In the latest Ask Us Anything livestream, a participant asked how many credit cards we each had. I estimated that between my wife and I we had over 80 cards open. Yes, wow. But I don’t have a massive George Costanza wallet. Most of my cards stay home. There are, though, a set of cards that offer good enough rewards for daily spend to earn a place in my actual wallet. Read on to see what’s in my wallet and on my phone in January 2024…
Please note that what follows are not recommendations for what should be in your wallet. Everyone’s circumstances differ. What’s best for me likely is not best for you. Further, I’m not arguing that what I have is necessarily best for me either (although I think it’s pretty good). It’s just a list of cards that I happen to have open at the moment of writing and which have made it into my day to day wallet…
Dining
Citi Prestige Card 5x
| Card Name w Details & Review (no offer) |
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FM Mini Review: The Prestige card's best in class 5X rewards for dining, airfare, and travel agencies is hard to beat. Sadly, this travel card doesn't provide any travel protections. $495 Annual Fee Earning rate: 5X airfare, dining, and travel agencies ✦ 3X hotels and cruise line ✦ 1X everywhere else Card Info: Mastercard World Elite issued by Citi. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: $250 travel rebate per calendar year ✦ Free lounge access: Citi Properietary Lounges; and Priority Pass Select with free guests ✦ $100 Global Entry application fee credit ✦ 4th night free hotel benefit See also: Citi ThankYou Rewards Complete Guide |
My relationship with this card goes way back to when the card offered weird but gameable flight points, and later shifted to something like what it is today but with a gameable 4th Night Free benefit. Now, 4th Night Free awards are bookable only through the Citi travel portal and points no longer get any uplift from those who also have a Premier card (the Premier card used to charge 20% fewer points for travel awards). Still, I love that this card offers 5x for dining worldwide. My wife and I eat out a lot, so 5x dining is big.
One of the reasons that I’m happy to earn 5x Citi ThankYou points is that points transfer 1 to 2 to Choice Privileges. In addition to some gems bookable directly through Choice (Strawberry Hotels, Ascend Collection, Cambria), this has unlocked value in Choice’s ability to book Preferred Hotels. And, yes, the booking process is a nightmare, but for me the results so far have been fantastic (note though that it’s been a couple of years since I’ve booked one of these)…
Bilt 3x/6x
| Card Name w Details & Review (no offer) |
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FM Mini Review: If you pay rent and haven't been earning rewards, this card is a no-brainer as you can pay your rent and earn rewards with no annual fee. A surprisingly good set of transfer partners makes the rewards for using this for rent worth getting the card for that main purpose alone (as long as you remember to use the card 5 times per month). No Annual Fee Earning rate: Must use your card for 5 purchases per month, then: 3x Dining ✦ 3x Lyft ✦ 2x Travel ✦ 1x rent (one payment per month, up to 100,000 points per year) ✦ 1x on other purchases Card Info: Mastercard World Elite issued by Wells. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: Transfer points 1 to 1 to airline and hotel programs (including American Airlines, United, Hyatt, Aeroplan, and more) ✦ Redeem points for 1.25 cents each towards travel booked through Bilt's travel portal ✦ Cell phone insurance ✦ Primary rental car insurance ✦ Purchase protection ($10K/item, $50K/year) ✦ Travel insurance ✦ No transaction fee to pay rent and earn rewards |
I signed up for the Bilt card last year and it threw a wrench into my Citi Prestige for dining routine. The Bilt card offers 3x for dining, but they double rewards for spend on the first day of each month and so the card earns 6x on those days. Since I generally prefer Bilt’s transfer partner lineup (they transfer 1 to 1 to AA, Hyatt, and more), it’s a no-brainer to use my Bilt card for dining on the first of each month.
