notquiteaff

I got the ED to protect my MR in case I decided to close my Plat account (might still happen, depending how the coupon book and my own travel develops with additional CzL cost for my wife starting next year). I upgraded to EDP when they offered me a bonus. But I agree that the 30 trx per month is a hassle and flies in the face of my “more simplify” goal.

SpaethCo

I should have mentioned this earlier, but the thing that really helped me slim my collection of cards was putting some rules in place. I needed to start somewhere, so I assigned a mental cost of $100/year to the extra effort involved in having to consider each additional card when completing transactions.

For cards to make the cut they must either:

1. Offer some unique feature that makes the card itself worthwhile.
2. Earn $100/year more than cards that get included as part of rule 1

So Plat gets included for best-in-class purchase protection, travel insurance-like features and lounge access. Venture X gets included for primary CDW + no FTF flat 2x VISA. The Costco card gets included because it reduces friction when shopping at Costco. (single tap for gas, and it’s the only card you can add to the digital membership card for 1 “scan” membership+pay in the warehouse)

In addition to the 3 cards I carry, other “sock drawer” cards that stick around include the US Bank Cash+ for 5% on utilities & Internet/streaming, Amazon Prime VISA for 5%, Target Red Card for 5% + free shipping on online orders, and BoA Better Balance Rewards for $120/year in “free” money. These are “set it and forget” it cards, so I might consider hanging on to them even if they violated rule #2 simply because no purchase-time decision is required with these cards (they are all assigned to autopay or shopping accounts).

Other cards that I had like the US Bank Altitude Go, while I think it’s an excellent card, ended up not making the cut because I’d need to spend more than $10k/year dining out for it to earn more than $100 over what the Costco VISA yields with 3% cash back. Long-held cards like my Discover IT also got the axe because the categories weren’t useful every quarter and even in useful quarters the maximum advantage was capped at $45 more than straight 2% cash back.

drminn

For me there is an additional aspect to consider: I keep forgetting which card carries which benefit, so I sympathize with OP's desire for simplicity.

So I have narrowed it down to 3 cards I carry and 2 in the sock drawer.

The Delta Amex Platinum gives me a companion certificate, Delta MQD waiver, and some protection for breakable, stealable, and otherwise warrantable items. Large purchases go on that one until I reach $25K, then sock drawer. Annual fee is $250, which gets more than covered by the companion cert.

The CSR is used for hotels, domestic car rentals, and restaurants. It gets me $300 travel credit, and Priority Pass lounge access, which I value for their lounges in smaller airports in Europe and in Asia.

The Costco visa is used at the warehouse and for gas.

In the sock drawer I have the Hyatt and IHG cards for the free anniversary nights; I use them 2 or 3 times a year just to remind Chase that I am alive.

yugi

Cancelled both Biz and personal Platinums few years ago, didn't like coupon books anymore. I keep my points alive with BBP, that the only MR earning card I have right now, besides Rakuten Visa.

exigence

Forgive me if I've missed this somewhere, but which card do you use when purchase or travel protection is a thought -- or is that so rare an occurrence that you don't give it much consideration?

yugi

Altitude Reserve or Venture X for primary CDW, Venture X for trip delay, lost baggage (never used those, so I don't really care). Any Chase card with no FTF for CDW in Israel, which is often excluded, such as Hyatt, Ink Preferred cards.

mia

In which currency are car rentals typically billed in Israel?

yugi

They charge you in shekels.

MSPeconomist

IMO it's not wise to have all of your cards (or most of your credit lines or history) associated with a single bank or other issuer. IIRC there have been stories of MS people having an issue with one card and then suddenly finding that the bank has shutdown all of their cards.

eponymous_coward

This is how it's eventually going to land it looks like, once I downgrade a personal Platinum to a Gold yet again, after a schweet 100K + 5x supermarkets+dining for 6 months upgrade offer (until then I have some other cards that cover at 3x).

It's a mixed AMEX/Capital One combination, with some extra cards for spice (rent coverage being a notable need now that PayPal Key is deceased). The Charles Schwab Platinum variant is used for a 1.1 cpp potential cashout value on AMEX.

Rent: Bilt (1x but nearly impossible to get a credit card rebate without hefty fees and/or nuisance value)
Airfare: mostly AMEX CS Plat (5x), sometimes Hilton Aspire (7x, works well with Delta to get $$ refunded on $250 travel spend a year)
Hotels: mostly AMEX Green (3x), sometimes CS Plat (5x to burn FHR credit), VentureX (10x when burning $300 travel credit, a fallback if AMEX won't work), Aspire (14x on Hilton, burn $250 resort credit), Bonvoy Brilliant (6x, burn $300 Marriott credit, but likely on the kill list this December)
Car rentals, other travel: mostly AMEX Green (3x), VentureX (2x, a fallback if AMEX won't work)
Dining: mostly AMEX Gold (4x), sometimes Capital One Savor One (3x) or Bilt (3x) when AMEX isn't an option
Entertainment: Capital One Savor One (3x)
Groceries: AMEX Gold (4x Supermarkets), Capital One (3x, "Grocery" is a wider category than "Supermarket" and I do shop at places that aren't supermarkets)
Amazon: Amazon Prime Store Card (5%)
Everything else: VentureX (2x)

I don't really get the "but you're stranding points by spreading everything out" because for AMEX/Capital One/Bilt there are more than enough overlapping partners I find useful such that nothing is being stranded (at worst it's 1/1.1 cpp cashout value on the AMEX/C1 side, on Bilt I'm pretty sure I can get close to 2 cpp on Hyatt). I get enough value out of the "coupon book" that the Platinum works, and enough out of Green + travel expenses that it works too. Goal is generally a longhaul international trip in J every year or so. I don't own a car, but I do enough carshare and car rentals that an AMEX Green will make sense.

