Why the Chase Sapphire Reserve is the Most Lucrative Credit Card in History

It's been a few weeks since the Chase Sapphire Reserve debuted to an online frenzy unseen in the travel hacking world.  There were articles in mainstream publications from Bloomberg and the New York Times.

Chase ran out of the sleek (and heavy) metal cards everyone is so wild about and had to start issuing plastic cards until they can get some more metal.  Travel bloggers (other bloggers...ones without other full time jobs) dedicated entire weeks to just posting about the CSR...why you should get it, how you can get around the 5/24 rules, what you should do with the 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points, etc...

Why is everyone going so nuts? 

Because this is seriously the most lucrative card people have ever seen.  The 100,000 point sign-up bonus alone is worth a minimum of $1,500 in free travel.  Used wisely, you can get a lot more value out of it than that.  But the annual fee is $450?  Is it really?  Let's break it down:

• 100,000 point sign-up bonus and a $450 annual fee
• $300 annual travel credit is essentially as good as cash
• Priority pass with complimentary guests
• Global Entry $100 credit (once every four years)
• 3x Ultimate Rewards earnings on travel and dining

If you value the travel credit as cash then the annual fee is down to $150 a year.  Assuming you value Global Entry and TSA preCheck, then you've got another $20 a year (renewals on Global Entry every 5 years) off the annual fee.  Now you're at $130.  If you use the Priority Pass benefits just once per year for you and a spouse/friend, you're down ($27 each) to $76.  That's cheaper than the Sapphire Preferred Card ($95) and you're earning 3x on travel and dining vs. 2x.  That is an INSANE deal.

To close it out, I think the buzz is justified.  This isn't a product just for credit card junkies but really for the mass of people that eat out, like to travel, and our savvy enough to take control of their financial life.  I think that is a large segment of the market and many of them are young.

No way Chase keeps the benefits as they stand today forever.  But for now, everyone that has enjoyed the Sapphire Preferred benefits should go out and get this card with the monster signup bonus and attached benefits.  Even if you don't value the benefits beyond the travel credit, the extra 50% bonus on travel and dining should be enough for most everyone to get more value out of this card than the CSP.  If you spend $500 a month on travel and dining, that's an extra $6,000 in spend per year and an extra 6,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards.  They're worth a minimum of 1.5 cents in travel so that's $90 in incremental value over the CST.

Kudos to Chase for one-upping Amex and Citi (and everyone else) with an outstanding new product.  Even with a $450 annual fee, I plan on keeping my Reserve card going forward.  

Updates on the Chase Sapphire Reserve

The Chase Sapphire Reserve launched a couple weeks ago after several months of frenzied speculation.  There's been so much written about the card (which launched during our trip) and it's been hard to keep track of all of the developments.

I'm catching up this weekend and here's the high level overview:

• $450 annual fee
• $300 travel credit per calendar year
• 3x Ultimate Rewards points earned on travel and dining
• Same point transfer partners as Chase Sapphire and Ink
• Priority pass with guest privaleges
• $100 PreCheck/Global Entry credit
• No Foreign Transaction Fees

The card's been in such high demand, that Chase ran out of metal cards.  We also found out that JP Morgan is offering the JP Morgan Reserve card which seems to be an identical card offering specifically for JP Morgan Private Bank (and potentially others) customers.  

Some have even been successful in getting approved for both products.

Free United Club Membership

I've been an United Club (fka The Red Carpet Club) member off and on for years.  When I was traveling each week for work, it made sense to purchase a membership outright.  I spent time in an airport almost daily and having a quiet place to work, recharge batteries, and get something eat made a ton of sense.

Today, I'm either traveling on an award ticket in a premium cabin (which is likely going to provide some sort of lounge access) or using one of the five credit cards I have that provide some sort of lounge access.  So purchasing an United Club membership makes little sense.

 The United MileagePlus Club Card typically has a $450 annual fee and provides Club access as well as 1.5x United miles on all spend. which can be very lucrative for non-bonused spending  I've had the card before when the annual fee was reduced for Premier 1K members.

