Originally Posted by
eponymous_coward
This is how it's eventually going to land it looks like, once I downgrade a personal Platinum to a Gold yet again, after a schweet 100K + 5x supermarkets+dining for 6 months upgrade offer (until then I have some other cards that cover at 3x).
It's a mixed AMEX/Capital One combination, with some extra cards for spice (rent coverage being a notable need now that PayPal Key is deceased). The Charles Schwab Platinum variant is used for a 1.1 cpp potential cashout value on AMEX.
Rent: Bilt (1x but nearly impossible to get a credit card rebate without hefty fees and/or nuisance value)
Airfare: mostly AMEX CS Plat (5x), sometimes Hilton Aspire (7x, works well with Delta to get $$ refunded on $250 travel spend a year)
Hotels: mostly AMEX Green (3x), sometimes CS Plat (5x to burn FHR credit), VentureX (10x when burning $300 travel credit, a fallback if AMEX won't work), Aspire (14x on Hilton, burn $250 resort credit), Bonvoy Brilliant (6x, burn $300 Marriott credit, but likely on the kill list this December)
Car rentals, other travel: mostly AMEX Green (3x), VentureX (2x, a fallback if AMEX won't work)
Dining: mostly AMEX Gold (4x), sometimes Capital One Savor One (3x) or Bilt (3x) when AMEX isn't an option
Entertainment: Capital One Savor One (3x)
Groceries: AMEX Gold (4x Supermarkets), Capital One (3x, "Grocery" is a wider category than "Supermarket" and I do shop at places that aren't supermarkets)
Amazon: Amazon Prime Store Card (5%)
Everything else: VentureX (2x)
What else is included by Savor One except supermarkets? I have one store where I go, and it codes as "Misc Food Store, Specialty, Convenience", and it doesn't give 3x on Citi Premier or 4x Amex Gold. That's where I use Altitude Reserve. Actually I use it almost everywhere, including grocery stores.
BTW you can get multiple Citi Custom Cash cards and use each for your categories, up to $500 per month to get 5x, this includes travel, dining, groceries, misc transit, gas, etc. I have 6 of them right now. There is also Brex card which gives 4x for dining.
It seems to me that you have too many overlapping cards, which can be cancelled, such as Gold, Green, etc.
I don't really get the "but you're stranding points by spreading everything out" because for AMEX/Capital One/Bilt there are more than enough overlapping partners I find useful such that nothing is being stranded (at worst it's 1/1.1 cpp cashout value on the AMEX/C1 side, on Bilt I'm pretty sure I can get close to 2 cpp on Hyatt). I get enough value out of the "coupon book" that the Platinum works, and enough out of Green + travel expenses that it works too. Goal is generally a longhaul international trip in J every year or so. I don't own a car, but I do enough carshare and car rentals that an AMEX Green will make sense.
No, Green doesn't make any sense. You better get Brex (8x on carshare), and Ink Preferred (3x on travel).
By cashing your Amex points from Gold's 4x you will only get 4.4% cashback, while paying high annual fees ($695 + $250), while Altitude Reserve will give you 4.5% on almost everything with lower AF ($400, effective $75)