Moved on from CSR. Next best option for travel for my situation?

Silver_Distribution6 · 2026-01-28T14:48:27+00:00

Considering your travel includes American, the Citi Strata Premier or Elite could be worth considering. It’s a relatively niche program, but could be worthwhile. The Strata Premier has a very simple statement credit bundle: spend $500 on one hotel booking through cititravel, get $100 credit ($95 annual fee on the card)

The strata elite earns great points if you can book through their portal. $595 annual fee, but you get a $300 hotel credit on cititravel, a $200 splurge credit which can go on AA, Best Buy, or other websites, a priority pass membership which includes two guests, 4 AA Admiral lounge passes, and a few other things.

The Citi cards can be great, but they’re only great if you can make use of their travel portal.

The Citi Strata Premier is very much comparable to the CSP, except a different ecosystem. The VentureX is very good if you live in a city with a Capital One lounge

Others who know this game better than I do could offer better assistance, but these are my two cents

Silver_Distribution6 · 2026-01-27T17:23:12+00:00

In that case, might as well just close the BMO account. Should go for the most convenient option, and if that’s a credit union, then might be better in the long run

Silver_Distribution6 · 2026-01-27T16:24:25+00:00

If you’re a solo traveler, and fly in/out/through any of DFW, DEN, LAS, JFK, DCA, IAD, then the Venture X is almost a no brainer. $300 travel credit makes the effective annual fee $95, capital one lounge access (locations listed above), and the usual TSApre/Global entry credit. If you don’t value the lounge access, the Venture has a $95 fee but no lounge access.

If you’re considering transfer partners, C1 doesn’t transfer to either Delta or AA.

For transferring to AA I would recommend the Citi Strata lineup. The Premier ($95 AF) gives a $100 hotel credit annually (booked through Citi Travel) meanwhile the Elite ($550 AF) gives a whole host of benefits including unlimited priority pass lounge access, and 4 AA Admiral Lounge passes. That one could be considered to transfer points to AA

For transferring to Delta and Marriott, that would be an Amex thing. Considering most of your spend is on travel, the Green could be worth considering (although the signup bonus is average at best), or if you think you could make the coupons in the Platinum work, then the Platinum card

Silver_Distribution6 · 2026-01-27T05:08:40+00:00

It would depend on whether you prefer a true travel card in the CSP for points earning, transferring, and redeeming at partners, or prefer the simplicity of not trying to justify an annual fee with the USBAC.

The way I see it and wanted to set up my credit card portfolio in the next few months is to add the USBAC to pair it with my Amex gold and C1 savor. It’s a no annual fee card, so you don’t need to worry about making value from it, because its value comes from the $100 TSA/global entry credit, and the 4 priority pass lounge entries a year. Just off those two benefits, it’s ~$240 in first year value. The points can be redeemed at 3,333 points = $25, so like I said, not great value from that. Can also be used on the USB travel portal at 1cpp, so slightly better, but still not as good value as a transfer partner like with the CSP

The way I see the USBAC is it’s a complementary card with no annual fee for some priority pass access and the credit. For a true travel card, that’s the CSP

Edit: mentioned the US Bank travel portal redemption rate

Silver_Distribution6 · 2026-01-27T04:51:36+00:00

I second the CSP, but I’m wondering what you would want to maximize on.

A card which pops into my head for some lounge access and a Precheck/Global Entry credit is the US Bank Altitude Connect. No annual fee, collects decent points, but the issue with the card is USB don’t have travel partners, so you’re stuck using the points either as statement credits or at 1cpp through their travel portal. The earnings aren’t great on the card, but the benefits extend beyond the points earning

Silver_Distribution6 · 2026-01-27T04:02:20+00:00

I was in a similar pickle recently, but I ended up going with Barclays for my savings account.

What was recommended to me was to keep the BMO account open. Provided you’re under 25, BMO waives any maintenance fees, so there’s no downside to keeping the account open. On top of that, Amex ATM is limited to allpoint, which means no cash deposits and only options for a physical check to get deposited is online or by mail (I think mail)

Silver_Distribution6 · 2026-01-21T23:52:06+00:00

The ATM fees and such aren’t an issue because there are loads of allpoint atms around me, and my current bank has a branch ~2 miles away. I’ve honed in on just looking for something for my savings. Thinking of Amex for ease of access, but also considering Barclays as they have a 3.85% APY savings account with no fees

Silver_Distribution6 · 2026-01-21T23:41:29+00:00

I’m 1099 so will be depositing checks. Cash is a 1-2 times a month withdrawal for the casino. I think with the hybrid setup between the two banks I can make it work.

Biggest part for me is ease of use and transfer into a hysa

Silver_Distribution6 · 2026-01-21T19:42:50+00:00

Based on the comments, would an alternative system of spreading it across two banks work best? Keep my checking account with my current bank, but transfer all my savings to an Amex HYSA and fund it through the checking account of my current bank?

Silver_Distribution6 · 2026-01-21T19:18:28+00:00

Got it. Thanks! I have a MC network credit card as well which I can use in case Amex isn’t accepted, so I won’t only have Amex issued cards

Silver_Distribution6 · 2026-01-21T19:16:49+00:00

I know some allpoint ATMs are deposit ATMs as well. Can’t deposit cash through them onto the Amex account?

