Quote:
Originally Posted by citanul
OK, super dumb question time. Probably a million resources online for exactly these questions, too, so apologies.
Current status:
Me:
Amex: Amex Blue Cash Preferred
MasterCard: USAA Gold
MasterCard: Citi Diamond Preferred
Wife:
Amex: Blue Cash Rewards
MasterCard: Chase Debit
I don't use any of the Citi Diamond reward stuff. Probably I should? I guess that segue's into my questions pretty well, though.
Assuming I'm not interested in having lots of cards, and just want to be reasonably set up, what should I do?
1. Is the Diamond card a good one? Should I get rid of it, or start using it?
2. We do our banking at Chase. Should that have any impact on which CCs we use?
3. We were thinking about doing United's MileagePlus club card, at least for the 1 free year, since we have a bunch of miles on United at the moment and live in a hub city. Is that a terrible card/plan? I haven't explored much about the other travel cards mentioned recently.
4. Is there any reasons except personal reasons NOT to both be on the BCP card, given I'm paying the fee for it?
Currently we do basically all our spending through Amex cards, so I feel only marginally dumb about not having a great MC/Visa set up.
Thanks for any help.
1) I have never heard of the Diamond card and a quick look says its a no annual fee card without a rewards system? The main advantage of this card is the long 0% APR. So if you're not using it for the APR then you shouldn't be using it because it doesn't seem to earn any rewards.
2) Banking at Chase should not affect what CCs you use, it just gives you more of a relationship to leverage approvals from Chase and sometimes with higher credit limits because they can see your assets. However, Chase has pretty much the best cards in the industry and they are a little bit churnable (you can get the same card and bonus again if you haven't had it in 2 years or more), so you should start getting a new chase card up to every 3 months if you'd like.
3) The MP card is a good option if you don't have status with united as it opens up a lot of extra award availability that you otherwise can't see (XN) and also gets you a free checked bag. If you have status with united then it doesn't have very many benefits except for the 50k bonus miles, and with the way united is doing mileage earning now that's a nice chunk of miles to get without flying. This is the type of card you get for 1 year for free and cancel, then get again a few years down the line when you've passed the 2 year mark.
4) The BCP is only worth it if you spend over $2500 on groceries per year, otherwise the BCE is better because its fee free:
There isn't a reason for you both not to be using that card considering it's not worth it until the $2500+ mark. Moreover, Amex has a lot of great offers through Amex Sync (offers through twitter) and Offers For You (offers from your amex online account) plus small business saturday, so the more Amexs you have, the better. This includes authorized user cards.
If you're happy with Amex you should also compare the new Amex Everyday and Amex Everyday Preferred cards. The preferred can earn up to 4.5 membership rewards points per dollar, which is potentially more valuable than 6% cash if you know the MR program and can transfer to airline partners effectively.
I think if you don't want to have 'a lot of rewards cards' you should get one for everyday non bonused spend like the citi double cash, or the fidelity amex for 2% everywhere. Then get one (or keep the BCP) for groceries and gas. After that, I think you should rotate applications and get maybe 2-4 new cards per year solely for the bonus, and cancel them after the first free year. I would start with Chase if your interests align there because they have the best offerings and you can do them again in 2 years. The explorer cards are a good place to start for you, I also like the Hyatt card for both of you because 4 nights in a Hyatt anywhere in the world can be really awesome (we used ours at the Park Hyatt Tokyo). If you have any specific travel goals in mind I can set you up with a better rotation.