Initially my plan was to use Bilt on the first of each month and use my Prestige card on other days. But then Bilt started offering Rent Day promotions where they offered up to 150% transfer bonuses. On January 1st 2024, for example, I was able to transfer Bilt points to Air France / KLM Flying Blue at a 1 to 2.5 ratio. For every 1,000 Bilt points I transferred, I received 2,500 Flying Blue miles. Amazing. This made me wonder whether I should use the Bilt card all the time for dining? Is 3x Bilt better than 5x Citi thanks to the occasional huge transfer bonuses? Ultimately I decided no. I value Bilt points highly mostly because of the ability to transfer to AA and Hyatt and they’re not likely to ever offer transfer bonuses to those programs.
Finally, even though I’ve decided to keep using the Prestige card for most dining spend other than on the first of each month, I have been sprinkling in the Bilt card now and then just to ensure that I always use the Bilt card at least 5 times per month. Why? The Bilt card has an annoying requirement: you won’t earn points unless you’ve used the card 5 times each month.
Grocery
Citi Custom Cash 5x
| Card Name w Details & Review (no offer) |
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FM Mini Review: This is a great card to have and hold for a single category where you spend no more than $500 per month as it represents an excellent return without rotating categories to track. No Annual Fee Earning rate: 5x on purchases in your top eligible spend category each billing cycle, up to the first $500 spent, 1x thereafter. Eligible categories: Restaurants, Gas Stations, Grocery Stores, Select Travel, Select Transit, Select Streaming Services, Drugstores, Home Improvement Stores, Fitness Clubs and Live Entertainment. ✦ 1x on all other purchases Base: 1X (1.45%) Travel: 5X (7.25%) Dine: 5X (7.25%) Gas: 5X (7.25%) Grocery: 5X (7.25%) Other: 5X (7.25%) Card Info: Mastercard issued by Citi. This card imposes foreign transaction fees. Noteworthy perks: 24 month extended warranty See also: Citi ThankYou Rewards Complete Guide |
The fee-free Custom Cash card earns 5x on purchases in your top eligible spend category each billing cycle, up to the first $500 spent, 1x thereafter. Eligible categories are Restaurants, Gas Stations, Grocery Stores, Select Travel, Select Transit, Select Streaming Services, Drugstores, Home Improvement Stores, Fitness Clubs and Live Entertainment.
By product changing other Citi cards to Custom Cash cards, I have three different Custom Cash cards and I use them exclusively for grocery spend. That gives me up to $1,500 per month that I can spend at supermarkets and earn 5x Citi ThankYou rewards.
I use the flexible, but often flakey Curve card to manage my Custom Cash spend. If I spend more than $500 on a single Custom Cash card, Curve lets me “Go Back in Time” to move the charge to another Custom Cash card. That’s awesome. Lately, I’ve been having lots of trouble using my physical Curve card, but it has continued to work well through Apple Pay and so that’s how I exclusively use it these days.
Gas
Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Card 8x
| Card Name w Details & Review (no offer) |
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FM Mini Review: Excellent earning rate at gas stations and Wyndham hotels. Diamond status plus 15K annual bonus makes this card a keeper. $95 Annual Fee Earning rate: 8X Wyndham & gas ✦ 5X marketing, advertising, and utilities (telecommunications, cable, satellite, electric, gas, heating oil and water) ✦ 1X everywhere else Card Info: Visa Signature issued by Barclays. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: 15,000 points each anniversary year ✦ Diamond status ✦ 10% discount on free night awards ✦ Cardmember discount on paid stays ✦ No foreign transaction fees |
This card pays for itself with 15,000 bonus points each year upon renewal. And you can’t beat 8x earnings at gas stations. Plus, I’ve enrolled the card in Visa Savings Edge and so I get an additional 2% cash back at Chevron stations!
