Here is a summary of the Delta changes across the cards. https://thepointsguy.com/news/delta-amex-current-offers/
@Singersmom07 - Thanks for the link! We are about to have our annual “Do we keep these two different Delta Gold Cards or not?” conversation.
Wow I never got this alert or any information about it. Thank you.
We’re gold and honestly one of the reasons we keep it is so I can use the skyclub for a cheaper $ when I have long layovers. That’s going away. Might be time for the card to go away too.
Edit - nevermind. With the baby, the checked bag waiver is more useful than ever. Maybe we will keep it.
Wow, @HImom, that’s awful about the Chase Sapphire card. Glad we got rid of that card! That seems like a lot of people are going to get bit by the fine print on that one. Glad the other cards we have used have paid out on those.
Am calling tomorrow to drop mine back to platinum. This is a no-brainer for us.
Just checked. Our county used to charge 2.35% if taxes are paid by a CC in 2019, not sure what they will charge this year (we are paying by e-check and through mortgage co). Our big state school charges 3% to pay tuition via a CC…
I guess we live in the same county, @BunsenBurner, 2.35% is the same for us. I’m definitely more reticent about paying property taxes than federal taxes, because it’s so much larger of a fee.
It’s free to use e-check with IRS and $1 for HI state tax collector.
If you use e-check, save your bank statements showing you paid. They’re a bit messed up and kept claiming we didn’t pay when we had the statement clearly showing the deduction from our acct and credit to IRS.
I never used to pay a fee for a credit card, but in the past 5 years I have found the bonuses irresistible. Also, because we live near CLT which is an American Airlines hub, we can safely go with their credit cards because we will almost always be flying American anyway. So, we have taken many “free” flights using the following credit cards (they all had 50,000 or 60,000 mile signup bonuses)
Citi AAdvantage Mastercard - both my wife and I signed up for this card, $99 fee was waived the first year automatically, offset by a statement credit the second year, and we both cancelled our cards the 3rd year. This card also gave us a free checked bag, so for 2 people/2 checked bags was worth $100 every roundtrip.
Citi Thank you M/C - Only I signed up for this one. I think it was a 60k signup bonus and fee waived first year. I found the miles really easy and efficient to use. Can’t remember the details, but I think I bought a $900 international flight for 35,000 miles. Canceled the card when the next annual fee came due.
Barclays AA Aviator Mastercard - American airlines was trying to switch people over from their Citi cards to this one. Both my wife and I got this card with the signup bonus. It worked a little different. Pay the annual fee up front ($95 or 99), use the card for anything and they give you the mileage bonus. I still am using this card for the free checked bags.
Chase Saphire Visa - I encouraged my wife to sign up for this card and she earned the 60,000 mileage bonus.
So between the 2 of us that’s 6 credit cards with 50k/60k bonus miles each.
And we are flying to Denver this weekend but paid cash because the airfare ($95 each) was too cheap to waste miles on!
I like the travel and rental CDW waiver from Chase Sapphire, so we are OK paying the $95 annual fee. We are able to book D on last minute tickets with the UR points too, so that’s very handy, especially as fares near holidays are HIGH.
We also have United Explorer card and pay the $95 fee, but this year they paid my $100 global entry renewal.
We have the reserve card including an authorized user with a second card. I know the main fee is going up from $450 to $550, but has anyone seen if the $175 for the second card is also going up?
Dunno, but as I mentioned above, I had the reserve this year and DH heat his platinum card (second card attached to my account) and we didnt pay anything for his platinum card
Sapphire reserve just raised its fee by $100. Previously the effective fee was $150 (after travel rebate), now will be $250. Guess I’m looking for a new travel card!
OK, so I just called AmEx to downgrade my card back to Platinum from Reserve. They rep confirmed that if 2 people in the family have the Reserve card on one account there is a $175 fee for the second card (this isn’t going up) but if one person has the Reserve and the second person on the account has the Platinum, there is no fee for the second card (thats what we had this past year). To me, the only difference that it would make is that the pseron with the platinum woudl have to pay the fee (now $35) to enter the lounge. If you are flying with the person with the Reserve card, they will now get to invite a guest for free twice in the year, but thats not worth the fees. If a person plans to use the lounge A LOT the fees might be worth it, but its not to us.
I asked the rep abput the better deal with estra miles with the platinum card for use at restaurants, hotels, supermarkets, etc that the Reserve card isnt getting. He sait they were all surprised buy that and have asked Delta to revisit that as it seemed to be a question asked a lot, and many were downgrading their cards. He did say that since anyone looking to get a NEW Delta Platinum or Reserve card would get the new benefits but at the current rates this year as a courtesy/promo if they applied before Jan 30. So any of you with different cards considering getting the Delta card, best to do it before Jan 30.
Also, since they will now be giving extra miles (3X) for purchasing Delta airline tix with the platinum card after Jan 30, anyone looking to buy tickets (we are) might want to wait til after that date.
So thats all the info I got. Hope that helps!
Thanks for the useful info, jym. I wonder, if I kept the Reserve card, and my husband downgraded his to Platinum, then I got him an additional cardholder Reserve card…maybe that would be best. We wouldn’t have to pay for the additional card, but get the benefits of the Platinum. However, even though he’d have a Reserve card, he wouldn’t get club benefits, because he had a platinum card?Maybe I misread it, but that wouldn’t be good, as he uses the club all the time. So perhaps paying the $175 would be better.
It sounds like current cardholders will have to pay the increased fee at renewal time…which would be okay if it was in December, but not so good if it was February.
Sorry for all the typos. So yes, if he uses the lounge A LOT and you are planning to keep the reserve card (paying $100 more this year) then yes, paying the $175 extra for the second reserve makes sense. It also gives access to a group of international lounges Centurian) but the ticket has have been purchased with the delta Amex card and the ticket had to be on a delta or delta partner flight flying that day.
Thanks for all the info, that definitely has saved us some money. Never use those companion passes anyways ?
@busdriver11 AMI understanding you correctly- that your DH has 2 cards- one as a companion card to yours and also another one in his own name as primary? Is one business and one personal? Why 2?
No, @jym626, he has one Reserve card in his own name, and I have one in my name. We don’t have additional cards, but definitely we’re going to ditch his and have him be an additional cardholder on mine (or vice versa).
OK. Apologies if I am obtuse. With our cards, DH has his in his name, and mine is in mine, but its all 1 account, so that purchases from both cards go towards the $ spending amount that has to be spent to get the MQM mileage boost. So we each have our own cards in our own names, but they are tied to 1 acccount (and show up on one bill).