My employer gives people at my level up to $500 reimbursement for a high end Credit card which we can use for personal use. Anyone have any thought on which is the best? Chase Saphire Reserve, Amex Platinum, Airline Club Cards??
Had a convo about cards this weekend and my cousin loves the Chase Saphire and how the points can be used.
Chase Saphire Reserve is the way to go. I have both Reserve and Amex Platinum and I get more bang for my buck from Reserve.
I’ve always found Amex to have excellent customer service.
I have Chase Sapphire Preferred, which is a step below the Reserved but love it. The points are very versatile. I love that it automatically provides travel insurance and primary car rental collision damage waiver plus other nice benefits.
They just give you $500? Or is this for annual fees or something?
I have Chase Sapphire but I never viewed it as a high end credit card…ever.
Fancy named credit cards are not any different than many other choices. We qualify for them but the ones that give back the most (ultimately cash) are best. No one cares as long as your charges are paid…
I do Amex Platinum bc we travel a lot. It reimburses $200 in airline change fees. You get very big hotel benefits (free night plus $100 room credit). Pays for itself over and over.
We have the Amex Platinum mainly for the free access to the Centurion Lounge in the Seattle airport, decent meal and free drinks for me and a guest each time we fly, better than going to the Alaska Airlines Boardroom on the Priority Pass. Otherwise we would have switched to the Chase one.
Other Amex benefits are a free year extension on all manufacturer warranties, free Global Entry, and occasional concert pre-sales.
Whatever card has rewards or benefits that you actually find valuable.
There is a web site that evaluates cards and has some recomendations depending on your needs. Look for The Points Guy.
My H travels often and really likes the Amex Platinum. There’s a Centurion Lounge in the airports where he usually travels and he gets elite status at Starwood Hotels. Pays for TSA pre-check and Global Entry. You can transfer the point you earn to Amex partner airline frequent flier accounts.
I love my Citi Prestige MC. Tons of benefits – have paid for the card several times over already (it helps that I travelled to Europe for my sabbatical this summer). Am definitely keeping it after the first year.
Which cards give double points on purchases? Our BoA card stopped issuing double points last year, but we’ve hung onto it anyway. I really only want points that I can use for travel - the Worldpoints travel portal is great and I can book any hotel or flight, but I REALLY liked those double points.
Amex platinum gives you elite or gold with hotels, which can also get you on a floor with a lounge (free food/drink) too.
I can’t say enough about AMEX. We’ve benefited from all the perks listed above as well as the concierge service treating our 14-18-year-old son like an adult during his far-away-from-home-years at boarding school. They know how to cultivate the next generation of customers. Service is beyond excellent.
We don’t leave home without it. 
I think you can still get the 100,000 point sign up bonus for the Sapphire Reserve, but you have to go into a Chase branch to apply. Online it has dropped down to 50,000. My D got one. SHe travels a lot and the travel benefits are supposed to be great.
If you travel internationally, you may find a MC/Visa to be a better choice. My H wasn’t able to use his AmEx in many places in Europe my MC was (he was delighted to allow me to pick up the tabs, lol!).
Barclay’s Arrival+ card. Not high end but it has worked well for us. Two points for every dollar spent. NO currency conversion fees and it is a true chip and pin (vs chip and sign). The true pin feature has saved us on a couple of occasions while traveling. You need this feature for things like purchasing train/public transportation tickets at unmanned kiosks. Many of the smaller stations do not have personnel selling tickets. We keep an American Express business card because after Amex ended their relationship with Costco we were able to transfer a no longer available benefit. For $18/month we get a $100,000 travel medical policy. It includes emergency medical evacuation. I also like their one year warranty extension. Then we have the Costco Visa which is great for auto rental. It provides primary insurance with in the US and additional insurance internationally.
I haven’t found there to be ‘one’ card that covers all the basics. If I were offered a $500 credit towards a higher end card I’d pick one that provides the lounge access at airports.
This isn’t a super high end credit card, but one year ago I got the American Airlines Mastercard because there was a 50k mileage bonus and 1 free checked bag on AA flights ($25 each way) and they waived the $95 annual fee for the first year. It has been one year so I called today to cancel the card to avoid the $95 annual fee. They offered me a $95 credit if I used the card for $95 in purchases over the next 2 months (plus additional mileage incentives) so I still have the card.