Amex Plat or Chase Sapphire Reserve?

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1

I’ve been going back and forth and would appreciate advice about which card to get.

My only current card is a no fee cash rewards card (3% in one category, 1-2% in the rest).

My thinking is as follows:

AmEx has a much better welcome offer (175k right now), I already use many of their offerings (Uber, Marriott, airlines, etc.), and I could open it with my current bank, BUT low daily spending points; I’ve heard it’s harder to maximize Amex points (such as having to spend more time or go through more steps to make it worth it) and can’t downgrade to a no fee card later.

Chase (60k welcome offer) has better daily spending returns, allows future downgrade to no fee card (so wouldn’t have to cancel if I change my mind later), BUT I’d have to open a Chase bank account, and I would have to shift some habits (such as which airlines, hotels, and other services I use) (not a huge deal though).

I travel a decent amount, though not a TON. I’d say, combining work and personal travel, I take at least 10 domestic trips per year, and sometimes one international. But I’m not sure how much I have to travel to make the Amex “worth it.” In general, I spent most on restaurants and daily living—though it varies throughout the year by how much.

Is it worth doing Amex just for the welcome offer, or is that crazy? My thinking is I could always downgrade to Gold later once the welcome offer stops offsetting the fee differential and then have great daily points on Gold. And I could use my current card for the 2-3% categories for daily purchases.

Generally, though, I feel like I’m going in blind despite trying to do much internet research. I just want to recoup the fee, maximize returns while getting some fun rewards (but the returns + potential for free flights, upgrades, and cash back are most important).

Would appreciate any help! Thank you!

EDIT because you all had great questions I should have clarified: My main airport is LaGuardia (NYC), I am only looking to open one card right now (not a combo, though I plan to keep my no-fee Visa Preferred cash rewards card open), and I’m not comfortable with the idea of opening a card and planning to cancel it (maybe that’s wrong but it makes me nervous as far as it impacts future credit).

2

I have both cards currently.

Getting a card just for a bonus is not uncommon. There is a subreddit dedicated to that kind of behavior r/churning.

It would be better to get the Gold card first and then the Platinum if you want them just for the bonuses. You’ll be able to get 275k with both cards. If you get the Platinum first, you can’t get the Gold bonus.

3

If you’re even loosely interested in the Gold, you have to get the Gold before getting the Plat for the sign-up bonus there. Once you get the Plat you usually can’t get a sign-up bonus on the Green or Gold.

All of this depends on your home airport and travel plans. You talk a lot about the cards without talking as much about your specific spending and travel plans. Very broadly, Amex is best for business/first class international flights while Chase redemptions are more flexible with hotel, flight, and even cashback redemptions possible but poor earning rates. If your home airport has a Sapphire lounge then the CSR could be worth it for that alone.

My home airport has a Centurion lounge but no Sapphire lounges. I’m still considering CSR > Plat because I can use the travel credit and DoorDash credits more easily than most of the Plat credits, and my home airport does have Air Canada lounges which you gain access to if you fly Star Alliance. My use case for the CSR is going to be different than yours.

4

@Brier
Thank you! Sorry I should have given more details. My home airport is LGA (NYC). Between work and personal travel, I probably travel every 1-2 months on average—mostly domestic—so I’d say a medium amount. Part of why I’m interested in a rewards card is that I put work travel expenses on my card and then get reimbursed (for flight, hotel, meals, incidentals, etc while traveling) so it’d be like free points.

5

@Oakes
If you’re based at LGA, get the CSR right now. That’s supposedly one of the best Sapphire lounges in the network. If you get the card before the 31st of this month you can get Lyft Pink and get Citibike membership for the city which seems cool.

6

You should go straight to the CSR, but use a strategy for the Amex cards.

It’s worth it to do Green → Gold → Plat and try to get the highest offer available for each.

Then once you arrive at the Plat, you’ll see whether or not the CSR was right for you.

7

@Bevin
How does this work? Do you open and then eventually cancel each card? Wouldn’t that have negative credit impacts?

8

Oakes said:
@Bevin
How does this work? Do you open and then eventually cancel each card? Wouldn’t that have negative credit impacts?

I open cards with plans of closing all the time (and sometimes I don’t because it turns out the card is actually useful). That’s what the r/churning community does all the time.

The “closing a credit card hurts your credit” idea is mostly a myth, but has aspects of truth to it.

Here are the only things your credit score depends on: payment history, percent utilization, average age of credit, new credit (pulls), and credit mix.

When you open an account, you hurt your credit usually in two ways: you have a hard pull and you lower your average credit age. This is often (but not always) offset a bit in the months after by a decrease in utilization (since you have more credit available) and maybe credit mix.

When you close an account, your closed account does not leave immediately. Instead, it stays on your credit report for 10 years. So at that moment, you can really only hurt your credit two ways: you’ve increased credit utilization and made your credit mix worse (credit companies like to see you able to juggle many accounts). You will eventually also hurt your average age of credits, but that will take another 10 years.

At the end of the day, cancelling a card isn’t as bad as most people make it out to be. I also always try to remember that credit is meant to be used. What good is a high score if I don’t do anything with it?

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Oakes said:
@Bevin
How does this work? Do you open and then eventually cancel each card? Wouldn’t that have negative credit impacts?

Commenting for answer.

10

kenrick said:

Oakes said:
@Bevin
How does this work? Do you open and then eventually cancel each card? Wouldn’t that have negative credit impacts?

