I Have 26 Credit Cards In A Drawer — How I Put 7 Cards To Work

I currently have about 26 credit cards in a drawer. Those aren’t the ones I’m actually spending money on. They aren’t being regularly used, but each is there for a specific reason.

They aren’t all mine – some of those are my wife’s cards. And in some cases I’ve decided they aren’t going to work well for us long term and I’m waiting until they’ve been open a year to cancel.

A lot more interesting to most readers will be what I actually do, which cards I actually use. And the important thing to understand about the value in a rewards card is that there are (3) reasons to have a credit card, beyond the basics of processing a payment and (hopefully not) bundling financing.

It’s important to know which bucket each card you’re considering falls into. Because it’s easy to get a “great card” that has great benefits, and make the mistake of using it for your spending instead of just the benefits it brings. And then you earn far fewer rewards! When you understand the framework, card choices following logically.

1. Valuable up front offer. A card may entice you with a big initial bonus. That can be a reason to apply for the card, and earn the bonus. But is not – in itself – a reason to continue spending money on the card, or keep it long-term.

2. Useful perks. You might get lounge access or free checked bags, a companion ticket, or rebates that far exceed the card’s annual fee. Those can be great reasons to have the card, and to use it strategically for those benefits. But that’s not a reason to spend money on the card. The classic examples are airline credit cards that offer free checked bags (or United cards offering higher rates of points-earning for flights, and lower prices for award redemptions) and Amex Platinum.

3. Great cards for ongoing spending. These are the cards where you earn the most – and most valuable – points rebates for your actual spend, the cards where it makes sense to put your spending on when they’re not earning an up front bonus or that spending doesn’t directly give you perks on another card.

There are 7 cards that are actually in my wallet. They’re the ones I use and carry with me, and that I don’t just sock drawer. I write about new offers, good and bad, all the time. It’s important to share what actually makes the cut for a slot in my wallet, and why.

Sapphire Reserve For Lounge Access And Hotels

Chase Sapphire Reserve® (See rates and fees) With its biggest-ever offer to earn 150,000 bonus points after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening I’d jump on this $795 annual fee card.

On an ongoing basis, it earns 8x points on all purchases through Chase Travel^SM, including The Edit^SM and 4x points on flights and hotels booked direct. Plus, 3x points on dining worldwide & 1x points on all other purchases. And you’re getting a ton of value back in statement credits:

• $300 annual travel credit that can be used broadly for thins like airfare, hotels, rental cars, rideshare, cruises, and more.

• $300 dining credit ($150 in statement credits every six months) for restaurants that are part of Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables. My daughter loves Kemuri Tatsu-Ya here in Austin and we used my credit and my wife’s credit here this year.

• $750 in hotel credits: 2 annual $250 credits for minimum two-night stays at The Edit hotels (which comes with benefits like an upgrade, free breakfast, and $100 food and beverage credit plus early check-in and late check-out if available) and for 2016 a $250 credit on prepaid 2+ night Chase Travel bookings for IHG Hotels & Resorts, Montage Hotels & Resorts, Pendry Hotels & Resorts, Omni Hotels & Resorts, Virgin Hotels, Minor Hotels, and Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts.

  What I like about The Edit is that stays are eligible to earn hotel loyalty points, elite status credits, and elite status benefits as well. You can stack the $250 Edit credit and 2016 $250 hotel credit by booking, for instance, an Intercontinental or Pendry hotel through The Edit, and even stack that with the $300 annual travel credit.

• $300 Stubhub or viagogo credit ($150 each January – June and July – December) for event and concert ticket purchases.

• $120 in annual Lyft credits, $10 per month through 9/30/27.

• Complimentary Doordash DashPass, $5 monthly restaurant credit and (2) $10 monthly non-restaurant credits. Link your DashPass with Lyft for ride savings, too.

Chase has lounges at Boston, New York JFK, New York LaGuardia, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, and Washington Dulles. Dallas – Fort Worth and Los Angeles are expected to open this year.

Chase Sapphire Lounge, New York LaGuardia

Chase Sapphire Lounge, Philadelphia

In addition the card offers a Priority Pass Select membership, which covers over 1,300 airport lounges worldwide. That includes places like The Club lounges and I’ve used it at places like the Virgin Clubhouse New York JFK and Virgin Clubhouse Washington Dulles (the Air France lounge and Turkish Airlines lounge in that same terminal as well).

Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse New York JFK

Sapphire Reserve lounge access includes the cardmember and two guests, whether at Chase’s own lounge or via Priority Pass. Authorized user accounts are $195 per year and also eligible. There is no spend requirement for complimentary guests (as there is with Amex and Capital One).

This is such a no-brainer for me because I can put work conference spending on the card, and that’s in the hotel 4x category. And I can spend $75,000 on the card and earn threshold bonuses – Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards A-List status, IHG One Rewards Diamond status, World of Hyatt Explorist (I do not need this since I”m already a Globalist), plus a $500 Southwest Airlines credit for use through Chase Travel and a $250 credit to spend at the Shops at Chase.