The nice part is that I am not locked out of Hyatt accumulation whilst I wait to go from LOL/24 to under 5/24...

zorbachs

I will always keep my Amex Platinum because I value lounge access and I actually use all of the credits sans Equinox. Beyond that, I only spend on it if I buy a physical good that I want purchase protection on. I actually think UR points are easier to use. I keep the CSP for that reason. I can't justify holding both the CSR and Platinum even after the credits. I use Skylounges/fly Delta, so canceling the Platinum makes no sense since PP lounges aren't that numerous.

I am actually shifting more towards cashback these days using the BofA setup, although you need $100k with them to make it worth it. But I get a flat 2.65% (3.5% on dining/travel) back with the Premium Rewards card; 5.25%/3.5% on online shopping and Costco with the CCR. I use the Amazon Prime card for WFM and Amazon and Costco Citi for 4% off gas. I am not sure how long I'll go with cash back, but I amassed more than 600k MR/100k UR points because I have not been traveling.

But if you do travel often, I'd keek accumulating points. It all depends on which airlines are in your home airport more than anything else.

eponymous_coward

SEA, which is interesting because the #1 airline is not a transferrable partner (AS), the #2 airline is AMEX, and while AA, WN and UA aren't useless, they're not amazing, B6 is pretty much an afterthought. SEA has a lot of *A/OW/ST TATL/TPAC/ME action so all the transferrable partners are useful in some way, though you're not going to find a lot of three/four cabin F unless it's BA.

yugi

What else is included by Savor One except supermarkets? I have one store where I go, and it codes as "Misc Food Store, Specialty, Convenience", and it doesn't give 3x on Citi Premier or 4x Amex Gold. That's where I use Altitude Reserve. Actually I use it almost everywhere, including grocery stores.
BTW you can get multiple Citi Custom Cash cards and use each for your categories, up to $500 per month to get 5x, this includes travel, dining, groceries, misc transit, gas, etc. I have 6 of them right now. There is also Brex card which gives 4x for dining.
It seems to me that you have too many overlapping cards, which can be cancelled, such as Gold, Green, etc.

No, Green doesn't make any sense. You better get Brex (8x on carshare), and Ink Preferred (3x on travel).
By cashing your Amex points from Gold's 4x you will only get 4.4% cashback, while paying high annual fees ($695 + $250), while Altitude Reserve will give you 4.5% on almost everything with lower AF ($400, effective $75)

eponymous_coward

I’ve used it at stores AMEX won’t code as supermarkets. They code as grocery.

I have a grand total of one Citi card right now (the AA no AF card). It’s possible I could go over to Citi Premier and then start stacking Custom Cash I guess (I would lose the SUB though).

I find Citi to be annoying because they eliminated rental car insurance (actually big for me as an urban dweller who rents cars, secondary rental car insurance can now be used as primary insurance). I suppose if I did go this route I would keep the VentureX and just switch car rentals/car shares and travel where I need travel insurance over to that, Citi for everything else I don’t care about insuring.

I don’t want to cash them though. I want to fly in the pointy end of planes a lot (well, once, or maybe twice a year to somewhere 5,000-8,000 miles away). AMEX MR is fine for that. So is Capital One. Maybe every so often I’ll plunk some down on a fancy hotel or something too.

Anyways, Brex is a business card. So is Ink. I’m LOL/24 right now, which pretty much makes US Bank and Chase “LOL, no, go away”, it would force a cool down (which I am kind of doing right now anyway). That isn’t going to be helped if I rack up a bunch of Citi Custom Cash cards over the next year + plus a Citi Premier. So which is it? Your advice is presenting mutually exclusive options for where I am at right now. Also, I’m not fond of “this is my completely BS made up business that I’m going to get a credit card for and then put thousands of dollars of personal expenses on said credit card”. I’d rather stick with personal products for the moment, so guess this means no Ink or Brex.

I actually get decent use out of the AMEX coupon book, I get other people hate it and don’t want to give AMEX $$$ for an annual fee and have to make it back up that way. I can tell you CLEAR is actually useful at my frequent airports, the Uber credit gets used, I’m probably almost DONE with my $650 in “misc airfare” off three cards and it mostly gets used for airfare (maybe the occasional meal on a plane). The FHC credit turned into five star hotels in Mumbai and a boutique hotel in Helsinki. I might ramp down but I actually like some of what AMEX has brought to the table.

oh hey:

https://www.citi.com/credit-cards/ci...sh-credit-card

“Citi will only issue one Citi Custom CashSM Card account per person. ”

Is this going to end up like Citi AA cards, where there is a “we ignore the terms” party until Citi brings a hammer down?

A Citi Premier + Custom Cash setup becomes a lil’ less attractive if it’s just one Custom Cash (though it is still legit an alternative to AMEX “wheel o’ coupon book”, this could be something I transition to in 2023-2024 once I can start shedding AMEX cards without angering RAT).

yugi

Premier + Custom Cash + Double Cash will cover a lot of spending. You can add Rewards+ to get 10k points per year back, but I prefer Custom Cash instead, since it will net more points. I converted all of my Custom Cash cards from other Citi cards, I have 11 Citi cards right now, not counting Sears.
Venture X + Savor One also makes sense, but covers less categories than Citi. You can add Venture X to Citi roster, and skip Savor One and Double Cash.
I would get Altitude Reserve if you can, since it's my most used card right now, and nets around $50 per month. It does have primary CDW, and also 3x on car rentals.