You’re in a tricky situation with the Venture X. The best part about the card is transferring miles to partner airlines that are not part of Chase. Here’s a transfer chart to check: Transfer Partner Matrix — Award Travel 101™. If your annual trip is not with one of those partners, it might not work out mathematically for you. The good news though is, unlike CSR or AMEX Platinum, Venture X is essentially a free card despite its annual fee.
The Venture X has a $395 annual fee but provides a $300 travel credit, which is valued at $285. This is because that credit doesn’t earn miles, so you’re missing out on the chance to earn 1500 points if booked as a flight or 3000 for hotel/car arrangements with that coupon. Assuming you find a flight, you miss earned points, or simply $15 if valued at 1 CPP. The first year you also get the Global Entry/TSA pre-check credit—you really should get GE for $120 if you’re a frequent traveler, so I value that at $120 (CLEAR on the other hand seems pointless to me). In the second through the fourth years, you get 10k anniversary miles valued at least $100. Overall, in the first year, you benefit $10, over the next three years you pay $10, and then in the fifth year you get the credit again, making the benefit $110. No AMEX credits come into play here.
Now CSR is $100 for the first year—a $550 annual fee minus a $300 travel credit that has a value of $330 (since if you book a hotel through the Chase travel portal, it earns miles too, technically offering you 15x earnings, with 10x plus a 50% bonus, minus the 5x from a card giving 5x hotels—it amounts to a 10x benefit) minus $120 GE/TSA fee. In years two through four, it costs $220 each year, but in year five it drops back to $100 when the GE/TSA credit returns.
CSR might sound pricey until you compare the earning potential against Capital One’s duo (when you get around to that):
(C1 on one of the two cards / Chase on one of the three cards boosted by 50% bonus from CSR)
- General spending that doesn’t fit into rewards categories earns either 2x / 2.25x
- Non-portal travel increases to 2x / 4.5x (or even 7.5x during a Chase Freedom Flex 5x Quarter)
- Hotel/car bookings via the portal get you 10x / 15x
- Flights booked through the portal net you 5x / 7.5x
- Dining goes 3x / 4.5x (or 7.5x during a Chase Freedom Flex 5x Quarter)
- Streaming returns 3x / 2.25x (also 7.5x during a Fuji Freedom Flex 5x Quarter)
- Entertainment brings 3x / 2.25x
- Pharmacy offers 2x / 4.5x (and also 7.5x when it’s a Chase Freedom Flex 5x Quarter)
- Grocery rounds up to 3x / 2.25x (or 7.5x in the Chase Freedom Flex 5x Quarter)
Basically, if your spending habits show that Chase’s trio adds up to $110 more value than Venture X and Savor offers from C1, you might want to switch (that’s $100 cost of CSR plus the $10 you’d gain from Venture X). For example, if you spend $100 monthly on groceries, and another $200 monthly on dining out, the Chase trio might earn you an additional $36 in dining but cost $9 against C1 duo. Overall, that comes to $27 additional for Chase classic. You will benefit from analyzing your personal expectations to see the numbers firsthand. It might be that you do spend a lot more on groceries, or perhaps you go out more often.