craigm11

I have had the freedom for many years and decided to add the Marriot and the Sapphire Preferred to the mix. Any thoughts on the ways to maximize my rewards with these 3 cards???


craigm

mia

Welcome to FlyerTalk.

This question is too open-ended. I suggest you outline your own thinking and others will help you refine it.

lebowski2222

With the Marriott card, I would just get the bonus then sockdraw it and keep it for the annual free night for a category 1-5. That card is not very good.

craigm11

I currently have my bill pays going to the Marriott about 1k a month and have been using the Sapphire for regular spending. Nice to know what I'm spending vs what are actual bills the freedom I figure I will just use for 5% categories. I just wonder using the Marriott am I losing flexibility and the 7% dividend from the Sapphire is it worth using.

craigm

ChicagoDave

I would use the Marriott card for all Marriott stays, but before you sign up, I suggest you read this thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...mier-visa.html

The Freedom has some very good 5% quarterly promotions, so I recommend taking advantage of those.

In regards to the Sapphire, that's my go to card since most of my spending is restaurants or travel, which are the 2% categories.

To best answer your question, it would help to know what are your biggest spending categories, and what your goals are.

highops

The Marriott's 2% categories are a subset of the CSP categories. So mostly use the CSP since you could (shouldn't) transfer to Marriott anyway.

The only exception I could see is if you valued Marriott status highly for some reason you could spend yourself to status at $3000/stay. OF course if you aren't staying at Marriotts often the status probably isn't worth it and if you are you have status.

bitachu

i just hope you saved all your freedom points and moved them over to csp pts

craigm11

I really haven't used the freedom much, just occasional I have been an avid Amex user have the cash blue grandfathered gas,drug and supermarket 5%. I have a 34k limit and have been spending between 35-50k a year through them I went to get a SPG card and since i had a charge off with them in 94 bankruptcy they won't give me the SPG card I had my wife take out the SPG and get the 30k bonus and they won't even make me an authorized user on the account, so my second choice was the Marriot I was able to get the 70k bonus. After I had the card for a week my co-worker got the Sapphire preferred and I looked at it and it looks like it's more flexible so I applied and got that. Out of spite I'm not going to use the amex any more. I have the Sapphire in my wallet for everyday purchases and the freedom for gas this quarter. I took all my bill pays off of amex and put them on the marriot just so I can separate bill pays from my monthly spending. Just wondering if that's even worth it, should I just be pumping it all through the Sapphire

jennbar

I have a similar set of CC: Hyatt CC, CSP, Freedom, and BCP.

I'll ignore the BCP, but my system for the remaing three is this--
Hyatt--ONLY Hyatt stays
Freedom--ONLY 5% categories
CSP--everything else because I can transfer any points I need to Hyatt, as you can to Marriott

I just use the Hyatt card for status purposes and 8x Hyatt Gold Passport points. (3x for credit card + 5x for gold passport points)

craigm11

jennbar, do you ever use the bcp for any of the catergories like supermarket??

chase doesn't care that you never use the hyatt card??

jennbar

I do use the BCP for groceries and maxed the $6k limit with my tuition this year through Kroger and BB. Just didn't say it because you don't have it!

I don't use it for gas because I have a TE business card so 4% off at Costco gas.

I stay at Hyatts at least once a month, so it's active but not for much more. I also get 2x on dining (similar to CSP) but gold passport points are not as valuable as ur are to me. However if I didn't stay at a hotel every month, I would bring it out once a week maybe for Starbucks.

TKKY

Good info. Thanks.

calwatch

Remember that if you have Freedom Exclusives (with a Chase checking account) Freedom is actually a 1.1 points per dollar (compared to CSP 1.07). I ACH push my payment into my Chase checking, then pay my CC from Chase checking to maintain the minimum direct deposit requirement. I generally split between CSP and Freedom depending on how much balance I am floating on each one (trying to not go too high on statement posting).

jjmiller69

Freedom for the 5% catagories(gasoline paid big this quarter). Marriot for stays and annual free night. CSP for everything else. They all work pretty well for certain items.