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I have all of the major premium credit cards:
- Citi Strata EliteSM Card (See rates and fees.)
- Chase Sapphire Reserve® (See rates and fees)
- American Express Platinum Card® (see rates and fees)
- Capital One Venture X
And I have the American Airlines premium co-brand, too, and of many others. But the four cards from the big banks are going to combine for $2,680 in annual fees once fee increases on Sapphire Reserve and the Platinum card fully roll out. And I feel like I more than cover these costs, and in some cases make money on it. Lane asks,
A potential great article would be how you’re justifying stacking multiple premium cards that seemingly all have the same or similar benefits. Maybe doing the same for personal and business cards. Struggling to justify the AMEX platinum personal and business let alone Strata and Venture etc. I only need one lounges day and already have Global, Clear plus etc
I want to be clear as I say often, while I have them all, I don’t recommend that for most! I can make them all work, but honestly maximizing all the credits from all of the cards is a bit of a part-time job.
How I Am Justifying Citi Strata Elite
Citi Strata EliteSM Card is just such a no-brainer the first year. First year value is insane because of double dipping the calendar year credits, on top of the bonus offer. And since I have it anyway I use it to earn 6x on weekend dining.
- the limited-time initial bonus offer to earn 100,000 bonus Points after spending $6,000 in the first 3 months of account opening, and
- the annual $300 hotel benefit (discount on 2+ night stay booked through cititravel.com) which is available each calendar year; the $200 splurge credit (statement credit from merchants you can opt into like American Airlines and Best Buy) which is available on a calendar year benefit; and the $100 Blacklane statement credit available semi-annually.
The others are because I travel enough to want access to all the lounge networks, and the credits mean that makes sense.
I don’t value the Admirals Club passes. I have an Admirals Club membership through the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card, and four calendar year visits aren’t enough for me.
The 1.5x on all spend and 6x on ‘Citi Nights’ time-delimited dining are nice to haves but probably not worth paying for on a forward-looking basis, since I don’t actually value the $300 hotel credit at face value, since bookings through their portal are generally treating like Expedia – where you give up hotel loyalty points and status benefits on the stay. But for now it has a great place in my wallet!
How I Am Justifying Capital One Venture X
Capital One’s Venture X is the easiest to justify, it earns 2x on all spend so it’s a catch-all for unbonused spend. I actually use it and it’s a simple $300 travel credit plus 10,000 annual point bonus at renewal which covers the annual cost.
It’s even more of a no-brainer than the $95 Venture card because that doesn’t cover its full ongoing cost in credits or points. And of course Venture X comes with access to Capital One’s lounges. I wish there were more than just Dallas, Las Vegas, Washington Dulles, Denver and Washington National (with LaGuardia coming soon). But I enjoy them most out of the bank lounges.
I find them to have the best food – especially Capital One Landing (DCA) and the flagship JFK lounge which has freshly baked Ess-a-bagels with lox, pastrami, smoked whitefish and other options – as well as a cheese tastings. Plus, the lounges do a nice job with grab and go for your flight.
Capital One Lounge JFK
Capital One Lounge JFK
Capital One Lounge JFK
How I Am Justifying American Express Platinum
I jump through the Amex and Chase hoops because it’s a little bit fun for me? And because they have larger lounge networks I want access to. I’ve used Amex for 5x on airfare but that’s the only spend (outside of purchases that earn credits) I try to do with that card.
American Express Platinum Card® is easy for me to justify, even with the $895 annual fee.
Centurion Lounge Hong Kong
What I want is access to Centurion lounges and Delta lounges when I’m flying Delta. I can justify it if I cover the card’s cost with real value (not just notional totaling of credits).
- I actually use Uber. The $200 annual Uber Cash in monthly credits is like real money to me. I’ve had those accounts linked for years (I wasn’t an Uber One subscriber before so I’m not really valuing the full $120 credit for that).
- The $300 Digital Entertainment Credit ($25/mo) is easy. I enrolled in that, and I actually use New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and YouTube TV. I have kids, so Disney+ is real. That makes the full $300 here cover actual expenses.
