Ben, to what programs have you transferred your Amex points?
@ Tom -- My two most common programs are Air Canada Aeroplan and Air France-KLM Flying Blue, which covers many of my long haul redemptions.
Good. No excise taxes for foreign carriers. Sucks to ever need to transfer to Delta or jetBlue then get hit with a fee by Amex, unlike Chase, Citi, etc. who do not do that.
How much is that in annual credit card fees? $5,000
Yes. And just using the two defined spend categories (60,000 and 15,000) per year plus food expenses plus air travel expenses that are not specified, it is easy to be nosy and glean that Ben must be generating minimum over 100k per year. Everyone should be so Lucky as to be able to turn a hobby/passion into this much cash.
The value his business provides far exceeds $100k in my mind so I sure hope the free market compensates his business far beyond that.
What card do the taxes go on?
I ask because I've had a different strategy each of the last three years. Three years ago I knocked out a free night with the Hilton surpass (or maybe Aspire while it was offered), once a welcome offer on an Amex business platinum, and this year most of the way to the Atmos Summit 100k cert (net of what I expected to spend on the card internationally at 3x).
Do you mean the Capital One Venture X card that he listed as third alternative to Bilt Palladium?
Ben - How are you using your Bilt cash (and how do you plan to)? Sounds like you're just using it for rewards on your mortgage and points accelerators? Thanks!
For real. A glut of Bilt Cash, and they still haven’t made high-value redemptions like Blacklane or Blade live yet… feels scammy.
I'm also running into the same problem, in that I'm earning more BC than I'm spending. Outside of points accelerators (which I've already exhausted) and mortgage payment bonuses, I've been trying to burn the $10 Lyft (I pretty much will always take at least 1 ride a month) and $10 Grubhub (which I can combine with the AMEX Gold dining credit) credit each month. Also starting to do the Walgreens credit.
I may start burning more $100 hotel credits (I've booked one w/ the $200 semi-annual, and one more so far on its own), and then maybe use the Blacklane credit when it becomes available. I wouldn't mind using the Blade credit (I'll be in NYC in September), but I will have a checked bag and I can't figure out if it's worth it to do luggage storage at JFK to make use.
@ LP -- Great question. Yeah, I've been using it for housing payments and spending accelerators, but beyond that, I'm struggling a bit. My balance keeps getting bigger, and it'll expire at the end of the year. It's easy to redeem small amounts, like for Lyft credits, but I really need to figure out what I'm going to do with the rest of it.
@ LP -- Great question. Yeah, I've been using it for housing payments and spending accelerators, but beyond that, I'm struggling a bit. My balance keeps getting bigger, and it'll expire at the end of the year. It's easy to redeem small amounts, like for Lyft credits, but I really need to figure out what I'm going to do with the rest of it.
@ Ben - Thanks! I'd love to see a post (or two!) as we get closer to the end of the year about your plans.
Annual fee question...this is just out of curiosity and by no means intent on throwing shade at anyone. Can travel bloggers write off the annual fees on their taxes? If so, that's great for them, just asking as so many people gripe about the annual fees bloggers spend. Thanks in advance.
Not sure I get the rationale of spending on the Hyatt card… If you put that $15k on Bilt instead, you effectively get incremental 15k Hyatt points - much more flexible than an FNA that has an expiration date, can’t be topped up… and most Cat 4 properties are 12-18k anyway… yeah you get extra 6 elite nights but you’re already a Lifetime Globalist …
Agree, my thoughts as well. If I spend $15K on my Hyatt card, it's 15,000 WOH points plus a certificate worth 15,000 points, so 30,000 points in total. If I put the same spend $15K spend on my Palladium (and yes, I've already used up my 5 points accelerators), I get 30,000 Bilt points that don't expire in 12 months and can that are transferrable not only to Hyatt, but other partners. Also, isn't the free night award now less valuable following Hyatt's devaluation?
@ Voian -- I hear you, and it's the elite nights that are the tiebreaker for me. I am indeed lifetime Globalist, but by also qualifying for Globalist on annual basis, I get double the Milestone Rewards perks.
Let me put it this way. Let's say I would otherwise spend 40 nights per year at Hyatts. So let's say I spend $50,000 per year on the card to earn 20 more elite nights.
For that, I'd earn 50K Hyatt points, a Category 1-7 free night award, four Suite Upgrade Awards, two Guest of Honor awards (which, at a minimum, earn me two elite nights when I gift them), etc. To me, that's incrementally worth it. But I understand everyone's math is different.
