Card for Residency Interviews
 

I'm a medical student who is getting ready to do some traveling for residency interviews. I'm looking at getting a card that I can use to give me rewards for my interview travel, but is still something I can keep and use after interviews are done. The cards I'm considering are the CSP, Barclay Arrival +, and AMEX Everyday Preferred. A little bit about my spending: I spend $2000-2500 each month, the majority of it groceries, dining, gas. I'll be spending quite a bit (for me) on travel over these interview months, but typically I fly domestically a handful of times a year. My wife's family recently moved away, so she's going to be flying more often, so having a card that gives travel rewards is something I'm interested in.

CSP: I like the signup bonus and that I can use UR points for Southwest tickets, but I'm not sure how valuable the card will be after the interview season since I wouldn't be spending very much on travel.

Barclay Arrival +: Again I like the signup bonus, and I like the simplicity of this card and that I get 2x points on all spending, which is great since outside of this interview season most of my spending is on non-travel categories.

AMEX EDP: it seems like this card makes sense for the purchases I usually make (gas, groceries), but I'm not sure the value of the MR points compared to using UR points with CSP.

Any suggestions or advice would be great! Thanks!

Unless your home airport is a hub of one airline, my guess is that you'll be taking a different airline for each trip. Google flights and/or kayak is your best friend as an MS4; you'll be spending more on interview travel than you think. Hopefully you're applying into one of the few specialties that still covers hotel rooms.

As for the cards you mentioned, the CSP is probably the most versatile, has the best signup bonus and is easiest to use the points. At the end of the year, if you find you're not getting the 2x points enough of the time (I average about 1.6 points per dollar every month) then you can always switch to one of the others.

Don't be distracted by the number of points, look at their value. Programs which award two points per dollar on all spending generally set the redemption value lower than programs which award miles or points which convert 1:1 into miles. Arrival+ may still be the best value for your situation, but do the arithmetic.

Indeed, CSP is one of my favs. Good customer service to boot (real live Americans answer the phone!)

BUT, unless you're going to be able to maximize it's travel benefits, which probably won't happen when your paid 2-5 year enslavement begins, you might want to look at one of the cash back cards instead. t

In general MR > UR, but minimal difference, especially if you're not piling $ on the card.

You might want to consider Citi's Double Cash, 2% on everything.

Welcome to FT, OP.

As always, I would like to bring a new twist to the recommendation - How about WN RR Cards from Chase:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...ts-offers.html

The cards are not good for everyday usage. However, if you can get both RR Premier and Plus cards (50K+50K) together, you will be very close to get a CP (110K).

Since you can achieve more with these 2 cards than the CSP. I think you should think about it.

The only bad news is they both carry an AF that are not waived.