- Current cards: Chase Sapphire, Freedom, Costco
- FICO Score: 780+
- Oldest account age: 10
- Chase 5/24 status: 2/24
- Annual income: 200000
AVERAGE MONTHLY SPEND:
- Dining $: 300
- Groceries $: 600
- Gas $: 100
- Travel $: ~170 (approx. $2,000/year in travel + $5,000 immediate flight)
- Other $: 200
PURPOSE
- Purpose of next card: Sign-up bonus (SUB) and maximizing long-term point value.
- Do you have any cards you've been looking at?: Amex Platinum, Amex Gold, Capital One Venture X, Capital One Venture.
ADDITIONAL CONTEXT: I have an immediate $5,000 expense for a flight booking and want to use this to hit a high Minimum Spend Requirement (MSR).
I already have a Chase Sapphire card. My highest consistent monthly spend is in Groceries ($600) and Dining ($300). I am looking for the best "max value" play. Should I go for the high multiplier on the $5k flight (Platinum), the daily spend multipliers (Gold), or a premium "catch-all" (Venture X)?
Card Recommendation Request: Choosing between Amex Platinum, Gold, Venture X, or Venture to maximize SUB + points
byu/fail_hard_but_try inCreditCards
Posted by fail_hard_but_try
8 Comments
I would do venture x or gold and I would lean venture x for the better insurances
Amex gold lines up best for your spend.
If you want the Venture X then maybe consider getting the Savor card later to pair with it.
Which Chase Sapphire?
I vote for Autograph Journey. 4x on directly booked flights. $95 AF + $50 easy airfare credit. 60k points SUB.
The Amex and Capital One options make sense depending on your particular travel behavior. For example, Venture X is the power move if you can book the airfare through the travel portal.
Note that Amex is a coupon book and requires a lot of work to offset the AF. Platinum in particular, but Gold is not without its hassles.
If we’re just talking about maximizing SUBs, Gold, then Platinum, Venture, and VX (depending on lifetime offer terms; haven’t checked them in a minute for C1). You have to do Gold before Platinum if you want both Amex SUBs.
If you want to maximize your points, the Amex Platinum is the way to go. If you get the 175k SUB + the 5x for spending $5k on the flight, you’ll have 200k points. No other SUB + spend will come close to this.
If you don’t already have a catch-all, I would recommend Venture X. The sub is 750K with 4K spending. The AF is $395 but covered by annual $300 travel credit plus $100 anniversary credit.
Amex platinum for the SUB. Venture X for long term earning. You could swap the VX for the Gold though if you don’t mind chasing its credits to recover the AF.
Not knowing your travel habits and goals.. the long-term move is the Venture X.. it’s a net positive card that can be your catch-all for the foreseeable future.. I use it for just that and it funds flights overseas about every other year..
Platinum is a move for sure.. if you travel enough and can use those credits.. there’s almost a $500 difference between the Plat and VX – that’s an insane chunk eating away at your optimization every year and I believe most people do not make up that lost ground effectively..
With that said VX is a keeper.. in this instance, you could get the Plat, get the SUB, purchase the flights, and downgrade in a year.. then get the VX or get the VX in 6 months..