I Just spent $25000 plus on my Hyatt Business Card this statement period to get to my Globalist status (not yet, need 10 more Nights).would I have been better off spending on the Regular Hyatt cc By Chase? Because Ben spent 15,000 on the regular Hyatt cc.
Not a single Citi Thank You points card? Not even the Citi Prestige card with 5x on restaurants? I call bullshit.
I continue to believe the Citi Strata Premier ($95 AF, or ~$0 if you use the $100 travel coupon on $500 spend) paired with the Citi DoubleCash ($0 AF) is the right 1-2 spending combo for most people.
Throw-in Strata, Custom Cash (RIP), and Strata Elite (Oh, how I wish I still had a Prestige), at least for year 1 SUB, credits, etc. plus AA transfers, Citi actually rocks my socks. Bah!
I will say that while I too put my airfare on the Amex Platinum, I was reminded through personal experience recently that the card does not have Bag Delay insurance - you have to buy it separately. That could be a factor for folks to perhaps put their airfare spend on the CSR. Or can of course get annual travel insurance.
Most premium credit card travel insurance coverage is so limited as to not be reliable; way too many limitations and caveats. (Oh, the delay, yeah, had to be 10+ hours. Sowie.)(Oh, you only booked a one-way, had to be roundtrip. Sowie.)(Oh, you booked your flight and hotel with different cards. Sowie.) Comprehensive policies are better, but do cost extra. Live and learn. Wish your bag situation went better. (Sowie?)
What card do you use for rental car spending? What card gets the biggest points multiplier?
(I am required to take the insurance for a family discount program, but it is so heavily discounted that I’m paying less than I would anywhere else.)
One of my biggest gripes about the CSR changes is that they reduced rental cars from the general 3x travel category to 1x. *boo hiss* Chase does generally have quality rental car insurance protection, so it’s a shame.
Well, crap. As I said, I’m in the odd situation that I don’t need their rental car insurance. Does Citi Strata Premier give 3X points on rental cars, or am I reduced to a 2x card?
I carry several cards, after I earn the awrds mile/points, most of them I cancel within a year , when the 2nd year fees are due! Never carry any balance, all is paid as soon as the charge shows up on log in.
IS THIS GOOD STRATEGY!
Thanks, Vijay.
Wells Fargo's Autograph Journey gives 5 points/$ spent at hotels.
Ben, do you still have a Flying Blue credit card?
Here is my setup:
Wallet (Physical +Phone)
1-BofA CCR Visa - Dining (5.625% cb)
2-Bofa Travel Rewards Visa - Worldwide generic spend (2.625% cb)
3-Paypal Debit - Groceries (5% cashback)
Other cards:
1-BofA CCR Mastercard - Online Shopping + Gas (5.625% cb)
2-Amex Platinum (Airfare, also consider it 5% cb)
Woah, ^this guy^ BofA’s!
If you’re still earning that 75% bonus (5.25 is 3 base + 2.25 bonus), you’ve either got an exception or over $1M with BofA/Merrill (for the new ‘Premier’ category. Recently, $100K+ only gets 50% (3 + 1.5 = 4.5) for ‘Preferred’ which was formerly ‘Platinum Honors’
Corect. i moved stuff over from vanguard to meet the new 1M threshold. Also new thresholds will not kick in until next October 2027 or so?
@Ben - Why would you spend $15k on the WoH card to earn a FNC worth 15k WoH points? When by your own account you're able to earn 45k or 3x Bilt points for the same spend and potentially transfer 45k points to your WoH account!? What am I missing here?
You’re not wrong, but let’s at least acknowledge the *complexity* of the BILT strategy: First, you’d need their $495 AF card (Palladium), vs. Chase WoH $95AF.
Second, standard spend is 2x on Palladium; 3x requires earning and redeeming $600 in Bilt Cash to redeem 3 of 5 Accelerators (for that extra +1 to 3x), and to time each of those perfectly (because it’s not as ‘clean’ as spending a lump sum of $15K; you’d need to do $5K at a time, reset the Accelerator, etc.) So, there is an ‘opportunity cost’ and these details matter. It’s also why some just give up on BILT.
Even at mere 2x spend, transferring 30K to Hyatt may be better than a a mere Cat 1-4 certificate, that can hardly be used anywhere worthwhile (maybe worth $200 at best). But, let’s not forget, if you spend $15K on WoH you’d also earn 15K points minimum, if just 1x category, plus the Cat 1-4 cert. Finally, there’s also sign-up bonuses to consider (for each card). And, status earning potential (BILT and Hyatt). Folks, am I missing anything here?