Commenting for answer.

Responded to OP.

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@Nicole
Thank you!!

12

What’s your goal? Highest short-term gains? Highest long-term profit card? Keeper card for lounge access?

Like I run a series of 4-5% cash back cards that in rotation give me >4% back on all my purchases because I just value money. Whereas other people hold cards like the CSR that are -$250 per year almost no matter what you do because the CSR has emergency medical/dental insurance on traveling.

It’s hard to tell what you want. Do you want as much money in your pocket as possible, or do you want to spend money or take a potential profit loss for as many insurances/protections as possible? Or do you just want infinite priority lounge passes and nothing else?

13

@Nicholas6
What cards do you currently run? I am considering cycling out some of my old cards (Citi TYP and DoubleCash) and replacing them with something else to supplement my CSP.

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JamesMiller said:
@Nicholas6
What cards do you currently run? I am considering cycling out some of my old cards (Citi TYP and DoubleCash) and replacing them with something else to supplement my CSP.

I get 4-5% in all my categories.

5% groceries, 5% dining, 4% gas and travel, 5% Apple Pay (for miscellaneous).

AAA Daily Advantage ($10k/year cap), Citi Custom Cash ($500/mo cap), US Bank Altitude Connect (travel uncapped, $1k/quarter gas cap), Harris Teeter ($3k/year).

If you spend >$1.5-2k/mo, though, I’d suggest you look into the Citi SYW instead since it can have far above 5% yield (look up data points of its offers).

15

@Nicholas6
These are good questions, thank you! I’m most interested in cash back and rewards/perks. So the recouped value of the fee, plus having things I already do covered (such as Uber or Lyft credits), and ideally some perks (such as hotel status or airline perks).

16

@Oakes
A good halfway mix of a high profit + perks card is the Venture X. $395 fee offset by $300 portal credit and $100 in miles per year, so if you book on their portal, it’s a negative $5 annual fee. Comes with the usual Visa Infinite insurances and protections, and unlimited lounge passes for you and two guests. Free AUs and each AU also gets unlimited priority passes and 2 guests each. And the earning structure is 2x everything which can either be 2% cash as a travel statement credit or 2x miles exchangeable sometimes for >1 cent value if put towards award travel.

It has a better earning structure than either the CSR or Plat (2x all vs 3/2/1x vs 5x flights/1x else) and a lower effective annual fee than either if you meet the portal condition (-$5 vs $250 for DashPass + Lyft Pink vs $695-whatever credits you use).

If you’re open to getting a bonus, then downgrading, Chase always lets people downgrade. So you can get the Sapphire Preferred in March/April during elevated bonuses and downgrade it on day 366. It has the best SUB when elevated since its points are transferable to Hyatt points, which are worth ~1.75 cents on average in hotel credit.

17

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18

As far as lounge access and travel benefits go, the Plat beats out the CSR by far, in my humble opinion. Domestically, there’s 5 Chase lounges, but 16 Centurions. I have also not seen any good Priority Pass lounges around.

For purchase protection and travel insurance, CSR has broader coverage on paper, but the Plat insurance is handled in-house, so they have more incentive to cover stuff. I’ve gotten claims denied when I had the CSR, but never with the Plat. And the Plat also has cell phone insurance, that’s better than AppleCare+ in my opinion.

If you’re looking for a single card, CSR has far better spend multipliers than the Plat. But if you’re willing to have more than 1 card, AmEx multipliers can stack up. And if you’re willing to do some shenanigans as far as spending goes, the Ink Business Cash is hard to beat for 5X on nearly everything.

19

A few comments on the Chase route.

  1. You don’t need a Chase bank account to open a Chase card. Just might be harder to get some cards if your credit isn’t so great.

  2. Why do you feel you need to shift your travel preferences? I’m guessing you usually fly Delta, which does make Amex slightly more attractive. Chase can transfer to IHG and Marriott (but you really should do Hyatt).

For long-term, the Amex Plat card is “worth it” if you would organically spend the credits that the card offers or if you fly a ridiculous amount. (Or if you really want access to Centurion lounges). If you do use the credits, they completely offset the annual fee. Otherwise, the CSR has more earning potential, especially if you are staying at hotels. But the Chase card is effectively a $250 fee with its $300 travel credit that cannot really be offset.

Ultimately, I think it’s a question of what’s your goal with points? If you want easy to redeem, high minimum redemption value, easy to earn points card, go CSR. If you want travel perks, lounge access, and redemption of points for flights (especially international), then go Amex.

If work is reimbursing you for travel, honestly the CSR is amazing for earning. Basically 3x on the entire expense report. (Amex will only get you 5x on the flight).

OR…like you said churn the card with the best offer and cancel when you can’t get value lol. But in that case, start with Amex Green. Honestly, the highest overall value is probably this route, but also the most work.

20

I think cash back on one of the flat rate cards is better for 95% of people: https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCards/wiki/list_of_flat_cashback_cards_with_benefits

The main issue with Amex isn’t it isn’t widely accepted like Visa/Mastercard.

Beware a lot of the blog posts and YouTube videos are basically thinly veiled advertisements. It’s important to verify the points program will even work for flights you might want before signing up in my opinion.

If you’re ok for a $95 annual fee for a simple and easy nice looking metal credit card, check out the Sapphire Preferred - or - regular Venture (not X). Not the X because that card sticks you with booking through Capital One Travel, which doesn’t price match member hotel prices. It also doesn’t necessarily offer every airline.