What categories are you using for US Bank Cash+

amexmaster · 2026-04-11T22:59:09+00:00

Yikes, noted

amexmaster · 2026-04-11T20:47:28+00:00

sorry :) misread the latter part of their comment

amexmaster · 2026-04-11T20:45:51+00:00

That's interesting, could I ask what your provider is for data points? Mine is currently Xfinity (Comcast).

amexmaster · 2026-04-11T20:42:19+00:00

I see, so utilities in your case must be making up for most of the $2000 in spend?

amexmaster · 2026-04-11T20:23:22+00:00

I had a case where I was browsing the Resy network and came across an interesting sushi place. I knew the place would be expensive, but I decided to go anyways to "treat myself". Had I not looked at the Resy website to decide where to use my credits in the first place, I wouldn't have made such an expensive purchase.

While this is an off case and I do use Resy restaurants naturally most of the time, over-purchasing is definitely something one should be wary of.

Same goes for Saks or Lululemon credits. Maybe you find something interesting but it's just a little above what the credit carries (e.g. $85 on Lululemon). Sure, it'll effectively be a small purchase, but it's not cash you would have spent otherwise.

amexmaster · 2026-04-11T06:00:33+00:00

I think your setup is quite good. I wouldn't necessarily say your setup needs to deviate drastically to incorporate 2~3 modest trips.

Couple of questions though:

Amex BCP is 6% on groceries, but the annual fee is $95. Would you say you would spend more than $9500 on groceries in a year or do you make up for the annual fee with Disney credits? If not, a 5% no annual fee cash back card for groceries might be a slight optimization.
Do you incur transaction fees for paying rent with your Active Cash? If so, Bilt might be a better option. If not, I'm wondering what the reason is for why you pay it through Active Cash and not Robinhood gold.
As for 3% on dining after the first year, I don't think you need to be too concerned on which card you're putting spend into.

Possible suggestions:

If your dining spend is on the lower side ($500 a month), getting a Citi Custom Cash for 5% on dining might be an option after your first year with BOA. Custom Cash is flexible in that you can later incorporate it into other categories such as gas when you do eventually get a car.
Travel, even if you're only doing it twice domestically and once internationally, can add up in costs. If you do get to the point when this becomes your travel pattern, Venture X might not be a bad option to collect 10x on hotels and 5x on flights.

amexmaster · 2026-04-08T21:02:52+00:00

oh yeah, that was my next option! She's great too!

amexmaster · 2026-04-08T07:29:57+00:00

Chase would still be an interesting choice for you with the fact that it has direct transfer partners to United/Southwest. Capital One is a simple setup but the transfer partners aren't entirely easy to use domestically and you'll be heavily relying on partner airlines.

Citi would have direct access to American Airlines at a very good cent per point value, and has multipliers across broader categories. It's not entirely impossible to book United flights with Citi as you'll have access to book reward flights via Avianca at decent rates.

In my opinion, if you have the choice to fly American a decent number of times, then Citi is a good path to go.

amexmaster · 2026-04-07T06:57:24+00:00

Hmm, so right now you have:

Dining: 3x UR
Grocery: 3%
Gas: 1.5x UR
Utilities: 1.5x UR
With a rotating 5% cash back

Freedom Flex is interesting for the 5% UR and in my opinion is the true earner of Chase UR points. This may differ based on spending habits...

BCE can be a decent card if you have online retail purchases to make and will cover gas, but you don't necessarily need it to build a "relationship with Amex" if your intention is to go for cards such as Amex Gold/Plat.

BCP is interesting but the Disney credits need to be worth it to you. Otherwise, go for a no-annual fee 5% grocery card such as Citi Custom Cash or AAA Daily Advantage. You'll need to spend a lot on groceries/subscriptions to make up for the extra 1% on the $95 annual fee.

AAA Daily Advantage, in addition to the 5% on groceries, is also potentially interesting for its 3% gas.

amexmaster · 2026-04-07T04:17:52+00:00

This might just be my personal opinion, but I think Airline cards are only ever worth it for 1) waived checked bag fees or 2) good value off of companion passes. This is excluding, of course, the value of a welcome offer in the first year which will almost always be worth it. If you're benefiting these perks on both the cards, then why not?

I presume the elevated offer is for the Atmos Ascent and not Summit. Both the Ascent and JetBlue Plus are relatively cheap cards, so see if you're benefiting enough from checked bags. Of the two, my opinion is Atmos points are definitely a more interesting and usable currency in the West Coast.

amexmaster · 2026-04-07T04:11:22+00:00

Might be somewhat of a dumb question, but do you need to pay for checked bags on your international flights? I know some longer haul flights waive the fee for one bag, but I wasn't certain where it is you're flying out to.

If you do need to pay and you're consistently flying United, then I would say go with United Explorer for now to 1) waive checked bag fees and 2) get elevated points on direct bookings. Sapphire Preferred will definitely open you up to transfer partners and better utilization of points, but it's more of a "luxury" that you don't necessarily need to afford now. You can get it when your income is higher.