I’m happy to earn Wyndham points thanks to the great value that’s possible not just with Wyndham’s own properties, but also when using points to book Vacasa Vacation Rentals. See: Wyndham Vacasa – Great Value is Real
Travel
Chase Sapphire Reserve 3x
| Card Name w Details & Review (no offer) |
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FM Mini Review: Excellent all-around card for frequent traveler. Best when paired with no-fee Chase Freedom Flex, no-fee Freedom Unlimited & no-fee Chase Ink Cash Click here for our complete card review $550 Annual Fee Earning rate: 10X hotels & car rentals booked through Chase Travel℠ ✦ 10X Chase Dining ✦ 5X flights booked through Chase ✦ 3X Travel and Dining ✦ 10X Lyft (through March 2025) Card Info: Visa Infinite issued by Chase. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: $300 Annual Travel Credit ✦ Points worth 1.5 cents each towards travel when booked through the Chase Travel(SM) Portal✦ Transfer points to airline & hotel partners ✦ Primary auto rental coverage ✦ Priority Pass Select lounge access ✦ Access Sapphire Lounges for yourself and 2 guests for free ✦ Access select Air Canada Maple Leaf lounges when flying Star Alliance ✦ Up to $120 Global Entry fee credit ✦ Free DashPass through 2027 See also: Chase Ultimate Rewards Complete Guide |
This one isn’t actually in my day to day wallet, but it is in my travel wallet. The Sapphire Reserve card is an awesome choice for travel spend. It offers 10X for hotels & car rentals booked through Chase, 5X for flights booked through Chase, and 3x for other travel spend. Plus, it gives the cardholder $300 back per year on travel purchases. It also happens to offer best-in-class travel protections (see: Ultra-Premium Credit Card Travel Protections).
The Sapphire Reserve card earns Ultimate Rewards points that are transferrable to a number of airline and hotel partners (see: Chase Transfer Partners – Which are best? Which are worst?). The one that I turn to over and over again is Hyatt. I’ve been using Hyatt points like a madman lately for stays in California, New York, Florida, New Zealand, South Africa, and more, and I’ve been getting incredible value compared to cash rates (sometimes over 5 cents per point!). In my last analysis of Hyatt point values I found that it is easy with just a little cherry-picking to average over 2.8 cents per point. In those cases, earning 3x points is like getting over 8% back for your spend.
Everywhere Else
Bank of America Premier Rewards Card 2.62%
| Card Name w Details & Review (no offer) |
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FM Mini Review: This card has best-in-class earnings for those with $100K+ invested with BOA. With that level of investment, you would earn 3.5X travel & dining and 2.62X everywhere else. $95 Annual Fee Earning rate: ✦ 2X travel and dining ✦ 1.5X everywhere else Base: 1.5% Travel: 2% Dine: 2% Card Info: Visa Signature issued by BOA. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: ✦ $100 annual airline incidentals fee reimbursement ✦ $100 Airport Security Statement Credit towards TSA Pre✓ ® or Global Entry Application fee, every four years ✦ Up to 75% bonus for Preferred Rewards banking customers |
Since I have a Bank of America bank account and over $100K in retirement savings with Merrill Edge, I get 75% more rewards with this (and several other) Bank of America cards. This means that instead of earning a ho-hum 1.5% back in the everywhere else category, I earn 2.62% back. That’s excellent. For details, see: Bank of America cards: awesome with Platinum Honors Status.
US Bank Altitude Reserve 3X
| Card Name w Details & Review (no offer) |
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FM Mini Review: With points worth 1.5 cents each towards travel, this card offers an excellent signup bonus. For ongoing use, this card is a winner for those who spend a lot on mobile payments (at 3X, rewards are worth 4.5%) Click here for our complete card review $400 Annual Fee Earning rate: 5x prepaid hotel & car rental through Altitude Rewards Center ✦ 3X travel and mobile wallet payments Card Info: Visa Infinite issued by USB. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: $325 in travel/dining credits per membership year ✦ Points worth 1.5 cents each towards travel ✦ Real Time Mobile Rewards (redeem points at full value at time of purchase) ✦ Priority Pass Select airport lounge access (8 per year) ✦ Primary car rental coverage ✦ No foreign transaction fees ✦ Free authorized user cards |
The US Bank Altitude Reserve card isn’t in my physical wallet, but it’s my default mobile wallet (Apple Pay) card since it earns 3X (worth 4.5% towards travel) on all mobile wallet payments.
