Figuring out the Card for Everyday Spend
I just recently met the minimum spend on my Altitude Reserve and I need to figure out which card to use for everyday non-bonus spend. Normally, this decision would be pretty easy, I would just use my American Express Everyday Preferred. The decision was complicated by when I product changed my Chase Sapphire Preferred to the Chase Freedom Unlimited after I got the Chase Sapphire Reserve in December.
My Criteria
- The Card will be used for non-bonus spend
- Must earn some form of transferable points currency (No airline or Hotel cards)
Choice 1: Chase Freedom Unlimited
The Chase Freedom Unlimited earns 1.5x Ultimate rewards points per dollar spent on everything. The points from this card are transferable to the Chase Sapphire Reserve where they can be redeemed on the Chase Travel Portal for 1.5 cents per point or transferred to airline or hotel programs. Essentially, I’m getting 2.25% cash back at minimum when I use this card towards travel.
Choice 2: American Express Everyday Preferred
The American Express Everyday Preferred earns 3x membership rewards points per dollar spent on supermarkets, 2x on gas stations and 1x on everything else. With the American Express Everyday Preferred I also get 50% on all points I earned in a statement period when I make 30 transactions in a month. Essentially, I’m getting 4.5x on supermarkets, 3x on gas stations and 1.5x on everything else when I make 30 transactions in a month.
Final Decision
In the end I think I’ll still use my American Express Everyday Preferred as my primary everyday card. The choice has less to do with straight point value and more to do with diversification. Currently, I’m sitting on over 150,000 ultimate reward points where as I only have a little under 75,000 membership rewards.
I will increase my usage of the Freedom Unlimited particularly when I’m doing online shopping (The Ultimate Rewards shopping portal does give me the greatest return for some stores) and for place that don’t take American Express.