- The $200 Airline Fee Credit has also been real money for me. I selected Southwest Airlines as my carrier of choice years ago (they have 41% of the departing seats from my home airport) and while this isn’t supposed to work, I’ve been able to buy sub-$100 tickets against the credit, cancel those and use them as credits towards tickets I buy later. Again, that’s real money for tickets I’d be buying anyway. No promises this will work going forward!
- The $400 Resy Credit is easy – up to $100 in statement credits each quarter, I dine at these restaurants anyway, but if not? Well, for the 12 days I had to use the benefit from the September 18th refresh through the end of Q3, I just bought a $100 gift card to a restaurant I got to all the time. And since the restaurant processes through Toast, the online purchase credited back. It’s not supposed to work that way under the terms, so no promises it will going forward. But this is real money for me displacing spend I’d do anyway.
- I’m a CLEAR member and would be even without the credit, and I added my wife to my account. The lines aren’t always shorter, but I fly enough and want the option to use whichever line is shortest each time. That $209 is real to me.
- The $300 in statement credits semi-annually on prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts and The Hotel Collection bookings through American Express Travel (Hotel Collection requires a minimum two-night stay) is easy for me to do. Valuing the added benefits like breakfast and space available upgrade at $0, I just look at this as $600 in credits. And I book hotels that don’t cost more than I’d pay elsewhere.
Centurion Lounge Denver Mac & Cheese Bar
Centurion Lounge Seattle Coffee Shop
I don’t value the lululemon credit, and I no longer value the Saks credit as I once did. Walmart+ is a nice to have, but it wasn’t something I was subscribing to anyway. But that’s $1,900 in real benefits I’m counting – more than double the card’s annual fee – maybe I should discount even these benefits a bit but I’m safely in the zone of ‘making money on the card’ that I’m not ‘paying for’ Centurion or Delta lounge access when I use those.
Amex Platinum, by the way, gets me my Hilton Gold (I’m Marriott lifetime Platinum so that benefit is duplicative). It’s another nice to have.
Centurion Lounge JFK Speakeasy
How I Justify Chase
Chase Sapphire Reserve® is actually good enough for spend that I don’t even need the Platinum card for 5x, I can just use Chase for either 8x through their portal or 4x direct, plus they bonus direct hotel spend (4x) and dining (3x).
And I actually do $75,000 a year on the card which earns me Southwest Rapid Rewards A-List Status, IHG One Rewards Diamond status, a $500 Southwest travel credit for use through Chase’s portal, and a $250 Shops at Chase credit to spend. I think of the Southwest and Shops at Chase credits as an additional 1% rebate on spend, and the status is great for me (1) living in a city where Southwest flies 41% of the seats, and (2) because IHG Diamond is their top elite tier, and adds in benefits like breakfast.
Chase Sapphire Lounge Philadelphia
I think of the $795 annual fee along the same dimensions as American Express.
- $300 annual travel credit: This is simple, automatic and easy to use – up to $300 in travel spend charged to the card gets credited back per cardmember year. This is a real direct offset.
- $300 dining credit: Up to $150 statement credits from January through June and $150 July through December at restaurants that are part of the Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables program. You can see eligible restaurants here but they include several of my staples in my home town. They don’t have nearly as many restaurants in nearly as many cities as the Amex credit, but for me it’s a real $300 in a way it won’t be for many outside of big cities.
- $300 Stubhub credit: up to $150 in statement credits from Jan. 1 through June 30 and the rest from July 1 through Dec. 31 for tickets purchased on StubHub.com and viagogo.com. Activation required. This is a real $300 for me, though it won’t be for you if you’re not already buying tickets there anyway.
- I use Lyft anyway (and stack the DoorDash Lyft benefit here too). Through September 30, 2027, you receive a $10 per month credit with Lyft to redeem through their app. I value this at $120 since it’s money I spend anyway.
- You get free DoorDash DashPass membership for at least 12 months when you activate by December 31, 2027, along with $5 per month credit for restaurant orders and $10 twice monthly for groceries and retail. I value the $5 per month at a real $60. I just used the grocery delivery credit for the first time and that was helpful recently in San Diego, but I don’t value this in my calculation at all.
