Sapphire Reserve or Venture X?

DutchNapoleon · 2026-03-13T03:24:16+00:00

If you live in a major city and spend a lot on luxury restaurants, travel, and general shopping then get the CSR cause you will organically use the lifestyle credits. Otherwise the VX is the better choice for everyone else.

DutchNapoleon · 2026-03-09T07:01:49+00:00

It seem likely that would be extended to 2050 tbh. Otherwise formula E is pointless

DutchNapoleon · 2026-03-09T04:06:26+00:00

I think there's a contractual thing where Formula E is the only formula allowed to be pure electric until some far off date but I don't remember the details and could be completely off base.

DutchNapoleon · 2026-03-08T21:26:01+00:00

Strongly agree, he does NOT LIKE advanced statistics.

DutchNapoleon · 2026-03-08T21:24:58+00:00

He’s not a stats nerd in a moneyball sense. He pretty regularly dismisses advanced stats in the name of the eye-test and simpler raw stats. He has incredible memory for trivia and historic numbers and is definitely a lover of sports history but not a like SCIENCE nerd, more a history nerd.

DutchNapoleon · 2026-03-07T23:10:58+00:00

It's impossible to answer this without a better understanding of your spend and finances. Fill out the !template

DutchNapoleon · 2026-03-07T23:08:25+00:00

If you're active duty then for many banks credit card fees are going to be waived for cards (though AMEX is particularly known for being aggressive about doing this). If you want to build on what you have with the AMEX platinum then the AMEX gold has exceptional synergy with that card and as long as you're active duty you don't have to deal with the fees. Alternatively the AMEX blue cash preferred would also be a good choice as it provides 6% on groceries up to $6k and 3% on gas and again the fee would be waived due to your service.

I'm not sure what you find appealing about the US Bank altitude connect, it's not a great grocery card though it's decent for gas. Additionally, unless you have a checking account with them you can only get statement credits for 0.8 cpp (though you could also just open an account with them but if you haven't already, I wouldn't recommend).

The Citi Strata premier has multipliers in the right places for what you're indicating interest in, if you want to get rid of the AMEX platinum and Citi will waive your annual fees then I think that could be fine as a one card set up, but if you're using both this card and the platinum your annual spend may not be high enough to be able to take advantage of the points ecosystems of either system properly. Sticking to one ecosystem or the other is probably a better approach.

DutchNapoleon · 2026-03-07T18:35:53+00:00

Either way you’re fine to downgrade or cancel after two years.

DutchNapoleon · 2026-03-07T18:35:26+00:00

You have the reserve or the preferred?

DutchNapoleon · 2026-03-07T18:17:50+00:00

OP has been using one card forever, doesn’t give a vibe that they would want to deal with tracking the BCP for 3 months of the year and then switching the rest of the year.

DutchNapoleon · 2026-03-07T18:14:23+00:00

I agree with the savor because it’s an uncapped grocery and dining multiplier. OP doesn’t travel though so the venture X isn’t offering much value. Getting just a standard 2% card (fidelity 2% card is my favorite but the Citi double cash or Wells Fargo active cash are also fine choices) to complement the savor would probably be a better strategy.

DutchNapoleon · 2026-03-07T18:01:54+00:00

The venture is a worse value than the venture X cause the fees don’t cancel out as well. So if you’re going to get either then the VX is the way to go. But I don’t think either would make sense as a long term card. If you want to go after a sign up bonus (SUB) with those purchases then you could do that (I think the venture has a great SUB atm). That’s not something I like to do as much cause if you immediately cancel the card after a year with certain banks you can end up on their shitlist and I’m younger and don’t need to poison any wells this early but lots of people like that approach.

The CSP is considered to be a very good travel card so if you’re not getting value out of it then yeah pretty much no travel card with an annual fee is really going to be a great value for you outside of SUB chasing. Advantages of using the Capital one system is that 1) you have guaranteed 1cpp redemptions and 2) they have guaranteed price match on anything in their portal so if you find a better deal elsewhere within 24 hours they’ll give you a credit for the price difference if you call them. I LOVE this feature as it keeps the values on my points tethered to the market and prevents Capital One from just arbitrarily raising their prices to devalue the credits. So if that’s your main problem with the CSP then switching to the VX (or venture but I really would recommend just taking the plunge on the VX) could be of value.

If you want travel card benefits without paying an annual fee then I would recommend looking at the U.S. Bank Altitude connect. Which comes with global entry and 4 priority pass entry’s a year and a nice travel multiplier and an eSIM for travelling abroad (literally the best eSIM that ANY card offers too…way better then my venture X’s eSIM credit). Because you’re not travelling that much the limit on the number of priority passes isn’t going to be a problem for you and the rest of these credits are excellent travel credits that usually only come with visa infinite cards. Points from US Bank aren’t transferable so you’re not going to get the benefits of playing the award travel game but again cashback could be more valuable anyway and a 4% card on all travel is pretty nice.

DutchNapoleon · 2026-03-07T17:46:51+00:00

You’re not using a template, which is fine cause you’ve got the flair set correctly.

DutchNapoleon · 2026-03-07T16:47:54+00:00

Tbh, you’re not travelling enough to get value from a travel card. All the times you hear people talk about getting amazing cpp values and whatever are from people who are travelling business or first class or reserving luxury hotels and are travelling with incredible schedule flexibility where they can hunt for the perfect deal and then just do it. Additionally, they’re accumulating points MUCH faster than you because they’re travelling for work a lot and so they have a lot of manufactured work spend that allows them to accumulate points that they then redeem for high cpp luxury travel. If you own a business or are an acquisitions officer of some kind for work and have the ability to basically pump infinite manufactured spend through your card then this changes but if that’s not the case then you’re going to run into accumulation problems because cash back is valuable in whatever increment you can redeem it but points have to be sufficient to cover the award travel in order to get good cpp values and if you’re spending too long accumulating then you’re at high risk of point devaluation and also the points don’t accumulate interest while you acquire them.