Other Stuff
Citi Rewards+
| Card Name w Details & Review (no offer) |
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FM Mini Review: The fact that you can get 10% Points Back when you redeem, up to the first 100,000 points redeemed per year, makes this a great choice to pool with ThankYou Premier, Prestige, and/or Double Cash Click here for our complete card review No Annual Fee Earning rate: 5x on travel booked through Citi Travel℠ Portal through December 31, 2025 (excludes air travel) ✦ 2X at supermarkets and gas stations on up to $6,000 per year ✦ Round up to nearest 10 TY points on all purchases Card Info: Mastercard World issued by Citi. This card imposes foreign transaction fees. Noteworthy perks: Round up to the nearest 10 points on all purchases with no cap. ✦ Get 10% Points Back when you redeem, up to the first 100,000 points redeemed per year. See also: Citi ThankYou Rewards Complete Guide |
This fee-free card is not in my wallet. It’s sitting happily in a binder at home. But this card makes some of the cards in my wallet more rewarding. The Rewards+ card offers a 10% rebate on rewards (capped at 10K points per year). By pooling this card with my other Citi ThankYou Rewards cards, I automatically get up to 10,000 points per year simply by redeeming my points. See: Citi Rewards+ is a great companion to Premier or Prestige.
Fee free debit card
Anyone who travels internationally should carry a debit card that waives ATM fees and doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees. That way, you can go to any country, withdraw cash via a local ATM, and not pay any fees. The most widely available account like this is probably the Schwab Bank High Yield Investor Checking account. In my case, I get the similar features through my Chase Private Client account.
My Travel Wallet
My travel wallet is a wallet that never goes in my pocket. Instead, I keep it hidden away in my backpack. It contains all of the cards that I might need while traveling. Some of the non credit-card items in my travel wallet include my passport, my dive certification, Priority Pass (for the rare cases where the Priority Pass app isn’t accepted), public transport cards, and travel related gift cards.
Credit cards found in my wallet include my Platinum card (for lounge access and emergency medical evacuation), my Chase Sapphire Reserve card for travel purchases, various hotel cards for in-hotel payments, and various airline cards for rebates or discounts.
I have many more cards…
I have a lot of cards that aren’t kept in either of the wallets shown above, but rather in binders at home. Some of these are fee-free cards that I’ve kept open because they offer some worthwhile perks or just in the hopes of getting a good upgrade offer someday. Some of these are hotel cards that offer a free night certificate each year. Many are cards that I picked up for the initial welcome bonus and I plan to cancel or downgrade when the second year annual fee comes due.
Bottom line
The cards in my day-to-day wallet (and phone) offer an excellent rate of return for my in-person spend: 8X gas, 5X to 6X restaurants, 5X grocery, 3X Travel, 3X Apple Pay, and 2.62% or more everywhere else.
I’m pretty happy with my selection of cards. I expect that I could do marginally better in some cases, but I don’t really care. The difference in earnings from day to day spend are minor compared to the rewards I earn through credit card bonuses and increased spend techniques.
If you’re struggling to decide which cards to keep in your wallet, don’t forget that we’ve put together a resource to help you decide which of the expensive cards are worth keeping. See this post for details: Which Premium Cards are Keepers?
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Hi Greg,
I didn’t realize you still have the Citi Prestige card. I could have sworn you had dumped it. Then I looked back at past posts and saw that you had written about dumping it in a post dated November 20, 2019 “Dumping my Citi Prestige Card”.
Just curious. Did you end up not dumping it? Or did you dump it then upgrade back to the Citi Prestige card (wasn’t sure if that was possible). I don’t recall you mentioning that you ended up keeping it or if you upgraded back to it.
