Hi y'all! I am a 22 y/o based in a major US city and am trying to strategize what cards to get for 2026. On the fence on if Cash Back or Travel is the best match for my spending habits. I am planning on 2-3 international trips this year, I tend to travel frequently domestically (United & American, sometimes by car) but rarely stay at hotels.
- Current cards:
- CSP $11.3k limit, December 2023
- Chase United Quest, $5.6k limit, July 2024 (plan to downgrade)
- FICO Score: 756
- Oldest account age: 4 years 5 months
- Income: ~$60,000
- Average monthly spend and categories:
- dining $800-1k (a bit high because I always put my card down at restaurants and make my friends venmo me … i refuse to watch someone use a debit card on a $40 meal… my real spending is probably $300-400)
- groceries: $300
- public transport: $50
- travel: $100-200
- other: $150
- Open to Business Cards: No
- What's the purpose of your next card? I want to get more out of my spending now, ideally would like to use for travel but I feel like cash back might be more beneficial for me at the moment…
- Do you have any cards you've been looking at? Amex Gold, Amex BCP, Capital One Venture X
Appreciate any suggestions on next steps !!
Cash Back vs Travel Cards for 2026
byu/Salty-Cobbler8872 inCreditCards
Posted by Salty-Cobbler8872
9 Comments
The Venture X doesn’t make sense with your spending – you need way more travel spend to justify that AF. Amex Gold could work well with your dining heavy spend but honestly at your income level I’d lean cash back. BCP would crush it for your groceries and the BCE handles everything else decently without an annual fee
You should look into the Chase Freedom Flex if you like the Chase ecosystem and use your Chase points for booking travel. You can earn at 5% rate each quarter on rotating categories which currently is dining (up to $1500 in spend) and then transfer those points to your CSP card. No AF either
Get a VentureX ($300 portal credit, 10k anniversary miles, 2x or 2%) and Savor (3% or 3x dining/groceries) card, you literally don’t have to choose, you transfer points Savor->VentureX and they can be redeemed transferring to partners. Keep everything as cash and you have cashback.
Note that UA award inventory is a joke on UA partners these days so you’ll be using Avios or Cathay to redeem on American.
just get the capital one savor and call it a day.
A few thoughts:
(1) Your spend isn’t high enough to get a lot of value through points to redeem anything at a consistent rate.
(2) Your missing grocery with your current setup.
On the cards you suggested:
(1) Amex Gold – because of your low spend, if you miss a single credit you’ll have negative value on this card. Firm pass for you IMO.
(2) BCP – No reason to get an annual fee card when you don’t have the spend to make it worth it for groceries. Instead cover groceries with the Citi Custom Cash or Paypal Debit.
(3) Venture X – While it can have net +5 value off the block, you’re Misc. spend isn’t enough to rack up point as efficiently as possible.
What I’d recommend:
(1) Get the PayPal debit for 5% cashback on dining or groceries. You can get this instantly without a hard pull. And you should do this regardless of what credit card you open.
(2) Wait to see what Bilt does next week. If it’s good, it would let you earn points with your (likely) largest spend category (rent) and has transfer synergy with Chase UR. If it’s bad, look elsewhere.
(3) If Bilt is disappointing (or you don’t rent), consider expanding in the Chase Ecosystem with Freedom Flex or Freedom Unlimited. I think Freedom Flex has a 10% grocery sign up bonus still.
(4) If you don’t want to double down on Chase, consider the Capital One Savor to have a currency that can get points or cashback once you get the Venture X. It’s also easier to get approved with Cap1 earlier in your credit card journey.
(5) If you want to maximize points earned get the Citi Custom Cash and Citi Strata Premier. This will have the highest point earned value while allowing CB or transfer partner redemption.
Venture x would be a nice card to add if you plan to travel international (or even domestically depending on your airport). Priority pass is a lot better abroad.
After that, would look into churning subs for the flights and maybe hotels for the places you are planning or want to go to.
maybe also pick up the c1 savor to pair with the vx depending on where you get groceries. If it’s Kroger where you can get 3x easily with ur csp. I would not recommend the bcp bc your grocery spend is not high enough to justify the annual fee after the first year. After year one, once you account for the fee, you’ll only get around 3.3% back. If you really want a cashback for groceries, look into PayPal debit, which will get you 5% back and includes big box stores, and it also won’t impact your 5/24 or your credit.
If your expected travel redemption plans mainly involve flying United and American, then your best bank choices are Chase and Citi. In your shoes, for best mix of rewards and cash back options I’d be inclined to go with the Citi Strata Premier, the Double Cash for catchall spending, and eventually a few Custom Cash cards.
Edit: or if your expected redemptions hit United a lot more often than AA, you might just get the Chase Freedom Flex and Unlimited to complete the trifecta.
Chase does have better customer service and is arguably a better bank than Citi. On the other hand, their credit card spending categories and multipliers are a little weird. It’s a lot easier to earn more points with Citi, and when points are transferred to AA they’re very valuable. AA has a great loyalty program and that’s the way I’d go unless you’re much more strongly tied to United for some reason.
Should look into US Bank Altitude connect. No Annual fee. $100 off for global entry or TSA precheck. 5% back for travel and 4% back for transportation such as Lyft or Uber. Also SUB of $200 when you hit $3K spending. Comes with 4 priority pass lounge access passes per year as well
Cash back is sometimes going to be better because there’s no annual fees and you have unlimited flexibility to book any airline.
I think it goes in this order
1. Cash back (flexible and no annual fees)
2. If hub captive (one airline is your only nonstop choice > 50% of the time), that airline’s points
3. Marriott Points
Some social media influencers who sell credit cards will highlight sales available on points. They don’t typically mention that airfare sales happen more often with cash. Especially when airlines launch new routes. Plus there are discount airlines such as Norse Atlantic that don’t even really do points.