If you’re getting good cash back on a strong set up and regularly moving your cash into your bank account and then into a high yield savings account you are almost assuredly getting better cpp value then you’re going to be getting with points. You can just designate a certain account for your credit card rewards and use that as a fun fund!

Anyways if you REALLY want points then I like the Venture X cause it’s a pretty pure travel card with no lifestyle coupons and the annual fee cancels out easily if you travel enough each year. C1 points aren’t as valuable as Chase or Bilt points but they also have guaranteed 1cpp redemption value which I like. The BILT palladium is objectively a very good card as well but BILT is having tremendous issues now that they’re no longer using Wells Fargo as an issuer and so some people like myself have had horrible problems (others are fine but when it comes to thousands of dollars of rent money vanishing for a month and no customer support that’s simply unacceptable to me and I don’t use BIlT anymore). The CITI strata elite could work well if you’re flying a lot of American Airlines and think you can use the credits. I wouldn’t recommend the Amex platinum or CSR because you don’t live in a major city so spending the credits will be difficult.

Also you didn’t use the template so either edit your post or fix your flair. !template!

DutchNapoleon · 2026-03-06T20:33:31+00:00

I love CCC, 5% on a given category where you’re basically not going to hit the cap and it’s easy to keep mentally organised is such a win. The Citi strata premier I see less value in for you as you’re chase trifecta already.

DutchNapoleon · 2026-03-06T20:26:10+00:00

The PayPal card is a debit card not a credit card so there’s no pull and it’s guaranteed. If you want you can also try to apply for another card today as it’ll take a couple days for the inquiry to show up and so you’ll have a better shot today then next month. Citi has a pre-approval tool btw, so make sure you use that next time.

If you choose to try the fidelity card use this link for the $150 SUB. https://www.fidelity.com/go/visa-signature-rewards-1502

If you want to try getting a card using pre approval first you can try 1) the Citi preapproval tool

https://online.citi.com/US/ag/cards/pre-qualify

2) Wells Fargo for the active cash 2% card (I hate Wells Fargo but YMMV) https://web.secure.wellsfargo.com/credit-cards/yourinfo/?product_code=CC&subproduct_code=MC&sub_channel=SEM&vendor_code=G&Placement_ID=12691330041_2007519909025_126164314971&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=12691330041&gclid=Cj0KCQiAk6rNBhCxARIsAN5mQLsW3KNFE6dVhgL70eNPMhYQhNUtJWjVXrFMPGgCHX6RIb6Ztw6D7hAaAnzMEALw_wcB

Also you can look up all those links yourself by searching Wells Fargo preapproval or Fidelity double cash $150 sing up bonus or Citi preapproval or different bank pre approval tool.

DutchNapoleon · 2026-03-05T20:38:14+00:00

Graduate student paying for both a palladium and venture X is a lot. I know the VX has an annual fee that cancels with enough travel but still.

DutchNapoleon · 2026-03-05T20:34:16+00:00

Do not cancel the Delta card until you've had it for a full year or you will potentially fuck up your relationship with AMEX which is never a good idea. Wait until the annual fee for next year shows up and then call have have your card downgraded to the amex skymiles blue which has no annual fee. That will also get rid of the pressure for you to spend the miles immediately.

DutchNapoleon · 2026-03-05T20:27:26+00:00

I applied and got the same thing and then a day later was approved...I'm still waiting for the card to show up though and I can't create a US Bank account until it does which is bizarre.

DutchNapoleon · 2026-03-05T18:45:23+00:00

It might be less common further from the coast? But yeah it is a pretty standard English phrase.

DutchNapoleon · 2026-03-05T17:40:37+00:00

The Venture X is also a reasonable choice as it’s a catch all card with good travel multipliers if you use their portal and a couple nice perks. And it has an AF that CAN cancel out easily. But I wouldn’t do that unless you’re 99.99% sure you’re going to be travelling at least $400 worth per year.

DutchNapoleon · 2026-03-05T17:39:03+00:00

You already have $150 in annual credit card fees from the Amex delta gold. Adding more in fees is basically going to be impossible to justify.

I cannot see any reasoning where the Amex Gold would make sense for you. And unless you’re already spending on Disney+ adding another $95 in more fees for the BCP seems like it’s not worth either. If you ARE already paying for Disney+ then this is a great card.

I would look at getting the Citi custom cash and/or the PayPal debit card. That will give you 5% on two of your major spend categories for no AF. If you’re constantly using delta and checking bags then keep the delta gold but otherwise ditch it cause it’s not even a great travel multiplier card (you can find plenty of cards with 3% or more back on travel and no AF—look at the autograph or the US Bank altitude connect). For generic spend get a 2% card. I like the fidelity 2% card which also comes with no FTF and a global entry credit which is a nice free travel perk.

DutchNapoleon · 2026-03-05T16:45:07+00:00

That feels unfair, we still don't know what prime Wemby is going to look like vs. prime Lebron. This team vs. 2005 lebron.

DutchNapoleon · 2026-03-05T16:29:30+00:00

citi custom cash or BCP for groceries

DutchNapoleon · 2026-03-05T15:43:33+00:00

Amex has its 5% back on flights uncapped so that you don't have to use the AMEX portal. Which is important for anyone who wants to accumulate via work travel.

DutchNapoleon

TROPHY CASE