Which Travel Rewards Credit Card is Best for *ME* ?

Trying a new idea here with this post - Which Travel Rewards Credit Card is Best for *ME* ?

The Situation

Today's "ME" is a friend of mine based in the Midwest who asked for help in picking a new credit card.

• Frequent traveler (20-30 trips per year) based in a small airport where American Airlines is the dominant player.
• Travel involves flights and hotel stays of 2-3 nights.
• Hotel stays are approximately 50-60% Marriott, 20-30% Hilton, and 10-20% other chains/independent hotels.
• Traveler has the option to pay for his own hotel rooms and other expenses (but not most of their flights) using own credit card.
• This person has very few credit cards and is looking for the best all-around card for maximizing hotel points/airline miles/flexible travel points based on travel-related and other general everyday spending.
• Traveler currently holds top or near-top airline status as well as mid or top status with both Hilton and Marriott
• Willing to accept an annual fee up to $200 on a new credit card
• New card will be used primarily for travel-related spending.  The family plans to use a Costco Visa card for everyday spending -- groceries, gas, etc.  The Costco Visa pays 4% cash rebate on gas (max $7k/yr then 1%), 3% on restaurants and eligible travel (airfare, hotels, rental cars, Costco Travel, cruise lines, travel agencies), 2% at Costco and Costco.com, 1% everywhere else (including restaurants inside warehouse clubs, bakeries, B&Bs, train travel).

Projected Spend

• 25 three-night air travel trips per year
• Approx $20k/yr total spend
• Marriott Hotels 45 nights = $8,000
• Hilton Hotels 15 nights = $3,000
• Other Travel - rental car 75 days = $5,000.  Airport parking = $1,000.  Rental car fuel $500.  
• Restaurants $1,500

Key Considerations

• Is this a long-term card or may be replaced by or supplemented with another card(s) in a year or so?
• How much value or emphasis should be placed on the signup bonus vs. the potential annual earnings from spend in a normal year?
• Miles or nights?  Or flexibility?  What types of points/miles do you value most and what do you want to do with the travel currency earned from card spend?  Are airline miles, or transferable bank travel points that can be used to book flights, more important / valuable than hotel points?  Or are hotel points more important because they can be used more easily without including air travel?  Or are flexible points more valuable because they can be used for a variety of different travel items including rental cars, flights, hotels, etc?

Breaking it Down for "Me"

Cards evaluated include the following:

• Marriott co-branded credit cards
• Hilton co-branded credit cards
• Amex cards that earn Membership Rewards points
• Chase cards that earn Ultimate Rewards points
• Citi cards that earn ThankYou points
• Capital One and other cards such as Barclay Arrival that earn cash back or credits that can be used to offset travel expenses charged to the card

Recommendations

• If you can spend $15k in first 3 months:  Chase Ink Business Preferred.  Best signup bonus of any card in this blog post
• If you are willing to apply for a business card but can't swing $15k spend in 3 mos:  Marriott Bonvoy Business Card
• Best first-year value, personal card:  Chase Sapphire Preferred
• Honorable mention - solid hotel points card with decent earnings rate and very good signup bonus:  Hilton Surpass Amex
• Honorable mention:  good signup bonus of flexible bank points and good long-term earnings rate:  Amex Green Card

Marriott Cards

The best Marriott card for this scenario:  Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Chase Visa.  Temporarily increased signup bonus is the same as the Bonvoy Business Amex, with lower annual fee.  The family will use its Costco card for restaurant and gas purchases, so the higher 4x earning rate on the Bonvoy Business Amex would not be useful for them.

All 4 of these Marriott credit cards provide 15 elite nights per year toward Marriott status.  These are NOT free nights for stays; they are only for meeting elite status requirements.  Each Marriott Bonvoy member can earn maximum 30 elite nights per year via credit card membership:  15 elite nights with one of the three personal cards + 15 elite nights with a business card (the Bonvoy Business Amex card).

Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Amex

• $450 annual fee.  $300 Marriott travel credit reduces this card's effective annual fee to $150.
• Signup bonus:  125,000 bonus points after $5,000 spend in first 3 months
• Many other travel-related benefits such as Priority Pass select membership
• Earn 6 points per dollar on Marriott stays
• Earn 3x on U.S. restaurants and flights booked directly with airlines
• Earn 2x on all other spend (including Hilton hotels, gasoline, groceries, etc)

Marriott Bonvoy Business Amex

• $125 annual fee
• Signup bonus:  100,000 bonus points after $5,000 spend in first 3 months
• Signup bonus is $700-800 worth of Marriott points
• $150 statement credit on qualifying purchases (seems that any spend qualifies toward $150 statement credit)
• 6x at Marriott hotels
• 4x at U.S. restaurants, U.S. gas stations, on wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. service providers and on U.S. purchases for shipping
• 2x on all other spend

Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Chase Visa

• $95 annual fee
• Signup bonus:  75,000 100,000 bonus points (recently increased) after $3,000 spend in first 3 months
• 6x at Marriott hotels
• 2x on all other spend

Marriot Bonvoy Bold Chase Visa

• No annual fee
• Signup bonus:  30,000 points after $1,000 spend in 3 months
• 3x at Marriott hotels
• 2x on other travel purchases (from airfare to taxis and trains)
• 1x on all other spend

Marriott Bonvoy Program

• Points are more valuable than Hilton points - most travel blogs peg a Marriott point at 0.7-0.8 cents value vs. 0.5 cents for a Hilton point
• Points prices for properties in the Marriott family (Fairfield, Marriott, Sheraton, etc) may be tougher to find at good rates than Hilton reward points hotel prices 

Chase Ink Business Preferred

• Best card if can do $15k spend in 3 months to earn the 100k signup bonus
• (we have this card).
• 3x points per $ on travel (and on shipping, advertising, internet/cable/phone) on the first $150k spend then 1x.
• Travel includes basically any travel category imaginable: tolls, parking garages, car rental, hotels, airlines, travel agencies, campgrounds, cruise lines, timeshares, limos, buses, taxis.
• 1x on all other spend.  
• $95 annual fee.  
• Business card.  
• Signup bonus is amazing 100,000 points (usable for $1,250 of paid travel) but requires $15k spend in first 3 months.  
• Chase points can be redeemed for paid travel thru the Chase travel portal, or transferred to one of 10 airline miles programs or transferred to Hyatt, IHG, and Marriott (IHG and Marriott are terrible transfer values though)

Chase Sapphire Preferred

• Most valuable signup bonus of any card with annual fee < $200.  Not a great long-term travel card @ 2x.  Many other cards earn 3x Chase or Amex points on travel
• 80,000 point signup bonus after $4k spend in first 3 months
• (we have this card)
• $50 grocery store statement credit in 1st year (available only via referral)
• 2x on dining and travel
• 1x on all other spend
• $95 annual fee
• Amex Cards

Amex Blue Business Plus

• (we have this card).
• 2x points per $ on all spend for first $50k spend, then 1x.
• No annual fee.
• Business card.
• This is a great option to use for everyday spend, no annual fee, no muss no fuss.  Earning 2 Amex points per $ on a no annual fee card is incredible.  
• Amex points are similar to Chase points -- can be used for paid travel booked via Amex travel portal or transferred to Amex's airline and hotel partners for using on free flights and nights.

Amex Green Card

• Very good signup bonus and a good long-term card @ 3x on travel
• Signup bonus 45,000 50,000 (via referral link) Membership Rewards points after $2k spend in first 6 months
• 3x on travel and restaurants, 1x on everything else
• Annual fee $150
• Breakeven spend point to recover the $150 annual fee with this card @ 3x vs. Blue Business Plus @ 2x = $7,500.  (Amex Membership Rewards points worth approx 2 cents each x $7,500 = $150)
• Use my referral link 

American Express Gold Card

• Signup bonus 60,000 75,000 (via referral link) after $4,000 spend in 1st 6 months
• Annual fee $250
• $200 statement credit on purchases from approved home furnishings stores (includes Home Depot and Lowe's) in 1st 3 months (exclusive benefit available only via referral)
• 4x at restaurants
• 4x at supermarkets (on max $25k spend per year)
• 3x on flights booked directly with airlines or with amextravel.com
• 1x on all other spend
• Good first-year card if you can leverage the $200 home furnishing statement credit but not a great long-term card for travel spend