Great points. One thing that I would add is the WOH card earns 2 ENC for every $5000 of spending. So, Ben would be looking at 6 ENCs. While Ben has Lifetime Globalist, he can still earn milestone awards. And, depending on his earned ENCs, these 6 extra might put him at the next milestone. Add the value of that milestone award to the mix.
With Bilt Cash redeemed, the Bilt Palladium can earn 3X on up to $25k. After that, it's 2X. It might well be that Ben already has $25k (or more) committed to his Bilt card. So, it's a matter of where to put this *next* $15k of spending. And, as 1990 is suggesting, the trade-off might be 2X Bilt transferred to Hyatt versus 1X Hyatt plus a FNC. While it's easy to boil things down to pure dollar amounts, Ben might have subjective reasons for his choice. Many do the same with Hilton cards.
Bilt Palldium is a card I have debated for forever, but ultimately for me the extra 25,000 miles a year for the 3x using the accelerator vs 2x all spend on a Citi DC or C1VX or BPP is not worth the fee. These days with CSE getting 6x gift cards via Door Dash, I basically get nearly 6x on anything with a gift card. 90 percent of my expense are Amazon these days so 6x on Amazon on the CSE is just too hard to pass up for me. For many the BP makes sense but the CSE with its 6x Citi nights that gets 6x gift cards via Citi nights is just phenomenal.
I share your enthusiasm but just a word of caution. Gift card purchases on Door Dash appear as "Door Dash Gift Card" on your credit card statement. The significance is that banks can distinguish. As such, banks might disallow "dining" categorization on Door Dash gift card purchases. Simply be aware and think about a Plan B if it comes to pass.
In this "What's in your wallet" topic, it is brought to you by...j/k
Over the last few years, I see my spending was moving away from Chase to Citi or Capital One. I don't have AmEx cards except the Hilton Aspire and Marriott card. With that, my most used or spent credit cards with annual fee are:
(1) Capital One Venture X - for everyday spent earning 2X points, resulting in usage of Citi Double Cash or Chase Freedom Unlimited way down. Also, the points earning on Capital One is much "cleaner" and straight forward, they award you points as soon as the charge became official while the others only award points at the end of each statement period only. Plus other perks like Priority Pass membership and Capital One Lounge access, among others.
(2) Citi Strata Premium - go to card for 3X categories such as groceries, gas, restaurants, etc.
(3) BoA Atmos Summitt - go to for foreign transactions (3X). In the past, I charged a restaurant expense on another card for 3X earning, only to find out later that the "restaurant" wasn't categorized as restaurant by the credit card so that I only earned 1X (happened a number of times). This card eliminate that problem as all foreign transactions are 3X, and there's no debate on where I made the purchases. Since I have been banking with BoA for 20+ years, I also earn extra relationship points using this card.
(4) Citi Strata Elite - like the Admiral club passes (4) each year, $200 to spend on AA, 6X on restaurants on Fri and Sat Night (somewhat challenging to use it when traveling in a different time zone); also a good deal to add an authorize user as he/she also get Priority Pass benefit and access to Priceless dining by Mastercard.
(5) Chase Sapphire Preferred - I used to have both Preferred and Reserved when they first came out (I heard they didn't allow having both back then, but I did have both for awhile), but I got rid of the Reserved on their first attempt to raise the annual fee. The Preferred card still gives good value and keep my Chase points alive. I have other Chase no annual fee cards like Chase Freedom (rotating categories) and Freedom Unlimited but not using them as much.
You don't find the insurance coverage on flights booked with Amex platinum to be inferior? I book oneways as I believe you do Ben, which arent insured on Amex Platinum right? So an incremental 2-3% return on the platinum vs other cards (CSR, Summit, Ritz) is negligible on most of the flights I book. Especially on flights where I'm paying $5.60 or similiar.
I followed your link and got approval for the Palladium card two days ago. I have $500 BILT cash and selected "Flexible BILT cash" instead of "Housing-only reward" option. How come I don't see the "unlock point for housing payment" option in my BILT account? Is it because I haven't made any housing payments yet? Very important question: I set up ACH on my HOA and mortgage portals for Oct 1, but do I need to unlock the point PRIOR to the mortgage and HOA hit on Oct 1?
Out of curiosity, I’ve noticed that you not infrequently redeem Hilton or Marriott Bonvoy points for stays, beyond the free night (happened to be looking back at your review of Miramonti Boutique in Italy — 125K points per night). Since these programs in particular have pretty high numbers of points required per night … if you don’t regularly spend on these cards how do you earn enough? Are you transferring into these programs?