I still have the Citi Prestige card and was re-evaluating it’s place in my wallet. I was just wondering what the thought process was for you keeping it given the increased annual fee and no travel protection (which you clearly outlined in the November 2019 post).
Thanks in advance.
I didn’t dump it after all. I thought I had written a follow-up but maybe not. A friend had pointed out that it’s pretty easy to qualify temporarily for Citi Gold in order to get the Prestige $145 rebate. With that rebate and the easy to get $250 travel credit, the card is a long term keeper for me.
Thanks for the update! I am currently Citi Gold but recently Citi had changed the requirements for their tiered system and I might drop down to Citi Priority. Do you mind sharing how you qualify temporarily for Citi Gold? Thanks in advance! I really appreciate it and all you do 🙂
I don’t know if this is still the case but at the time you could simply click a box somewhere on Citi’s website to request Citi Gold then if you didn’t deposit money within 3 months or so it would go away. In the long run, I moved some investments over to their self directed investing
Can you explain how Citi Custom Cash card is used @ “By product changing other Citi cards to Custom Cash cards, I have three different Custom Cash cards and I use them exclusively for grocery spend. That gives me up to $1,500 per month that I can spend at supermarkets and earn 5x Citi ThankYou rewards.”
Let’s say you have some consumer Citi card that you’ve held at least a year. It could be the Double Cash card, an AA card, the ATT card, etc. You call Citi and say that you would like to product change your card to the Custom Cash. If you already hold the Custom Cash, you cannot apply for another one. But, you can product change a different card into it. That’s how a person gets more than one. And, $500 per month per card.
you can change an AA card to a Custom Cash card? You don’t have to stay in the card “family” ?
Correct
2.62 for everything else beats using Venture X at your RRV of 1.45×2=2.9? Factoring in the RRV is “reasonable” for most players of this game but with the Experts like you would be doing much, much better (i.e. using Cap1 pts for Vacasa)
If a person earns an over-abundance of points, then a person’s interest turns to cash back. It would seem that Greg is in this enviable position.
When comparing using a cash back card to a point-earning card, I like to think of it as being like buying points when you choose the point-earning card. Choosing 2x Venture Miles over 2.62% cash back is financially equivalent to buying Venture Miles for 1.31 cents each. That’s not a bad price if you need more points for high value awards, but when you’re already flush with points in other programs (as I am), I don’t think it makes sense to “buy” points unless they cost less than a penny each.
Still surprised people aren’t talking about the US bank Cash+ for 5 percent on utilities. Electric, water, gas, trash etc. it adds up.
Thanks Greg. While I can understand if these posts may seem banal to you and your team, I for one really enjoy seeing how your collective real world wallets evolve annually.
Many bloggers recommend Citi CC for gas, but I’m with you on CCC for 5% Groceries and Wyndham for 8% Gas. Tomorrow I’m staying at Fairbanks, Alaska La Quinta by Wyndham airport with La Quinta Santiago, Chile following.
Let’s not forget the 15k points on renewal of the Wyndham business.
From just the cards you list that are in your wallet, the yearly fees total $1,635! Do you actually pay all the fees or are they comped to you for writing the blog? The fact you have “over 80 cards open” is definitely not realistic for the average person. TIA for the full disclosure!
None of the cards are comped. For many of them I think of the annual fees as prepaying for discount travel. For example, in many cases I pay around $95 per year for a hotel certificate that will get me a hotel room worth anywhere from $150 to $300-ish when I use it. And for the 3 priciest cards I listed (Sapphire Reserve, Citi Prestige, Altitude Reserve), they each come with significant statement credit rebates when paying for travel.
Most importantly, I really meant what I wrote near the top of the post:
Greg did mention UAR, drug stores do accept Apple Pay, so drug stores are pretty much covered by UAR 4.5%
Other than the Citi card, are there any others best for drug stores? Seniors spend a lot on prescriptions. Other than the Citi. Card, what do you recommend?
