One of the challenges that many of you experience is getting into the points and miles hobby,
but realizing that your significant other may not share the same level of excitement
and enthusiasm when it comes to tracking their spending and determining which card to use.
Hey, how’s it going, everyone?
It’s Ernest from Trip Astute.
In this video, we’ll be reviewing the credit cards in Fiona’s wallet, and sharing her
strategy and approach to points and miles.
Also, we’ll discuss how we manage our cards and points as a household given that we have
a different level of passion and interest for this hobby.
A few weeks ago, I did a video on the credit cards in my wallet.
I mentioned that I was thinking of doing the same video on Fiona’s wallet, and asked
if that might be interesting to you all.
Several of you responded, so I thought we would review her credit cards.
I’m hoping this gives you another perspective and approach, and perhaps help you if you
have a significant other who is interested in travel, but perhaps not as excited about
having to track bonus categories on different cards.
But first, if you’re new here, welcome to our channel.
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and more enjoyable.
Traveling can be stressful and expensive, so we’re looking for ways to help you maximize
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I should first start out by explaining Fiona’s background.
She is from the UK and moved to the US with her work several years ago.
Since Fiona didn’t live in the US beforehand, she had to build her credit from scratch.
That meant getting secured cards and slowly building her credit.
She now has a credit score close to 800, which is very impressive.
And she’s been able to get several premium cards, despite only having a few years of
credit history.
So, let’s review the credit cards that are currently in Fiona’s wallet.
1.
American Express Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG): This card is no longer available to
new applicants.
American Express has replaced it with a new premium card called the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant
card.
Fiona got this card due to the free annual night certificate, Silver Elite status, and
elite night credits.
Since she is traveling more for work and able to stay at Marriott hotels, it made sense
to build her Marriott Bonvoy account.
Fiona also has United Airlines Gold status which she able to status match with Marriott.
The card earns two Bonvoy points per dollar spent and is Fiona’s primary spending card
for purchases outside of dining and groceries.
She is interested in getting the new American Express Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card, but
she’s hoping to get a targeted offer to upgrade.
American Express has been targeting SPG cardholders who have had the card for at least a year,
so we’re hoping that the offer to upgrade still stands once she gets to the one year
mark.
2.
American Express Gold: Fiona got the American Express Gold card around the same time as
me, except her card is in Rose Gold because, well, she’s cooler than me.
Despite the fact that we take advantage of all the credits on the card, she’s not sure
she wants to keep it.
We do enjoy our monthly date nights at Shake Shack, but Fiona shares the same frustration
as me with the restrictions on redeeming credits and points.
We’re both on the fence about whether we are going to keep the card.
Though one important reason why it might be worth keeping is that Fiona can transfer Membership
Rewards points to her Marriott Bonvoy account.
It’s definitely not the most valuable use of American Express points, but if she can
earn four points per dollar toward Marriott stays, it might make sense to keep it.
Plus, the fact that she loves the look and feel of the card doesn’t hurt either.
Did I mention she has the Rose Gold version?
3.
American Express Blue Cash Everyday: Similar to my situation, Fiona has this no annual
fee card because she downgraded her Blue Cash Preferred once she got the Gold card.
The Blue Cash Preferred is a powerhouse cashback card with its 6% earning rate on groceries
and streaming services, and 3% on gas station and transit purchases.
However, since the Gold card offered 4 points per dollar on groceries and dining, it didn’t
make sense to pay the annual fee on the Blue Cash Preferred.
So she product changed it to the Blue Cash Everyday, which earns less and has no annual
fee.
If she decides to cancel or downgrade the Gold card, then it’s likely she’ll also
upgrade this card back to the Blue Cash Preferred since it’s an awesome gas and fuel card.
4.
Capital One Venture Rewards: This was Fiona’s go-to card for non-bonus spend.
In fact, the only reason she isn’t using it as much is because she is intentionally
trying to build her Marriott Bonvoy points.
Though the points that she has earned in her Capital One Venture account have been extremely
useful at reducing some of the other travel expenses on our trips.
This was especially the case with Airbnb stays where we used her Capital One account to “erase”
purchases using points.
