Episode 25: What 5 Cards Should You Put in Your Spouse’s Wallet?

A fun week here on the No Annual Fee Podcast, where we’re discussing the following:

News

0:32 Italian-issued Tickets for Fun and Profit (link)

  • Probably best to keep this as an academic idea, but a fun read by God Save the Points.

1:46 Citi ThankYou Points 30% Bonus to Virgin Atlantic (link)

  • Matches the Membership Rewards promo from a few weeks ago.
  • The Program is either outstanding or completely terrible depending on the use of the miles.
  • Do not transfer if you don’t know what to do with the miles.

 

Main Topic

2:26 5 Best: Credit cards to put in your spouse’s wallet

  • Amex Personal Gold 4x MRs grocery and dining
  • CNB Crystal Infinite 3x on groceries, dining, travel, gas
  • Amex Blue Business Plus 2x everywhere
  • Bank of America Premium Rewards with Platinum Honors ($100k) for 2.625% everywhere
  • No Fee Chase Freedom Unlimited 1.5x URs everywhere
  • Honorable mention (not available any more): Citi AT&T Access More 3x for online retail (leave it near your home computer)

Counterpoint:

  • Citi double cash 2% everywhere with Price Protection
  • CNB Crystal infinite 3x Just about anywhere
  • Blue Business Plus 2MR everywhere (2.5% CB, 3% towards flights)
  • BofA Premium Rewards 2.625 – Tough to beat
  • DO NOT Put a card you’re working the minimum spend on:
    • Enticing to overspend
    • Hard to tell if the MSR has been met

 

Like what you heard in the No Annual Fee version? This is just the tip of the iceberg.

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On this week’s subscriber podcast:

  • Long Haul Business Class to Europe (with Miles)
  • Demand Schedule Troubles

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About the author

- Written by Sam Simon. All ideas are my own, but I encourage you to see my point of view and I promise I'll try to do the same. Connect with me on Twitter @Milenomics.

Comments

  1. Your spouse is OK with 5 cards?! That alone would be a huge upgrade in strategy for me, with the specific cards just being nitpicky 🙂

  2. Me: Honey, I want you to carry these 5 cards.
    Spouse: 5 cards? How much are we paying in annual fees for these cards?
    Me: Only $745. $250 for the Amex Gold, $400 for the CNB, and $95 for the B of A.
    Spouse: $745?!? Are you nuts?
    Me: Well, actually it is $840.
    Spouse: Why $840?
    Me: The Freedom Unlimited card isn’t worth the space in your wallet unless you also have one of the “fancy” Sapphire or Ink cards which cost a minimum of $95 per year. You don’t need to carry that card, so I “forgot” to mention it to you.
    Spouse: What else did you forget to mention to me?
    Me: Please sign this paperwork so that we can move $100,000 of our investments to B of A.
    Spouse: …
    Me: Just sign the damn paper. I’m saving us a ton of money. These points are valuable!

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