Questions and Answers

I have a $46k balance to pay in April for a major trip and have several cards to put it on. Which one is best? Amex Platinum (guessing value is $0.01), Amex Bonvoy Brilliant (guessing value is $0.008), Chase United Club Card (1.5miles/$ at $0.01), Fidelity Visa ($0.02 cash back), Chase Hyatt, or Citi Double Cash Rewards? I think Fidelity at $0.02 probably can’t be topped, but I also know if I put this purchase on Amex and go to cancel later before annual fee, they will likely make a big award push to retain me. Thoughts?

What point balances do you currently have?

Also, that’s a huge price tag for a trip. I’d look closely at a card that offers some travel insurance/purchase protection

And while everyone is different, I don’t have a CREDIT card with a limit of $40K+ so I wouldn’t be able to make that charge all at once. Amex CHARGE cards, like the Platinum or Gold theoretically don’t have a credit limit so you’re less likely to run into issues there. However, no matter which card you choose, if you’re making that charge all at once I’d contact the card issuer just to let them know it’s coming so you don’t get rejected. But if making charges that large is something you do on a somewhat regular basis it may not be an issue for you.

On the other hand, if you’re going to spread it out over several payments, you could use a number of different cards to earn points in a variety of categories.

I did a $50,000 kitchen remodel in January for which I wasn’t able to get bonus spend for the most part on the cards I was holding. I did most of it on one card with a $20,000 limit and I did early electronic payments so that I freed up available credit.