I have no desire to open many credit cards for the sign up bonus and leave the card unused after the minimum spend is complete to then cancel the card. However, recently I found a “grocery store” and a “gas station” so I have been thinking of opening a new card or two to capitalize on my purchases. Scott from Hack My Trip wrote that credit cards are another tool to travel cheaply instead of solely relying on churning cards. I have to agree with him
Just to reiterate my standpoint of credit cards. I sign up for cards that allow me to sustain manufactured spending either through portal access and bonuses, category bonuses, rotating categories, complementary card benefits like Freedom and Sapphire Preferred, etc.
These are the following cards that I am considering:
Citi Thank You Premier Card — for 1.2 points at supermarkets, gas stations, and drug stores. These 3 categories are important because they all sell gift cards. In addition, I earn 5x Thank You points with my Forward card for my book store purchases to reload my Campus Edition card
SPG Personal — for additional stays/nights, and I have been charging quite a bit in the business card. I have put over 12k in the 3 months with $0 business income when I applied for the card.
Flexperks — for the up to 2 cent redemption of flights, I kind of want the access to sell gift cards through Plastic Jungle to try out the process.
AMEX Premier Rewards Gold — for 2x Membership Rewards at supermarket purchases
AMEX Platinum — for Fine Hotels and Restaurants, automatic SPG gold, amongst the other benefits
United Explorer — for card benefits as my home airport is a United hub
Hyatt — for Platinum status and yearly free nights, however, I am not ready to use the 2 night certificate at any hotel that comes as part of the signing bonus
Out of the six cards, I think the Citi and AMEX PRG I would sign up as the ‘now’ cards. In an upcoming post, I’ll explain why the PRG would be so useful.
Further down the line, I would definitely sign up for the Hyatt card.
staying away from barclays? How about the JCB Marukai card? 3% cashback after you hit volume.
https://www.jcbusa.com/for_consumers/speciality-cards/marukai-premium-jcb-card/
@andreas, not avoiding, I don’t see any compelling cards with them to sign up for. The Arrival and Miles and More would be the only two. For cash back on travel expenditures, I would rather use the Citi Forward (5x @ Entertainment, been charging a bit at the book stores) + Citi Thank You Premier and redeem towards travel to take advantage of the extra 33% in addition, there would be flight miles to redeem more Thank You Points.
I wouldn’t mind signing up for the JCB Marukai if I was a resident of California! The low annual fee + 3% cashback would be great
Thanks for the shout-out. I have to agree with you on the lack of compelling Barclays cards, but the US Airways offer is usually worth a churn.