Since we don’t travel internationally, or really much at all, I have been selling the points (not the greatest redemption value). But AMEX has been giving the points out like water, so its been easy to accumulate 750k per year the last 2 years for just normal spend. [It helps that my oldest graduated from college last year and my two youngest will be done over the next 2 years, so there is ample opportunity to spend large chunks at once.]
My best purchase from it was 2.5 years ago where I was able to buy a new $1700 home theater projector for $600 from Dell back when they let you split the purchase between 3 payment methods by combing 2x$200 Dell tech credits, 2 $200 off 800 Amex Dell offers and 2 10% back Amex Dell offers and an 11% Rak*ten referral.
Now that my 2 youngest are physically at school this year, I will start using points for hotel rooms for my wife and I.
Agree with all of this. We have hoarded points for hotels, Amex MR, Chase UR points and Capital One points and have taken some great trips all over the US and world.
That said, the most useful and satisfying redemptions have been for college visits (flights and hotels) prior to admission and then for visits once in school.
Might not be the most effective use of points, but the saver point redemptions on United (free bags, book economy and get free upgrade to EP or FC with Premier Gold and the United Club Card from Chase) and using Hilton pesos (Diamond status with the Amex Hilton) for decent rooms in most areas have been a no brainer.
Amex was “on crack” with enhanced NLL offers the last couple of years. We had ~4 190k offers on BUS Plat, a similar number of 150k offers on BUS gold, then a couple of upgrade from Gold to Plat offers on 2 of the business cards. And somehow, I was targeted for a 150k personal plat despite having had one ~5 years ago. The spends required to achieve the bonuses weren’t trivial, but paying tuition helped achieve that without issue.
Anyone received their Robinhood Gold Card yet? If so, how long was your wait once you joined the waitlist? I am really tempted by the 3% flat bonus on everything…
I joined Gold first and got the invite to apply around 2 wks after joining the waitlist. I’m loving the card/app, can redeem the points instantly after purchases post and it goes into the 5% APY acct.
I just joined Gold yesterday, moving a good chunk of our cash and paper investments there too. 1% bonus for moving the assets plus 5% APR for the cash reserves I keep for payments, looks like the best overall combination of tools.
Yeah, having a personal Gold and business Plat shouldn’t be an issue. Maybe they have some internal metrics they use to further determine eligibility. Something like you got a card, hit the SUB spend, then didn’t use the card much. If you feel like this may be the case, you could try upping the spending on the Gold then checking again after the statement period since there’s no hard pull for checking SUB eligibility.
I get that it’s a business cc vs personal cc but on surface still getting same 175k points for lower AF at $375 a year and slightly higher spend at $10k in 3 months.
It is just about time to pay annual insurance on the home, and auto will eat a chunk of that spend.
We do spend time at Hilton, so converting this at some point (if possible) is a good value to us.
I’m planning a trip to Japan this November and am thinking it’d be a good idea to put the trip on a premium rewards card to meet a sign up bonus.
I have several credit cards, but none of them are higher tier cards. I want a card that would be useful for everyday purchases. I only do a big trip once every 3-5 years, but like to think I would travel more if rewards were covering a large chunk of the vacation costs on top of making up for the annual fee if you take advantage of the perks.
I travel often for work but those expenses are charged to the company card. Lounge access would be a cool perk, but I don’t consider it imperative.
So far on my short list:
Chase Sapphire Reserve
Amex Gold
CapitalOne Venture X
Amex gold seems to be the sweet spot for everyday usage. Am I just performing mental gymnastics to try and justify the higher annual fee on a card like the CSR?
My approach would be to find ways to spend on cc’s and cycle through as many as you can, getting as many SUBs you can, then use the points to fly in business class to Japan.
2% cash back on $6000 is only $120 and 70,000 points to use as $700 or even $1050 cash back adds up to less than $1200. But those 70,000 points if used for a business class flight are worth thousands if you were to pay cash for that flight.
