I just started at a new company doing the same work but this company allows me to use reimbursed personal credit cards instead of the corporate card. I travel on average 1 week (~4 day trip) a month domestically. Sometimes travel can be up to 3 weeks a month during a busy period, but this happens about 1x a year.
I would like to use points earned to subsidize my personal travel with my wife. Lounge access would be nice but not necessary. I prefer Delta and Marriott, but am open to change.
I am not super credit card savvy and want a fairly simple setup but am willing to put in the work to maximize points when booking personal travel.
Thank you for the help!
CREDIT PROFILE
* Current credit cards you are the primary account holder of:
* Chase Freedom Unlimited, $25,800, 12/2021
* FICO scores with source: Experian 825. TransUnion ?. Exquifax ?.
* Oldest credit card account age: 4 years
* Cards approved in the past 6 months: 0
* Cards approved in the past 12 months: 0
* Cards approved in the past 24 months: 0
* Annual income $: ~175,000 individual, ~300,000 with spouse
CATEGORIES
* Ok with category-specific cards?: Yes
* Ok with rotating category cards?: No
* Estimate average monthly spend in the categories below.
* Dining $: 500 for work
* Groceries $: NA for work
* Gas $: 50 -75 in rental cars
* Travel $: 650 flights, 800 – 1,500 hotels, 250 -300 car rental. All for work.
* Using abroad?: Unlikely
* Other categories or stores: Dining for work.
* Other spend: Misc office expenses. 250 monthly?
* Pay rent by card? No
MEMBERSHIPS & SUBSCRIPTIONS
* Costco or Sam's Club member: Costco
* Big bank customer: 1 credit card at Chase. All expense accounts at BMO.
PURPOSE
* Purpose of next card: Travel Rewards
* Travel rewards preferences: Delta (preferred), Marriott, Hertz (open to other if better rewards).
* Cards being considered: Chase Sapphire Reserve/Preferred, Marriott Bold/Boundless, Delta skymiles?
ADDITIONAL INFO
These credit cards will likely be used exclusively for work trips and work expenses. Unless major personal items that will benefit from using these cards. I do not intend to use these as a daily card.
I travel ~1 week a month from Sacramento International. All trips will include hotel and rental car. Likely no international travel.
My intention for these cards is to utilize the points to subsidize my personal travel.
Posted by leacht
2 Comments
How are you going to travel? Drive? Fly? Rental car?
Any preferred airlines/hotel chain? Status?
It seems like your best option would be the Chase Sapphire Reserve:
– 4x on flights and hotels – 6,000+ points per month
– 3x on dining – 1500 points per month (plus you can put personal dining spend on here)
– Primary rental car insurance (1x points, but the coverage makes up for that)
– 125,000 point sign-up bonus
– Priority Pass Access to lounges in Sacramento Airport
– Multiple SkyTeam airline transfer partners to book Delta flights with
– Marriott is a Chase transfer partner
– Gives you rental car status
Definitely check the credits to make sure you’ll be able to cover all/most of the annual fee!
If you want to double up, the Venture X has a 100,000 sign-up bonus going on and would get you 2x on everything, which could’ve used for all other spend outside of the Chase categories
EDIT – If status matters to you then you’d want to go with a Delta CC and a Marriott CC