The Amex Gold card’s annual fee increase continues a trend that we’re seeing across nearly all Amex cards: Amex raises the annual fee and adds new coupon-like benefits to make it look like the card’s benefits outweigh the new fee. And, for some, it works out great. For many others, they pay the annual fee thinking they’ll get a lot of value from the “coupons” but they don’t end up using them enough to justify the expense. That’s great… for Amex. This got me thinking… Can we fight back against this trend by using only fee-free cards? And can we still focus on earning transferable points so that we can get outsized value by taking advantage of the best award deals? Is it possible to put together a “super wallet” that earns 2 to 4 transferable points per dollar everywhere — with no annual fee?
Wallet Contenders
Amex Membership Rewards
American Express offers two cards which earn transferable Membership Rewards points and yet have no annual fees:
- Everyday (2x US supermarkets up to $6K per year then 1x). Make 20 or more purchases in a billing period and get 20% more points, less returns and credits. This card has foreign exchange fees.
- Blue Business Plus (2x everywhere, up to $50K per year then 1x). This card has foreign exchange fees.
Since it earns 2x on all spend up to $50K per calendar year, the Blue Business Plus card is far superior to the Everyday card with only a few exceptions. It’s a great choice to anchor a wallet as the go-to “everywhere else” card in order to earn a minimum of 2 transferable points per dollar for all spend. One caveat: it’s not a good choice for spending outside of the United States due to its foreign transaction fees.
Bilt Rewards
The Bilt Mastercard has no annual fee, no foreign currency conversion fees, and arguably offers the most valuable transfer partners such as Hyatt, Alaska, and more. The card offers 3x for dining, 2x for travel, 1x for rent payments, and 1x everywhere else.
On the first of each month (“Rent Day”), the card doubles rewards and so it effectively earns 6x for dining, 4x for travel, and 2x everywhere else on the first of each month. Starting 10/1/24, though, the limit on bonus points earned from Rent Day will drop from 10,000 to only 1,000 bonus points per month. So, for example, you can max out the doubling with $333.33 spend at restaurants, $500 spend for travel, or $1000 spend elsewhere.
Note that to earn any rewards with the Bilt card, you must make at least 5 purchases each billing cycle.
Capital One
Capital One offers two cards with no annual fee and no foreign currency conversion fees that earn transferable points (“Capital One Miles”):
- Spark Miles Select Business (1.5x everywhere)
- VentureOne (1.25x everywhere)
Since the Spark Miles Select card earns higher rewards, that’s the one to go with for this super-wallet.
Another great contender is the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card. This card also has no annual fee, no foreign currency conversion fees, and offers great 3% cash back categories (dining, grocery stores, entertainment, select streaming services). The SavorOne’s rewards can be transferred to airline and hotel partners if paired with a Capital One Miles-earning card such as the Spark Miles Select or VentureOne.
Chase (Nope)
While Chase has a number of cards with no annual fee that earn Ultimate Rewards points, you can’t transfer those points to airline or hotel partners without also having a card with an annual fee such as the Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, or Ink Business Preferred. This post is about putting together a transferable points wallet with no annual fee whatsoever, so Chase is out of the running.
Citi (Nope)
Like Chase, Citi has a bunch of cards with no annual fee that earn Citi ThankYou Rewards points. And while some of these cards let you access a few transfer partners (usually at poor transfer ratios), to get the most of these points you really need a card with an annual fee like the Citi Premier. As a result, Citi is also out of the running.
Wells Fargo Rewards
The Wells Fargo Autograph card has no annual fee, no foreign transaction fees, and excellent 3x bonus categories: travel & transit, gas & EV charging, phone, streaming. The Autograph card earns transferable Wells Fargo Rewards points.
The Wells Fargo Attune card is a cash back card, but it offers a ridiculously large set of 4% category bonuses without charging an annual fee (see: New Wells Fargo Attune card offers 4% back on Disney tickets, dance classes, golf courses and more). Even better, when paired with certain other cards, such as the Autograph Card, the rewards can be transferred to airline and hotel partners.
Wells Fargo also has two cash back cards that earn 2% everywhere and rewards can be moved to the Autograph card to make them transferable:
- Signify Business Cash (2% everywhere; FX fees)
- Active Cash (2% everywhere; FX fees)
I’ve included the above cards for reference, but I don’t see them as serious contenders for the super wallet. Since these cards have foreign currency conversion fees, they don’t add much over the Amex Blue Business Plus other than the ability to earn 2x with more than $50K per calendar year spend. I’d prefer the Amex card because it earns more valuable Membership Rewards points.
