Hey everyone, this is Kyle from Money @30 - and with the new year underway,
I figured it was time for a peek into my wallet and look at credit cards I carry.
Over the course of the year, I talk and write about several different credit cards.
But which ones do I personally use for a variety of purchases? Let’s take a look
at my current credit card mix for 2023 and how I plan to use each card in my wallet.
First up is the newest addition to my mix: the Bilt Mastercard
Despite having my eye on a few different cards, the only one I ended up applying for in 2022
was the Bilt Mastercard. That addition was largely due to my growing interest
in this unique offering and wanting to get a first-hand look at how Bilt allows customers
to pay rent on the card without fees. On top of that, as someone who does rent,
the ability to earn rewards on those monthly payments definitely appealed to me. Thus,
I’ll absolutely be using my Bilt card for rent this year.
However, one minor catch with the card is that you need to make at least 5 purchases
per billing cycle in order to earn any points. Luckily, hitting this minimum has been made even
easier since the introduction of Bilt’s Rent Day promotion which allows customers to earn double
points on all non-rent purchases on the first of the month. This amounts to 6x on dining,
4x on select travel, and 2x on all other purchases for the day. So, in addition to
its primary purpose, I’ll be making the most of this monthly promotion as well.
Next is a card ill really be using more for
perks than purchases per se - and that's the Amex Platinum
It’s now been more than three years since I decided to pick up the Amex Platinum card and,
honestly, I still love it just as much if not more than I did back then. And,
while I continue to build my collection of Amex Membership Rewards points,
the value of the Platinum card is less in the rewards and more in the benefits for me
personally. Although I’ll continue to use the card for booking flights and may also book hotels via
AmexTravel from time to time in order to earn 5x points, this card will mostly be put to use
for its various credit as well as perks such as airport lounge access. Between the $200 annual
fine hotels and resort credit, $240 digital entertainment credit, $200 in Uber credits,
and $189 CLEAR credit alone, I’m already getting more than the $695 annual fee in value,
earning the Plat in place in my wallet… or, more accurately, my cell phone case.
Going hand in hand with the Platinum card is the American Express Gold card
As my MR balance inches closer to 300,000, I’d be very curious to know what amount of those points
came from my Gold Card- but I’d be willing to bet it's a significant percentage. That’s because
the card offers two strong multipliers: 4x at restaurants worldwide and 4x at
U.S. supermarkets (up to $25,000 in spending per year). Those rewards best any of my other cards,
making the Gold my go-to for those categories. On top of that, the Gold Card’s credits have
also been useful to me as the $10 a month Uber Cash stacks with the Platinum’s similar credit,
allowing us to basically get a free Uber Eats pick up order each month. Meanwhile,
the $10 monthly dining credit is a bit harder to use but we make use of it via Grubhub pick
up orders or Shake Shack purchases if we’re traveling to a city where the chain exists.
Between these factors, I exact the Gold Card to remain one of my most-used cards in 2023.
One card that's unfortunately getting a bit redundant in my portfolio these days but
still has a useful purpose is the Capital One SavorOne
While I’d be inclined to rank the Capital One SavorOne among the best no annual fee
cashback cards available, as my card portfolio has expanded, a lot of the card’s functions have
been replaced for me. Namely, the 3x on dining falls short of the Gold cards 4x or Bilt’s
6x on Rent Day. Ditto the 3x on groceries, which is again one-upped by Gold. Meanwhile,
the 3x on select streaming services is kind of useful, but doesn’t amount to much for us.
With that said though, the card does still continue to deliver in one category:
entertainment. Thanks to this widely-defined category, we’ve been able to earn 3% back on
runDisney race entry fees, Silver Dollar cities annual passes, and much more. So while the dining
cateogry that the SavorOne emphasizes is becoming less and less relevant to me,
the entertainment part of the equation earns this one a prime spot in my mix.
Also in the mix is the Chase Sapphire Preferred, which we did decide to renew this year
In 2021, my wife applied for the Chase Sapphire Preferred largely because of the 100,000 point
offer the card had at the time. Our plan was to probably either downgrade to the Freedom Flex or
upgrade to the Sapphire Reserve after our initial year was up. Yet, when our renewal rolled around
in the summer, we decided to just stick with the Preferred for now. One reason for that is that the
$50 Annual Ultimate Rewards Hotel Credit that now kicks in after your renewal date, although we have
yet to use ours. Elsewhere, the 2x on generic travel category can be useful and the fact that
we can redeem the points for 1.25¢ each via the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal is nice — although
I’m not too happy about them basically nuking the Pay Yourself Back program recently.
Overall, the 100k offer we got made the Sapphire Preferred worth getting
in the first place but we’ll see if it sticks with us beyond this year.
Finally, rounding things out is the Apple Card for some of its specific powers
Seeing as I still have an Apple Card, I might as well use it, right? At this point,
the card is my go-to for non-category spending at places where Apple Pay is accepted,
ensuring that I'm earning a 2% base. On top of that, the card does earn me 3% back on
my T-Mobile cell phone bill and does come in handy when I need to buy new Apple products.
If there’s anything that threatens the Apple Card’s position in my digital wallet it's
the US Bank Altitude Reserve card that I keep talking about yet not applying for.
Should I pick up that card, I’d earn 3x on purchases where I could use Apple Pay,
boosting my overall base and besting Apple. But,
until that happens, I’ll continue tapping my digital Apple Card and earning my Daily Cash.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with my current mix
even if I am now dealing with a few different point currencies.
At this time, I don’t see too many major holes in my mix - aside from not having a
true 2% back flat-rate card. Nevertheless, I’m always on the look out for new options… even if
I do have some hesitations about gaining too many cards. For example, I’m already feeling
as though my rewards currencies may be a bit over diversified as, aside from cash back,
I have American Express Membership Rewards points, Chase Ultimate Rewards points,
and now Bilt Rewards points to manage. The good news is that there’s actually a lot
of overlap in transfer partners between these three, so I could very well find a sweet spot
and make an awesome redemption. As for what that might be, we’ll just have to stay tuned.
In the meantime, I think I’m pretty well set with my rewards
cards strategy…until something shinier comes along, of course.
Hopefully you enjoyed this look at the credit cards I’ll be using in 2023, but for more on
each of these cards, I’ll have links to my reviews in the description box down below.
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So thanks again for watching and I’ll see you next time here on Money@30