CREDIT PROFILE
* Current credit cards you are the primary account holder of:
* Chase Freedom Flex, $7,000, Dec 5, 2022
* Citi Custom Cash, $9,000, Oct 7, 2023
* BILT, $10,000, Jul 26, 2024
* Apple Card, $7,000, Aug 12, 2019
* FICO score: 795
* Oldest credit card account age: 4 yrs, 5 mos
* Cards approved in the past 6 months: 0
* Cards approved in the past 12 months: 1
* Cards approved in the past 24 months: 3
CATEGORIES
* Ok with category-specific cards?: Yes
* Ok with rotating category cards?: No
* Estimate average yearly spend:
* Dining $: 7000
* Groceries $: 4000
* Costco is maybe 1/3 of this
* Gas $: 2500
* Using abroad?: Yes
* Pay rent by card? Yes, amount and fee: 1800
MEMBERSHIPS & SUBSCRIPTIONS
* Amazon Prime member: Yes
* Costco or Sam's Club member: Costco
* Big bank customer: Chase, Citi
PURPOSE
* Purpose of next card: Other
* Cards being considered: Capitol One Duo – Savor, Venture X
ADDITIONAL INFO
In 2023, I got semi-hooked into this hobby, but probably got ahead of myself with sign-up bonuses, cool features, or big cash backs/rotating categories. I've decided I want to "play the game" but not as much as most of you legends. I want to simplify and sock drawer (or even cancel for my mental sake) and get to most likely a 3-4 card setup.
I'm looking for some advice and/or thoughts on a setup like this (and trying to ignore my bias towards the flashy YouTube videos or cool-sounding duos or trifectas, but I do like the simplicity of just always using X card for X category and not worrying about chasing the rotating categories anymore):
- BILT- keeping this for rent, no qualms
- Savor One – Groceries and Dining
- Citi Custom Cash – Gas
- Venture X: Eventually convert Savor's cash back. Lots of upcoming travel, I could see this having use for, and I'm near DEN which has a lounge. I know it's one guest now, but with the CSR increase, and coupon book AMEXs that are hard to justify for me, I think it's a solid travel option for me.
I imagine a hard truth being like: "Don't get the Venture X based on potential travel, and you shop at Costco a good chunk so their Citi card is a good contenter"
Help simplying to 3-4 cards, tell me the hard truths
byu/WolfROBellion inCreditCards
Posted by WolfROBellion
6 Comments
You don’t spend enough to have several transferable currency types.
Focus on bilt and 1 other.
Focus on cash back only or travel points only.
The hard truth: 99.99% of people would be better off with a 0 AF 2% cashback card.
Not sure what your aim here is. I guess you can get some 5% cards like US Bank Cash+, US Bank Kroger cards, and Citi Custom Cash to help max out spending. But the real money is in subs.
Even one sub a year is probably going to earn nearly as much as you would from Citi Custom Cash for dining.
Why not just use the VX for gas, too? Based on your proposed spend, there’s little need for “maximization”. In fact, many people who go through this very process realize the benefit isn’t worth the cost (if the goal is simplification).
While not a huge C1 fan, I certainly wouldn’t steer you away just because your proposed travel is “hypothetical”. The real question you should ask is –
“Will I use the travel credit each year?” If yes, might as well get it (especially considering you have a lounge)
A simple setup would be
* Bilt: rent and dining
* Groceries and Costco: Paypal debit
* Gas: CCC
Beware the credit card lounges might have waitlists/crowds and might also not be convenient to your gates (different train stop at Denver airport for example)
If you’re hungry on the way to the airport you can bring fast food through TSA. Like a sandwich or whatever. Just not drinks.
Say you want to fly to Puerto Vallarta to escape the cold in the winter. That’s about $1,700 nonstop on Southwest or 147,000 points. On United, $1,400 or 135,000 points. The dates I pulled are Saturday 3/14, returning the following Saturday.
Your BILT points can transfer to either airline. You can do a United or Southwest card that would cover a checked bag.
You can “churn” signup bonuses and it’s pretty easy to get one ticket with the signup bonuses of a United/Southwest card and a Sapphire Preferred. The downside to churning is that it can increase our car insurance and homeowners premiums. The upside, as you can see in this random example, it knocks out a somewhat expensive ticket.
Signup bonuses from two of either a Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton or IHG card could likely cover a room for a week (switching hotels once).
What kind of spend would it take to save up these points *without* churning? That’s a lot of spend! We’re talking maybe a decade at your levels of spend.
Does that all make sense?
Edit: I changed some wording to try and make this less annoying to read.