Eujeanie

Did you happen to ask Amex if they had any plans to extend either/both the airline credit or the resort credit? If they say you can use both next year, $500 each, then I'd hold onto the cards. If they say "use it or lose it" this year, then I think they are going to see a lot of cancellations.

yugi

So far this and last year I cancelled 2 Amex Platinums, Amex Business Gold, downgraded Aviator Red to no AF card, cancelled 2 Aviator Reds, 2 Wyndham cards, 2 CNB Crystals.
Right now I have the following AF cards: Amex Gold, Hiton Aspire and Surpass, Citi Prestige, 3 Premier, AT&T Access More, CSR, 2 Hyatt, 2 old IHG, Amex Green, USB Altitude Reserve, Flexperks Visa, 2 Radisson cards, Amex Bonvoy.
If I can't get airline and resort credits from Apsire, I'm gonna cancel it and keep Surpass.
Amex Gold - if I can't get airline credit, replace with Amex EDP.
CSR - downgrade to CSP.
Keep Prestige, Premier, AT&T AM, and USB AR.
Keep Hyatt, IHG.
Downgrade Flexperks to Cash+
Keep 2 Radisson cards.
Cancel Amex Green.
Not sure about Amex Bonvoy, probably cancel.

moe8555

I did not. I hope to be able to upgrade back before the year is over and still use them, but would rather not pay the $450 now in face of uncertainty.

good_boy_1234

dude are you serious? How were you able to downgrade aviator to no annual fee card when others above mentioned they were unable to do it and how even you were able to have 3 aviator cards and 2 CNBs

yugi

I was not able to downgrade 2 of them, but they offered me to downgrade one + 2500 miles. This is together with my P2, for whom I manage everything.
It was possible. I had 2 Aviators and P2 had one. Dude, we have 6 Freedoms alltoghether!
And I alone have 3 Premiers, 3 Rewards+, and 2 TY Preferred cards.

CO-PLAT

I've got:
Chase Sapphire Reserve Visa - $550 annual fee - doesn't renew until September
Discover - No annual fee. I've had this card for 20+ years. 1% cashback + 5% cashback only in certain categories that change every quarter
Capital One Venture Visa - $95 annual fee that they just waived for me
American Express Corporate - $55 annual fee. This is the green one my employer forces me to have and use for all business expenses.

I'm thinking of getting rid of the Discover and Capital One Visa (next year if they don't waive the $95 fee again) and replacing with a simpler 2% cashback card. I would ideally like the Costco Visa, but we piggyback off my wife's family's account so I can't apply for this card at my address. The Citibank 2% card would be an obvious choice, but its a MasterCard and we want a Visa to enable shopping at Costco. My Chase Sapphire Reserve Visa is only one card in my name. Chase makes you pay extra for a second card and I won't do that.

I certainly utilize the $300 travel credit each year on the Chase Sapphire Reserve Visa and do get use out of the Priority Pass Select membership as I'm PDX based, however the benefits are continually degraded.

Is there a 2%, no annual fee Visa out there for me? I don't have a Fidelity account.

freeflyin

Is there a specific reason for jettisoning the Discover? As a no annual fee card, I find the 5% categories are useful,at least in my case.

The Citi Double Cash is our general use card, outside categories that offer more than 2% on other cards.

If you are looking for a Visa simply to use at Costco, there is a way to use a Citi MC, although it takes an extra step. You can purchase Costco Cash cards online with any card,except Amex, for use in the warehouse

Just as an FYI- Discover has warehouse clubs as a 5% category in Q2. You could load up on Costco Cash cards for now, until you finalize your decisions

mileshound

Did you put much spending on the capital one card? My AF just hit and I do not want to pay. I have used very sparingly since the min spend was met. I have points I need to transfer 1st but prefer the annual fee is waived to give me time.

CO-PLAT

Around $2K/month plus one month last year at $17K.

CO-PLAT

Thanks. If I use Discover to buy Costco Cash cards online, do my in-laws get the 2% rebate against their Costco Executive Membership?

mileshound

They waived my fee too. Was 1st year of the card and had minimal spend except for the required amount for the bonus. I also have a savings account which may have helped.

eponymous_coward

Keep:

Amex Green: just got this in Feb 2020, I love the rewards structure (3x dining/ALL travel) plus $100 Clear credit + $100 LoungeBuddy credit makes this a long term keeper at $150 annual fee. I like this card so much I probably will do Gold/Platinum upgrade daisy chain as separate cards (and Gold/Platinum are much less likely long term keepers than Green, except maybe for the Schwab Platinum).
Amex Hilton: just got this March 2020, no annual fee plus 5x HH on groceries (so pencils for me to a ~2.5% card on grocery spend when I don't have a revolving bonus card that does better), need to spend $1k in 6 months for a 75k HH bonus, so easy peasy. Eventually will do the Hilton->Surpass->Aspire daisy chain of upgrades/signup bonuses, though likely either the plain Hilton or the Surpass is best for my needs (so might not ever go to Aspire without a compelling bonus).

