Next Credit Card: Amex Plat vs Sapphire Reserved vs Venture X
It's been a while since I've added a new card and I have some expenses coming up so I figured now could be a good time to add since I should be able to hit the sign up bonuses. I currently have two low level/entry cards that I'm looking to use less (not great rewards/benefits) and then mainly I use my Amex Gold card for dining/groceries/some travel and Chase Amazon Prime for amazon/odds and ends. I've been considering either upgrading to the plat, going for the CSP/CSP, or going for the new Venture X. Roughly my spending other than rent is around 500/month in groceries/restaurants, 125/month in transportation (subway, trains, uber/lyft, gas, etc), 100 for entertainment, and then while I've been doing random classes/regular gym workouts I'm considering just doing Equinox since my company has a partnership. I do larger travel like flights ~1 or 2 times a year.
Some of my thoughts:
* The amex platinum is interesting to me for some of the benefits like the Equinox credits, beefed up Uber credits, and some of the larger travel benefits like centurion lounges but I know the other lounges are nice too. Just not 100% sure I get the max benefit otherwise and the grocery/dining points on the gold are really nice for me
* The CSP/CSR is interesting to me mainly for the more "normal" travel rewards for stuff like subways, gas, etc. The other benefits are very nice too and I would most likely use them. Redemptions are nice too and I like the upgrade/downgrade potential
* The Venture X seems really nice for larger travel and the 2x on all other purchases is really nice too. Plus after the yearly rewards the card doesn't really cost much if anything
Overall it’d be nice to be able to earn points on everyday stuff (food, normal travel, other stuff) and then either be able to knock some money off my bill or use the points to do larger scale travel
What does everyone think? If you need more info I can definitely add more, thanks!
comments
American Express Platinum is a coupon book. Annoying to remember which credits you used each month. Lounge food is great though.
Venture X is meh. The lounge sucks. And other cards give >2% unlimited cash back on everything.
Yeah can definitely see that with the plat, high value and high return IF you can use it all.
Venture X was interesting to me for the 2x everything and transfer to travel but definitely true I could get other cards to do that with no fee (like other chase cards)
Venture X is amazing for the authorized users. Free AUs and they all get priority pass with restaurant benefit (note that the priority pass you get from Platinum only gives you lounges access). Plus president circle status for both the cardholder and AUs at Hertz, which you can status match to executive elite at national. Their credit is pretty easy to use as well.
Platinum has centurion lounge and a bunch of hard to use credits but it seems like you can use the equinox credits which is nice. You can get great redemption value but you need to do a lot of research (travel partners, etc).
So really depends on what you value. I have the platinum, the gold, venture X, and all the chase card except reserve. My wife has reserve so I just transfer my points to her.
1. CSP: signed up last year for 100000 sign up bonus. I will keep it for the dash pass and $50 hotel credit. I used doordash quite a lot. I won’t use the card for anything else and if I find another card giving doordash free, I will close it.
2. Venture X: just signed up for it. As long as they don’t increase the annual price, I will keep it as it pays for itself. Love the 10x miles on travel booking.
3. Amex Platinum: Agree that it is like a coupon book but some benefits like Walmart+/Clear are very useful. I wouldn’t take these in normal circumstances. Also, Amex travel portal has some good deals on flights (Just saved $2500 in December. Not sure if it was a pricing error on Amex portal but got peak December tickets to India for 3 people $500/person. On all other portals it was ~$1400/person)
Below is how justify the cost.
Ubereats: Credit is $240 but I assign $180 to it as some months it is a forced buy.
Travel Credit: I buy united travel credit so it is exactly $200 for me
FHR: I assign $100 value to it. It is $200 in reality
NYT: About $50/year. I had NYT subscription prior to Amex Plat as well.
Saks: $50 (Actual credit $100)
This make this cost about $115/year which is justified for Walmart+/Clear/Audible/Peacock/Cellphone Protection, Centurion Lounge Access/Food credit and late checkout at FHRs.
I do plan to negotiate when the fee hits this year. This year i intend to use Venture X as my primary card.