Need Help...a bit over my head at this point, need advice
 

Hi,

Not looking for pity, just wanting advice. I have lyme disease and it's gone more neurological the past few months...I can't seem to keep things organized, so I need some suggestions.

We (my husband and I...but, I'm the one who signed up for all of these and handled the accounts) have the following cards:

(2) United Mileage Plus Explorer
(2) Chase Sapphire Preferred
(1) Chase Ink Business Bold
(1) Chase Ink Business

All have $0 balances, all are going to be up for renewal very soon soon. I don't want to pay an annual fee unless it is going to be beneficial for me.

All accounts have miles/points on them currently (lots, because I was very active when I first learned from all of you how to get the cards and earn the miles).

I had booked 3 round-trip tickets to India, but because of my health I had to cancel them (luckily I didn't lose any points or $$).

I don't know how to proceed with these cards/accounts.

We don't do a lot of product buying, so we don't need/use credit in that way.

We plan on taking a 4 person trip to India from December 2014 to March 2015, so we'll be using miles for purchasing the tickets as well as for paying for travel expenses while in India.

We plan to take smaller trips to places like Thailand, Ireland, and within the US, as well...just not sure on when that will be (possibly a short trip to Thailand before the India trip, depending on my health).

I am at a loss for what our best move would be to save on annual card fees, while also meeting our goal of having the miles still available for travel and at least one card to pay for travel expenses within and outside the USA whenever we travel (and the card, at that point, would need to be able to hold the credit so we can pay it off over time after the trip(s)).

I also have the Miles & More card, but will be canceling that...I wasn't able to keep my thoughts together enough to meet the spend and earn the 2 tickets. :-(

I'm sure others have asked similar questions, but I can't find the answer anywhere.

Can you help me by sharing your experience and knowledge?

Thanks so very much.

Love,

Wendi

first, I hope your health gets better and you are under proper treatment.


Second and more:

1. Do not sign up for any more cards unless you are able to keep things organized, etc. Spread sheets are an easy way to do this. If you are not doing manufactured spending, a spread sheet that is basic is all you need. You can refer to it when you think about signing up for a nother card etc.

2. It is always worth asking the CC company if they can waive the fee or give you an incentive to keep the card. If not, ask if they can downgrade to a no fee card.

3. you may want to consider a chase freedom card to keep one chase ultimate rewards card open to keep all your points as you close the other cards, if you do close them

Anyway, hope things get better.

As long as you keep one of your premium cards, you will not lose your points or the ability to transfer them. You probably don't need to keep all of them anyway, so try to decide which one is the most beneficial to you (for example Ink cards will provide primary rental coverage but only on business trip, while Sapphire WILL NOT). When you decide which card to hold on to, just transfer all your points to that account, and you're good.

Certainly, do take it easy for a while and don't get overworked over this till you get better. Credit cards can wait till you get better. Best wishes.

Thanks, aeneas3 and mnscout.

Of the cards I have, which one is the best to keep for my future needs (using miles to purchase flights to India, Thailand, and within USA, and also using the card for travel expenses like hotel and misc. spending out of the country)? I'd want whatever card I keep to be able to hold a balance so I can pay monthly payments after any trips.

I want to make the best choice for which card(s) are best to keep for my future needs. Sounds like Sapphire is definitely not going to be the best one....but of the others which one would be best to keep for meeting my future needs?

Thanks, again.

I actually think Sapphire is your best bet. Its 2x on all travel and dining most likely beats Ink's 5x at office supply and 2x at hotels/gas for you if you're not actively pursuing MS. It also gives you transferability (United wouldn't). As for using the card during trips and carrying a balance for months after, none of these may be best for that, depending on what APR you have. A non-rewards card with a low APR might be superior even if you have to pay foreign transaction fees, but you'll have to consider a lot of variables in that decision.

I agree to keep sapphire pref. 2x on travel and dinning unless doing MS in office stores and bills ( cable, internet, phone)

Thanks, everyone.

I have a few more questions to help me better understand. Sorry...I really appreciate your help and patience.

* Since I only use the cards to pay for net, phone, office supplies, and gas...Chase Ink Plus Business card seems to be the best card to keep and pay the $95 fee? How much would I need to charge within a year to earn enough points to make that $95 fee worth it, though??

* The Chase Sapphire Preferred Personal card might be a good option to keep because they said there is a 7% bonus for all expenses from Dec-Dec?? How much would I have needed to spend to make that 7% bonus worth the $95 fee? Aside from the cool look/feel of the Sapphire Preferred card, we don't really use it in ways to earn points (because we don't eat out or buy airfare).

* Other than the initial points earned by signing up for the United Mileage Plus Explorer Business card, I don't see a reason to keep this and pay a $95 fee. Am I missing something?

* When calling to cancel the cards I decide we won't keep, if they offer an incentive for more points, how many points would be worth paying the $95 fee? (They said they'd never wave fees, but will offer incentives when I call to cancel each card).

* I'll ask to downgrade to a no-fee card when canceling the cards we aren't keeping. Thanks for that suggestion.

* Since we have cards for in my husband's name and also in my name, is it best to keep one premium card each, or better to only keep one (and if only one, will I be able to transfer points from my cards to his)?

