What's in My Wallet? August 2015 Edition

It's been a couple of months since I've posted about the credit cards currently in my wallet.  You can check out other posts here:

What's in My Wallet?  June 2015

What's in My Wallet?  March 2015

What's in My Wallet?  October 2014

What's in My Wallet?  April 2014

1)  Alaska Airlines Visa Signature

Emily and I are working on racking up enough Alaska miles (360,000 - 400,000) for a roundtrip first class itinerary on Emirates...So I recently picked up this card to pad my my balance.  If you make a phantom booking on Alaska's website (book a flight and select the CC offer on the last page before purchase) you'll receive 25,000 miles after first purchase and a $100 statement credit after $1,000 in spend.  A great deal that offsets the $75 annual fee.  I've had this card before - BofA is generous in terms of giving out the sign-up bonus multiple times.  We're roughly half way to our goal of 400K Alaska miles so may have to pick up a few more of these cards to ensure we get there.

2)  Chase Freedom

The Chase Freedom card offers "rotating" 5x spend categories by quarter.  For this quarter (ending 9.30/15) Freedom is offering 5x at gas stations and Kohl's.  I likely won't spend a dime at Kohl's but the 5x on gas is pretty great.  Fortunately (unfortunately for more points) we only have one car, both walk to work, and don't drive all that much.  But for the $50 - $100 a month we do spend on gas, it's worth keeping the card in my wallet.  No other spend this quarter though.

3)  Chase Sapphire Preferred

All of my extra (not contributing to sign-up bonuses) travel and dining spend goes on the CSP.  I've had the card for over 3 years and gladly pay the $95 annual fee given my credit history, limit, and the earning power of the card.  Don't forget to leverage the CSP for 3x points on dining on the first Friday of each month.

4)  Amex Starwood Preferred Guest (Business Version)

I recently picked up this card for ATRP.  Actually the second time I've had the card and earned the signup bonus.  I'm working on earning the signup bonus ($5K in 180 days) although the signup bonus actually just increased to 30,000 bonus points after $3K in spend - an amazing deal!