I received an offer a few weeks ago (expires today and definitely targeted) for the card with the annual fee waived for the first year.  I won't be taking advantage for the reasons outlined above but all of you should check your email for this offer.

It could be that Chase is preparing to launch another premium card (as rumored) and they're pushing for signups prior to that rumored launch in August.  If you have a family, travel for business, or live in a United hub city (like Denver) this would be a great pickup with no annual fee.

Why I'm Going Big With Delta

I've stayed loyal to United for the past 16 years given that I've lived in United hubs (Boulder then DC and now Denver) and they can generally get me to where I need to be nonstop.  But without higher elite status (currently a lowly United Silver) it just doesn't matter all that much.  I can essentially replicate Silver benefits with the United Explorer Visa card.  So I have begun diversifying my paid travel based on schedule and price vs. solely based on carrier.

As it relates to award travel, I've been playing the field for awhile.  Since I'm generally flying in a premium cabin, elite status within a given alliance doesn't impact the experience.  Despite that, I have yet to fly within the Skyteam (led by Delta) alliance during the last four years of heavy international travel.  As of a month ago, I had less than 1,000 Delta SkyMiles in my account.

One of the challenging things about applying for loads of credit cards is that eventually you start to run out of options.  Amex has a "once in a lifetime" signup bonus restriction and Chase/Citi let you receive signup bonuses every 24 months.  So when there is a compelling offer that I can take advantage of, I usually do.  And that is why I am going big with Delta.

United MileagePlus Explorer 75,000 Bonus

Back in March, I wrote about the 55,000 mile United MileagePlus Explorer offer from Chase.  It's been a while since we've seen super compelling credit card offers especially from Chase.

Well now is the time to check your United MileagePlus account to see if you qualify for the a great new offer!  The new offer provides 70,000 Unites miles after spending $3,000 in the first 90 days.  You'll also receive 5,000 bonus miles for adding an authorized user and $50 statement credit.  All of the standard benefits (including 2 free United club passes) still applies.  The annual fee is not waived for the first year.  After meeting the spend requirements, you'll have 78,000 United miles for a cash outlay of $45.  The offer expires 6/30.

I wasn't targeted but Emily was.  She recently received the card (in March) and after a quick secure message to Chase with a couple of screenshots showing that she's been targeted, she was matched to the higher offer!

If you haven't had this card, I would highly recommend logging in to your MileagePlus account to see if you've been targeted.  I value the 78,000 miles at around $1,500.  The value of the club passes is around $45 (you could sell them on eBay for maybe $30 total) so essentially you're getting 78,000 miles for free.

As an example, roundtrip business class ticket to Europe on United runs 115,000 miles.  If you've had the card before, you can get the bonus again as long as it's been 24 months since you last had the product.

The Three Best Credit Cards for Beginners

I am often asked "what is the best credit card to get."  The answer is typically "it depends."  Let's assume that you meet the minimum criteria to more aggressively apply for credit cards in order to earn points for award travel.

1)  You have a job that pays you money consistently
2)  You don't have credit card debt or carry a balance ever
3)  You desire to travel
4)  You have a high credit score (call it north of 720 - this one isn't a deal breaker but will certainly help)

Assuming you meet these four criteria,  here is where I would start:

Chase Freedom:

This is a great place to start as one of the most powerful points earnings cards comes with no annual fee.  The current bonus will net you 15,000 points after spending $500 in 90 days. The card enables you to earn 1x cash back for everyday purchases.  You'll get 5x on specific category bonuses each quarter which is an easy 30,000 points per year.  The kicker is that the cash back can be transferred to Ultimate Rewards points if you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred (or another Ultimate Rewards earning card such as a Chase Ink card)  making this one of the most powerful card duos on the market.  You can then leverage the Ultimate Rewards points to transfer your points to a variety of travel partners (United, British Airways, Hyatt, etc...).  When you redeem those points for travel you're likely to earn a return far greater than the 1% cash back.