Wallet Rules
Many of the wallet contenders listed above have overlapping bonus categories. To choose which to use in each situation, I’d go with this set of rules, in order:
- No FX Fees when Traveling: When outside the US, use a card that has no foreign currency conversion fees.
- Best Earning Multiplier: For any purchase, use the card that earns the most points per dollar.
- Best Transfer Partners: When choosing between two cards that have equal earning power, pick the one with the best transfer partners. Among the contenders, my preferences, in order, are:
And the Wallet Is…
- Bilt
- Bilt Mastercard (3x dining, 2x travel, 1x rent, 1x everywhere else; No FX fees; double rewards on the first of each month on up to 1,000 bonus points)
- American Express
- Blue Business Plus (2x everywhere, up to $50K per year then 1x; FX fees)
- Capital One
- Spark Miles Select Business (1.5x everywhere; No FX fees)
- SavorOne (3% dining, entertainment, streaming, grocery stores; No FX fees)
- Wells Fargo
And here’s how you would use these cards for maximum earnings:
- Grocery stores (Worldwide): Capital One SavorOne 3x
- Restaurants and Food Delivery (Worldwide): Bilt 3x (6x on the first of the month)
- Gas (Worldwide): Wells Fargo Autograph 3x
- Travel (Worldwide): Wells Fargo Autograph 3x; Bilt on first of each month for 4x
- Entertainment (US): Wells Fargo Attune 4x
- Entertainment (International): Capital One SavorOne 3x
- Streaming services (US): Wells Fargo Attune 4x
- Phone plans (Worldwide): Wells Fargo Autograph 3x
- Many miscellaneous other categories (US): Wells Fargo Attune 4x
Amazon.com, gym memberships, spas, massage parlors, barber shops, salons, sports, recreation, entertainment, EV charging stations, public transportation, online media, bookstores, etc… - Everywhere Else (US): Amex Blue Business Plus 2x
- Everywhere Else (International): Spark Miles Select Business 1.5x
Simplify
With the exception of Rent Day doubling and the fact that Bilt has great transfer partners, it doesn’t add much to the wallet. Without the Bilt card, you can still earn 3x dining with the Capital One SavorOne card. So, unless you pay rent with the Bilt card, that’s an easy one to remove.
Additionally, if you’d like to reduce the number of banks involved, you can easily take out the Amex Blue Business Plus and replace it with the Wells Fargo Active Cash or Signify Business Cash, both of which earn 2% back everywhere. And, with these, you can move the cash back to the Autograph card to make the rewards transferable.
Finally, you could simplify down to a single bank, but you would lose out on some potential category bonuses. For example, if you went entirely with Capital One fee-free, you’d lose out on 3x travel, 4x in many miscellaneous other categories, and 2x everywhere else. And if you went entirely with Wells Fargo you’d lose out on 3x grocery. Additionally, your earnings would be limited outside of the US due to foreign currency conversion fees imposed by the Attune and Active Cash cards.
Conclusion
It turns out that it is possible to put together an incredible wallet with no annual fees in which every card earns transferable points. The downside is that it’s pretty complicated to figure out which of these many cards to use where. That said, you could easily pair down the above card collection to focus only on the categories of spend that you’re likely to use the most. I’d bet that most people could put together an effective wallet with just 2 or 3 of the above cards.
