Yeah, I did it back in February or March, and my choices were upstate NY at the border or Niagara falls, and I didn’t want to get caught in a snowstorm. My other choice was Alaska. Then, a bunch opened at Miami, so I went there on one of my trips to Florida.
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My GE renewal application got caught up in the government shutdown ~4 years ago.
So GE expired and it took PreCheck with it.
And for (4?) months I had to use the regular security line until the renewal was eventually processed.
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Taking off all your shoes and opening all your bags up is well worth the $85 TSA Pre price to someone who flys often.
$100 for Global Entry is worth more than standing in 52 min customs lines.
And some credit cards pay for it.
My NFCU Visa paid for my GE renewal
CLEAR is at SAN now, in Terminal 2 West, in case you’re interested and weren’t aware.
Amex Platinum covers the $189 a year.
I’m not sure if CLEAR by itself is worth it. From what I read you need CLEAR to skip the line but TSA Pre to keep your shoes on.
Depends how much you fly, from which airports, and what you’re willing to endure.
CLEAR gets you to the front of whichever line you need (PreCheck or standard) quickly.
For GE, check out Appointment Scanner…best $30 I’ve spent in a while.
Applications are open for this card.
The $95 annual fee kills it for me, but if the card still tickles your trout, the annual fee is waived for the first year and you can decide if it’s worth it or not.
There is also a $250 sign-up bonus to soften the blow.
Capped at $1500 that’s 45 rewards total for each than 1.5
The damn annual fee
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This sucks, I just signed up for the Freedom Unlimited card and it looks like it offers extended warranty
I don’t have the Costco Visa, but I know a lot of people really valued this benefit.
It’s still a good card if you don’t want to shuffle purchases between cards to maximize the rewards. I don’t mind that at all, and have better cards for every category of purchases, including Costco. 
Updated for Q1 2023
Two new cards added
|
Card |
Cash back |
Categories |
Cap |
Comments |
|
6% |
Groceries, Streaming |
$6,000/year |
Annual fee waived for current year (+$150 upgrade bonus) |
|
|
5.25% |
Online Shopping, Online Shopping, Dining |
$2,500/quarter |
Includes 75% relationship bonus; Categories can be changed once a month (gas, online shopping, dining, travel, drug stores, or home improvement/furnishings); Three of these in our household; each has a separate cap |
|
|
5% |
Walmart.com |
Unlimited |
Walmart.com purchases (including pickup and delivery) |
|
|
5% |
Amazon.com, Whole Foods
|
$1,500/quarter |
Amex BCP pays 6% on groceries, so this card isn’t useful (to me) for 5% at Whole Foods. Amazon Prime membership required for card eligibility. |
|
|
Chase Freedom |
5% |
Grocery stores, Target, fitness/gym memberships
Updated categories for Q1 |
$1,500/quarter |
This is the original Freedom card, which is currently closed to new applicants. 5% categories change quarterly and are set by the issuer. |
|
5% |
Grocery stores, Target, fitness/gym memberships
Updated categories for Q1 |
$1,500/quarter |
If you use Ultimate Rewards points optimally (which I do not), 5X URs > 5% cashback, and Q4 categories overlap with other cards.
5% categories change quarterly and are set by the issuer. |
|
|
Citi Custom Cash New |
|
Gas* |
$500/billing cycle |
* Pays 5% back on the first $500/cycle on the most used category, and 1% on everything else.
Categories: Restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, select travel, select transit, select streaming services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs, live entertainment |
|
5% |
Grocery stores, drug stores and select streaming services
Updated categories for Q1 |
$1,500/quarter |
Eligible streaming services defined in note 15 in the mouse print on this page. |
|
|
5% |
Home Utilities, TV/Internet/Streaming |
$2,000/quarter |
Some utility bills have a credit card surcharge, but these are easy to outrun by overpaying the balance and carrying a credit on the utility account; Choose two categories per quarter (furniture, electronics, department stores, select clothing stores, select sporting goods stores, home utilities, cell phone providers, gyms, ground transportation, movie theaters, fast food, TV/internet/streaming) |
|
|
4% |
Travel, gas stations and EV charging stations |
|
Also pays 5% on prepaid hotels and car rentals booked through US Bank’s OTA, which I’ll never use. 2% categories are also offered, but those have no utility to me (given the flat 2.625% structure on the Bank of America Travel Rewards; see below). |
|
|
2.625% |
All purchases |
Unlimited |
Includes 75% relationship bonus
This cards gets miscellaneous spending that isn’t covered by categories that pay 5% or more.
No annual fee. |
The Bank of America numbers are based on having 100k of assets with BofA, otherwise you’re getting less. Alliant CU offers 2.5% back on less hoops https://www.alliantcreditunion.org/bank/visa-signature-card
Discover offers 3% back (1.5% matched at year end) for the first year unlimited on everything.
Absolutely not.
We use Merrill balances to meet the 100k threshold. These are just securities we need to keep somewhere anyway.
Our B of A deposits are completely immaterial.
The link I included with each B of A entry has details.
Yes when I say balances with BofA ML counts too. Just saying people expecting those numbers will need assets somewhere over there.
The distinction is critical, which is why I had to call it out.
No one should keep $100k in B of A checking / savings for any meaningful length of time. But most people I’ve encountered assume that’s the deal, even after reading (let’s be honest, skimming) the program terms.
And if you move assets to Merrill Edge you can get up to 1k bonus
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