Chase Sapphire Preferred:

As one of my first posts ever, I wrote about the value of the CSP.  The value proposition remains solidly in place.  Sign up for the card and you'll receive 50,000 Ultimate Rewards points after $4,000 in spend.  You'll also receive 5,000 UR points for adding an authorized user.  That makes the signup bonus worth 59,000 UR points.  You'll earn 2x UR points for spend in the travel and dining categories...which is most of my personal spend.  The 59,000 UR points can be combined with the 15,000 you earned from the Freedom card and the transferred to the partners mentioned above.  The annual fee (waived for the first year) is $95 but given the everyday earnings power of this card, I think it's worth keeping the card.

American Express Starwood Preferred Guest:

Many of you know that Starwood if my favorite hotel chain.  I've been an elite member for over ten years, I'm a current former stockholder and former employee.  I've also held this card in my wallet (and paid the $95 annual fee) for over ten years.  The signup bonus is pretty great - 25,000 SPG points after spending $3,000 in the first 90 days.

That means your total haul will be 28,000 SPG points.  That is enough for a couple of nights at a high end W or Westin.  You can also transfer the points (in 20,000 mile increments) to dozens of airline partners.  When doing so, you'll receive a 5,000 mile bonus meaning 40,000 SPG points will you get 50,000 airline miles.  While there are no category bonuses on the card (beyond spend at SPG properties and Uber) it  is worth keeping the card given the extreme value (almost 2.5 cents IMO) of SPG points.

If you and your spouse picked up these three cards each, you would have 164,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points and 56,000 SPG points.  You could leverage the UR points for roundtrip economy tickets to Europe on United.  Then leverage your SPG points to get 2-5 free nights at SPG hotels.  All for free.  If you are planning a honeymoon, a special anniversary trip, or just want to get away for a bit, this combination of cards will take you VERY far.

SPG Business Card Increased Referral Bonus

I've written extensively about the American Express SPG card.  Amex also issues a business card version (which I currently hold) which offers most of the same benefits as the personal version.  The business version also provides club access when staying at Sheraton properties which can be a useful benefit.  While I'm content with my SPG Lifetime Gold status, when I was working on achieving Platinum status, the extra 2 stays/5 nights towards elite status were super helpful.

Amex is currently offering an increased referral bonus (up from 5,000 points) of 10,000 points for each approved referral.  That is a pretty outstanding deal considering a couple of referrals could net you a night at a St. Regis.

The referral offer is the same (25,000 points after spending $5,000 in the first 90 days) as the public offer for the cardmember.  Keep in mind that you don't have to be a full time business owner to be approved for the card.  You could be an eBay seller, a blogger, or do some consulting in addition to your full time job.  I've found that American Express is fairly liberal with approvals on these business credit (vs. charge) cards.

To see if you're eligible for the offer, login to your Amex account online and checkout your offers at the bottom of the page.  If you are interested in a referral from me, feel free to drop me a line.

Getting Started With Credit Card Signup Bonuses

This is an update to a post I wrote back in 2014.  While the specifics have changed a bit, the strategy remains the same.

The last few years of traveling have been unreal.  We've taken trips to Hong Kong, Maldives, Dubai, London, Singapore, Amsterdam, Paris and Bangkok!

Hong Kong!

Many of you have asked us how we afford to go on all these trips.  The answer is pretty simple…we pay less per trip than the price of an economy ticket from the US to Europe.

Etihad First Class Apartments

Citi ThankYou Premier 10,000 Point Bonus

I received a pretty lucrative bonus offer from Citi via email this morning,

10,000 bonus point offer

By spending 3,000 (between 4/15 and 7/15) on my Citi ThankYou Premier card, I'll earn an additional 10,000 bonus points.  Note that 10,000 points are on top of the already strong earnings potential of the ThankYou card which earns 3x on travel and 2x on dining and entertainment.

