My wife and I have signed up for many cards in the past year to gather points/miles for our Europe trip next summer (among other things), and some of the annual fees are coming due this month. I'd like to avoid paying too many of these, but am not sure what exactly our strategy should be in terms of keeping cards for various spend purposes/bonuses or additional benefits. Was hoping to get some advice from the general crew. Here's a list of cards we currently have, what we tend to use them for, and when the AF is due. Planning to downgrade most of my wife's cards as we really don't use them, but currently my dilemma is what to do with my own cards, which premium Chase card(s) I should keep (if any) and pay the annual fee on so I can transfer points to partners, etc. For instance, my CSP is my primary spend card and I know it also has no foreign transaction fees, so should I keep that and just downgrade/cancel everything else? Or should I downgrade that card now so I don't have to pay the annual fee and then evaluate what to do with the Ink Plus card next June? What happens to my UR points if I downgrade every card and then I need to transfer points? Should I just wait and see and then maybe open a new Ink or Sapphire Preferred card at a later date when I do need to transfer points? Also, is it worth keeping any SPG cards long-term to use for general spend, seeing as how it's ridiculously difficult to build up any significant amount of Starwood points without signup bonuses? I'm curious about what strategies people use. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! -A

My Cards:
1. Chase Sapphire Preferred (primary general spend, dining) - October 2014
2. Chase Ink Plus (gas, cell bill, cable, Amazon GCs from Staples) - June 2015
3. Chase IHG (new card, planning to keep for the annual free night benefit)
4. Chase Freedom (category bonuses, no annual fee of course)

5. Citi ThankYou Premier (not currently using, but CitiGold so no annual fee)

6. American Express Platinum (Costco, general spend, airline reimbursement, rental/medical coverage, AmexSync deals, MR redemptions/transfers, SPG Gold status, National/Avis/Hertz priority status, lounge access)

7. Amex SPG Personal (picked up for signup bonus and some spend for next summer's trip) June 2015
8. Amex SPG Business (same as personal card) Sept 2015

Wife's Cards:
1. Chase Sapphire Preferred (not currently used, plan to downgrade) Dec 2014
2. Chase Ink Plus (not currently used, plan to downgrade) April 2015
3. Chase United Explorer (free checked bag, priority boarding, lounge access benefits) Dec 2014
4. Chase IHG (new card, planning to keep for annual free night benefit)
5. Chase Freedom (category bonuses, no annual fee)
6. Amex SPG Personal (same as my SPG cards) Sept 2015
7. Amex SPG Business (same as my SPG cards) June 2015