re: Who all pays monthly bills on a credit card?

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here, it's one of my most valued currencies and the CSR is such strong card right now to top it off. I get ridiculous value beyond year 1 (got the 150k bonus this year) on it still.

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Agree to disagree. Chase used to be the king but it doesn't even hold the best category bonus for any type of spend your want to do outside it's no fee 5x Freedoms. All the benefits can be had elsewhere and with better partners. Their Hyatt partnership was basically their whole program when compared to other programs and not only does Bilt have them, they have them at 1:1, while Chase requires their top card to maintain that. The Hyatt devalued at the same time in their end. That's a big reduction in Chase value. A premium Hyatt card could help the situation. Basically, all their partners you'd care to use are a partner of someone else's program and the one unique value they had got cut up.

I was a big fan back in 2015, but when United turned to trash years ago that was a big loss, and nothing Chase has done has stopped the problem.

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This is the part I struggle with people running around chasing ridiculous redemptions. I would rather things play into my travel plans and still only mostly redeem for what makes sense (as long as it's north of 1cpp, makes sense on paper) than splurge for something that's just that, but not call a 1st class flight for 100k points that cost $6k in cash, "whoa dude, i got 6cpp in value on that" - well not really. On paper sure, but would you have spent $6k on that flight? No, well that's not 6cpp value to you, you are just splurging on something, okay to just say that. I may splurge for a 1st class international seat one day just to do it, but I would so rather take 3-4 economy class flights for the same redemption value in the end even if those are "only 1.2-1.6cpp" vs. 2-10 cpp in business/1st.

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As you said, this is so entirely subjective and personal as to be not worth arguing about. I was avoiding a 7 paragraph discussion on it , and cpp is the easiest measure we have. As for me, I haven't flown economy internationally since 2013, but I'm also not passing up on other trips because of it. For other people, they aren't going to generate enough points to fly business and also visit Grandma one state over for a three day weekend. Usually, after fees and everything it's rather simple to me, if I am flying business class for the same price I'd pay a cash rate in economy at most, then I'm probably good with it. I don't fly business domestically as it isn't worth it to me. I'm not hurting for points where I'm giving up anything. As I tell most people, none of this is "free," but it is at a discount.

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Churning still beats even the palladium, but that would be my end game if it stays where it is right now (which I doubt).

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Ya I'm only on hiatus to get under 5/24 again to burn through Chase's ecosystem again. I'll probably grab all 3 Avios cards and one CSR/CSP for a year before I cancel it again. I keep a $95 Ink for transfers. Then I'll go hunting again without a care for another couple years.

As for Cap One, I couldn't make them work either. When I had Amex and Chase points and wanted to open another points pool, I considered Cap One and Citi and found Citi the better option. They had enough unique partners to be interesting and of course cheap domestic AA flights and other potential AA uses.

What I like about having points of generally equal value in multiple places is the odds I catch a useful transfer bonus when I need one goes up.

I recommend your strategy to anyone that doesn't have the interest or energy for the travel partner side. Go get the best unique cash back from every bank you can and call it a day.

if you're not willing to talk to a guy who speaks broken English who works at Avianca for your flight on Air Canada to Europe with he risk that stuff goes sideways the transfer partner game is not for you.

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Chase used to be the king but it doesn't even hold the best category bonus for any type of spend your want to do outside it's no fee 5x Freedoms.

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This goes for every card out there as Bilt has broken things with Bilt 2.0, its not just a chase thing, why be in AMEX if you can do 4.33x on Bilt 2.0 on everything for $25k in spend a year, and 3.33x outside of that; etc...

The Bilt thing I doubt will continue to last the way it does, but its certainly broken right now.

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Their Hyatt partnership was basically their whole program when compared to other programs and not only does Bilt have them, they have them at 1:1, while Chase requires their top card to maintain that.

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Which I would argue if you're a travel person at all the CSR is one of if not the easiest cards to get way outsized value from out there alongside the AMEX Platinum. even more than the Palladium if we're talking credits against that AF. The Palladium has the earnings every day, but again just talking credits against AF the Platinum and CSR far surpass it; so it's give and take there.

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and nothing Chase has done has stopped the problem.

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Again with getting easily outsized value with the CSR now if you're a travel person, check out their portal which offers price match now (this is huge). So you dont have to overpay for anything in their portal any more, and you get 8x on all bookings in it with the CSR. They also do 1.65-2cpp points boost on a ton of bookings now with the CSR. I'd take a look into it a bit more if I was you, they've certainly hit well on some things recently; the Hyatt thing is only if you dont have the CSR.

I just booked a 2 night stay at the omni in orlando through their portal on my CSR. It was $743 in their portal. It qualified for both their edit and select hotel credit, sothat was $500. I havent used any of my $300 travel credit, so that fully applied too (As that is first to apply to any travel booking). I price matched to the next lowest site I could find which was $20/night cheaper for same room/cancellation policy, so I also got $40 credited back to my account.

So they credited me $800, plus a $40 refund, for a $743 booking. They literally are paying me $97 to take this trip.

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Debating moving all bills to a credit card then paying it off monthly.

I’m considering the points I’d earn.

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Recommend your deliberated course of action. We have been doing this for years. It allows us to very easily see where our money goes IRT expenses and it is a quick, easy way to pay it off monthly while accumulating points, etc. I have been using USAA for decades.

Credit card unless I have to ACH for some odd reason. It’s more secure and I only benefit from it.

Good for everyone here making a credit card work. I get too undisciplined and right now not having one feels best for my family’s spot on the journey.

I pay for everything with credit card unless there’s a credit card percent fee.

Verizon cell phone?

Consider a Verizon Visa with Synchrony Bank

$10 a month off each line with autopay/paperless ($5 per line on some plans)
4% cashback for grocery, gas, dining, takeout, Verizon purchases
1% on everything else
Can apply the cashback to your phone bill
No annual fee

We also got $150 bonus for charging like $1,500 in the first 90 days. Not sure if that is always offered.

Thanks!

So the OG freedom is discontinued it looks like but is still active for those who have it. The flex looks to have replaced it.

My question is do they have separate quarterly deals? I don’t mind using all three if the two have different benefits.

Easy answer is DO IT.