Citi ThankYou earnings potential

Let's assume that your spend is split evenly between travel, dining, and other.  If you received this promotion and take meet the spend requirements, you'd earn:

• 10,000 bonus points
• 3,000 points for travel spend
• 2,000 points for dining and entertainment spend
• 1,000 points for all other spend

That is a total of 15,000 points for 3,000 in spend of 5x.  VERY hard to top that with any other easily achievable method.  This card is 100% going back in my wallet for the next few months.

Interestingly enough, the promotion lines up with my card anniversary which is in late June.  I'll work to receive the bonus prior - if the points post, I'll cancel the card.  If they don't, I'll give Citi a call for a retention offer.

What's in My Wallet April 2016

Here's an overview of what cards are currently in my wallet as of April 2016.

1) Chase Freedom

The Chase Freedom card offers "rotating" 5x spend categories by quarter.  For this quarter (ending 4/30/16) Freedom is offering 5x at grocery stores and warehouse clubs.  It seems the bonus will work at Costco.com so I'll be working towards earning my 7,500 bonus points via some online shopping.

2) 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 almost 4 years and gladly pay the $95 annual fee given my credit history, limit, and the earning power of the card.  

3) Amex Platinum

I actually don't put spend on the card at all (other than to earn the sign-up bonus) but have kept it in my wallet strictly for the benefits.  I recently used the card for Centurion lounge visits in Las Vegas and New York as well as an American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts booking.

4) Barclays Arrival Plus

This is actually the third time I've had this card from Barclays which will rebate $420 worth of travel expenses in the form of cash.  I've already used both of our Citi Prestige airline credits in 2016 so this card will provide additional cash back against future (hotel, airfare) out of pocket travel expenses.

5)  Starwood American Express

Any spend that isn't going towards reaching a signup bonus or isn't a category bonus goes on this card.  Despite the upcoming merger with Marriott, I am still valuing Starwood points at north of two cents.  So even at 1 point per dollar, I still feel like I'm getting a great return on spend.

60,000 Mile Bonus (Targeted) for Gold Delta SkyMiles Amex

We are really on an airline credit card roll over the last few months.

First, American and Citi sent both of us a direct mail piece with a 60,000 mile offer.  Then, Emily was able to pickup the Chase United MileagePlus Explorer Card with a 55,000 mile bonus.

And just last week, I received another direct mail piece but this time from Delta.  The offer provide 60,000 Delta miles for spending $1,000 on the Gold Delta SkyMiles Amex.  

Annual fee waived for the first year and a $50 statement credit after making a Delta purchase (I'll see if it will trigger via a gift card and report back).  

I've only flown Delta a handful of times over the past 5 years but figured picking up 60,000 miles (standard bonus is 30,000) would get me a jumpstart on my Delta mileage balance.  And if we do fly Delta, there are a handful of "elite status light" benefits that come with the card.

Plus with the Alaska Emirates devaluation, it's a great time to diversify!

I was instantly approved for the card and it arrived in my mailbox two days later.  The minimum spend threshold is pretty low so I'll be on to the next card in no time.  All in, that is 235,000 in airline miles from four targeted bonuses over the last four months.

Did you receive a targeted offer from AA, United, or Delta?

New Schwab Amex Platinum Live

As I wrote about over the weekend, Charles Schwab is launching a couple of new American Express co-branded credit cards for brokerage customers.  The offerings include an Amex Platinum card with a 40,000 point sign-up bonus.  That matches the standard offering for the non co-brand card.

The cards were set to launch 3/31 (today) and they are live on Schwab's website.

I plan to hold off on applying to see if there's a bigger, targeted bonus in the future.  If you are a (big) Schwab brokerage customer, you can receive $100 or $200 off the platinum card annual fee if you hold more than $250K or $1M in assists with Schwab.

Seems like a high bar to me but for a very limited number of you, this may result in $100 or $200 back each year.

Anyway, it's great to see banks expand their product line and always nice to have another card option.

United MileagePlus Explorer 55,000 Mile Bonus

I've had the Chase United MileagePlus Explorer (personal and business) several times over the last few years.  Emily recently reached her 24 month anniversary of cancelling the personal version (Chase limits sign-up bonuses on products to once every 24 months) so she applied for the card.  The standard bonus you'll see on planes and in airports is terrible.  Only 30,000 miles which really won't get you very far on United.

