Originally Posted by
bribro
I'm not sure I follow you here. CSP and Ink have fixed categories so the only time you have to spend "gaming the system" is pulling the right CC out when you purchase something. Freedom's 5x categories only change once a quarter, so not much time or effort required there either.
Point being that rotating bonuses, even quarterly, probably incentivize account holders on a large scale to spend more in categories (or with specific merchant options) they may not otherwise have done so. Presumably if you would be spending on those specific merchants and categories over the year you might be able to time some things to maximize the benefit, which is more "gamey" (at the very least, takes more effort). Otherwise you rely on the categories aligning with your passive, unbiased spending patterns, which I have some trouble with is all.
I'd guess, based on how people tend to idealize in hypothetical behavior, that some consumers are overly favorable and calculate a best-case scenario where 5x applies to everything possible. It's hard to factor this even in a pretty robust model.
Originally Posted by
bribro
Chase is pretty consistent about giving retention bonuses on their Ink cards so I consider them no AF CCs for all intents and purposes. Even if I had to pay the $95 AF without an offsetting retention bonus, my cell phone and cable bills alone more than pay for the AF, and both of those are on auto-pay so no time or effort required.
Great! That's excellent. I would not personally characterize a card as effectively being zero fee based on some variable, which fuels the psychology that can make these instruments become insidiously expensive (e.g. driving higher spending, which is well documented). For some people, it may also lead to making false comparisons to products in different categories, which further reinforces the value image ("It's essentially zero fee for me yet has all these other great perks! It's as if it's for free!")
There is a fee, or there is not a fee. Just as valid a way of looking at it is that "x" reward is wiped out by overhead of an annual fee! I think it's best to acknowledge there is a fee, but there might be a greater aggregate return given specific conditions.
Originally Posted by
bribro
Is there a CC that earns 4x in flexible CC points on flights? I thought the best MR card for that was PRG at 3x, comparable to the CSP's 3.21x when you book through the UR website.
Booking on the Amex travel website yields an additional point per dollar on full MR cards. So the PRG actually does provide 4x MR for airfare booked on their travel site, if I am not mistaken. This applies to Platinum as well, so you do technically get 2x MR on airfare through their site. It may not be the best value vs booking through other channels.
Originally Posted by
bribro
Can you describe some scenarios where a different combination (MR or otherwise) comes out ahead of the Chase Freedom/CSP/Ink combo?
Hey, play with the spreadsheet!!
I haven't yet bothered plugging in a model with the Freedom because I'm not certain on a fair way to factor in the bonus timing. That said, if you are a single person with a total ~$18K spend:
• Cell phone and high speed internet (~$170/mo?)
• Grocery spend around $75/week (half of
this poll)
• $200/mo or $6/day on restaurants
• $500-700 or so in other tuff
Places the Chase Ink/CSP and combined (1.9-2.6%) well ahead of PRG (1.7%) but neck-in-neck with Everyday (2.4%) and far below the Everyday Preferred (4%). At this budget point the cell phone and internet become some of the biggest expenditures (which kind of blows hard) and the Chase Ink alone isn't a bad deal.
However this all assumes point values as if redeemed with a transfer partner (around 2¢). At lower spend levels
are you getting enough to usefully apply toward award travel? It seems to me that across the board, with lower budgets it might actually be more useful to look at cash rewards, and redeeming UR for statement credit or cash (1¢) you are much better off with the Blue Cash Preferred or Cap One Quicksilver.