Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Amex SPG - Which Card Do You Reach For First?

[Dan]

do all amex business cards have it?

Yes

[AsherO]

sure, just figured I would hold off posting it til i got around to adding the open categories too. do all amex business cards have it?

Beautiful, I get more impressed with every iteration

Just one thing, it seems you still haven't named the tabs

[bubbles]

updated with the open categories

[Dan]

Looking awesome!!!!

I would rename
-Business Gold Rewards to AMEX Business Gold Rewards
-Premier Rewards Gold to AMEX Premier Rewards Gold
-SPG to AMEX Starwood Consumer
-SPG Business to AMEX Starwood Business

-Put the bank name in front the rest of the cards (Chase, Citi, etc)

I'm not sure what "AMEX Business MR Card" is?

And maybe make a default value for points/miles that can be changed as people want?

[bubbles]

I'm not sure what "AMEX Business MR Card" is?

And maybe make a default value for points/miles that can be changed as people want?

http://www262.americanexpress.com/business-credit-cards/business-card-details/business-membership-rewards-card/29790

any suggestion for values?

[Dan]

http://www262.americanexpress.com/business-credit-cards/business-card-details/business-membership-rewards-card/29790

any suggestion for values?

Interesting.  Looks like MR Express though, so no transfers into miles.  I doubt anyone here actually has that card.

Default values?  Maybe 1.7 MR/1.85 UR/ 2.25 SPG?

Also still need to figure out how to value the annual spending threshold bonuses for cards like CO OPP/UA MPE/Ink Bold/AMEX PRG, etc.

[bubbles]

Interesting.  Looks like MR Express though, so no transfers into miles.  I doubt anyone here actually has that card.

Default values?  Maybe 1.7 MR/1.85 UR/ 2.25 SPG?

Also still need to figure out how to value the annual spending threshold bonuses for cards like CO OPP/UA MPE/Ink Bold/AMEX PRG, etc.

any idea how much delta, hilton, and jetblue points are valued at?

that is going to be much trickier because even if you were able to pick which spending threshold you planned on hitting since it's not tracking your spending it wouldn't know to switch back to the lower value once you hit that amount. ( for example even if you knew you planned on spending $25k on the ink bold and each $1 would get you around 1.5 points it wouldn't know to switch back to 1.2/$ on the spending over $25k)
(although if anyone has any ideas how you could work it out I am all ears)

[Dan]

I'd say Delta-1.1, Hilton-0.6. 
Jetblue I have no idea.

Ink Bold does produce quite the conundrum.  If it's your primary card for spending then coupled with AP it shouldnt be hard to reach $25K in a year.  How to value that on Excel though is tough.

[bubbles]

I'd say Delta-1.1, Hilton-0.6. 
Jetblue I have no idea.

Ink Bold does produce quite the conundrum.  If it's your primary card for spending then coupled with AP it shouldnt be hard to reach $25K in a year.  How to value that on Excel though is tough.

values added cards renamed

it's not too complicated too add the spending thresholds if you are able to keep track on your own and to choose every time if it's part of a specific threshold

[Dan]

values added cards renamed

it's not too complicated too add the spending thresholds if you are able to keep track on your own and to choose every time if it's part of a specific threshold

Right, but if you get 1.2 UR or 1.5/1.65/1.675 UR it can make you reach for Ink Bold over Freedom, Sapphire, or SPG for different purchases.

[bubbles]

Right, but if you get 1.2 UR or 1.5/1.65/1.675 UR it can make you reach for Ink Bold over Freedom, Sapphire, or SPG for different purchases.

i understand, what i mean is that i can make a separate category for ink bold with the $25k threshold but you would have to keep track of your spending and if you don't plan on hitting $50k then you have to know to switch back to regular ink bold once you hit $25k.

[Dan]

i understand, what i mean is that i can make a separate category for ink bold with the $25k threshold but you would have to keep track of your spending and if you don't plan on hitting $50k then you have to know to switch back to regular ink bold once you hit $25k.

I guess that's the best implementation, to have a category for Ink Bold bonuses for 25K/50K/100K spend, CO/UA 10K bonus for 25K spend, and PRG 15K bonus for 30K spend.
Of course the other thing to bear in mind is that AFAIK, CO/UA/PRG run on a calendar year and IB runs on a 12 month period from card opening.

[bubbles]

Might as well round out the list already once I'm doing this. What are the other cards people here use? The co and ua? Citi aa? Capital one 2% back? Which am I missing?

[elikay]

Airline CCs are only good for travel on that airline (and even then you may do better by using a different card).

[DovidR]

Airline CCs are only good for travel on that airline (and even then you may do better by using a different card).

+1
I got a card in the mail from CO telling me that they'll give double miles for groceries and gas for the next month or two. It sounded exciting for about 2 seconds - I'm already getting 2X gas on Ink and 2X groceries with PRG. Much more flexible and therefore more valuable.

[Dan]

Worth noting that if you plan on spending $25K on the Ink Bold that the cutoff between when it's worth using Freedom over Ink Bold is at $25 per transaction.
Anything more than $25 you would earn more with Ink Bold at 1.5 per dollar instead of Freedom at 1.1+10 per dollar.

Of course if you spend more or less than exactly $25K in 12 months then the calculations are out the window

[PETERP]

Gonna start working on that exactly $25k send right now as. Self imposed challenge

[Dan]

Gonna start working on that exactly $25k send right now as. Self imposed challenge

Exactly $50K (1.65 per $1) or $100K (1.675 per $1) work as well.
Trick will be keeping track of spending to get to a threshold.

[PETERP]

Now you are asking it tough on a newbie !  Grasshopper , Grasshopper !

[Devorah]

What about gas?  My PRG card just got hit with annual fee and now that I'm about to cancel it, I was wondering which card would be best to use.