Comments on: Maximize Your Miles: Master the Two-Card Strategy Every Smart Traveler Uses

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 23:46:08 +0000

Citi Ecosystem in order of importance:

1. Premier ($95). 3x on travel, dining, gas & supermarkets. You need this card to access the full range of Thank You transfer partners.

2. Doublecash. No annual fee. Use this and get 2% on general spending (vs 1% on Premier, outside the 3% categories.

3. Custom Cash. No annual fee. 5% in top category, otherwise 1%. Use it to add an extra category to the Premier cats…and use it only for that.

4. Rewards+. No annual fee and low rewards rates. Won’t help you rack up. Citi points but will give you a 10% rebate every time you ‘spend’ points.

By: George

George — Mon, 29 Jan 2024 21:55:32 +0000

I finally gave up trying to remember and wrote the relevant bonus categories on the card with a permanent marker. Half the people who notice say, “OK Boomer”, the other half, “good idea!”… I do not care about other’s judgement anymore.

By: Boraxo

Boraxo — Mon, 29 Jan 2024 03:27:09 +0000

Since you list the Amex Biz Blue+ don’t forget about the Cap1 Spark Miles card which also earns 2 points/$1 spend. Unfortunately it has a $95 AF but then so do many others.

With Amex, Citi and Chase offering better cards for everyday spend, how does Chase stay in the game? 1.5 really doesn’t cut it.

By: Elaine

Elaine — Sun, 28 Jan 2024 21:01:28 +0000

I am under the impression that I am getting 3 miles per dollar at grocery stores with Aeroplan. I guess I haven’t checked. Is that correct?

By: PeeAm

PeeAm — Sun, 28 Jan 2024 20:47:34 +0000

My recent experience with Chase Credit card approval.

I am a long time Chase Sapphire and Freedom Unlimted card holder. I applied for Chase Freedom Flex two weeks back and it has not been approved as yet. I have called Customer service twice including the lending division and they refuse to commit to a timeline beyond 4 weeks. They claim that they need to verify a few things. One guy did mention that it is sitting in the system and has not been allocated to anyone.

It is interesting that I earn a high salary with a credit score of 840 and usually get instant approval whenever I have applied for other cards. I am not in breach of Chase’s 5/24 rule as this is the first card I have applied for in 4 years.

The lack of any consideration by Chase customer service is makeing me reconsider my existing relationship with them.

By: Mary Smitty

Mary Smitty — Sun, 28 Jan 2024 20:02:58 +0000

Thanks for the cliff note version of how the ecosystem works. Once one understands the ecosystem it’s hard to leave points on the table! You have to be open to using more than one card and remembering the benefits of each. Some people use stick notes on their cards other have their own written notes they look back to. After a while you remember how to use them on auto mode because one uses them frequently. What Gary has indicated in the article is not a full version of how to use the ecosystem. That would take a lot more space to write about it. That is something any reader that wants to know more about can easily find in his articles and others. Go read the archives. It was a good reminder if you want to maximize points take the time to learn about the ecosystem. It took me a few articles to grasp the ecosystem then I tried it out and finally got it!

By: LivelyFL

LivelyFL — Sun, 28 Jan 2024 18:27:24 +0000

Thanks for the write up/comparison of the cards. I wasn’t familiar with them all.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Sun, 28 Jan 2024 18:00:14 +0000

Well that was a whole lot of nothing but card advertising from a clickbait headline. You never actually explained how to double up the cards, just mentioned that banks offer multiple cards. You don’t even explain what you’re talking about with this concept at all.

How can you spend on something and have it get value on multiple cards when you’re only using one to pay for it with?

The only tip you managed to give was the obvious cautionary of not trading points for greater cash back opportunities, but again that’s not a double card situation or anything like it, it’s just normal spending.

By: R T

R T — Sun, 28 Jan 2024 17:54:05 +0000

Note that an unpublished benefit of Capital One cards is that you can transfer rewards from cashback cards to points cards (but not in reverse) at 1 cent to 1 point.

You can therefore have a Capital One two-card strategy, earning 4x/3x on dining/steaming/entertainment and 3x on groceries with Savor/Savor One and 2x on everything else with Venture/Venture X.

By: bers

bers — Sun, 28 Jan 2024 17:34:21 +0000

Anyway to get more than one AA mile per dollar?