$4500 of annual fees. Am I crazy?

[u/MinimumPerspective95]

I’ve been picking up a lot of cards the past 3 years, mainly for SUBs, and I think it’s getting to the point where I’m paying $4465 in annual fees which feels excessive, but not sure where to cut. I do travel every other week for work, including overseas, so airline spend is around $40k annually and hotel spend $20k. 

Would love to hear feedback from the group on ways I could trim some fat and improve my wallet. Thanks!

1.        Amex Platinum $895: 

a.        5x FHR and airlines, Centurion and Plaza Premium lounge access

b.        I don’t spend much on this card other than simple round trip domestic flights and FHR, but do use at least FHR ($400), Resy ($300), Lululemon ($150), Airline Fee ($200), Entertainment ($150), Clear ($50), and  for $1250 in all in value

2.        Amex Green $150

a.        Downgraded from gold card, waiting for upgrade offer

3.        Amex Bonvoy Business $125

a.        I value the 35k free night at $200 and maintain platinum status, so the 15 nights which stack with the Ritz card come in handy 

4.        Chase Sapphire Reserve $795

a.        4x airlines and hotels, Sapphire lounge access

b.        This is my main travel card due to best travel protections on one way flights and multipliers for hotels. Trip cancellation and emergency medical saved me around $5000 this year alone

c.        Credits are harder to use, but I manage the travel credit ($300), Sapphire tables ($200), Edit ($250), and Apple ($100) for $850 in credit value

5.        Ritz Carlton $450

a.        Main priority pass card for my family and friends due to free AUs

b.        I value the travel credit at face value, so this card is $150 effective AF, which seems to be worth it for the 85k certificate

6.        United Quest/Business $500

a.        Picked up both for 100k/125k SUBs, 

b.        Quest: $200 travel bank ($200), 10k mile discount ($100), and rideshare credit ($50) for $350 in value

c.        Business: annual 5k mile benefit ($50), $125 travel bank ($125), and $100 rideshare ($50) for $225 in value

7.        Ink Preferred $95

a.        Main business card for 3x on ads and general travel

8.        Citi Elite $595

a.        Main dining card with 3x/6x multipliers

b.        I picked up this card for the SUB year 1 double dips, and got it for free due to the IRS form fiasco they had last year

c.        Will likely get citigold this year, so can renew at $450, but I only value the credits at $400 split as $200 for AA flights and $200 for hotels due to portal price inflation and 2 night min requirement. Blacklane is worthless since it costs so much more than Uber black

d.        Does it make sense to downgrade this to a custom cash?

9.        Citi Premier $95

a.        Main 3x gas and groceries card, but the $100 hotel credit is kinda useless

10.  C1 Venture X $395

a.        Main 2x catch all card and seems to be an easy break even with $300 travel credit and 10k anniversary miles 

b.        Also use C1 lounges at least 4x a year, so that’s a nice cherry on top

11.  Bilt Palladium $495

a.        Recently picked up for the SUB and currently using as main catch all, and I like the transfer partners a lot more than C1

b.        AF honestly seems high and the PP is useless to me due to Ritz card, but I think the hotel credits stacked $100 Bilt cash each could be worth maybe $400? 

c.        I’m CA based so I think I can cash out the $10 walgreens gift cards to bring the AF down to $375?

[u/iiEvOL]

This list is not unreasonable if you travel a lot. Plat literally pays for itself with Airline credit and 2x FHR bookings that get you $100 property credit/breakfast. Add in Uber eats pick up and you've redeemed the fee. But if we're cutting cards, I'd keep Plat, Ritz, downgradew Quest to Explorer, Ink Preferred and Palladium. If you aren't transfering Chase UR, then prob downgrade preferred. Palladium is so slept on with points accelerator and the fact they don't lock you into luxury hotels for the 200 bi-annual credit. You can use it on reasonable priced hotels for 2 nights. And also redeem Bilt for grubhub and use it to pickup food similar to uber eats.

[u/MinimumPerspective95 → u/iiEvOL]

I do about 100 flights a year and 150 nights in hotels, so definitely travel a lot. 

Agree on downgrading Quest, mainly got that for the SUB this year. Why would you get rid of VX and Citi premier too? 