Full list of Wells Fargo Attune 4x Categories
Here’s the reason I refer to the Attune card as having “many miscellaneous 4% categories”:
- Self Care
- Beauty and Barber Shops
- Gym Memberships and Fitness Studios
- Health and Beauty Spas
- Massage Parlors
- Sports, Recreation, and Entertainment
- Create and Collect
- Artist's Supply and Craft Shops
- Camera and Photographic Supply Stores
- Hobby, Toy, and Game Shops
- Photofinishing Laboratories and Photo Developing
- Sewing, Needlework, Fabric and Piece Goods Stores
- Gardening and Floral
- Florist
- Florists Supplies Nursery Stock and Flowers
- Nurseries and Lawn and Garden Supply Stores
- Other Recreation and Leisure Activities
- Aquariums, Seaquariums, Dolphinariums, and Zoos
- Amusement Parks
- Billiard and Pool Establishments
- Bowling Alleys
- Circuses, Carnivals, and Fortune Tellers
- Dance Halls, Studios and Schools
- Public Golf Courses
- Recreation Services Not Elsewhere Classified
- Sporting and Recreational Camps
- Tourist Attractions and Exhibits
- Trailer Parks and Campgrounds
- Pet Care
- Pet Shops, Pet Foods, and Supplies Stores
- Other Miscellaneous Services
- Sports and Recreational Equipment
- Bicycle Shops – Sales and Service
- Boat Rentals and Leasing
- Marinas, Marine Service, and Supplies
- Motor Home and Recreational Vehicle Rentals
- Sports and Riding Apparel Stores
- Sporting Goods Stores
- Sports and Live Entertainment Tickets
- Bands, Orchestras, and Miscellaneous Entertainers
- Commercial Sports, Professional Sports Clubs, Athletic Fields, and Sports Promoters
- Ticket Agencies and Theatrical Producers
- Streaming, Music, Movies, and Books
- Book Stores
- Cable and Other Pay Television
- Digital Goods Media – Books, Movies, Digital artwork/images, Music
- DVD/Video Tape Rental Stores
- Large Digital Goods Merchant
- Motion Picture Theaters
- Music Stores – Musical Instruments, Pianos, and Sheet Music
- Record Stores
- Create and Collect
- Planet-Friendly Purchases
- Antique Shops
- Used Merchandise and Secondhand Store
- Bus Lines
- EV Charging Stations
- Local and Suburban Commuter Passenger Transportation, including Ferries
- Passenger Railways (Amtrak, Brightline, etc.)
- Other Transportation Services (Citi Bike, Lime, Uber, Zipcar, etc.)
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I mean, you really only need the Savor One (and then a miles card) for 3x grocery and expanded transfer partners. I’ve thought a lot about those Wells Fargo cards. You probably could live with Flying Blue, Lifemiles, and Avios. I think the biggest issue is the no FTF requirement for travel. That’s probably the biggest reason to keep Cap One in the mix. And you could probably cut the Attune card and do OK.
The FTF issue can be solved with Curve. However, I think Curve is not available in the US (?) even it was planned to be launched there.
Because this wallet would produce a very fragmented collection of points it would be interesting to know what transfer partners would be supported by what number of banks (like, Aeroplan transfers from three accounts in the wallet, or whatever).
I think 10x Travel has a transfer partner list across the main banks with flexible currencies.
Great analysis. Thanks, Greg.
Greg, a big thank you. Until now, I haven’t seen anyone *confirm* that earnings from the WF Active Cash (and other cards) will transfer to the Autograph and then to loyalty programs. Very helpful.
I can confirm this, and and go even further.
WF cash and points are both giftable with no fee. And you can “gift rewards” of either to a p2 who has access to transferable points if you do not.
(This is one reason WF is currently the most underrated points currency IMO.)
Once WF adds more transfer partners, Autograph+active cash combo will rise to top
Can business platinum be downgraded to blue business plus?
No.
Doesn’t pass requirements, Chase ink business unlimited (1.5x, no fee) paired with Chase ink plus (5x office, $95) isn’t awful
Without another card, can their points be transferred?
Yes, the Ink Plus (and Ink Business Preferred) allow transferring points, but I think that Jeffy jeff is saying that this is a good combo even though it doesn’t meet the requirements of this post (namely, his suggestion is one that DOES have an annual fee)
I’d make a distinction between the pricey Amex cards and the $95 Chase cards that will allow for points transfer…
If so, then the list would include the Citi Strata Premier and the WF Autograph Journey. Perhaps that’s a different article. The $100 annual fee wallet or the $200 annual fee wallet. Or, in Greg’s case (with 80+ cards, ha) the ??? annual fee wallet.
Yep, a $100 wallet post could be interesting!
I would just note that while the BILT card is marketed towards rent payers, it also works perfectly well for any large single monthly charge you have to make such as your building’s Co-Op or Condo charges, bank mortgage payment (not tested, assumed), or monthly health care insurance payment.
It’s definitely not intended to work for mortgages. HOA fees, yes.
Applied for the CapOne SavorOne when I was back in the U.S. last month and got denied. As someone who lives overseas and primarily used Aeroplan and Flying Blue, I would love to have this no fee card in my arsenal. But they said I had too many accounts open. Instead, I’m stuck with my Citi Strata for my restaurant, grocery, and gas spending. Any suggestions on how long to wait before I apply again?
In my experience, Cap One will also turn you down (without explanation) if you forget to unfreeze/unlock your credit record before applying….
Great writeup
I wish you didn’t need to have a Citi Strata Premier or Prestige in order to transfer points to TYP transfer partners. If that were the case, I think Citi would win this competition with a couple Custom Cash Cards, a Double Cash, and a Rewards+.