She also received a 50,000 points welcome offer with the card and made the minimum spend
on a lot of the expenses for our upcoming wedding.
5.
Chase Sapphire Preferred: Fiona used to have the Sapphire Reserve, but she downgraded to
the Sapphire Preferred since we both didn’t need to have the Sapphire Reserve to take
advantage of the lounge benefits.
Though since she also got the Amex Gold, she really isn’t using this card as much.
I thought about making her an authorized user on my Sapphire Reserve in case she needed
lounge access during her business travels.
However, many of her trips seem to be far enough that she flies business class and has
access to a lounge.
So, I’m probably going to recommend that she downgrade it to the Freedom Unlimited
or the basic Sapphire card before her next annual fee is due.
6.
Chase Freedom: Those of you that watch this channel regularly know that I love the Freedom
card since it’s an easy way to earn a lot of points when maximizing the quarterly bonus
categories.
Though if I can be honest, I think Fiona struggles with remembering the bonus categories, mostly
because she isn’t as interested in it.
I saw her use the card for a grocery purchase this month, and I was shaking my head.
But I completely understand … you have to really love this stuff in order to want to
keep track of all the bonus categories.
7.
Banana Republic: You all know how I feel about department store cards.
While they are usually not worth it, I have to admit that Fiona has received quite a bit
of value from this card.
On our 4th of July trip to Palm Springs, we stopped by the outlet stores and bought some
new work clothes at the Banana Republic store.
Not only were the items discounted since we were at the outlet store, but we also received
an additional 10% off the total price because of a special offer for Banana Republic cardmembers.
Since it’s one of her oldest accounts, she keeps the card open.
And despite my general dislike for store cards, I have to admit that it does seem to provide
value.
So those are the cards currently in Fiona’s wallet.
In terms of her strategy, Fiona was putting the bulk of her spending on the Capital One
Venture and American Express Gold.
Since the Capital One Venture card earns a flat-rate of 2% that can be redeemed on travel
purchases, it was a great way to offset other travel costs that were covered by our bookings,
primarily from my Chase and American Express account.
Since dining out and groceries are major categories of spend for her as well, she would put it
on the American Express Gold Card.
Things have shifted a bit this year.
Since Fiona got the American Express SPG card before it was discontinued, she has become
more interested in earning Marriott Bonvoy points.
She’s also traveling more for work, so she has had some opportunities to earn Marriott
Bonvoy points through her stays.
We are planning to do a trip to Hawaii next year, so Fiona’s goal is to build enough
points for a five-night stay.
Right now, we’re interested in the Ritz Carlton at Kapalua on Maui.
The stay requires 240,000 points, which includes a fifth night free as part of our award redemption.
Since Fiona has 125,000 points right now, we still need around 115,000 points.
Though we’re thinking that we can use some of our flexible points to cover the difference.
The cash price for five nights at this hotel is around $4,500, so our per point value is
about 1.9 cents per point, which is just ok.
I still think anything above 1.5 cents is a decent redemption.
The cool thing with Marriott Bonvoy is that they are a travel partner for both Chase and
American Express, so both flexible points programs offer transfer to them.
However, most hardcore points collectors will say that the redemption rate is not as good
as other travel partners on both platforms.
I imagine that for many households, there is usually one person that is the primary
points collector.
In this case, that person is me.
Though that’s only because I have a passion for this hobby.
And for a lot of my friends and family who are in similar situations, I usually recommend
focusing your partner toward a hotel or airline program, or even a flat-rate travel card.
This makes it less cumbersome to remember bonus categories.
While I would love Fiona to build out Chase Ultimate Rewards, I know it’s annoying to
always have to remember which card to use every quarter.
So, I think her focus on Marriott Bonvoy is great, and if we end up staying at a Ritz
Carlton in Hawaii next year for free, I don’t think I’ll be moaning about the point values
and redemption rates.
What do you think of the cards in Fiona’s wallet?
Do you think she should continue focusing on Marriott Bonvoy, or should she go back
to flexible or flat-rate points?
Also, if you’re the primary points collector in your household, let me know how you handle
your strategy.
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