You should be able to get the higher bonus offer (55,000 miles in total) by logging into your United MileagePlus account.  You'll typically see a banner add on the homepage or after clicking "View Account."

Click on "Learn More"

The higher offer provides 50,000 United miles are spending $2,000 in the first 90 days.  The $95 annual fee is waived for the first year.  You will also receive an additional 5,000 miles for adding an authorized user (Perry has a few cards in our household) as well as 2 United Club passes.

55,000 total bonus miles

If you add an authorized user, you'll have 57,000 miles after reaching the bonus.  That is nearly enough for a roundtrip economy ticket from the US to Europe (60,000) or a one-way business class ticket between the US and Europe on United (Star Alliance partner flights cost 70,000).

United offers a free stopover and open jaw on award tickets making a roundtrip ticket even more valuable.  Given that purchasing that type of ticket (in economy) could run you north of $1,500, that's a pretty solid value from one sign-up bonus.

If you're a United flyer, this is a card worth acquiring.  You'll also receive priority boarding and a free checked bag.  Perks that are especially valuable if you don't already have United status.

New Charles Schwab American Express Platinum Card

According to Doctor of Credit, American Express and Charles Schwab plan to launch a new Platinum card to Schwab customers this week.  I've been a Schwab banking and brokerage customer for more than twenty years.  Schwab's High Yield Checking account is my recommendation for free ATM withdrawals worldwide.

Las Vegas Centurion Lounge

I currently carry Amex's personal version of the Platinum card getting me a $200 annual travel credit, access to FH&R, and Centurion lounge access.  Apparently the new card will be marketed as a separate product meaning even if you've received a sign-up bonus for the personal platinum card, you'll be able to get it again with this card.

Schwab Amex Platinum

The card is essentially the same as the personal platinum offering.  You'll be able to deposit points into a Schwab brokerage accounts at a rate of 1.25 cents (not a great deal) in addition to receiving a discount on the annual fee if you hold more than $250,000 in assets with Schwab.

While the standard bonus offer is only 40,000 points, I would imagine Amex/Schwab will be targeting Schwab customers with bigger bonus offers.  I'm going to hold off for a bigger bonus once the card goes live but certainly excited by a new opportunity to pick up valuable Membership Rewards points.

Starwood Amex 35,000 Point Bonus

The Starwood Preferred Guest American Express card has been in my wallet since 2004.  I reviewed the card a couple of years ago and since then, the value proposition of the card has only been strengthened.

Current SPG Amex Bonus

The bonus is up to 35,000 SPG points after spending $3,000 in the first 90 days.  For context, the bonus was raised to 30,000 a few times over the last few years.  Two years ago, the standard offer was 25,000 points.  I remember getting the business version of the card prior to that with a 20,000 point bonus and being very excited.  So 35,000 points is unreal.

Picking the Right Credit Card for Hotel Stays

When you have 20+ credit cards, you want to use them like a swiss army knife.  Co-branded hotel credit cards can often provide lucrative spending bonuses so it makes sense to pay attention to which card you're using to pay for hotel stays and incidentals.  Throw in an international stay and you've got an even more complicated situation due to foreign transaction fees (you'll want to avoid these at all costs).

If I'm working on minimum spend towards a credit card sign-up bonuses, I'll use the card for a hotel stay regardless of the return.  Assume you're working towards a 50,000 point bonus (average these days) for $3,000 in spent.  You're effectively receding a bonus of nearly 20 points per dollar so unless you have massive spending ability, it makes sense to knock the minimum spend out first.

Beyond that, I'll look to the co-branded card (assuming I have one) of the hotel chain I'm staying with.  If it's an international stay, the card must also have no foreign transaction fees.

American Express Changes Rules Around Business Credit Card Sign-Up Bonuses

If you read other miles and points blogs, it would seem the sky is falling.

