Originally Posted by
sdsearch
But many of the benefits will be duplicates. So if you get both the US card from Barclays and the AA card from Citi (which you may not have to "really" pay an annual fee on for several years), most of the Barclays US card benefits will already be covered by the (cheaper, because of waived/credited AFs) Citi AA card, and therefore all you may really be getting for the $89 is 10k a year and not much else (extra over the Citi AA card). While with the Citi AA card you have historically been able to get 50k once every 1.5 or 2 years with no AF. So how is $89 for an extra 10k a year that great a deal comparatively?
I understand what you are saying. Next year the cards will have the same features. The main difference is that the Barclay card will give me 10,000 bonus miles per year, which is worth more than the $89 annual fee. I do not keep annual fee cards beyond the first year unless I receive something (e.g., 10,000 annual bonus miles, free night at a Hyatt etc.) that has value in excess of the annual fee. I can apply for the Citi card, obtain the sign-up bonus and cancel after a year without paying any annual fee. After that I can re-apply for the another Citi card in 24 months for a new sign-up bonus. Because I am keeping the Barclay card, I would not keep the Citi card after the first year, even for a waived annual fee retention offer.