Hilton Surpass Amex

• Signup bonus 130,000 150,000 (via referral link) after $3,000 spend in 1st 3 months
• Signup bonus is $750 worth of Hilton points
• $95 annual fee
• 12x on Hilton spend
• 6x on dining and supermarkets
• 3x on all other spend

Citi Premier Card

• Signup bonus 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in 1st 3 months
• $95 annual fee
• 3x at restaurants, supermarkets, hotels, air travel, gas stations
• 1x on all other spend
• Citi transfer partners are not as good as Chase's and Amex's transfer partners.  Citi does not have any hotel transfer partners

http://refer.amex.us/JASONWtFGB?xl=cp19

http://refer.amex.us/JASONWdtDi?XLINK=MYCP

Chase Sapphire Preferred referral link https://www.referyourchasecard.com/6a/392ZM1OI7W

Travel Backpacks - Best-Ever Deals on Two eBags Models

Amazon has some outstanding deals on a couple of highly regarded eBags brand travel backpacks.  These prices are by far the lowest ever for both bags.

Outstanding price on high-quality bags.  Can't beat these bags for the price.

eBags Professional Slim - $35

Amazon has the Professional Slim travel backpack on sale for $35 after $5 electronic coupon.  This is about 50% less than the usual sale price on this backpack and the lowest price ever offered thru Amazon.  Camelcamelcamel.com shows the lowest previous price from Amazon around $56.  

I bought one of these a while back but returned it as it was just a bit too small for the amount of stuff I typically put in a back for a weekend trip.  Looks very sharp and business-y...as the name says, professional.  Well designed bag with thoughtful features and different cargo areas.

https://www.amazon.com/eBags-Professional-Laptop-Backpack-Business/dp/B00OKXYUJ0

Available colors: black, heather gray, brushed indigo, navy, sage green

eBags Pro Weekender - $35

This is my travel backpack for weekend trips soccer refereeing and the like.  The bag holds a surprising amount of gear and is very well organized with different cargo compartments including a very handy top compartment that fits an accessory bag for Bose headphones or a bunch of charging cables etc.

I paid about twice this much and was very happy with the value.  $35 is unbelievable.  According to CamelCamelCamel.com, this bag has never been less than $62 until this week.

Available colors: black, heather gray, navy

 

https://www.amazon.com/eBags-Professional-Flight-Laptop-Backpack/dp/B077N3N8GT

Alternate Buying Option

eBags is selling the bags for $40 on its own website.  15% cash back right now via TopCashBack would make the final net price $34+tax.  See here for various cash back or points back shopping portal offers for eBags:  https://www.cashbackmonitor.com/cashback-store/ebags/

Often, Amex also offers cash back for eBags.  Typically this is $25 cash back on a $125+ purchase.  This type of offer is stackable with cash back from a shopping portal site such as TopCashBack.  However, there do not appear to be any current Amex offers for eBags.com

Check Your Credit Cards for Annual Fee Refunds, Retention Offers and New Category Bonuses

The economy is in a definite downturn due to COVID-19, and many people are doing far less traveling and less travel-related spending than normal.

In response, credit card companies are working hard to entice people to keep their credit cards rather than close their accounts.

Many of the big card issuers have proactively issued statement credits or other bonuses, or added temporarily enhanced benefits for all customers of certain cards.

For other card issuers or other credit cards, customers need to call and ask about offers to see what they may be targeted to receive.

Many cards are offering additional bonuses in categories in which those cards historically have not offered bonuses.  This is to encourage customers to use the card more.  For example, Chase is offering 5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar on grocery store purchases for the new few months.  Similarly, American Express is offering 4 Delta Sky Miles per dollar on grocery store purchases with their Delta co-branded cards.

