Howdy brother-in-arms - I have CSP, Venture X, and Aspire Card. I used the Diamond status for loyalty matching with MSC, and I became Diamond with them without taking any cruise. MSC is one of my sixth cruise lines with 70-cruises under my belt. Not bad for retired US Army officer that didn't planned on cruising:). I'm using my Hilton points and FNC to stay at Waldorf Astoria in Amsterdam and Rome so that took care of the $450 annual fee since I got into Aspire before the $550 which I'll probably product change to Hilton honors no annual fee. I am also OG in credit card with my first in 1993 The Military Star card which I still have haha. I got into the habit of paying my balance in full every month so it makes sense to play this credit card offers. Again, thanks for sharing!
Love your top 5 Luke! I wish we were in Ohio so we can hit the bench together one day! My 5 most used cards: USBank AR, Venture X, Chase Reserve, Amex Plat, and Citi Custom Cash. (+Hilton Aspire as honorable mention)
I like that you left this open with the ‘right now’. Lot of people seem too locked into their setup and are frankly a bit religious/clanish about their bank allegiances. Right now, these cards are helping you meet your goals. In 6 months… 🤷🏼♂️, we’ll see.
Over a month in and I already love the Surpass. It is stupid easy to amass a ton of Hilton points and I'm on pace to hit $15k of spend before the end of the year to get another FNC on top of the FNC from the SUB. By the first year of my account anniversary, I hope to have amassed 3 total FNCs to then use for a few domestic Conrad/Waldorf Astoria locations!
OH WOW, I am AAA member since about 15 years and I didn't even know they had a credit card!!....and such a good one on top of that.... I will be getting that one, THANKS!!
I switched over to CSR and have got some killer domestic travel out of it. The grocery category is tough. Im using Discover right now for the 5x. Ill probably switch over to Savor or Citi after the 90 day category for the rest of the year and like you said buy points or travel.
I was just looking at flights. Headed to Seattle for a week. Well, looks like Alaskan has a very interesting CC offer this month. Basically get the card and get a free ticket.
Barclay Wyndham business earner credit card, C1 VX. Underrated duo. Gas and utilities card multiplayer while the VX is the catch all. Also you can transfer c1 points to Wyndham and you get diamond status and transfer from Wyndham to Caesar’s. This duo works in perfect harmony.
Awesome top 5 lineup. Currently only have a top 2 because i'm early in the journey but the great debate is my next personal card as I am 3/24 without the AU's and come sept 11th my AF hits on my Amex Plat def. going try to get a retention offer but have no intention of canceling as I currently see it as a lifetime card with the current benefits I am getting over 1k in value without the points
I've already got the venture x. So I went ahead and picked up the Venture just for the welcome offer and the credit. Instead of the metal card, I will be using the plastic one for a month.
Awesome video. I got the Hilton Honors card about 2 months ago for the free night + 70K points offer Amex was offering. My goal is to work my way up through the family tree to get that Hilton Aspire Card. Cheers!
Hi Luke. Nice thorough review. Any tips for when calling in to try to get the annual fee waived on the Citi Strata? I have it for the past 2 years and will call in to request they waive the annual fee. Any tip is appreciated. Thanks!
I have the Reserve for the SUB but don’t think I’m quite a Delta FF enough to justify it in year 2, especially holding the biz plat already I could hit gold status of I open a personal Delta plat by year end but not sure it’ll be worth the opportunity cost, but at least I could hold into silver status after closing the biz reserve if I keep both delta plats open
@@Tonys_Finance I’ll be really honest. I haven’t done a ton of citi thank you point redemptions. I think my last one was I emptied the stash to avianca with a bonus.
@@ConstantPoints makes sense. The lounges are really valuable for me and the chase offers. I’ve also been booking a lot of economy tickets through the portal
My favorite card is my CSP and IHG cuz I can take advantage of the free anniversary FNC when traveling if not I just usually use my ccc for groceries 5%
Ain't nothing wrong with some negativity 😂😂😂🤣😅😂. The travel protection and the primary CDW is hard to beat, if the AMEXP would match those two categories exactly, I would get rid of the CSR.
