safra1

Question about having 2 premium cards with high annual fees.

I have the AMEX Platinum card as well as 3 Citi AA Platinum/World Elite cards, the 3 of which provide similar benefits (each with $95 annual fee obtained for churning purposes), and I am now considering converting two to the Citi AA Bronze (with no annual fee) and one to the Citi AA Executive (w/ $450 fee). I would rather convert the existing cards than cancel them so as not to affect my credit score, and Citi has confirmed this can be done.

I love the AMEX Platinum Card, but am of course disappointed in the loss of lounge access. Regarding the benefits between the two cards, there is some overlap such as the concierge service, but was thinking it would be good to have waived foreign transaction fees on a MC while traveling abroad. Also, while I prefer Centurion lounges where available, was thinking it would be worth supplementing with AA lounge access as going forward. Any thoughts? Thx

WheelsFirst

You can certainly do this, I think the AA Exec and Amex Plat go well together. I wouldn't do it though because you lose the 50K signup bonus on the Exec, I'd personally get a retention offer one Plat, keep it for the 10% mileage rebate, convert the other to the doublecash and then app for the Exec. If you really don't want a credit reporting action I suppose it's fine.

Another route is to convert one to the Citi Prestige. The Prestige is a cheaper card than the Exec after you subtract the $250 in airline credits it's only $200 a year, and it offers a better version of Priority Pass than the Amex (allows 2 guests for free). The biggest downsides (besides the horrible design of the card) are that you don't get the other AA benefits like Priority Access, and you can only use the Admirals club when flying AA).

eajusa

Citi Prestige is a better companion with the Amex Plat.

diver858

From my experience, what I have read in the AMEX forum, there are no Plat retention offers - just downgrades.

taliesin

This comment was referring to the retention offer on the Citi AA Platinum. And i agree that it's well worth keeping at least one AA Platinum (or Barclays US/AA card) to get the 10% redemption rebate. (That alone justifies the annual fee.) And I also agree that unless you really need the EQMs and want to do the spend to get them, the Citi Prestige is almost certainly a better choice than the Exec.

FallenPlat

I currently have the Amex Platinum ($50 first-year net) and the Citi Exec ($250 first-year net).

This month, I'm replacing the Citi Exec with the Prestige ($100 net with a Citi Gold or better bank account), which I intend to keep going forward for (i) the Admirals Club access, (ii) the triple points on air/hotels, and (iii) the 1.6x on all points (if used for AA tickets) including non-transferable Citi banking-side points. The better (than Amex) version of Priority Pass and the no FX fees are good, too.

Later this year, I'll replace the Amex Platinum with the Everyday.

The reason all this makes sense for me is that I'm an AA hub captive and I'm already Gold for life, which means that (i) Admirals Club access is a non-negotiable "must have" and (ii) I don't need any of the Exec's other benefits.

And I'm simply not going to pay $250 (net) per year just so I can get into the Centurion Lounge at LGA when I'm flying Spirit.

safra1

Actually, there are AMEX platinum retention offers - I received 50k membership rewards points this year for instance. However, there are no retention offers for the Citi AA platinum select level cards (which have $95 AF).

eajusa

Bronze??

safra1

Yes, there is a Bronze card. It is not advertised on the Citi website anymore, but it provides 1 AA mile for every $2 spent, and it has no annual fee.


Per this website: http://www.askmrcreditcard.com/citi/aadvantage/bronze/

It is pretty rare for a frequent flyer card to have no annual fee. But this is one of the rare exceptions. Bear in mind that this card is no longer listed on Citi's site. But it is still available - but only if you have a higher version of the AA card and are looking to downgrade to this version.

eajusa

Thanks for the info.

FallenPlat

I would respectfully point out that Bronze makes zero sense at any level of analysis. On the no-fee front, the Citi 2% cash back card is a much better bet even if you were to value AA miles at 1.8 cents (which is likely a shade too high).

safra1

I won't be planning to use the Bronze card at all - just seeking to keep the account open so as not to take a credit hit (by canceling a card or reducing overall available credit) and no longer pay the platinum select annual fee.

eajusa

Yes. Occasionally, wise to keep a card open for the AAOA.

WheelsFirst

Except that your AAOA includes closed accounts for 10 years, anyways, glad the OP is happy with the outcome. Good to know there are options.

MrPink

If you don't already have it, citi will probably happily convert it to the doublecash card for you. I don't think there's a signup bonus on it so you're not going to miss out on anything there. Last september that was their first suggestion when I called to cancel.