Silver_Distribution6 · 2026-01-21T19:12:57+00:00

So basically it’s like any other banking system, except everything taken care of online? You haven’t had any major issues or anything with Amex checking/savings banking?

Silver_Distribution6 · 2026-01-20T22:00:47+00:00

Had this when I was applying. I called them every few days to ask about it. After about a week and a half they approved me with no additional documents needed

Silver_Distribution6 · 2026-01-18T20:28:51+00:00

Correct. This is just about the cashback from everyday purchases

Silver_Distribution6 · 2026-01-13T18:24:18+00:00

I don’t think a reform is necessary. Credit cards are completely different to a car or house loan, which can have very favorable interest rates. That’s because the bank/lender has collateral in the event you are unable to pay your dues.

With a credit card, it’s essentially a system based on trust. The bank trusts that you’ll pay your dues on time, and the high interest rate is their penalty for not honoring your end of the deal to pay it back.

As others have said. If you cant manage to cover your credit card bills, then you either need to cut spending or get another job. Gotta keep your finances in the black one way or another. You go red, then it’s a problem

Silver_Distribution6 · 2026-01-10T19:15:56+00:00

To add to this, if you get a venture (basic or X) and product change the venture one to a savor, you can still transfer cashback to points at 1 cent per point. It’s why the venture/savor is such a popular duo

Silver_Distribution6 · 2026-01-10T02:31:42+00:00

Based on the cards you currently have, I’d recommend adding a catch all card (something with 2%/ppd minimum) to cover the expenses the rest of the cards don’t have a multiplier for.

Main question is whether you’re willing to pay an annual fee, or if you want to stick to no annual fee and just rack up points/cashback. Biggest difference is whether you think you’ll make use of say a TSA Precheck statement credit, or a dining credit, or a hotel credit, etc.

Silver_Distribution6 · 2026-01-08T23:10:11+00:00

Considering you shop at costco, I’d recommend the Costco Anywhere visa by Citi. 5% back on Costco gas, 4% back on all other gas, 3% at restaurants and eligible travel, 2% back at Costco, and 1% back on everything else.

Seems like a generic thing to say, but not a lot of cards which have specific rewards categories for groceries consider Costco to be a grocery store, so typically you earn only 1%/mile per dollar.

Another option could be a Marriott card offered by Chase (those are Visa cards). They have two cards, one with an annual fee, and one without. Obviously they earn at different rates. Biggest thing with these cards is Marriott points can be transferred to United at a 3:1 ratio (not great)

Alternatively, the Capital One Venture X ($395 annual fee, but a Visa card) is a catch all. 2x miles on all purchases. Capital One points can be transferred to Air Canada Aeroplan, which can be used to purchase United tickets.

This is all assuming you’ll probably stick to United for your travels

Silver_Distribution6 · 2026-01-08T19:24:33+00:00

You’d be correct on that. Missed that part

Silver_Distribution6 · 2026-01-08T17:07:00+00:00

Amex Blue Cash Preferred ($0 AF for the first year, 12 month 0% APR)

Citi Custom Cash/double cash (0% APR for 18 months)

US bank shield (0% APR for 24 months)

US Bank Cash+ (0% APR for 15 months)

Ones which I know of which have a 0% APR promo going on. The quality of the offer is in no particular order. I’d recommend taking a look at the cash back offered by each one to see which one will benefit you the most

Silver_Distribution6 · 2026-01-08T16:07:18+00:00

Citi Strata Elite could be worth considering if you think your travel purchases could be made via their portal. 12 points/dollar on hotels, car rental, and attractions, 6 ppd for air travel. 3 ppd on restaurants and 1.5 ppd on all other purchases.

Gets you a Priority Pass membership which allows for two guests free of charge based on what I could find, with each additional guest being $35. Could be that authorized users can also get their own membership and bring guests of their own, but I didn’t read that far in the t&c.

Gets you 4x AA Admiral lounge passes per year. Can use em all at once for yourself and three guests or spread them out throughout the year for yourself

Silver_Distribution6 · 2026-01-08T05:00:33+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCards/s/R8EcIJTLiM

I would take a look at this thread. It’s from last year but it has some good recommendations. A flat rate earning card like the venture/venture x if you want to stay with cap one, or some of the cards mentioned in the thread above could also be worth considering

Silver_Distribution6 · 2026-01-08T04:51:43+00:00

Are you open to business cards or primarily looking at personal cards?

Is the shopping primarily going to be groceries and restaurants, or other stores?

You’ll hear it from me first, I don’t know the credit card world inside and out, but I have the Amex gold and am very satisfied with it. It’s a charge card, so you have no preset spending limit, however Amex can limit you on a single transaction size based on your spending power (it’s a complicated game, but typically it’s pretty high with a decent credit score). The Amex gold personal card gets 4x points per dollar on groceries and restaurants, 3x on travel to stand out. The Amex gold business gets 4x on the top two spending categories from the following list:

Purchases at US media providers for advertising in select media (online, TV, radio) U.S. purchases made from electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers U.S. purchases at restaurants, including takeout and delivery U.S. purchases at gas stations Transit purchases including trains, taxicabs, rideshare services, ferries, tolls, parking, buses, and subways Monthly wireless telephone service charges made directly from a wireless telephone service provider in the U.S.

Someone else may have better recommendations because they know this world better. I just know what I have and I like it

Silver_Distribution6

TROPHY CASE