jamesteroh

Just curious, if you have both cards, why didn't you use the reserve card overseas instead of the Am Ex? Even on the delta card which has no FTF, the exhcange rate isn't as good as Citi's or Chase.

If Am Ex does waive the FTF fee in January on the new product or the Surpass I'll probably use the card for just Hilton charges overseas. If they don't I'm using my Chase Saphire reserve that has no FTF and will give me 4.5 percent back for travel I can use on almost any airline

bitterproffit

Good question. I needed to use it to meet my spend on the Surpass to get the 100K Bonus. So, I knew it going in that I was going to incur those FTF. And decided it was worth it to meet the $3K in 3 month spend. But, without those reasons, it would not make as much sense.

This was a fun week in Spain, but I did not stay at a Hilton branded hotel (no Hilton properties in the cities I was staying). So, I can't even say the 12x points helped offset it.

On my next trip next year, the Reserve will be gone. So, I will either have to get another CC without a FTF if I want to use it for hotel stays (especially non Hiltons) outside of the US or hope Amex comes up with a Hilton card without FTF.

jamesteroh

Makes sense then if the points are worth more than the FTF fee. Spain is a great country, was the first country I ever went to in Europe.

If you have a lot of travel expenses a good credit card is the Chase Sapphire. Travel and restaurant charges get you 3 points per $1 charged and each point is worth 1 penny and if you charge you use the points for travel on the chase portal each point is worth 1.5 cents so you are getting 4.5 cents per $ on travel and the travel category is very generous and even includes parking charges and uber. The car insurance coverage is good, free priority pass and one global entry or precheck every five years and not FTF and a decent exchange rate on overseas purchases. Biggest drawback is a $450 annual fee but you get a $300 credit for travel charges so it amounts to $150 a year.

diver858

CSP + Freedom (old version), which offers a rotating 5x quarterly bonus, Q317 was restaurants.

Taking a leisure trip next weekend, wanted to use awards for hotel. Standard room at the preferred Hilton property is 70k Honors points, booking same room "with cash" in the Chase UR travel portal is 22k URs per night. Even though my stockpile of Honors points is currently a bit lower than Chase URs, I cannot bring myself to use the former when there is such a disparity. While Honors treats both equally for Diamond re-qualification, using the Chase URs will also accrue Honors points.

jamesteroh

And if you transfer the 5 percent freedom bonus spend points to the CSR that comes out to 7.5 percent back if you use it on travel. I know someone that does that with the chase freedom unlimited for 2.25% back for travel after transferring to the CSR but he has a lot of costco spend so makes sense for him but for me I'd rather have the 2% back on the Citi Double Cash card.

If you use the Chase travel portal for Hilton stays do they treat it like a cash stay and gave you the perks? I was under the impression if you booked through a third party site you didn't get the benefits.

broadwayboy

I have just been charged a new annual fee of USD95. IF Citi gives me a new card at the end of the year that I don't like and will cancel, will they pro-rate the annual fee and give me a refund?

BrlDsguise

The T&Cs of the card says they will.

diver858

Believe it is a function of the rate, portal. I often book discounted rooms for conferences through the event portal, always receive points, bennies. Chase portal has an option to add Honors account number, so I am somewhat optimistic. Stay happens to be at a Waldorf Astoria property, so there is little in the way of perks anyway, third night of the stay is booked with a Citi free weekend night, which should help.

Westcoaster

Wanna hear another rumor? Actually my husband and I just spoke with a supervisor in customer service at Citibank. My husband has the no fee card and was wondering if the credit limit on his card could be transferred to another Citibank Visa, like maybe the Costco Visa. The supervisor confirmed that my husband's card is going to be converted to an American Express card and said that due to the terms of the agreement with Hilton it will not be possible to transfer the existing credit limit to another Citibank card. Our only option would be to apply for a new Citibank card from scratch.

The lady said that mailings with information about all of this were scheduled to start going out in mid October and that additional mailings will go out in November. Presumably those mailings will tell us what our options are if any.

jamesteroh

If this rumor is true I wish I knew what Am Ex was going to with people existing accounts and credit lines. If Am Ex isn't going to take the current Reserve credit line into consideration when issuing the new card and/or not give any more credit to existing Am Ex hilton card holders then I'd like to transfer the reserve credit line over to my citi double cash card.

freeflyin

I have gotten the same response. No option to transfer credit line and the account will definitively be sent to Amex.
I am hoping that the letter will reveal better options, as I don't need another Hilton Amex

broadwayboy

If Amex card is the answer, should I apply for Amex Reserve Hilton card now to get the bonus enrollment points. I assume the Citi to Amex transfer won't come with sign-up bonus.

BrlDsguise

The Amex Card is Surpass, not Reserve.

cplush

and possibly the "ascend" as of 1/1/2018

Points Scrounger

Is it AMEX, or Hilton, holding onto the 3% FTF as though they were going bankrupt in waiving it?