In 2014, American Express changed their terms to limit sign-up bonuses on most personal credit/charge cards to once per lifetime.  Well it seems that change has been extended to business cards as well.

One Mile at a Time's Coverage

The Points Guy's Coverage

Travel Codex's Coverage

Prior to the change, the language allowed for another sign-up bonus on the same card product as long as the applicant didn't have the card for the previous 12 months.  So it was possible to get the card, meet the minimum spend, receive the bonus, cancel the card, and get it again a year later.

Amex Business Card Terms Changes

On the surface, this might seem to be a drastic change for our little game.  I have probably had each Amex OPEN product 2-3 times over the past four years.  I promise the sky is not falling.  The more restrictive policy will most certainly impact business owners who rely on American Express for credit and who couldn't care less about rules, sign-up bonuses, or travel rewards.  It makes a ton of sense that a business would start with a card, cancel it, and then think about using the product again in the future.  That may be due to a business change, an increase in need for travel, insurance, etc...  So I think the use case of a business wanting to get a card again (and receive the bonus) is very real.

Amex is in a very tough spot as a business at the moment and it makes sense to me that they would do everything possible to try and reduce their marketing spend to acquire new customers.

Once they realize (and they will get their eventually) that they are impacting their customer experience, retention, etc... they will likely unwind the change.  In terms of the impact to us, this is all part of the process.  One door may shut but there are still dozens open.

A key note here is that the change likely doesn't impact targeted bonuses.  I've had luck receiving the sign-up bonus on personal cards that I've had before (post 2014 terms change) via targeted email/mail offers.  So keep an eye on your mailbox(es) as that is the most likely avenue for receiving multiple bonuses for the same card.

How Many Ultimate Rewards Points Have You Redeemed?

I had to transfer some Chase Ultimate Rewards points to my United MileagePlus account this morning to book my flight home from Tokyo.  I noticed something new (or I've just missed it during previous visits to the activity page) which shows my total points redeemed since late 2011.  .That's about the time I got into this game and started applying for credit cards in earnest.

To see your total, click on Activity (top right of the screen) and scroll down to the bottom of the page.

Lifetime UR Redeemed

Thanks to 10 Chase Ultimate Rewards sign-up bonuses and amazing spend bonuses (Sapphire 7% dividend and Freedom quarterly bonuses) we've been able to earn and burn nearly 900,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards over the past 4 years.  I actually thought the number might be higher given the insane amount of points we've transferred to Singapore KrisFlyer, United, and Hyatt over the years.

Thanks to Chase for making this available - it was cool to see and something I'll check out again the next time I'm redeeming Ultimate Rewards points.

Citi Prestige $250 Air Travel Credit Overview

I've periodically written about the Citi Prestige card but have yet to do a full overview (forthcoming). The card is probably the best "new" card on the market given the extensive list of benefits and directly competes with the American Express Platinum Card at the upper end of the market.

One of the best benefits of the card ($450 annual fee) is the $250 annual air travel credit.  This is a straight $250 reimbursement for air travel including airline tickets.  This differs from the Platinum Card which requires some finagling (i.e. buying gift cards in smaller increments) to get the $200 credit to trigger as "cash."

The credit is a (calendar year) annual benefit meaning you can signup for the card now and receive the $250 credit in 2016.  You're also entitled to the benefit in 2017.  So in theory you're paying $450 in fees to get $500 in air travel reimbursement - assuming you consider that close to cash which I do. Anecdotally(and it seems the example below supports this) you can actually get the credit for December spend as long as your December billing statement has closed.

Here's how Citi defines the Air Travel Credit:

"Airline Fees are defined as purchases made with airlines including Air fares, baggage fees, lounge access and some in-flight purchases. Please allow 1-2 billing cycles after the qualifying air travel expense is charged to your Card Account for statement credit(s) to be posted to the account."

I've had no trouble with the credit posting automatically much faster - usually in a handful of business days.

Last week, I booked a United domestic flight for our Etihad First Class Apartments trip and the credits have already posted!

