I Have Every Major Premium Credit Card. They Cost $2,680 A Year—And Still Earn Me Money.

I have all of the major premium credit cards:

• Citi Strata Elite^SM 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 Elite^SM 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.

1. 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
   
2. 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 Elite^SM 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.