kalo93406

My list and what I'm likely going to do. Curious what others are thinking. Some of it is sort of dependent on when annual fees are due, but can get an idea what people are thinking.

-Marriott Boundless - will keep (have ~350k points) and the free night for $95 is worth it for me. But will we be wanting to travel?
-Chase Sapphire Reserve $550(due soon) - Downgraded to Freedom Unlimited a few days ago, not many points as I had transferred them out a while back
-Citi Prestige$495 (due end of April) - Need to transfer 170k points and cancel or will downgrade to Awards Plus soon(most likely).
-Hilton Aspire $450(due early april) - 165k points, might keep this one. Expected to travel early this year and use the free night, they've extended that night until Aug 31 2021, with a second free night for the next year.. might be ok to keep. Would be my only priority pass card, but getting to the point i don't care about PP. Now I just looked and it seems if one cancels the card we will not lose the free weekend night. I think I'm going to cancel this card too. So that's all three $450+ cards out..
-IHG Rewards Club - 90k points, Thinking I might just get rid of this but free night for $49 is ok if traveling enough.
-World of Hyatt - 57k points - might get rid of this, but don't mind keeping, a free night for $95

I use a Fidelity Visa for 2% back on everything. Domestically this is good enough, don't have to think. Also have Mileage Plus (basic), Amex Blue (3% groceries), BOA Cash Rewards (3% in cat of choice)

Last year I was mostly staying paid at Marriott and this year was planning on burning my points at the different chains. That plan is out the window.

The main issue is, if traveling less, I'm not sure I can manage to use all the benefits to make the cards worth it. Anyone else dumping the higher fee credit cards?

platbrownguy

I was just thinking about this. My $450 just hit on the bonvoy brilliant card, but I'll probably call to see if they will suspend it until travel is back to normal. Otherwise I have no use for the 50k night or the 6x points that I'm not earning, so no reason to pay the $450.

Kamalaasaa

The annual fee on my Citi AA World Elite Platinum Select MC came due, and since I have a fee-waived Aviator Card I downgraded the Citi card to a fee-free cash-back card.

JJuice

Will likely dump Chase Sapphire Reserve and keep Marriott Bonvoy. Based on my travel patterns the night credits are beneficial to maintain platinum, while my benefit of Chase is diminished with higher cost.

escapefromphl

I think Amex and Chase points are safer currencies. The distinct possibility exists that some of the individual companies will not be around in 12-18 months.

happychic

I have these annual fees coming up from now till the end of year:

* Barclay AAdvantage Biz: not expecting to fly AA soon so this is of no use to me. Cancel. ($95 fee)
* Barclay Aviator Red: same as above ($95 fee)
* Amex Everyday Preferred: I don't use this much anymore but I have had this card for a while. On the fence depending on retention offer ($95 fee)
* Citi Premier: this card is useless to me now that all the travel protection is gone. Will probably downgrade to a no fee card unless I get a great retention offer ($95 fee)
* Old IHG card: will probably keep as the capped cert is still worth it to me ($49 fee)
* Old Hyatt card: will cancel as I want to make room for the new Hyatt card eventually ($75 fee)
* Amex Hilton Aspire: will cancel. This card has great perks but as I have to jump through hoops to maximize each perk, it just isn't worth it to me anymore ($450 fee)
* Amex Delta Gold Biz: of no use to me since I'm not expecting to fly Delta soon ($95 fee)
* Amex Platinum: of no use to me as the Centurion lounges are closed and I'm not expecting to fly soon anyway ($550 fee)
* Amex Business Platinum: just not worth it to me anymore ($595 fee)
* Chase Ink Preferred: will probably keep as this is the only card I have for UR ($95)
* US Bank Radisson Biz: will keep as 40k pts for $60 is worth it to me ($60)

Reviewing this list, that's quite a number of cancellation coming up for me, athough I am planning on keep a few as well: old IHG, US Bank Radisson Biz, CIP and maybe Amex Everyday Preferred.

EkekoBWI

Barclay Arrival+ : Canceling before the af sticks. Thanks for the $700, though...
BoA Alaska: Canceling 1 of my family's 3; unfortunately, I have rarely made a sizable 'profit' on the Companion Fare (now taxed), Museums on Us doesn't help when museums are closed, and I'm back to being rich in points thanks to redeposits
CSR: Holding it; with the af due in Nov, there's no sense in canceling now
DL AMEX PL: Ditto

hurnik

Dumping:
Delta Amex Reserve (won't be able to use the companion cert at all given that I'll have to rebook this years vacation into next years)
Amex Marriot Bonvoy Business (the 35k certs don't go very far at all with the recent devaluations and category changes). No longer worth it.

Downgrading:
CSR - will change to CSP. Unfortunately won't be able to use the $300 travel credit this year due to rebooking this year's cancelled vacation to next year.

Plus:
spouse will be laid off shortly and I won't be getting a paycheck soon either, so basically any AF card is getting to tossed.

StartinSanDiego

We cancelled a couple of Amex Bonvoy cards that used to be SPG cards. With the category changes making it so difficult to use these in the places we want to go, and the fees that have nearly doubled since the SPG days, Marriott is underwhelming us.

MASTERNC

I did the same with mine. That free night does not have much outsize value anymore.

notquiteaff

I cancelled the Aviator Red ($99 AF) after the last 10,000 RDM bonus posted. They were not willing to offer a downgrade or fee waiver.

I downgraded a Citi AA Gold MC (old card, $59 AF) to the free MileUp card.

I downgraded the Arrivals+ to the basic Arrivals. Main reason for keeping the account at all is the Pin&Chip implementation.

All of these downgrades were in Jan and late Feb and really unrelated to Covid-19. I am looking at a few other cards to get rid off to slim my portfolio:

- old UA Select VISA ($95 AF)
- Chase Marriott Bonvoy something-or-the-other (boundless?) ($95 AF)
- Chase Hyatt (old card, $75 AF just posted)

The big AFs for Amex Plat and Aspire were just paid a couple of months ago. My hope is that Amex is offering some sort of extension or added flexibility for the travel credits if travel continues to be difficult/impossible for a while.

CSR is coming up in September. I already used up the $300 travel credit and got about $100 worth of PP food, so not concerned too much about the CSR.

akr1970akr

We axed the Prestige and CNB Crystal.

Keeping USB AR, and will decide in late summer about the Platinum.

Will also cancel the Citi Premier next fall too.

If travel is out of the picture most of these cards value is not there anymore

RedSun

If you can downgrade and hide those cards, it is better way to manage it.

Redhead

I will likely cancel the Aviator Red in Sept. before the annual fee is due in Oct but that really isn't covid related. Right now, no plans to cancel Citi AA Exec, Priority Club nor Marriott cards - no fees are due until ~Oct. So we'll see where we are at that time

moe8555

I downgraded Aspire to the free version today and hadn't planned to do so prior to the virus.