Before I was the doctor of credit card rewards, I used one Chase credit card for pretty much everything. With a typical credit card bill of $4,000 to $5,000 a month, I was rewarded with $40 or $50 worth of points every month and I thought that wasn’t bad.
When I shopped at Amazon, I got triple the usual points, and there used to be some other perks, like using $250 worth of points for a flight worth up to $400. I knew the ins and outs of the one card’s benefits pretty well, and I did my best to get the most value I could for my points.
When the redemption options changed and the points were essentially devalued, my eyes started wandering to these other shiny cards I was starting to hear about online. There are plenty of fish in the banking sea, and I was willing to cast a line to see if there were better options out there for me.
You get double points on travel and dining worldwide, along with eligible food delivery services. I say double points, but it’s more like 2.5x points because when you use your points to purchase travel through the Chase portal (run by Expedia), you get 1.25 cents per point.
The “CSR” is the premium option for Chase Sapphire Cardholders. With $300 of annual travel reimbursement, the steep $550 annual fee becomes more palatable at an effective $250.
The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, looks like a strong one-card solution that could potentially replace more expensive cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR), the Platinum Card from American Express (rates and fees), and other premium credit cards.