Which Card? Point Saving for 10th Anniversary Trip
 

I'd like to pose this question to the board for everyone's thoughts.

Long story short, my wife would like to "blow it out" for our 10th wedding anniversary in two years. I'd like to pay with points which means I should probably start saving now :) I took a job transfer which has pretty much killed my business traveling (yay), so CC spend is going to account for 99% of the points used on this trip.

We have young kids that won't be coming with us. My wife is wary of being across the world from them, so we're confining ourselves to the North America region. (Even Hawaii is too far away in her opinion.) I think the objective is to be someplace tropical; St. Lucia, perhaps?

So, with all of this having been said, which card should I be using? I'd rather not take out a new card, but I'm open to the idea. I have good credit and I'm not a churner, but I did just buy a house and take out a new CC (Venture to take advantage of the "mile match" promo).

Here are the cards I currently have:

• Travelocity AMEX (earns 4% travel rebate on all purchases; 8% travel rebate on Travelocity.com purchases)
• Platinum AMEX
• CapitalOne Venture
• USBank Flexperks

I'm about to cancel the USBank card unless someone presents a great argument why I should hold onto it.

The Travelocity card is my current card of choice because the rebates can be applied to (literally) anything Travelocity sells except for cruises. The possible downside to that card is that you pay the published rate for everything which may not be the best for aspirational rewards.

I'm open to taking out a new (hotel?) CC, though I'll say in advance that I'd rather not do a Hilton card, mainly because I don't have any faith in what the HHonors program will look like in two years :rolleyes:

So, with all of that having been said, what are everyones' thoughts about my situation? Which card should I be using?

Thanks in advance :)

BTW, mods, I apologize in advance if this post should have gone somewhere else :)

I'm thinking either an Amex card or Chase Sapphire Preferred. That way, you can transfer to different hotel options depending on where you end up. If you can figure out now where you'll be headed, then you could get that specific card, but if not transfer options are always handy.

Is the USBank an older card? Does it have a high credit limit? If the answer to both of those is 'no', then sure, cancel. Otherwise it can be helpful to keep around for credit history purposes. But cancel it after you apply for the new card :)

The USBank card has an annual fee of ~$40. While not terrible, the fact of the matter is that I pay a ridiculous amount in annual fees every year. (The $450 from AMEX doesn't help, even if I do get part of it back.)

Thanks for the guidance.

Early congratulations. :)

I think the first step is to figure out exactly where you want to go. That way you'll know what airlines fly there and what hotels are available. Once you've that information then you can find the cards that will get the miles/points that you need.

Problem with planning so far ahead is that miles are subject to unpredictable devaluations by the airlines.

Generally, an earn and burn plan is a better way to go.

With that said, I have a couple of million miles stored up with various programs. Just can't resist those big bonus offers. :D

As to cards to apply for: IMHO, you AND SPOUSE should each start by applying IMMEDIATELY for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card with 50K bonus (this is apparently expiring on April 2, today and you will have to check some blogs for a current link to the 50K offer-I see the link at http://millionmilesecrets.com/). You could also consider the Chase INK Bold biz card for each and heck FT for the best AA Citi offers and ways to get two cards and two bonuses at once.

Also consider SPG Amex as the points transfer to most airline programs. Look for a 25-30K bonus on this.

Good luck!