Id like the reserve. Currently have the prefered card. I use the freedom unlimited and transfer the points. I probably spend $20K per year. Im guessing I would prob benefit more getting the 50% points boost. The $550 fee tho.😮
Are you driving a lot of Citi referrals and/or are you putting a lot of spend through the Strata or Citi portal? I’ve never had Citi consider waiving a fee for me (as much as I love their cards, overall).
I dont have any way to refer for a Citi Card. I didn't put much spend on the premier at all. Sign up bonus and then a few hundred. Citi waives my Business AA fee and i never ever use it.
Great video, Uncle Luke. Is buying airline gift cards one of the ways you can liquidate the Aspire quarterly credit from home? I've looked through some other videos of yours on this card and wanted to see how you liquidate it. Thanks in advance!
@@Rowdyyy_rod could be worse! Haha. I think Chase uses a new 3rd party so i would likely be going through them or visa Infinite. So really not dealing with Chase at all.
If the CSR would come with any kind of status or access to United Club lounges that would push this card over the edge. Seems like they upgraded some of the insurance, extended dash pass to 2027 and give $20 off certain door dash orders that’s broken up as 2 separate $10 off coupons per month
@@Nick-1828 I just used the dash pass to test it out. I have a dollar general on there so maybe some low priced items for $20 a month might be easy tonight convert
@@newagain9964 me too but I’m not holding my breath lol. I think this updated door dash and new insurance is their “update” which the new insurance is nice but it’s hard to put a price on insurance until you need it 😂
@@billwright2176 I’ve gotten the $15k FNC cert several times. At the moment I don’t have a surpass so I will be focusing on cash back and transferable points.
Hello Uncle Luke, when redeeming cash back for AAA daily advantage, would it allow us to deposit cash back into outside bank or only into Comenity Bank? Thank you
@@albertchi9666 to deposit cash you have to call them. Because of that I just do a statement credit and then transfer the money I would’ve used to pay to my cashback account
I have the sapphire reserve with my wife as an authorized user. So far we have been disappointed by lounges. How would you justify keeping the reserve instead of downgrading to the sapphire preffered.
@@M2K-01 I upgraded from The CSP. I just wanted to give it a year to see how I used it. This one will likely be changed to a freedom flex and keep the CIP.
@LukesPointsandMiles I just got the Reserve for a major trip. It's coming up on a year for the Ink Preffered. I think I'll cancel the Ink Preffered this year and reapply when my reserve annual fee comes up next year before downgrading the reserve.
@@kaieaikb probably because it was a temporary credit and it was scheduled to drop. They replaced it with more door dash credits they can be used at grocery stores
Luke does capital one allow customer to downgrade or upgrade the venture line up. They have venture one at $250 plus 75k sign up bonus for the venture one $95 annual fee card. I want something long term.
@@LukesPointsandMiles did you see the new change today with dash pass? You now have two 10 dollar a month coupons for grocery and retail. Mind explaining to me why all these high end travel cards are so hell bent on wanting us not to travel and rather stay home to get value?
@@LukesPointsandMiles yeah man it’s a new perk on basically all the Chase cards but the Reserve has the best perks, but I honestly value the credits at 0. It’s like 300 dollars in value because the credits are 240 and the free dash pass is 60. So that’s 300 dollars in travel credit and 300 dollars in a grocery/retail grocery. They’re paying you to keep the card Uncle Luke! 😂
I like what you said about traveling with your son to experience different cultures like James Bond. I’m trying to do the same as a single father. Subbed 🫡
Hi Luke. Nice thorough review. Any tips for when calling in to try to get the annual fee waived on the Citi Strata? I have it for the past 2 years and will call in to request they waive the annual fee. Any tip is appreciated. Thanks!