Chase Sapphire Lounge, Washington Dulles
There are other benefits, like Apple Music, which I don’t value in my calculation. But I easily get to $1,080 against the $795 fee. And I actually spend money on the card unlocking Southwest and IHG status and various additional credits. Plus, it gets me those Sapphire lounges. This works for me.
With an initial bonus offer to earn 125,000 bonus points after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening, this is a no-brainer the first year. With Points Boost redemptions those points are worth $2,500 in air or hotel bookings. Or you can transfer them to frequent flyer and hotel loyalty programs.
Chase Sapphire Burger, Boston
I actually think it’s an easy keeper, and it really gets spending from me (the way that Capital One does, but Amex does not).
How I Use These Cards
If I did not actually enjoy the game of using these credits, I’d view it as work and wouldn’t put so much time into it. I bought a $100 gift card for a restaurant I went to on Saturday night (it’s one of my daughter’s favorites and I much enjoy it). Then we paid the balance using my wife’s Amex Gold Resy credit. But I had to ask myself – should we use those credits on that visit? Or should we wait for a non-weekend booking there, since we were foregoing 6x earn with Citi!
The amount of work and brain space that this takes up is going to vary by person, it’s not for everyone, and that’s the biggest reason I say many of you probably shouldn’t get all four. Even slimming it down a bit, I still want to have easy access to Delta, American Express, Chase and Capital One lounges (plus I have a whole bunch of Priority Pass cards, hah). I also have a Citi Executive card which gives me American Airlines Admirals Club access as well, which I alue most during irregular operations on American for agent help with rebookings.
If I were to give up one lounge network it would probably be American Express, even though they’re the largest – but I won’t give that up because with Amex I can ‘pay myself back’ in credits more than two times over. I won’t give up Capital One because I like the lounges and the card actually makes sense for unbonused spending. And I won’t give up Chase because I like the lounges but most importantly because I like The Edit, I like 2 cent redemptions there and on some premium cabin airline bookings, and because I like 4x on direct airfare and hotels and 8x on air booked through Chase travel – I like that spend enough to get to the $75,000 level and unlock additional benefits, too.
But if I were just looking at getting one card? I’d separate out the analysis and ask what was I getting it for? I love the first year value of Citi Strata EliteSM Card. I love the lounges of Capital One’s Venture X (but I’d ask, which cards have lounges where I actually travel – I travel most to DC’s National Airport which also has my favorite Capital One spot). I like spending on Chase Sapphire Reserve® and Venture X.
On the other hand, I can pay back the annual fee best with American Express Platinum Card® , and get the biggest bank lounge network, so that makes sense for a lot of people (it’s just not a card that makes sense for spending outside of airfare).
For rates and fees of the American Express Platinum Card®, click here.
@Gene — This post was designed to enrage you, wasn’t it?
@ 1990 — Yeah, our household AFs now top $15,000. Maybe $2,000 per year is for new cards just for the SUBs. Some others are on the chopping block — maybe 2 Atmos Ascent cards, 2 JetBlue cards, one Hilton Aspire card, one UA business card, and one UA club card That will knock off about $1,800/year. I guess a UA club card will come off in 2027 when our flying ends
So, I’m budgeting $1,175/month for credit card fees. I should probably re-allocate some of that for mental health counseling.
@ 1990 — Yeah, our household AFs now top $15,000. Maybe $2,000 per year is for new cards just for the SUBs. Some others are on the chopping block — maybe 2 Atmos Ascent cards, 2 JetBlue cards, one Hilton Aspire card, one UA business card, and one UA club card That will knock off about $1,800/year.
So, I’m budgeting $1,175/month for credit card fees. I should probably re-allocate some of that for mental health counseling.
@Gary – What’s that annoying french phrase: The exception proves the rule. I think that applies in your case. Most people in the USA don’t make 75 grand a year, let alone spend that in bonused categories on a rewards card. I’m very upper middle class and I can’t spend that kind of money outside of my business.