Chase Freedom Flex or Unlimited (3x).
Thanks
If you can still nab the Freedom Unlimited double cash back offer you’ll get 6X on drugstores for a whole year with an uncapped amount of spend!
Discover It is offering 5% cash back at drugstores this quarter, up to $1,500 spend.
Thanks
I have a boatload of cards, many are no AFs that I’ve downgraded over the years. Hotel cards v rarely get used. Same for airline cards. When applying for a card, any insight into whether a bank takes into account the spend a customer puts on the cards they presently have with that particular bank? Most of my spend this past year has been with Amex (and 5x Ink). Don’t do MS. Credit rating, utilization all excellent. But surely banks have to notice my pattern? Do you have cards you simply never ever use? You keep them only for free hotel night, baggage, etc?
Sometimes they just sit and sometimes they close them on you (Citi comes to mind.) Sometimes they ask you to use – just got a query from Barclays on a no-fee Aviator that I keep (downgraded from Red Aviator) since it is an old card.
The real issue that banks “notice” is utilization. If you have a lot of sock-drawer cards, especially with a particular bank, it may impinge on the credit they will give you for a new card. Chase tends to be explicit on this, others may turn you down and then you have to dope out why and re-negotiate.
Point is: It’s all mechanical and manageable. You don’t have the profile that would tag you as a troublesome type to the issuers.
I think it varies a lot by bank. My guess is that most banks care more about how you spend overall than on particular cards. For example, I have lots of Amex cards that I don’t put any spend on, but I put a lot of spend on some of them and so I think that keeps me looking like a good customer to Amex.
Great post Greg. Question: Where does your Ritz card fit in since you’re using CSR as your travel card?
Here’s how I get value from the Ritz card:
Greg – Is it possible for any/all of the FM Team to share this with us via a post as well? Your post was fantastic. Thank you!
Yes, that’s exactly our plan!
Why do you use the BoA Premier Rewards Card as your “everywhere else” card?
2.62c is great, but why not get 2x MR instead via the blue business plus since based on the reasonable redemption values that would be worth 3.1c?
Better yet, generate employee cards on Blue Business – currently 15000 points on 4K spend over six months. Assuming you hit the 4K in 6 mos., you are getting 5.75 MR points everywhere ….
… in the US. Don’t try this trick abroad.
Just a guess. If someone is flush with points, one’s attention turns to cash back.
I wondered if that might be the case… still, might be worth mentioning it in the post for folks who aren’t swimming in points
When comparing using a cash back card to a point-earning card, I like to think of it as being like buying points when you choose the point-earning card. Choosing 2x Membership Rewards over 2.62% cash back is financially equivalent to buying Membership Rewards points for 1.31 cents each. That’s not a bad price if you need more points for high value awards, but when you’re already flush with Membership Rewards points (as I am), I don’t think it makes sense to “buy” points unless they cost less than a penny each.
Bingo. Excellent explanation.
Hi Greg, thanks for sharing what’s in your wallet currently.
How come you do not use a Chase Freedom for grocery stores this quarter (5% back on $1,500 spend)? I still think you should use your 3 Citi Custom Cash Cards for restaurants and then downgrade the Prestige to Premier.
Do you keep your Ritz Carlton card in your travel wallet for airline incidentals?
I’m sure he does. This post is for year-round credit cards he uses independent of any ongoing promos.
The opening paragraph said “Read on to see what’s in my wallet and on my phone in January 2024” so it sounded like the cards that Greg uses change over the months, but maybe I misunderstood that sentence.
I meant that only to indicate that this is my current set up and its subject to change.
Freedom: That’s a good idea. Since I have the Freedom Flex in my Curve wallet, I can move the grocery charges to that this quarter.
Ritz: No, I usually use up the $300 each year by paying for “incidentals” from home.
If I may ask, approximately how much do you spend on dining each year? Sorry if this is too personal.
I don’t know.