About once a year I like to take a step back and review my overall credit card strategy and then review what credit cards I have in my wallet and how I’m using them. Things change over time and so has my credit card strategy. I posted my 2024 credit card strategy a few weeks ago (and yes I have one and I think you should too) and following up on that I thought I’d do a deep dive into what’s in my wallet and why I keep it there!
CARD: BANK OF AMERICAN PREMIUM REWARDS
Annual Fee: $95
Why I’ve had it: On the surface this card doesn’t seem that great with 2% on restaurants/travel and 1.5% on everything else, but it’s not a bad return. The kicker is the perk through Preferred Rewards in which the more you have with Bank of America accounts, the higher rewards rate you’ll get. With the highest, you can earn 3.5% on travel/restaurants and 2.625% on everything else. I’m currently at the highest tier and to me that return is pretty sweet.
Why I’m keeping it: I’ve used this card in a varying frequency over the years and it came really in handy during our mega Italy trip last summer and it was great to get cash back to pay for a variety of things that we ran out of points to pay for. It’s a solid card with solid earning that if I need cash back I’ll spend on this card to get. The $100 travel credit is nice and I try to do a good job of using it!
How I’ll use it in 2024: We have a larger trip coming up in the fall that we’ll need to pay cash for – it’s a rafting trip so no Marriott points or Skymiles that I can redeem it for! Right now we’re spending more on our Delta cards to have enough Skymiles to pay for the flight, and after that I expect to put more spend on this card.
CARD: DELTA GOLD AMERICAN EXPRESS
Annual Fee: $99
Why I’ve had it: I’ve had a card from this card family since like 2012 and have upgraded or downgraded depending on our travel needs. This card underwent a refresh a few months ago and I don’t hate the changes. I had the $0 annual fee blue card for a few years during COVID and then upgraded primarily for the 15% off you can get when you book with Skymiles. I took a big trip to Spain last year and redeemed Skymiles for it, and the 15% off an expensive flight like that felt worth the $99!
Why I’m keeping it: We’ll be booking an award flight this year and the 15% off is helpful. Also we’ll have a few trips with the whole family later this year so the $200 flight credit you get after spending $10,000 is something we could benefit from.
How I’ll use it in 2024: Right now this is my main card until I hit the $10,000 in spend and earn the $200 Delta flight credit. We’ll probably book in May for our fall trips so hopefully I’ll hit that spend by then!
CARD: CHASE SAPPHIRE PREFERRED
Annual Fee: $95
Why I’ve had it: I got this card years ago as the Reserve when it offered a 100,000 signup bonus and I’ve used Chase points twice to go to Europe business class so it’s definitely been a helpful card. I’ve used it most recently for rental cars – I really like how this card has primary rental auto coverage – meaning if I’m in an accident in a rental car they’ll pick up the insurance tab vs. my regular auto insurance. I’ve always liked that layer of protection.
Why I’m keeping it: I still have a handful of Chase points (lol like 2,000) but I do like this car for rental cars so I’ll keep it again this year.
How I’ll use it in 2024: Lightly, definitely enough to keep the card active and to keep earning a few points here and there!
CARD: CHASE MARRIOTT BONVOY BOUNDLESS
Annual Fee: $95
Why I’ve had it: I have kept this card primarily for the free night it comes with and the 15 elite credit nights. I’ve been a Marriott loyalist all throughout my traveling career and we’ve stayed at amazing hotels on points. During our Italy trip last year we redeemed just under 300,000 Marriott points to stay at the St. Regis in Venice which was AMAZING. This past year I finally hit lifetime Platinum which frees me up a bit if I want to stay at other hotel chains and takes the pressure off spending a ton on this card – I would earn 1 elite night credit after spending $3,000 which helped me hit Platinum last year.
Why I’m keeping it: The free night in my opinion pays for the card and although I don’t need elite nights anymore we do like staying at Marriotts and we like staying at Marriotts for free so this card will remain in my wallet another year as we are long term planning some travel in 2025 in which Marriott points will help.
How I’ll use it in 2024: In the first half of 2024 I will be spending more on my Delta and Bank of America cards to help us reduce the price of our fall trips, but once those are booked I imagine I’ll put more spend on this card to start saving up for 2025 Marriotts we would like to stay at.
CARD: CHASE SOUTHWEST RAPID REWARDS CARD
Annual Fee: $39
Why I’ve had it: I initially got this card a few years ago that allowed you to earn a Southwest Companion pass for the rest of the year. Mrs. Money and I took advantage and took 3 flights that year – the BOGO was pretty sweet. Since then we really haven’t done much Southwest travel but I still just hold onto the card because I dislike closing out credit cards.
Why I’m keeping it: Now that we have 3 kids, we are more cost conscious when it comes to travel, especially as SegunoMoneyFinance now requires a full ticket. Southwest does seem to have good deals from time to time and so there’s a world where having enough points for the 5 of us could be helpful – although lol that’s a lot of points!
How I’ll use it in 2023: Probably just enough to keep the card open!
CARD: American Express Platinum
Annual Fee: $695
Why I’ve had it: I signed up for the big bonus (100,000 points) and for the ability to access Delta Skyclubs.
Why I’m keeping it: I did a lengthier post (wow I love talking about this stuff don’t I?) a few months ago but TLDR I still get enough value out of this card to keep it. Due to my employment status (who presumably is a huge customer of American Express’) I get a $150 credit back from Amex which puts a little dent in that large fee.
How I’ll use it in 2024: As much as we’ve used Amex points in past trips, this year I have other more pressing needs that I’ll use other cards for so I don’t foresee a ton of spend here this year!
TLDR
When used responsibly, reward credit cards can be awesome! I will say they are a bit like tattoos (or so I’m told) – it’s hard to stop at 1! Once you get them it’s also tough to cancel – just for the fear of losing your credit history although unless you’re buying a house it shouldn’t affect you too much assuming you’ve got other cards in good standing with a few years of experience. I think a lot about my credit cards and the role the play and am happy with what’s in my wallet!
Disclosure: Links here for these credit cards will earn you, and me a signup bonus. If you are considering signing up for one of these cards I would appreciate the chance to refer you!
Personal Finances are certainly top of mind for many of us. If you're looking to get serious about improving your financial situation, we've got lots of great materials all over this site! Additionally, we realize that there's a lot of noise out there, and so we created PERSONAL FINANCIAL GUIDES focused on topics with all the info you need, and without any of the noise/ads/clickbait. 
