I’m a very simple guy, I only have the AMEX gold for a couple reasons that make sense for my use-case… and my annual fee is $225 (I receive an annual $100 credit after renewal for being a corporate green holder through my employer). I also take advantage of many of the other perks without effort.
My only other card is an Apple Card. Which I rarely use. (And a CreditOne that I don’t talk about. It’s locked away, frozen, zero annual fee).
I’ve been shopping at Costco frequently this year and I have to pay with debit or even cash at times and it makes me nauseous every single time, as I do not hold a Visa.
Considering getting a Visa solely for this reason, but I think it seems ridiculous. I was pre-approved by Chase for every single one of their cards (including a 175k SUB for the Chase Sapphire Reserve after $6k of purchases in 3 months, which is doable for me as I have a lot of travel travel coming up in 2026. Jan, March, international travel in June, and possibly another international trip in September as well).
Thinking of just keeping it simple and adding the Chase Sapphire Preferred for the Visa…. Not sure if this is the way to go as I still don’t have a catch all card (I use my Gold for virtually every purchase). My total annual fee would be $320 holding a gold and CSP, but the cards kind of seem redundant… would the CSR be the way to go instead with all the travel coming up? Advice is much appreciated, thanks.
Or ugh… do I just get the AMEX Plat? I would have a $150 reduced annual fee but it doesn’t solve my Visa problem…
Getting a CSP ONLY for Costco? Or CSR? Dumb or not?
byu/bermagot12 inCreditCards
Posted by bermagot12
15 Comments
doesnt make sense to get either of these as they conflict with the same categories as your gold card, why not the costco credit card then?
Wells Fargo active cash and Fidelity Visa are also visas and earn 2% on everything with no limits but the fidelity visa has no FTF. Another option could be Costco visa it also has no FTF
Makes sense for sub, but not after year 1. Get a no af visa.
You definitely want cards with 2 banks and a catchall visa/mastercard that makes at least 2% and no FTF. There are a bunch out there. Fidelity is a solid no AF card. C1VX has a some travel benefits.
What’s your reward redemption goal?
>And a CreditOne that I don’t talk about. It’s locked away, frozen, zero annual fee)
Why even bother holding onto any cards from this predatory lender? Just cancel it.
Having a Visa is a good idea. I’d get one with no AF if the goal is to use it only at Costco.
PayPal debit is by far the best option.
Are you trying to earn subs? If not, if you’re just using it for Costco and a bit of travel, why not the Citibank Costco card? No international tx fees, 2% at costco, 5% Costco gas, 3% travel (airfare, hotels, etc.), no annual fee. Some don’t like the card, but if you’re looking to keep things simple, and you don’t mind once a year redemptions, Citi Costco soulds like it’d fit you.
The problem with the Reserve is that you’d need to take advantage of all of the coupons to make it worth it. With the Preferred notwithstanding any Subs, you’d have to use the $50 hotel credit and purchase travel through the chase portal to take full advantage, which a lot of people have problems with. You also only earn 1x at Costco.
The best cards for Costco imo are the PayPal debit (5% back on grocery which Costco counts), it’s a Mastercard but since it’s a debit card it’s accepted at Costco. The other would be BoA CCR if you have platinum honors status ($100k+ assets with BoA/Merrill) that’d give you 3.5% back on warehouses. But you can also select online shopping as the category and buy Costco gift cards at 5.25% cashback rate.
Neither of those get you much at Costco. In fact, I’m not sure there is a great card for Costco. Citi has the Costco card but it only gets you 2% back. Several other cash back cards get 2% as well.
Is your travel for work that you could book via the Chase portal? If so, maybe that’s a good route. You get the sign up bonus and a ton of points since they do like 5x (8x on reserve) on travel through the portal.
Venture X – earn 2X at Costco plus there’s an elevated 100K SUB right now
Best move is to get a PayPal Debit card which gives 5% cash back on groceries & Costco in store purchases (capped at $1k per month). I’d also consider adding Citi Costco Anywhere for 5% cash back on gasoline.
Great question. USBAR was my Costco runner, it’s still decent, but I’m planning to axe it, as I already have too many cards with the proprietary annual credits. The suggested debit card options seem like the winner here.
Take that sweet 175k csr sub then downgrade it to a free freedom or freedom unlimited card after a double dip on the credits after the AF posts in the second year.
If you just want cashback at Costco you can get a PayPal debit or AAa daily advantage for 5 or 3% cashback respectively.