I’ve been picking up a lot of cards the past 3 years, mainly for SUBs, and I think it’s getting to the point where I’m paying $4465 in annual fees which feels excessive, but not sure where to cut. I do travel every other week for work, including overseas, so airline spend is around $40k annually and hotel spend $20k.
Would love to hear feedback from the group on ways I could trim some fat and improve my wallet. Thanks!
1. Amex Platinum $895:
a. 5x FHR and airlines, Centurion and Plaza Premium lounge access
b. I don’t spend much on this card other than simple round trip domestic flights and FHR, but do use at least FHR ($400), Resy ($300), Lululemon ($150), Airline Fee ($200), Entertainment ($150), Clear ($50), and for $1250 in all in value
2. Amex Green $150
a. Downgraded from gold card, waiting for upgrade offer
3. Amex Bonvoy Business $125
a. I value the 35k free night at $200 and maintain platinum status, so the 15 nights which stack with the Ritz card come in handy
4. Chase Sapphire Reserve $795
a. 4x airlines and hotels, Sapphire lounge access
b. This is my main travel card due to best travel protections on one way flights and multipliers for hotels. Trip cancellation and emergency medical saved me around $5000 this year alone
c. Credits are harder to use, but I manage the travel credit ($300), Sapphire tables ($200), Edit ($250), and Apple ($100) for $850 in credit value
5. Ritz Carlton $450
a. Main priority pass card for my family and friends due to free AUs
b. I value the travel credit at face value, so this card is $150 effective AF, which seems to be worth it for the 85k certificate
6. United Quest/Business $500
a. Picked up both for 100k/125k SUBs,
b. Quest: $200 travel bank ($200), 10k mile discount ($100), and rideshare credit ($50) for $350 in value
c. Business: annual 5k mile benefit ($50), $125 travel bank ($125), and $100 rideshare ($50) for $225 in value
7. Ink Preferred $95
a. Main business card for 3x on ads and general travel
8. Citi Elite $595
a. Main dining card with 3x/6x multipliers
b. I picked up this card for the SUB year 1 double dips, and got it for free due to the IRS form fiasco they had last year
c. Will likely get citigold this year, so can renew at $450, but I only value the credits at $400 split as $200 for AA flights and $200 for hotels due to portal price inflation and 2 night min requirement. Blacklane is worthless since it costs so much more than Uber black
d. Does it make sense to downgrade this to a custom cash?
9. Citi Premier $95
a. Main 3x gas and groceries card, but the $100 hotel credit is kinda useless
10. C1 Venture X $395
a. Main 2x catch all card and seems to be an easy break even with $300 travel credit and 10k anniversary miles
b. Also use C1 lounges at least 4x a year, so that’s a nice cherry on top
11. Bilt Palladium $495
a. Recently picked up for the SUB and currently using as main catch all, and I like the transfer partners a lot more than C1
b. AF honestly seems high and the PP is useless to me due to Ritz card, but I think the hotel credits stacked $100 Bilt cash each could be worth maybe $400?
c. I’m CA based so I think I can cash out the $10 walgreens gift cards to bring the AF down to $375?
$4500 of annual fees. Am I crazy?
byu/MinimumPerspective95 inCreditCards
Posted by MinimumPerspective95
7 Comments
yikes that’s a lot of plastic
honestly the citi elite seems like the easiest cut since you said credits are meh. venture x + bilt kinda overlap too for 2x everything
I mean…… if you use, take advantage of every card, and worth more than what you pay for annually, then it isn’t crazy.
I pay a little more than half of what you pay, but most of fees are either written off as a business expense or waived because of my relationship with my financial institutions.
You dont need plat, green, and vx to start with. Bilt can also go. Down grade vx to v for same 2x catch all. Down grade CSR to CSP. same insurance as thats what you value.
Yeah you’re crazy, it’s absurd to have all the five premium cards (VX, CSR, Plat, Palladium, Strata Elite) all at once — long-term it might be worth capping out at two of those because unless you’re in that seven-figure income bracket there is no reason to collect all the metals unless you work at Frequent Miler or something. I’ve considered either CSR + Plat or CSR + one of the 2x cards, you don’t need all five.
For the Green –> Gold I was able to get 90K MR for $2k/6mo spend as a reference, good luck to you
I think you have a lot of duplicate perks in there so I would consider cutting the following:
Ink Business Preferred- you’re getting multipliers for travel in plenty of other areas. You don’t need the 3x here enough to pay $95.
Citi Strata Premier & Elite- if you travel that much, you’re probably not spending a ton on groceries so dropping the Premier 3x to your VX 2x catch all probably doesn’t matter much in the long run. Not enough to warrant another $95 annual fee. It also sounds like you don’t really need the Elite for anything at all since you don’t need PP, you don’t really care for Blacklane, and you’re getting airline credits elsewhere.
Amex Bonvoy Business- you said you value that 35k free night at $200 which gives you a net $75 after the annual fee but is saving $75 worth paying $125 annually?
United Quest/Business- similar to the above- you’re paying $500 up front to jump through a bunch of hoops to make $75.
Eliminating those 6 cards would cut your annual fees down around $1,500 yearly. That being said, I don’t know how easily and organically you use all the credits I talked about so it’s very possible that you could end up spending more money by canceling these cards. If you’re regularly using all those credits easily, it might end up costing you more than the $1500 you’re currently spending on the annual fees. Only you can decide if you can live without a free 35k Marriott night, some ride-share credits and hotel credits/airline credits.
I would keep CSR , AMEX PLATINUM, Venture X, and one of the United cards and get rid of the rest. Add an AU to either Chase or Amex for PP.
Yes, you’re crazy. A lot of these cards you’re either breaking even on or still having to pay a partial effective AF. You could consolidate easily and save money and honestly a lot less hassle.