Another benefit is that the travel credit on certain cards can be triggered for spending that is not travel-related.  For example, the Citi Prestige card $250 travel credit can be used at supermarkets and restaurants.

This post is a heads-up, not a comprehensive roundup of all the changes on the major cards.

In light of recent changes, it behooves all of us to check our credit card portfolio and figure out which cards make the most sense for certain types of spending.

Sample articles with more details:

The Points Guy - temporary perks on Amex cards

Marketwatch - annual fee partial rebates on certain cards

Frequent Miler - COVID-related Credit Card Benefit Enhancements - Ultimate Guide 

The Best Cash Back Business Credit Cards

There are lots of credit cards that earn generous amounts of travel rewards.  Likewise, there are lots of cash back-earning credit cards.  And there are lots of business credit cards aimed at small business owners.

What there is NOT a lot of, is cash back business cards.  In the past few days, I researched cash back business credit cards and came up with what I believe are the three best such cards available to American customers.

Reminder:  One need NOT have a business tax ID (aka EIN) to get approved for a business card.  Generally speaking, a history of at least a few years' worth of revenue and expenses of a few thousand dollars annually at minimum, along with a solid (740+ certainly should do the trick) credit score should result in approval of a business credit card application to most of the major U.S. credit card issuers - Amex, Chase, Citi, Capital One, and others.


Reminder:  personal credit cards can be used for 'business spend' just as easily as business cards can.  There are not a lot of practical differences between personal and business credit cards.  One of the big ones is that business credit cards often lack some of the consumer protections that are required by law to be provided on personal credit cards.  Authorized user cards can be ordered for personal cards, just as with business cards.  And hundreds of thousands of dollars of spend can be put on personal cards, just as with business cards -- assuming proper credit line and management of it.

The Best Three Cash Back Business Credit Cards

Of these three options, the Amex one I can refer; the other two I cannot.  All three cards will allow pretty solid accumulation of cash back via spending.  And all three have at least a $500 signup bonus after hitting the minimum spend in first three months.

• Capital One Spark Cash
• Amex Blue Business Cash
• Chase Ink Cash

Capital One Spark Cash

Pros

• 2% cash back on everything, no limit - to my knowledge, the only business card on the market like this
• $500 signup bonus after $5k spend.
• Additional $1,500 signup bonus after $50k total spend in first year.

Cons

• $95 annual fee after first year.
• No category bonuses, just straight 2% on everything.

More Information

• https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/C1SCbiz/#Goto

Amex Blue Business Cash

Pros

• No annual fee
• 2% cash back on first $50k purchases per year
• $500 cash back signup bonus ($250 after $5k spend fairst 3 months, another $250 after another $10k spend in first year)

Cons

• Only 1% cash back on purchases beyond $50k in a year

Referral
My referral link (click 'all business cards to find the Blue Business Cash.  I recently got the Blue Business Plus.  http://refer.amex.us/JASONWuBSY?XLINK=MYCP.  

More Information

• https://www.doctorofcredit.com/american-express-blue-business-cash-card-500-sign-up-bonus-available-via-incognito/
• https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/AmxBBC/#Goto

Chase Ink Cash

Pros

• No annual fee
• $500 signup bonus (usually only $300) after $3k spend
• Great bonus categories:  5X office supplies ⚬ 5X cellular/landline/cable (on up to $25,000 in total purchases in 5x categories annually)
• 2X gas and restaurants (up to $25k annually)
• Besides being able to use as cash back, technically the card earns Ultimate Reward points which can be super handy (e.g. if you have a Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve personal card, and could combine the points and use toward paid travel thru Chase travel portal

Cons

• Only 1% cash back on non-category bonused stuff

More Information

• https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/CIC/#Goto
• https://www.doctorofcredit.com/chase-ink-cash-500-public-online-offer/

Analysis

• Which is best for you?  That depends on your own personal circumstances.  How much will you spend, and how much in various categories.  You will have to decide which is best for your usage.
• Will you spend enough to offset the $95 annual fee on the Spark Cash?
• The category bonuses on the Chase Ink Cash are potentially very lucrative, if you'll have spend in those categories.  Otherwise, it probably isn't the best choice.
• If you are going to spend well beyond $50k a year, Spark could be the best bet - although you won't recover the $95 annual fee until you hit $60k spend, vs. the Amex no annual fee card.
• Blue Business Cash may be the safe bet for starters - unless the category bonuses on Chase Ink Cash can be leveraged.