Bilt Palladium For Everyday Spending

The Bilt Palladium Card (See rates and fees) is my primary go-to for spending. I put airline, hotel and restaurant spend on other cards. But this gets most of my everyday spend. It’s my new catch-all card.

• Initial bonus offer: 50,000 Bilt Points + Gold Status after spending $4,000 on everyday purchases in the first 3 months + $300 of Bilt Cash.

• Earning: 2X Bilt Points on everyday spend and you can choose to earn 4% back in Bilt Cash on everyday spend. (Up to $100 of Bilt Cash earned rolls over to the next year.)

• Benefits: $400 Bilt Travel Hotel credit (applied twice a year, as $200 statement credits, for qualifying Bilt Travel Portal hotel bookings) and $200 Bilt Cash awarded annually, along with a Priority Pass (see guide to benefits).

This is a $495 fee card that’s worth it for the value of the Bilt Points I actually earn from spending. I can redeem Bilt Cash to earn points paying my mortgage through Bilt and for their ‘accelerator’ which gives an extra 1 point per dollar on spending up to 5,000 points, up to 5 times per calendar year.

That way I can earn 3 and even 3 1/3 points per dollar on everyday spending, and I’m earning what I consider to be the most valuable points with the best points transfer partners and the biggest transfer bonuses. Some people will even use this trick to turn Bilt Palladium into a 4X everywhere card.

You can redeem points at 1.25 cents apiece through their travel portal or transfer them to:

• Star Alliance: Air Canada Aeroplan, Turkish Miles & Smiles, United Airlines MileagePlus, Avianca LifeMiles, TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go
  
• oneworld: Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, Iberia Plus, British Airways Club, Japan Airlines Mileage Bank, Qatar Airways Privilege Club
  
• SkyTeam: Air France KLM Flying Blue, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
  
• Non-alliance: Emirates Skywards, Southwest Airlines, Aer Lingus Aer Club, Etihad Guest, Spirit Airlines Free Spirit
  
• Hotels: World Of Hyatt, IHG One Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, Accor ALL – Accor Live Limitless, Wyndham Rewards

Venture X For Lounge Access

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (See rates and fees) you can earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

I love this card for the lounge access. Capital One has my favorite lounges, though there are fewer of them than American Express and Chase have. Their food is just better.

Capital One Lounge New York JFK Cheese Counter for customized tastings

Capital One Lounge New York JFK Bagel & Coffee Shop services lox, smoked whitefish, pastrami – yum!

That’s doubly true at the Capital One Landings (Washington National and New York LaGuardia) which arguably have the best lounge food in the United States, and certainly of any bank lounge.

Capital One Landing New York LaGuardia

Capital One Landing DCA Food

It’s a no-brainer in the first year thanks to the initial bonus. Then the $395 annual fee card gets a $300 annual credit for bookings through Capital One Travel (I generally buy an airline ticket). And every year, starting on your first anniversary, you’ll get 10,000 bonus miles. To me, those cover the annual fee easily.

The card is a good catch-all with 2x transferable points on all purchases, though I’ve started using Bilt Palladium for that purpose since I prefer earning Bilt Points and can earn them at an even faster rate. But I am not giving up my Venture X.

Capital One Lounge New York JFK Bar

Amex Platinum For Lounge Access, Fee Credits, And Airfare

American Express Platinum Card® (see rates and fees) I keep this card for Centurion lounge access, because Amex has the widest bank issuer network even though I don’t generally love their lounges, and because the card’s $895 annual fee pays for itself several times over in statement credits.

Centurion Lounge New York JFK

I only really put airline spend on it, earning 5x on flights purchased directly from airlines (I do not come close to this accelerator category’s annual $500,000 cap).

• In addition to Centurion lounge access, I use it for 10 complimentary Delta Sky Club® visits when flying on an eligible Delta flight.

• $200 Uber Cash + $120 Uber One Credit: $15 in Uber Cash each month plus a bonus $20 in December when you add your Platinum Card® to your Uber account to use on rides and orders in the U.S when you select an Amex Card for your transaction. Plus, it covers an auto-renewing Uber One membership with up to $120 in statement credits each calendar year.

• $300 Digital Entertainment Credit: Up to $25 in statement credits each month when you use your Platinum Card® for eligible purchases on Disney+, a Disney+ bundle, ESPN streaming services, Hulu, The New York Times, Paramount+, Peacock, The Wall Street Journal, YouTube Premium, and YouTube TV when you purchase directly from one or more of the providers. Enrollment required.

• $600 Hotel Credit: Get up to $300 in statement credits semi-annually on prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts® or The Hotel Collection* bookings through American Express Travel® using the Platinum Card®. (The Hotel Collection requires a minimum two-night stay.)

• $400 Resy Credit: up to $100 in statement credits each quarter when you use the Platinum Card® to make eligible purchases with Resy, including dining purchases at U.S. Resy restaurants. Enrollment required.