Thanks, again. Sorry if I didn't understand your answers enough, especially if they answered the questions I'm asking here. On a positive note, I am beginning to regain my health and feel a bit more clear-headed at times! :-)

Love,

Wendi

The "how much money do I need to spend to make the annual fee worth it" really depends on how much value you place on the UR points. Let's conservatively say 1.5 cents.

For Chase Ink: You're getting 5x on the office supplies and telecom and 2x on the gas. Let's assume you average out to 4x. If you used a regular card, you'd get 1x, so you're getting a benefit of 3x. 3 * 1.5 cents = 4.5 cents per $ spent. So with a $95 annual fee, you need to spend $2,111 annually to make it worth it.

For Sapphire Preferred: Note that the 7% annual dividend is 7% of the POINTS you earned, not 7% of total spend. Valuing UR at 1.5 cents, you're getting an extra 0.105 cents per $ you spend throughout the year (.07 * 1.5). So you'd need to spend $90,500 to make the annual fee worth it.

Keep in mind that there are a lot of assumptions I've made. You have to do the math yourself with your own valuations and spending patterns to get a more solid answer.

But, important to remember is that there is a no annual fee version of the Ink card (called Classic) which still earns 5x at office supply and telecom and 2x on gas, but is capped at $25K instead of the $50K cap that you get on the Plus. And with the Ink Classic, the points are not transferable to airline and hotel partners. But if your spend is under $25K annually on the 5x categories and under $25K annually on gas, the best combo may be to switch to the Ink Classic (no AF) and keep the Sapphire Preferred. The Sapphire Preferred will make all your points transferable, and you can use it on all your non-bonus spending to get the small 7% bump, and no loss of points by downgrading from Ink Plus to Ink Classic.

The United card offers some perks, but no, it's not worth it to keep just for its regular earning. It gives the free checked bag, no forex fees (which one of your other cards will have), primary rental car coverage, and perhaps most importantly, a 10K miles bonus if you spend $25K in a calendar year. So if you don't care about the side perks and you aren't going to put $25K on it in a calendar year, ditch it. Note that for $25K of non-bonus spend (in a calendar year), it beats the Sapphire Preferred and Ink Plus.

dukerau,

Wow! Thank you so very much!!!

Okay, so I'll ask to downgrade the Ink premium to a no-fee Ink classic, keep the Sapphire Preferred, and cancel the United Explorer. That will cost me $95 and I'll be able to transfer points and have some perks.

Is there an advantage to doing the same for my husband's cards, or no advantage in keeping any other cards than the ones in my name? If it isn't a benefit to keep cards in both our names, will I be able to transfer points from his account to mine?

I'm pretty sure those are my final questions. I can't tell you how relieved I am to have a plan that seems to make some good sense. Thanks, again!!!

Love,

Wendi

I don't think there's any benefit to paying for cards in his name, as his points can be transferred to your account since you're married. If you don't have a Freedom card, it would be a good idea to change one of his cards (either Sapphire Preferred or United) to Freedom. You can also downgrade his Ink Plus to Ink Classic since there's no fee on the Classic and it might be convenient to have two of them. There are also free version of the Sapphire and United cards that offer less perks if you want to keep them open for his credit history benefit. You could also change your United to Freedom if they allow it. Sometimes Freedom's quarterly bonuses are very nice, like the current Amazon.com.

Dukerau,

Again, thanks so much!! I've now added to my plan, based on what you've shared. Here's what I think we'll do:

* Keep my Personal Sapphire Preferred card for a $95 fee
* Transfer all my own points to my Sapphire Preferred card
* Ask to transfer all my husband's points to my Sapphire Preferred card

My other cards:
* Ask to downgrade Personal United Explorer to Freedom card
* Ask to downgrade Business Ink Bold to Ink Classic

Husband's cards:
* Ask to downgrade husband's Personal Sapphire Preferred to a no fee Sapphire
* Ask to downgrade husband's Business United Explorer to Freedom card
* Ask to downgrade husband's Business Ink Plus to Ink Classic

Not sure if we'll run into issues with downgrading cards if some of them are business cards and some of them are personal cards, though??

The changes/plan means we will have all of our points on one card (my Sapphire Preferred) and we also each have United MP accounts with miles in them, also. We'll have cards with no fees (other than the Sapphire Preferred I'll keep), also, to keep our credit scores in good standing.

You are so very sweet, dukerau! Thanks, again!

Let us know if they let you downgrade United Explorer to Freedom.

No problem.

Unfortunately, you cannot set it up so that your husband's points automatically combine with yours, so you'll have to manually combine them when you want to. Log into Chase, click on Ultimate Rewards, under the Earn Faster tab, choose Combine Ultimate Rewards Points. You can do that now and anytime you want to move his points to your accounts or move all your points to the Sapphire Preferred.

You can't cross the biz/personal divide, but Ink Classic and Plus are business while the rest are personal, so no worries there. As LivelyFL implied, converting United to Freedom is a stretch. I would have your husband ask about that first, and if they deny, then downgrade Sapphire Preferred to Freedom. Note that you may have to try multiple times - when I downgraded Sapphire Preferred to Freedom they initially said my account wasn't eligible, but I called back and the second rep was willing to do it.

Chase wouldn't change my Ink Bold to anything else, they said because the Bold is a "charge" card. You can drop the Bold and app for the Classic (that's what I did) or get an AU card on your husband's account.

Why not drop the Bold and app for the Plus if they won't let you downgrade? :D