Heads-up: Delta gift cards 10% off at Costco.com

Costco.com is selling $500 and $1,000 Delta electronic gift cards for 10% off.  $450 for the $500 GC and $900 for the $1,000 GC.

I was not aware that Costco sold Delta gift cards.  This may be a limited time item.

Terms:

• Member only item

• Works on Delta Air Lines Marketed Flights or Delta Vacations Packages that Include Air Transportation

• Limit 3 per Member

• Delivery via email

https://www.costco.com/delta-air-lines-$500-egift-card.product.100523609.html
https://www.costco.com/delta-air-lines-$1,000-egift-card.product.100531773.html

Delta Amex Card - Sign up By 1/29/2020 to Avoid Annual Fee Increases

This week, American Express announced changes to their Delta Amex credit cards.  Among the changes is annual fee increases for all of the Delta-branded Amex cards.  Some benefits have been improved or added, though this post does not delve into all the changes.  This post is a heads-up that signing up now makes sense, to get the card before the annual fee increases take effect.

The changes take effect on Jan 30, 2020.  

Also, this week, Amex announced higher-than-normal sign-up bonuses for its personal Delta Amex credit cards.  (The business versions of the Gold, Platinum, and Reserve Delta Amex cards currently have mediocre sign-up bonuses; only the personal versions are worth signing up for right now.)

These good sign-up bonuses are typically offered twice a year. These offers were previously offered 1st quarter 2019.

The increased bonuses for the Platinum and Reserve card are currently available only via referral from existing cardholders.  The Gold card signup bonus is the same via referral as the public offer.  

Please click my link if you are interested in any of the offers below.

http://refer.amex.us/JASONWc8CN?XLINK=MYCP

After clicking the referral link, click the 'View all Cards with a Referral Offer' link, then click the 'Looking for a Personal Card?' link to see the personal Delta Amex cards.

Background Reading

Frequent Miler and Rene's Points both have decent recaps and analysis of the changes.  Many of the changes are positive and many are negative.

For current cardholders it is really a personal decision as to how the card changes affect your own decision whether to cancel, keep, downgrade, or replace one card with another.  For me, the loss of 15k bonus SkyMiles at $30k and another 15k miles at $60k is a major blow.  That, along with the annual fee increase, has me feeling that the Reserve card is no longer worth it.

My bottom line analysis is that post-changes, the Platinum card makes more sense than the Reserve card for most folks.  More details available in the articles below:

https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/delta-credit-cards-huge-changes-coming/https://renespoints.boardingarea.com/2019/09/30/major-changes-and-higher-fees-coming-to-delta-american-express-cards/https://renespoints.boardingarea.com/2019/09/30/my-thoughts-on-the-new-delta-american-express-benefits-fees-and-more/

Travel Accessory Hot Deal - Universal Power Adapter $10

Universal Power Adapter for International Travel - $10

Amazon has a great price on a travel adapter that works in several different countries.  $10 each after applying the coupon code.

Coupon discount works for quantities greater than 1, which is often NOT the case.  Great stocking stuffer idea.

Please support my local soccer club by doing your Amazon shopping through the Amazon Smile link for Lowell Area Select Soccer Organization!  Go to https://smile.amazon.com/ch/38-3359604 and AmazonSmile donates to Lowell Area Select Soccer Organization whenever you purchase stuff from Amazon.

This is a typical model with a wall plug and also 4 USB ports - two x 2.4 amps + two x 2.1 amps.  Charge multiple USB devices at the same time.

https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Travel-Adapter-EPICKA-Including-Charging/dp/B074QMDBXF

Discount code:  enter code ZEATOQ8O on the Checkout screen to reduce the price from $17 to $10

$15-20 is a typical, decent price for an international power adapter.  10 bucks is about as cheap as these models go