What credit cards are in my wallet?
I firmly believe that the cards in your wallet have to be aligned with your priorities. For that reason, I have never really held a credit card with a high annual fee (until recently, which I will explain below). Unless the card has enough value to cover the annual fee, it’s not going to be in my wallet. Here’s a breakdown of my credit cards in the order I opened them:
My oldest credit card
I never use this card anymore, but I will never cancel it since it’s my oldest line of credit. I only spend on it when I get an email saying “we will cancel this card if you don’t use it.” So I use it, and put it back in a drawer in the house for safe keeping.
Chase Sapphire Preferred
Opening this card may have been the cannon event for this blog. When I opened it, I had absolutely no clue what I was doing, but I was young and spending a lot on travel and dining so it made sense to open it.
The primary reason I opened this card is you receive 3x points back on dining and 2x points back on travel. This card also gives you free perks like Apple TV and DoorDash discounts. Recently, the card had some changes and has even better points perks - 3x back on gas and EV charging, and 3x back on vacation rentals. You also can get a credit for TSA Precheck now. There were some negative changes to this card, but overall, I think it is still one of the strongest credit cards on the market.
Additionally, this card provides you travel protection, and BOY did this card save me when I owed $3,000 to Hertz for damage to a rental card. Even if you don’t ever want to credit card points hack, I highly recommend a travel card for the travel protections it provides.
Fast forward 10 years, and I feel pretty confident I have redeemed at least 750K points from this card (I will have to call Chase to confirm this one day). It used to be my primary card, but has since been retired after I just recently opened the Chase Sapphire Reserve. I am holding on to it for now, but I will most likely downgrade it to another Chase card eventually, since I am no longer getting value out of the $95 annual fee.
Chase Freedom Unlimited
This is one of my favorite $0 cards, and it pairs REALLY nicely for anyone with a Chase Sapphire card. It provides you 1.5% cash back (in the form of points) for ANY purchase. I used this card for a long time for anything outside of the travel and dining category. What I love about this card, is you can transfer the points to your Chase Sapphire Preferred to redeem them for travel deals. Or you can Pay Yourself Back with the points as well (I review this a lot more in another blog post).
Amex Everyday Card
This card is no longer offered, but anyone that has it is still grandfathered in. I signed up for this card because it had good cash back perks on groceries, gas, and a $0 annual fee. I love this card because Amex Everyday cards allow you to transfer Amex points to Delta 1:1. I used to fly Delta a lot, but didn’t want to pay the annual cost for an airline credit card. So this allowed me to earn Delta miles for free.
Although this card is no longer offered, Amex has some other great cards for everyday spending. If I were to sign up for this class of Amex card again, it would be either for their free Blue Cash Everyday® Card or the Blue Cash Preferred® Card. You can check out more here.
Capital One Venture X
Capital One has been trying to compete with Chase’s cards for years, but I’m not sure they have ever caught up. The Capital One Venture X is easy to earn points with, but they lack something in terms of redemptions and travel partners (for me at least). There’s several reasons I still hold this card. First, I got a crazy sign on bonus for it. Capital One has 100K sign on bonus offers every so often. Second, I like that it’s 2x points back on everything. This is my card for everyday purchases that aren’t covered by Chase. I did retire my Chase Freedom Unlimited mostly after I got this card. I also love that you get lounge access, a $300 travel credit a year, and 10K points each anniversary. Because of these two latter perks, I think the $395 annual fee pays for itself.
Marriott Bonvoy Boundless
As a Marriott loyalist, I finally caved and got a Marriott card. First, the card pays for itself instantly. It’s $95 a year, and you get a free night up to 50K points every year. I have redeemed this for hotels up to $400/night, instantly adding value to my wallet. The other reasons I love this card is it gives you 15 “elite night” credits to help with status and up to 17x points back on every dollar spent at Marriott. This card has helped me reach Platinum status multiple years in a row.
Marriott sometimes has sign on offers that include 5 nights up to 50K points, but you can check out their latest offers here. Even without the sign on bonus, I think this card pays for itself with the free night each year.
Amex Delta Gold Card
I finally caved and got an airline credit card a few years ago. Delta was offering 90K points and a no annual fee for the first year as a sign on bonus, so I knew it would provide me value for years. The reason I love this card is it offers you 15% back on points redemptions. So instead of spending 10,000 points on a flight, you spend 8,500 points.
It also provides you free checked bags and ride share credits. The downside of this card is it does not help you with status or give you lounge access. At $150 a year, this card probably is the narrowest value I have, but since I rack up Delta miles a lot of other ways (like when I book Airbnbs), the 15% redemption is worth keeping the card for me.
Chase Sapphire Reserve
When the CSR was offering a 150K sign on bonus, and finally allowed Chase Sapphire Preferred card holders to also open this card, I JUMPED. This card is $795, and in the past, I didn’t think the perks were worth it. But Chase recently did an overhaul of this card, and I see the value now. Some of my favorite perks of this card are the:
$300 travel credit (that is given on any travel purchase instantly as a statement credit)
$300 annually via Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables on OpenTable ($150 semi-annually)
$300 annually as StubHub credits ($150 semi-annually)
Free Apple Music and Apple TV
Better lounge access than the Venture X
4x back on flights and 3x back on dining
As someone that lives in a big city and likes to go out to eat and as someone that loves going to sporting events and concerts, I knew I would instantly get the $795 fee back in terms of credits. So far I have redeemed the travel credit and my bi-annual dining and StubHub credit. All credits were applied to my credit card statement almost instantly. Additionally, I love that you don’t have to use the credit all at once and it will just keep applying the credit until you reach the maximum amount. This card is now totally worth the annual fee and you can check it out here.
My Corporate Amex Card
When I joined a new company, I was shocked to find out I could pay $55 a year to receive all the points from this card. Not all companies offer this perk, but I HIGHLY recommend looking to see if your company would allow you to pay for your card and receive the miles. I transfer all the points I earn from this card to transfer partners (mostly Delta) and it easily pays for itself every year with the amount of miles I earn.
What card are you most interested in learning about? Drop me a question below!
Let’s wander wiser together.