Depends on Retention Offer:

Capital One Venture: either AF is waived, a reasonable retention offer is made, or it gets downgraded to no-AF VentureOne, or the credit limit just combined to an existing QuickSilver and closed.

Ditch for sure:

Synchrony Cathay Pacific card from Synchrony: this was ALWAYS a churn and burn for the $95 fee/40k miles for 2k spend bonus, but the earn structure is mostly a bad joke compared to Amex Green (1.5 CX miles for dining or 3 on my AMEX Green? Um, duh? 2 miles for a CX ticket or 3 from the AMEX Green? Um, duh? The ONLY place where this might not be completely stupid is for 1.5 miles/dollar on international spend, but guess what? Not doing much of that- plus I could get 1.5% cash on that Quicksilver.)

Fidelity accounts aren't difficult to come by, and their Cash Management debit card has the Schwab feature of rebating ALL ATM fees, international or domestic, even the ones imposed by the government of Thailand. I've been a happy Fidelity customer for over 20 years (work relationship through my 401k at former employers, but have brought business to them because I've been so satisfied dealing with them as a broker and financial services provider).

The Fidelity Rewards Visa is a nice 2% card but with one major downfall: a 1% fee for any international transaction (read: non-US denominated- it applies to the Fidelity debit card too but I just use it as an ATM card overseas for petty cash, fee does NOT apply for that). This is why the Capital One QuickSilver is a keeper for me (1.5%, no annual fee, no international transaction surcharge)- I use a card overseas or on a non-USD transaction enough to want to have that option, and AMEX won't work everywhere overseas. Citi Double Cash is a 3% international transaction fee, so that's going to be a hard "no" from me.

Totoro

I find the certs from the $95-annual fee Marriott cards, World of Hyatt cards and IHG cards fairly easy to use at airport properties, suburbs or somewhere off an interstate. I decided to keep these cards and agree with your assessment for keeping these cards.

Quite fortuitously, my Citi Prestige annual fee hit just before the COVID-19 mess began, and I made an emotionally charged decision to cancel after they removed trip-delay insurance (this was my last straw). In retrospect, this was a great decision since 5xTYP for airfare doesn't do me a good without airfare purchases in the forseeable future.

My AMEX Hilton Aspire annual fee hit just after the COVID-19 mess began, and I made a rational decision to down-grade to the no-fee HHonors card. In my view, I may likely not have enough airline fees to claim back the $200 airline fee credit, and I likely won't have the opportunity to use the $250 Hilton resort credit (probably the two biggest benefits). I really like this card's benefits, but I just don't see myself utilizing them sufficiently to offset the annual fee this year. I also don't like that AMEX-paid Priority Pass memberships don't include access to non-lounge options.

I think you made the correct choice to downgrade the CSR to Freedom. In retrospect, I wish that I had done the same. Seeing that I could pay the same annual fee for the upcoming year (rather than the $100 hike) seduced me into keeping it. Unfortunately for me, this annual fee hit before COVID-19, or I would otherwise definitely have downgraded to Freedom.

blaz

The annual fee for my CSR hit on Feb 1 and posted on the Feb 24 statement - perfect timing. I have already used this year's $300 travel credit. With no travel planned, I didn't make sense to keep the account. I moved some of the credit line to my Freedom and closed the account. I still have the Freedom and Freedom Unlimited, so I can upgrade one of those two back to the CSR once I start traveling again.

The Amex Platinum AF hits in October, so I have quite some time to make a decision on its fate.

In the mean time, if there's any dining spend (highly unlikely) it will go on the no-AF Wells Fargo Propel for 3% cash back.

yugi

Blispay Visa. No AF.
PenFed Power Cash Rewards Visa (with Honors Advantage) - 2%. No AF, no FTF.
State Department Federal CU Premium Cashback+ Visa - 2%, no AF, no FTF.
Also US Bank Altitude Reserve for mobile payments, if you spend more than $3000 per year for in-person transactions makes sense compared to 2% cashback.
Why exactly do you need visa? MC not good enough (Citi DC)?