The 2022 Credit Card Reshuffle: What’s In Your Wallet

by Robert McGarvey

Out with some old and in with what new?

When the $95 annual fee showed up on my Chase United Explorer card I immediately picked up the phone, called Chase, and cancelled the card. I could not remember the last time I flew United which is a non player at Sky Harbor in Phoenix where I live. American and Southwest dominate so it was easy to kiss the United card goodbye.

It was still easier because – after an annoying snafu at Chase where the big bank failed in customer service – I have closed a Chase checking account and a savings account and the United card was the next logical casualty. (I plan to keep a Chase issued Amazon card that returns 5% on Amazon and Whole Foods purchases. It’s free too. Scorching earth is fun but I don’t want to incinerate my own crops.)

Then I saw a tasty Delta offer in my postal mailbox – 80,000 miles after spending $4000 in the first six months. The card is Amex gold, $250 annual fee.

I was just about to apply when sanity prevailed. In my life I remember flying Delta only three trips, each time a “free” ticket bought with Amex miles. Delta also is a trivial player at PHX. The offer got binned.

And I decided my best move right now is to maximize the benefits of the cards already in my wallet. Sure, I am mulling getting a Southwest card – the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card at $99 is tempting. There’s a 50,000 point bonus too. But, although I flew SWA lots years ago, I remember flying SWA only once in the past five years. Why do I want to pay for a slice of plastic to sit unused in my wallet?

Especially when I already have plenty of useful credit cards and my goal is to get more out of them.

Eight, that is how many credit cards I have. Most I make very little use of. I want to change that.

I am keeping the AAdvantage Aviator card. $99 annual fee. Living in Phoenix it just makes sense to be able to get perks such as priority boarding on one of the leading carriers. The card also delivers 1 AAdvantage mile for every dollars (2 per dollar on AA purchases).The card otherwise has scant attractions but it’s in my wallet and will remain for now and I am planning to use it more to build up my AA miles stash.

Diners Club also is in my wallet – $95 per year. It’s also often very useful as I discovered in my recent trip to Portugal and Spain where a lot of establishments do not take Amex. But they take Diners because it is a Mastercard in fancy clothes. Besides, Diners offers many perks – I have a stash of rewards points and it also offers another way to access airport lounges, not that they are appealing these days. It also offers primary collision damage waiver coverage for vehicle rentals and lots more perks. It’s good value.

The Venmo Visa card is a newer addition to my wallet and this no fee card offers cashback rewards tiered at 3% down to 1%. Your largest spending category wins 3% – for me that’s groceries. The next biggest category gets 2%. Everything else gets 1% cashback. I take mine in crypto and, don’t laugh, my account is down 30%. Hey, at least I have a crypto play and in many respects the loss is costing me nothing anyway.

New in my wallet is an REI card via Capital One. It’s a rewards card – 5% on REI purchases, 1.5% on everything else. But when in Europe recently I used the card a lot because it has no foreign transaction fees. The card is fee free (although it needs an REI membership which is a onetime fee of $30 – and members usually get 10% back on eligible REI purchases so it pays for itself very quickly).

That leaves the heavyweight in my wallet – Amex Plat which just dinged me $695 for renewal but it pays for itself. I’ve documented how Plat pays for itself but of course you have to play the Amex game and make the right moves. None of that is hard however.

On the Portugal-Spain trip I got a $200 hotel credit (for booking a Hotel Collection property), $85 refunded on miscellaneous Delta charges, and 5X points on airline flights and hotels booked via Amex tools. And that’s just in one two month span.

What’s key is that to make the Plat card work for you you have to use it. Do that and the annual fee literally is paid for with the perks you get.

What’s in your wallet? Is there dead weight you can throw overboard?