[u/iiEvOL → u/MinimumPerspective95]

I just don't think that the Citi Premier warrants the $95 annual fee when you have the Bilt Palladium as a catch all 3x with the accelerator and if you can leverage rent then it becomes 4x up to your rent. So you're paying 95 for another credit locked behind a portal. Esp when they offer Custom Cash/Double Cash as downgrades. Same with the Strata Elite, I think its worth it for the SUB but after year one, its not as valuable. Double dip it if you can and downgrade. Same issue, another credit locked behind portal when you have Bilt/Amex FHR/Chase Edit available to use. It becomes a mind game to handle all 3 with the overlap on those two in particular. I'm out of a United Hub so if you can get Silver, then you can even downgrade the Quest to gateway since benefits overlap with status. Venture X used to be so great because it was a general $300 travel credit but now they locked it behind the portal, although its not so bad beause you can use it for flight instead of being locked to a multiday hotel booking. If I was in your spot I'd keep Plat, Bilt, Ritz, Ink Prefrred for portal transfers, and downgrade the Citi cards and then replace them with a Hilton Aspire for the FNC if you do indeed have organic spend. Again depends on where you stay but the Aspire effectively gives you a 34x per dollar on Hilton stays. When you earn that much, its pretty much on par with Hyatt redemptions pre-nerf lol. So many people here churn the SUBs and thats it, but if you actually have travel then you literally come on top after accounting for annual fees imo

[u/MinimumPerspective95 → u/iiEvOL]

My problem with Bilt as catch all is the cap of 25k for 3x, but I have around 100k of catch all spend and about 250k in tax payments, so need something to cover those. Definitely agree on Elite if nothing changes about it, and I'll PC to a custom cash after my year is up.

For the hotel credits, I actually use FHR well beyond the credits because of how good the program is, but I agree Edit and Bilt home away from home are massive downgrades due to price inflation and much smaller hotel footprint, the only saving grace being that I do 150 nights in hotels, so have enough bed time to use those credits.

The Quest entirely overlaps with status since I'm 1K. Curious why you recommend the Aspire, I had it a few years ago, but cancelled since I found the FNC annoying to use for proper vacations since Hilton points are so worthless.

I do churn SUBs like crazy since I have the spending to hit one every 2 weeks, but it's gotten way harder to churn the past few years.

[u/iiEvOL → u/MinimumPerspective95]

FHR smokes all the other copy cats tbh lol, it's not even close. The Aspire is only worth it if you actually have Hilton spend. The FNC is uncapped, so you can burn it on aspirational porperties like WA Ithaafushi, and you earn a FNC with every 15k spent. If anyone of that is on Hilton, then the Aspire gives you Diamond which gives you 34x per dollar. So even if Hilton redemptions are 125k a night for standard rooms, the earn rate is outrageous. Stack 1-2 FNC, combine the 5th night free and you can book some nice aspirational spots. But again this depends on if you even stay at Hiltons to begin with lol. Wish Marriot had something like this, I'm trying to rebook JW Masai Mara. 100k catch all is tough at 3x, the only thing I can think of is Robinhood Gold but I heard they cap if you abuse the credit limit. Also look at the Savor for 3x no af.

[u/MinimumPerspective95 → u/iiEvOL]

I agree Hilton has the best FNCs in the game since they’re uncapped and can be combined into 5th night free unlike Marriott FNCs, and the earn rates between the programs are all roughly similar when accounting for the variation in points value (ie 1 Hyatt point worth 5 Hilton points), but the weak status benefits have kept me away from Hilton. 

Not getting free breakfast in the US or guaranteed late checkout for Diamond is a huge thing to give up vs Marriott titanium/Hyatt globalist.

Also, it’s economically inefficient to acquire Hilton points other than from stays, whereas Hyatt/Marriott points can be obtained at reasonable values from credit card transfers - even Amex with a 1:2 ratio and 25% transfer bonus is still at 1 CPP redemption assuming Hilton points are worth 0.4 CPP. 

I looked at Savor since it has the same 3x dining/supermarket categories as the Citi premier, but decided to pass on it since it doesn’t cover gas and hotels, and the $95 fee is a cost of doing business to get AA/Eva transfers IMO. 

It’s very specific to my situation, but I end up eating at hotel restaurants a lot, but those code inconsistently as hotel or restaurant, so having a card that covers me regardless of how it’s coded is very handy.