@Gene — It’s certainly an obsession, though I may need to admit, more of an addiction. +$10K/year in AFs, too. And just added Strata Elite and Summit. *heavy breathing*
@Christian — “L’exception qui confirme la règle”… zut alors!
this is mental illness
Honestly that’s super low for someone who has traveling& credit cards as their business lmao. And 2680 barely covers 1 premium card from each issuer so you definitely don’t have “Every Major Premium Credit Card”. I’m barely 3 years into the points space and even I pay 7500+.
But then I guess this is more of a shill post for those specific cards than anything else so kinda figures. Did the other premium card issuers not pay you on this one?
@kalsteen — Not really; I am going slightly crazy that C1 won’t let me have the Venture X because ‘too many accounts’ or whatever. FOMO.
Wow I feel a whole lot better now – my household AF’s are in the $2.5k range. I’m considering a United quest card for my spouse and a Hilton Aspire card for myself to take it to around $3.4k. I guess I can cancel my last Marriott card.
@Peter — Awake! For it is now October 26, and our CSR ‘Pearl Harbor’ is upon us! Ahh!! Change your ‘travel’ spend to Strata or Summit or elsewhere! Ahh!!
Wow, I hope you are deducting these “fees” on your Schedule C ! Otherwise it’s a prepaid expense.
@paul — But, but… what if you make a ‘personal’ charge on your ‘business’ card… *KNOCK KNOCK* “THIS IS THE IRS! WE’RE HERE ABOUT THE FEES!”
I look at this as concentric circles. There are premium cards that you get for benefits (lounge access / travel insurance / status). There are cards (some premium, some not) that you get for spending bonus categories. Sometimes there is overlap, sometimes there is not. But the greatest potential value for both banks and for customers is in the overlap, because people who are not hobbyists want simple easy to execute strategies.
Chase’s biggest advantage for the last number of years was that they owned the overlap because all travel and dining was 3x on the CSR and you could use a F.Un. card for 1.5x on all else. You didn’t have to think too hard – it was an easy recommendation for most people who are looking for a “keep it simple” strategy. Now it’s a more complicated story with the higher annual fee, the rise of 2x cards on all spending and the loss of the 3x travel category (although like Amex with 5x direct airfare, CSR’s 4x direct hotel is very good for many) and having gone from the easiest to use credits overall to much harder to use credits (Edit is 2 night minimum and a worse network than one-night minimum FHR. Opentable Exclusive restaurants barely exist, and that link doesn’t even work, you have to look on the Infatuation website for now. And so on.)
To the horror of the commenting class, most people don’t really want to think about this too much, including many P2s (gasp!). They fly an airline, they put your spend on an airline card, they get whatever points and miles from that, they redeem them occasionally. Some have a card with wherever they happen to bank because its the closest branch to their house. So when a bank gets someone’s attention for 2 minutes (and in the age of TikTok attention spans are dropping!) – that’s the time you have to pitch your new premium card to HNWIs or others. So it better be a strong pitch, especially for a premium card.
Citi’s problem is that its new premium card does not offer HNWIs anything that they do not already have! Amex, Chase, C1 all offer something premium – access to a space that you cannot get into without their card. You can value that space at $X or $Y, but it is intriguing because it is something that you do not already have and could have! 4 club passes not only fail to capture the imagination, but Admirals Clubs can be accessed in multiple ways without the Strata Elite! As you noted, it’s not worth acquiring for 6x dining that works 24 out of 168 hours of the week. So even before the completely embarrassing bungling with the WSJ, its premium card was an uphill pitch other than, as you have correctly noted, for the SUB and the Year 1 double dip calendar year credits.
Ironically, their new spending cards are terrific – a Citi Strata Premier teamed with the DoubleCash gets you 3x dining, supermarkets, gas/EV charging, direct air, direct hotels, and travel agencies and 2x on everything else! Pair with a Strata Regular for 3x transit (if you miss the CSR 3x transit as many might) and for $95 total (potentially $0 if you can use the $100 hotel credit on the Premier) and you have what might be the most compelling card spend strategy in a long time. But there is no premium overlap with that strategy.