• $209 CLEAR+ Credit: It pays for CLEAR+ which I would have anyway as an option when it’s the fastest way through security.

• $200 Airline Fee Credit: I choose Southwest and use it for up to $200 in statement credits per calendar year.

There are other credits, but these all displace real cash I’d spend and they dwarf the card’s costs.

Centurion Lounge Seattle

Hyatt Visa For Hyatt Spend

I’m a Hyatt guy mostly on hotels, because their elite status is better than peers – confirmed suite upgrades, not just ‘if available at check-in’; a better and better-defined breakfast benefit; 4 p.m. check-out isn’t just honored but in my experience proactively honored.

When I travel with my family, I want a suite. Being able to earn those suite upgrade awards and confirm a standard suite at booking on a regular room is the killer app in hotel loyalty.

I keep and use the The World Of Hyatt Credit Card (See rates and fees) because of the credit towards status:

• 5 annual elite qualifying nights as a cardmember
  
• 2 additional elite qualifying nights for every $5,000 spend each year
  
• And spending $15,000 on the card is a no-brainer because that also earns an additional category 1-4 free night, in addition to points earned for the spend, and in addition to the category 1-4 free night cardmembers receive each year after renewal.

The card is strong for Hyatt spend (4x on Hyatt purchases) and earns 2x at restaurants and on direct airline purchases as well as on local transit and commuting and on fitness club and gym memberships. I use it to pay for Hyatt stays.

Park Hyatt St. Kitts

Strata Elite For Friday And Saturday Night Dining

Citi Strata Elite^SM Card (See rates and fees.) is my weekend dining card – 6 Points per $1 spent at Restaurants including Restaurant Delivery Services on CitiNights^SM purchases, every Friday and Saturday from 6 PM to 6 AM ET.

There’s an initial bonus offer to earn 75,000 bonus Points after spending $6,000 in the first 3 months of account opening.

The card offers 12x on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked at cititravel.com (where I’ve found pricing quite favorable); 6x on air travel there; 3x on dining when 6x doesn’t apply; and 1.5x on all other spend. American Airlines AAdvantage is a points transfer partner.

Between the $300 annual hotel benefit (each calendar year up to $300 off a hotel stay of two nights or more when booked through cititravel.com); $200 annual splurge credit that I just use with American Airlines for tickets and $100 semi-annual Blacklane credit I’m covering the $595 annual fee cost (in fact, the splurge credit and hotel credit are calendar year so you wind up potentially getting each twice in the first cardmember year). It’s not yet time to decide if it’s a long-run keeper but it’s great during my first year for sure.

Amex Gold For Groceries And Restaurants

American Express® Gold Card (see rates and fees) I have an authorized user card on my wife’s account. This is our Membership Rewards points-earning machine. It’s one we actually spend money on – but just restaurants and groceries. I’m actually considering whether I stop carrying it – whether it keeps just a slot in my wife’s wallet.

• Earn 4X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent on purchases at restaurants worldwide, on up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points for the rest of the year

  

• Earn 4X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent at US supermarkets, on up to $25,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points for the rest of the year

  

Since my wife is a former professional chef, and we’re a family of four, groceries and dining are pretty core to our spend. We max out the supermarket spend accelerator. And it’s my preferred Sunday – Thursday dining out card (but it’s really only one extra point per dollar in that limited category, compared to what I’d otherwise use, so it may not be worth my carrying, plus my wife has hers).

It has a $325 annual fee, which works out with its coupons. The card’s credits we actually can use cover the fee.

Putting It All Together

The Bilt Palladium Card is my workhorse. It’s where most of my spending goes when I’m not trying to earn a new card bonus.

American Express Platinum Card® gets airfare purchases made through airlines.

My Hyatt hotel spending – and that’s a majority of my hotel stays – goes on the The World Of Hyatt Credit Card. The other hotel spending goes on Chase Sapphire Reserve®. I keep meaning to booking airline tickets with it through Chase Travel to earn 8x but more often than not I still book direct with airlines.

Dining out should go on the American Express® Gold Card and Friday and Saturday nights it goes on Citi Strata Elite^SM Card (‘Citi Nights’) earning 6 points per dollar – but I’m tempted to thin my wallet and put that spending on Chase Sapphire Reserve® (not Bilt Platinum only because there’s a limit to how much spend I can do on that card at 3 or more points per dollar). Amex Gold gets my wife’s grocery spend.

I carry Amex Platinum, Sapphire Reserve and Venture X for the lounge access. I’m not putting a ton of spend on Venture X these days. It was my catch-all card until Bilt Platinum came out, and Bilt Platinum earns more points and more valuable points. So it’s been displaced as a spend card. But it’s a no-brainer to keep because the $300 annual travel portal credit plus 10,000 annual points at card renewal cover the card’s fee – and I like Capital One’s lounges better than Amex and Chase lounges (and I like Chase’s lounges better than Amex’s).

Capital One Lounges Offer Grab & Go

For rates and fees of the American Express® Gold Card, click here
For rates and fees of the American Express Platinum Card®, click here