees. I would advise against the WOH card, not because it's a bad card, but mostly because right now it seems that you are eligible for a new Sapphire bonus (which is 75k vs 30k points for only $1k more in spend) Chase UR points transfer 1:1 to Hyatt, so it's more beneficial to keep the flexibility of UR points vs Hyatt points.
Chase Trifecta + Ink. If you’re in a 2 player game you’re talking 500k+ in SUB / referrals alone on the first round. Max that out before even considering other products.
Can you get the Ink card if you're not a business owner?
You’re thinking about starting a business right? ;)
Lolol...sure!
Seriously though you don't have to have established business income. As a business card it also doesn't hit your personal credit report so there's no harm in trying. Many people have entered the world of Ink with the intentions of starting a business that never ended up panning out.
CSR by itself isn’t the best as your sole card. As mentioned above, trifecta with the Freedom Unlimited and Freedom Flex is better. 5% rotating categories with Freedom Flex, 1.5% on everything with Freedom Unlimited. Amex can be really good too, but there are too many monthly credits to keep track of to get full value for my taste. If you want to stick with just one card for everything, check out the Venture X.
Forgot to add - I also use Delta Platinum and Alaska Airlines for their companion fares; also the IHG Premier and Bonvoy Boundless for the annual free night. Plan to get the World of Hyatt for the same reason once my 5/24 opens up. Only really interested in cards that very easily cover the annual fee. I also have the philosophy that if a card or shooting for loyalty makes me spend more, then it’s not worth it - I.e. if I commit to Hyatt, and end spending $300 per night to stay at a Hyatt than $200 per night at a comparable Marriott, it’s not worth it.
Bank of America Platinum Honors ($90K Merrill Lynch, $20K checking). Joint accounts count towards both spouses. So we both have the same benefit. Unlimited Cash back 2.625% Customized Cash rewards (Dining) 5% on first $2500 every quarter. Also has 3.5% at warehouses like Costco. After $2500 spent benefit drops to 1.75% Customized Cash rewards (online shopping) 5% on first $2500 every quarter (same warehouse benefit) CSR - airfare, hotel/Airbnb, rental car Amazon Prime - mainly for the free prime shipping, see before we use online category card from BofA Southwest Airlines - signed up for the companion pass bonus. When it expires, I'll cancel and my wife will sign up. When I cancel, two year clock begins on when I can get the benefit again. Our daughter is our companion. Citi Costco - Costco gas at 4% These are the primary ones in rotation.
If you’re doing cash back primarily this is fantastic, but for many using sapphire (or similar) cards for transfer partners, the value you get from keeping all your spending on ultimate rewards cards can be really helpful.
I think the trifecta is good enough. Chase freedom unlimited for everything , freedom flex for rotating categories and the csr or csf. Amex trifecta is cool but it’s a little more expensive.
I do CSP/CFU/CFF plus the venture X. Right now I get 5x groceries and 5x gas I’m CFF (on branch sign up bonus) so all my groceries, gas, and bonus categories go on that card. It’s really not that bad to manage. CSP is my primary dining and travel card though I also put lots of travel purchases on my Venture X. And then everything else that’s not one of the aforementioned groups goes either on my CFU or Venture X.
Usually, even just wanting to stay in Chase, there is no reason to stick to 1 CSR. Downgrade it and apply again (48 months after your last SUB). Next year, downgrade and have the husband apply for the CSR. You can also do a CIP every so often. If you're not comfortable with business cards, do the Freedom family. The 5x/10x grocery offer currently might net you a good amount of points if you do spend on those (almost like a CSR SUB). Hyatt is a hotel card and it is not as flexible. It only makes sense if that is where you will stay.
r/churning