C1 probably comes closest to owning the overlap now. 2x all spend with the C1VX ($395 but $300 travel credit and 10k bonus points a year make the lower premium fee net $0) and 3x with a $0 Savor on restaurants, supermarket, entertainment/streaming. It’s a very good every day combo, but not as good as Citi’s pure spending card strategy, and not quite as good as what Chase’s overlap offered with travel.
Amex is the still the king of the premium cards. Best lounge network. Best credits. Highest fee. Most prestige. Most status given. It’s not even close. Get the card for the benefits, put it in a drawer unless you are using a credit or booking air travel.
Final note is that in the age of Rakuten earning MR points 1) 8x-12x or whatever on portal spend is a meaningless feature of a card because you can consistently get 10x on a portal through Rakuten (there is some time lag, but my 20k MR points from a $2k stay 2 months ago just confirmed, and will be transferred in the 11/15 quarterly batch) and 2) everything, even a LLL credit, has a value, because Amex is often giving you 15x MR points for each $75 purchase through Rakuten. So for making 4 transactions a year you also get 4.5k MR points which has a ~$75 value in and of itself. If you don’t want the stuff, sell it on ebay, donate it, whatever! Didn’t think I’d care, but I will say the sweatshirt and sweatpants I bought in September for credit 1 and October for credit 2 (plus the points!) are very comfortable.
@1990 – but but but I can earn 10x on Peloton equipment and accessories now, so… uh… yeah. Great job Chase!
@Peter — AND accessories?! Sold! (I meant, ‘sell, sell, sell!’)
And, @Peter, on your more-serious analysis above, yet again, I concur. Wherever possible, finding that overlap between ‘premium’ benefits and spending bonus categories is the outsized value proposition. CSR really is ending an era for us with these recent changes. Was nice while it lasted.
I’ll be honest, I am moving more spend over to Citi (and BofA, ironically, both for the 2.62% Platinum Honors benefit, namely thanks to Merrill, and the 3% back overseas with the new Alaska Summit.)
@1990 – makes sense of course. If you are going to “play the game” and chase those SUBs, when not playing the game and working on required spend for the SUB, 2.62% cash back is not unappealing even if it is potentially anathema to the temple of miles and points. But as Gary reminds often, miles and points do not appreciate in value! Quite the opposite. If you have what you need for the next 12 months or so through SUBs or other spend, take the cash! Plus can still make most online purchases through Rakuten or an eshopping portal and get MR points on top of the 2.62% cash. Many ways to maximize. Will be interesting to see if the 3% for foreign transaction spend sticks around (3.3% for you if you have an eligible BofA account which it sounds like you do!) – it is certainly an interesting category and something no one else has!
I forgot, it’s only accessory purchases over $150. So… I guess i’ll pass because those accessories I was definitely 100% for sure eyeing are only $149 with tax etc. And I couldn’t bear not earning 10x on Peloton accessories.
@Peter — My only complaint about BofA is there are no transfer partners, so, basically, if you value cash-back, it’s ideal. There was a ‘brief shining moment’ (Camelot!) at US Bank when they released their 4% back Smartly card, but, they’ve since nerfed that benefit. (Which is another reason why I’m always concerned when something is ‘too good to be true’ with any of these benefits, since, the bank can change the program on a dime, limited-to-no-notice, and remove a ‘key’ win for us.) For instance, if folks living abroad have that Alaska Summit, 3% all foreign transactions, no limit, wow, that’s gonna be a huge money-pit for Alaska/BofA. We’ll see how long these things last. Nothing Gold Can Stay (unless it’s actual ‘gold’ because, wowza, it nearly doubled, though, it doesn’t earn interest, and with the physical stuff, brokers take their cut, so…)
@Peter — Holy ‘Ultimate Rewards Points’ Batman… when I logged in this morning to Chase, I noticed they bifurcated this statement period’s UR earnings into ‘before 10/26’ and since. So, I guess for those wanting their ‘pending’ points early, they may have just gotten their wish. I had paid for some upcoming travels in-advance, and noticed a rather large increase in my UR balance, so I guess that explains it.