Kudos to Citi for creating such a great benefit and supporting it with IT that actually works!

How Much Did I Pay in Annual Fees in 2015?

The other day I posted a recap of the miles and points we earned in 2015.  The post turned out to be was popular so I'm going one step further today to explain the annual fees paid in 2015 and the rationale behind each fee.  You can read more about my credit card strategy as it relates to annual fees here.  For those of you bored by this topic, check out the trip report page.

In 2015, I paid approximately $1,300 in credit card annual fees.  I say approximately because there were some refunds against annual fees for cards cancelled that I didn't keep track of.  $1,300 isn't an insignificant amount of money.  But travel is our favorite thing to do together.  It enriches our lives in unimaginable ways and this is my hobby.  So given the value created, I think it is actually a pretty good deal.  Especially for Emily.

Now on to the recap.  Here's a list of all the credit card fees I paid last year.

1)  $300 for 2 Citi Prestige Cards

The annual fee for this card is actually $450 but given the $250 airline credit (pretty close to cash for me) I consider my out of pocket expense to be $200 each.  The credit is applied on a calendar year basis and I've already redeemed my credit for 2016.  I will likely cancel the card prior to my anniversary so that's like getting $500 in airline reimbursement for $450!  I also have a Citi Gold Checking Account which reduces the fee on my card by another $100.  We earned 100,000 Citi Thank You points for these two bonuses which helped us fly home in Singapore Airlines First Class.

Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class

2)  $95 for the Citi Thank You Premier Card

Emily applied for this card in 2013 when the bonus was 20K points at sign-up and 30K after $3K in spend after the first anniversary.  So we had to pay the $95 fee to get the 30K bonus.  I've since cancelled the card and received a pro-rated annual fee credit via check.

3)  $95 for the Chase Fairmont Card

$95 for two nights in a suite in an awesome Vancouver hotel?  I'll take it.  This was one of the best deals of the year.  Fairmont was recently purchased so this card will likely change at some point.  I would recommend taking advantage sooner rather than later if you're interested...especially for a quick weekend to Vancouver.

4)  $85 for the Chase Marriott Card

This bonus will net me over 90,000 Marriott points - good enough for 2 nights at an amazing amount of excellent properties around the world.  We'll use these points for a couple of nights at the New York EDITION in 2016.

New York EDITION views

5)  $95 for the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

The perpetual keeper.  $95 is a steal for 2x points on travel and dining (the vast majority of my spend) with no foreign transaction fees.  Chase has earned my business with such an awesome card.

6)  $89 for the Barclays US Air Card

I picked up this card prior to the American/USAirways merger and have not been disjointed.  I earned 50,000 miles from the signup bonus and receive a 10,000 mile (annually) credit back American Airlines award redemptions.  I value the 10,000 miles around $200 so this is quite the deal.  As long as the 10,000 mile rebate exists and I'm still redeeming American miles, I'll keep this one along with the $89 fee.

7)  $275 for 4 Bank of America Alaska Personal/Business Cards

Emirates First Class.  Enough said.  These 4 cards earned more than enough points for a one-way first class ticket on Emirates.  It's amazing that BofA lets you "churn" these cards.  I'm hoping to pickup a few more in 2016!

8)  $250 for the American Express Business Platinum

The actual fee is $450 but with $200 in airline reimbursement (i.e. gift cards) the fee is only $250 out of pocket.  With a 100,000 point signup bonus, this was one of the best deals of 2015.

9)  $65 for the Starwood American Express Card

I've had this card in my wallet since 2004.  I'll likely keep the card just for the longevity on my credit report.  I'm also getting 2x points on SPG stays along with credits toward elite status.  It will be very interesting to see what happens after the Marriott/Starwood merger.  I would imagine this card goes away but we shall see.

I'm headed into 2016 with the majority of these cards still in my wallet/credit card box.  Some will stay, some will go, and I'll add 20-25 new ones across the year.  As long as travel remains a priority, I'll allocate a certain amount of money towards these fees. If/when it's no longer a priority, I'll definitely work on slimming this list down!