Adelphos

For years, problem emphasizes earning as much in the various ecosystems (Chase, Amex, Citi) as possible. Now reading FT, people seem to be disenchanted with major transferable currency cards

1) Amex Platinum seems less popular after the fee increase
2) People are wondering whether CSR is worth $550
3) Citi Prestige is gone, people don’t seem to like Citi Premier
4) Capital One has a bad reputation

In contrast, I have seen people talk up Hyatt, United, even Delta cards.

Clearly right now people like the offers on the CSP and maybe Amex Plat for new cards, but it seems like many are shifting away from the ecosystem to more specific cards or cash back.

Thoughts?

garykung

People are welcome to do whatever they want. Bottom line - credit card is personalized and not necessary one-fits-all. This is something that many can't understand.

mia

Any price increase generates outrage on Flyertalk, but the effect is transient.

I think many are sitting on large balances of miles and points, and so it seems uninteresting to earn more. However, travel costs are still reduced due to the pandemic, and as demand increases the buying power of miles and points will increase, while the travel buying power of cash will be diminished.

LETTERBOY

Having transferrable points still insulates (to an extent) from getting screwed if a FF program devalues.

moe8555

I dunno, I'm pretty happy about redeeming 18400 Qantas points (that were transferred in with an additional bonus) for a domestic F flight on AA priced at >$500 last month

jags86

100%. I’m sitting on early 2,000,000 transferable points between AMEX, Chase, and Citi. I’m sure I’m a lightweight compared to others. I’m much more interested in maxing out cash back opportunities now. More transferable points don’t do anything for me and with all the huge offers out there now I can earn points faster than I can spend them. But I always end up reluctant redeeming my transferable points for cash because I know I could “do better”. The pandemic is far from over in much of the world — including the US — which means I’m unlikely to be going on trips where spending tons of points is going to happen.

tmiw

Not to mention that it's very likely at least some of the changes the pandemic brought on (such as working from home at least part of the time and doing Zoom calls over in-person meetings) will be permanent, which surely will continue to have some impact on people's travel. For instance, I'm personally considering going mostly to a low/no-AF cash back strategy (or at the very least, downgrading/canceling cards like the CSR) simply because the reduction in dining out and travel that happened on our part is probably going to stick around for quite a while.

M60_to_LGA

Personally, I'm a lightweight when it comes to most of the people on this site. Before the pandemic, I would travel maybe 2-3x internationally and a handful of times domestically for work each year, plus a couple of leisure trips to Canada and maybe two long-haul international trips for vacation. Before everyone started basing qualification on dollars spent, I was able to qualify for the lowest elite level due to distance traveled (at various points had status on AC and AA), but I tend to book the cheapest flights available (including BE), so no more.

Even so, I have more miles and points than I reasonably know what to do with over the next few years. Also, having changed jobs last year at the start of the pandemic, and with future work travel opportunities looking constricted, I see even less value in accumulating travel-specific points that I may not have a chance to use. So for me, cash is now king. I'd much rather take the bird in the hand of 5% cash back on whatever category than the uncertain value of some reward mile or point that may not be easy to use. Discover is doing 5% on restaurants this quarter, for example, and I can get 2%-5% on other categories with my Fidelity card, Chase Freedom, etc.

My one (semi-) exception is Amex MR, which at least has a 2% cash value when used for flight bookings. That's a competitive rate compared to cashback cards for any non-promo categories, and I know I can redeem the points on any airline as and when I want to.

jags86

Yea….but that 2% cash value comes with a $5,000 annual fee. You need to be redeeming a metric f-ton of points to pay that nut…

M60_to_LGA

What fee are you talking about? The Amex? I have whatever card has no annual fee but gives me 2% back at supermarkets (plus a bonus if I use it x times/month). I don't pay an annual fee on any of my cards.

jags86

You said:

The only way to redeem Membership Rewards for “2% cash value”, which I assumed you meant as $0.02/pt, is by booking flights with the Business Centurion card, which has a $5000 annual fee, and getting the 50% points rebate. I guess I don’t understand what you mean.

M60_to_LGA

No, I mean I earn the equivalent of 2% cash back on purchases.

sdsearch

Every Amex card that earns Amex points can be to transfer. So no need for a Platinum card.

No one is complaining that much about the CSP, only the CSR. The CSP transfers exactly the same as the CSR.

So you're focusing only on the top cost card, when that's not necessary for transferring. Yes, at most banks, some sort of AF card is necessary for transferring, but usually a $95ish AF card is all it takes. And, as I said, at Amex, it doesn't even take that, you can having nothing but the no-AF Amex Everyday card and/or the 2x-on-everything no-AF Amex Blue Business Plus card, and you can still transfer the same as if you have an Amex Plat. (And in between there's a Gold and a Green, in both personal and business versions.)

People who get those high-AF cards aren't get the just to transfer; that makes little sense (unless their specific situation allows them to get more in credits out the card than they pay in AF). So if you're asking about transferability, I don't see the point of focusing on high-AF cards.

Dr Jabadski

That.

The high-annual-fee MR and UR cards, which are primarily marketed as having travel benefits, are being re-assessed in this time of less travel. The low or no cost cards and the points themselves remain as popular as ever.

Plenty of discussion here about how to get multiple AmEx Blue Business Plus cards (to increase 2X MR) and how to get all 3 Chase Ink cards (to maximize UR) and best retention offers for both MR and UR and downgrading (to lower annual fee cards) or PC in order to keep MR and UR.

Fixed: “people seem to be disenchanted with overpriced major transferable currency cards”.