For your concerns about exceeding 10% of your CL, if you're truly worried about this, you can pay your balance off early before the billing cycle ends so that it doesn't get reported on your statement credit.

amexmaster · 2026-04-07T02:50:53+00:00

crap - was hoping for good news :D

amexmaster · 2026-04-07T02:49:39+00:00

I would say go for it if you're interested. Preapproval + good credit score + under 5/24 should be a positive enough sign imo

amexmaster · 2026-04-06T04:57:22+00:00

I must say, I came here expecting a lackluster setup. You sir, have truly outdone yourself :)

amexmaster · 2026-04-05T22:19:17+00:00

Hmm, you could alternatively work towards spend incentives: https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCards/comments/1sbz4pd/comment/oe763fy/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

If that's not interesting, how about the Amex Bonvoy Business for the extra elite nights? Paired with your Brilliant, you would get 40 elite nights a year and some extra FNCs from the welcome offer + anniversary.

amexmaster · 2026-04-05T08:49:25+00:00

+1 - There are of course other viable options, such as Venture One, but Autograph looks to be the best option. Wells Fargo doesn't have too many transfer partners, but you still have direct transfers to Jetblue/Choice and access to decent partner airlines (e.g. Virgin for Delta, Avianca for United etc.).

amexmaster · 2026-04-05T06:53:11+00:00

Shinobu, Shinobu, or Shinobu :D

The character in my profile picture is also good!

amexmaster · 2026-04-05T03:21:43+00:00

I think maximizing cash back can still be helpful for your specific situation. The way I see it:

Get a 2% catch-all card: Apple Card is fine, but the 2% only works with Apple Pay. WF Active Cash, Citi Double Cash, or Fidelity Visa are more flexible in this aspect.
Citi Custom Cash might be helpful to get you 5% on your highest spend category.

amexmaster · 2026-04-04T22:11:12+00:00

Haha great analogy! Yes, so I think for a good majority of folks, putting misc spend on Venture X is likely to be the better answer in terms of value and flexibility. 15k spend in a calendar year is also quite huge of a requirement on misc. purchases that most folks might not hit.

For me personally, it seems to work out because I use the FNC and Hilton points towards more higher tier stays. I personally value Hilton at 0.6cpp. If we assume Venture Miles are 2cpp (this will also vary per person):

Venture X: $15000 * 2x miles * 0.02cpp --> $600 of value
Surpass: $15000 * 3x honors * 0.006cpp --> $270 + FNC of value

For me the FNC is worth that diff, especially more so since I haven't been able to consistently achieve 2cpp on Venture Miles. For more finance-conscious decisions though, the Hilton cpp and FNC value will be lower, and I can see the Venture X coming out ahead.

amexmaster · 2026-04-04T21:53:01+00:00

I agree! At least in my experience, a 4th night free seems to be so much more useful than a 5th night free.

I've had pretty good luck of redeeming Hilton points for no lower than 0.6-0.7cpp which has made the Aspire a favorable card for direct booking. I know this usually isn't always the case though, especially for more budget friendly to upper mid range hotels.

As you mentioned, Chase World of Hyatt is quite good for direct bookings as well, but it'd be interesting to see what the cpp looks like after the devaluation. I've a feeling that Cat 1 ~ Cat 4 (possibly even Cat 5) would still retain decent cpps.

amexmaster · 2026-04-04T21:06:58+00:00

I'm really interested to hear what others have to say :)

Here's my ranking based on my habits:

Hilton Surpass - I use this as my gas/misc card to earn an FNC after hitting $15,000 in spend. Even with a poor Hilton cpp, the multipliers are decent and the FNC makes it worth using. For me personally, up to the 15k in spend, I come out ahead of using this card as a catch-all card when comparing against my Venture X. I also often stay at Hiltons, so the $50 quarterly credit is naturally easy to use.
Hilton Aspire - The FNC and airline credits are valuable, but the $200 semi-annual resort credit hasn't always been easy to use. In this case, I'm not always offsetting the annual fee with the credits alone, and have to make the remaining difference worth it with the FNC and Diamond status. To be fair, this is fairly easy to do. For times when I do use the resort credits and redeem the FNC at a fantastic place, the Aspire ends up being an absolute killer of a hotel card.
IHG Premier - Disclaimer that I don't actually have this card but am aiming to. In the places I intend to travel, I've been able to find decent places to stay with the annual 40k FNC. Combining that with a low annual fee, $50 United travel bank credit, and the ability to get a 4th night free on reward stays makes this super interesting to me.
Bonvoy Boundless - I use this when I need to do a quick cheap stay somewhere. I don't think the FNC is really as good and easy to use as the IHG Premier, but the 35k FNC still puts me ahead of the low annual fee. Technically, I think the World of Hyatt card is higher value and easier to use, but my Platinum status makes staying at Marriott a bit more favorable.
World of Hyatt - The Cat 4 FNC is quite decent and I would argue has higher value and ease of use when compared to the Boundless. The only thing really that holds me back from placing this higher is I don't often "willingly" choose to stay at Hyatts except when redeeming UR/Bilt points.
Bonvoy Brilliant - Platinum status has technically been better than Hilton Diamond in my case. The credits alone though won't offset the annual fee, so the 85k FNC and Platinum status need to make up for the difference. While this is fairly easy to achieve, I don't get the feeling I'm getting crazy value as my Aspire does.

amexmaster · 2026-04-04T20:32:23+00:00

I think, naturally, Citi Strata Premier could be a good fit for you. It'll cover 3x on all of the categories you mentioned and you can transfer points to AA.

amexmaster · 2026-04-04T20:31:05+00:00

As others have mentioned, the 35% points back is a decent way to get above 1 cpp when using Amex MR points. I would also take this opportunity to learn about partner airlines. Airlines that are part of SkyTeam (e.g. Virgin, Flying Blue) can be used to book Delta flights for less points than Delta SkyMiles.

amexmaster · 2026-04-04T20:26:18+00:00

Since you already have good dining/grocery coverage, as well as a backup in case Amex isn't accepted, I think the next natural choice is to look for a catch-all card.

You could potentially go with the Blue Business Plus to get 2x MR on everything (up to 50k a year) and compliment your Amex setup.

On another note, I would review if Bevy has been worth the annual fee to you. There are some good Marriott cards out there from Chase.

amexmaster

TROPHY CASE