Which Card (to replace Platinum)?
 

I have a Schwab Platinum Card ($495) and a Blue Cash Back ( $95). We don't travel anymore and most of our expenses are food related. ( grocery restaurants, gas etc). I was thinking of Applying for a Gold, instead of downgrading to get the bonus, then canceling the Platinum, downgrading the Blue to no-fee so as not to lose the credit and letting the Gold become our main card. I do get a little ego whipping out a platinum... but they are pretty common now.

Thoughts?

I am assuming you are quoting the Amex platinum fee after the Schwab bonus kicks in.

If you are not planning to travel, how do you plan to use your points - Schwab allows you to transfer the points to you account with a 10% bonus.

Good question.

The platinum is fairly new ( although I had one years ago when I did travel) ...before that I was using the blue card for everything. I haven't given it any thought how to use the points honestly. Which maybe, putting my ego aside, I should just go back to the blue card for everything as I like cash back.

I think this is really the starting point. As well as, estimate in which categories you spend how much. Basically, with zero travel, you should not care about any travel benefits (insurance, hotel benefits, …) and to me it boils down to maximizing cash back and maybe having some purchase protections if you have purchases that could benefit from it. 2% cashback should be the minimum you can relatively easily get without paying a dime in annual fees. If you consider a card like the AmexGold card that gives you more in certain categories, will you be able to overcome the annual fee drag on those earnings?

I personally haven’t done that analysis, but I think if and when I get to the point of not caring about anything travel anymore, I would probably eliminate all my current cards and get a couple of 2% cash back cards (for redundancy) and call it a day.

I think you mean Blue Cash Preferred which earns 6% at supermarkets (and two other categories, capped at $6,000 spend per year) and 3% on gasoline. No bonus at restaurants. 1% for general spending. Unless you spend substantially more than $500/month on groceries I don't see that Gold adds enough value to justify the $250 fee.

Are you going to cash out your existing Membership Rewards balance through Schwab at $0,011/point before closing the Platinum?

Yes... because if I do not go for the gold I would not have any M.R. point earning cards.

If you are no longer plan to travel, what value do MR points, as a currency, have for you? Why would you be considering getting the Gold card? Why not, as others have recommended, just cash out via Schwab and shift to cash back going forward. Seems getting a Gold, with a SUB, just muddies the waters because 1) you don't plan to travel and 2) you will not be holding the Schwab card and thus no longer have that as a cash out option.

Regards

P.S. Also, it should be noted that you actually cannot downgrade a Schwab Platinum to an Amex Gold, not possible. So that actually isn't an option. You can do that from a vanilla Platinum but not a co-branded one.

Thanks all for some great advice. I will cancel the Plat. and start using the Blue Cash Preferred for my go to again

. Does anyone know....if I cancel the Schwab Plat which I opened in October...would I get a prorated refund on my annual fee? The CSR I talked to thought I would but could not say how much.

Hmmm... that doesn't sound right to me. I'm sure others may chime in, but my understanding is that Amex no longer gives a pro-rated refund of an annual fee if you choose to close the account during a membership year (they used to). They will give a prorated refund if you downgrade a card, but as mentioned, the Schwab Platinum card can't be downgraded.

So I don't think this is possible unless they make an exception for you, based on your circumstances perhaps, or if they handle a Schwab card differently since it can't be downgraded? But I'm betting on no prorated refund.

Regards

Makes sense.... my conversation with the CSR was about downgrading to the Gold and she thought it would be prorated but my guess is that she did know know a branded card was not down gradable. I'll keep it for the year, build more points, move the points to cash in my Schwab account and just not renew.

For which spend categories would you use the Schwab Plat for the remaining time?

Everything but groceries and gas.

Alternatively, you may want to check out these 3 AMEX No Fee Cards:
Blue Cash Everyday
AMEX Everyday Credit Card
Cash Magnet Card
Depending on your anticipated spend, one or more may be the best choice.

Here is why I asked: You would continue to earn 1X MR on those purchases, which you will then turn into 1.1 cents per MR when transferring to Schwab. You could easily and immediately nearly-double that reward by getting a 2% cashback card such as the Citi DoubleCash MC card. This is independent of the decision on whether to keep the Schwab Plat until the next AF is due or not. I believe with a bit more effort you could earn around 2.6% with a BofA card (but I am not an expert on which card you need, and I believe it requires parking $100k in a BofA or Merrill Edge account).

Using the Platinum card for everyday spend (or really, pretty much anything other than airfare and maybe purchases covered by the Amex coupon book or Amex offers) is resulting in a poor return, especially if cashed out for 1.1 cents.

If they have a Schwab Platinum they could also consider the Schwab Investor card. Its a Cash Magnet but the cash back goes into your schwab account instead of a statement credit.