Oh man… lotta ‘activation required’ for these new coupon credits, too. Yet, so little ‘fanfare’ when you first log-in today; like, Amex did a far better job of leveraging ‘excitement’ for their new Platinum benefits. Chase is like, ‘meh, everything’s normal, oh, btw, fee going up, and some stuff you may or may not care about is buried over here…’ *yawn*
One last thing: It seems Chase didn’t jip us on the ‘Spend & unlock more benefits’ tally, at least. I see my current year spend is nearly at the $75K. It would have been insulting if they restarted it today.
@1990 – Didn’t that “brief shining moment” require a hundred grand parked with the bank?
@ 1990 — I gotta say that the CSR benefits (and Citi Strata Elite beneifts) appear vastly inferior to the AMEX Plat benefits. I guess the Chase and Citi cards will get pumped and dumped, but the AMEX one will be a keeper.
@Christian — At little-to-no interest-earning. That’s why BofA via Merrill is still better.
@Gene — Welcome back to the party! It truly is the era of the ‘pump ‘n dump’…
Interesting to see the word jip (a variation of gyp) used. With whatever spelling it is used instead of tenses of cheat and refers to the Romani (exonym Gypsies).
@jns — Probably slightly less offensive than ‘jap,’ but, then again, ya know, Pearl Harbor was ‘not cool.’ (Nor was our internment of innocent civilians.) *the more you know*
This obviously isn’t a frugality blog, but those cards really incentivize consumption and not doing things like cooking at home. There are both financial and health downsides to that type of lifestyle.
@1990 – well that was a lot of activation. My favorite part was the absolutely insulting way that they try to obfuscate what the real benefits are by including points unredeemed and points redeemed in the “value of your benefits”. What a joke.
Alternately one can get the Amex Platinum for free, no annual fee, with an account at Morgan Stanley. Then get the Strata for free, no annual fee the first year, with an account at Citi. Pay the annual fee for the Venture X but it’s essentially free given the travel credit and 10,000 points you get annually.
So the benefits of all three cards for a total annual fee for all of them of less than $100.
Very few if any can be justified if Gary valued his time. It is a royal PITA to track all the coupon book credits for every card much less for P2 cards as well. Most of the lounge benefits are duplicative and Gary already has access via elite status on multiple alliances. The hotel credits are dubious at best for those of us who stay in mid range properties and never pay cash for high end.
In the end there is little reason to pay high AFs and then jump through hoops to get your prepaid $$ back except maybe to access Amex lounges.
@Peter — For real. And, explaining the ‘new rules’ to P2… was a little bit of work. Booked our ‘Exclusive Tables’ and ‘StubHub’ shows, which helped soften the blow. Activated our Apple TV+ and Music. But, not touching that Peloton nonsense. Still gotta map out The Edit (‘pay’ by December, not ‘stay’ by December is a point of confusion, but I think we’re getting it). In the end, we’ll use what we got, because I ain’t no chump!
@1990 – yeah just booked the Exclusive Table – slightly easier through the Opentable app than I feared it might be, but… yeah. Hotels to book for sure!
You are not ‘earning money’. You are getting more value , based on arbitrary market pricing. Unless you get cash back, you are not earning money.
I disagree with the analysis. Why do people need lounge access? Because people are drawn to free food? I would rather show up at the airport with not that much time to spare and then use a few minutes on a laptop at an unused gate.
Citi Strata – I’d pass up on that. $300 hotel credit from a $595 card? Maybe for the sign up bonus but not for the long term.
Chase, maybe if I flew Southwest a lot.
Capital One, with their $395 fee, the benefits can slightly exceed that so that card is a strong maybe.
Amex, if you travel a lot but the $895 fee means you have to watch it to make sure you’re using the perks.
If you are ok with using Costco gas, the no annual fee Costco Citi Anywhere Visa is good for 5% off Costco gas. The Citi Double Cash and Fidelity cards give 2% cash back with the Fidelity having no foreign transaction fees, car rental coverage, and $100 off Global Entry. Then occasionally sign up for some of these expensive cards if you really can use it, like the Capital One and/or Chase cards in the article.