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- I have more than 30 rewards credit cards, but I rely on just two of them to maximize most of my purchases both at home and when I'm traveling: the American Express® Gold Card and the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card.
- These are two of my favorite cards due to the bonus points they offer on categories like restaurants, US supermarkets, and travel.
- When traveling abroad, my approach is to use the Chase Sapphire Preferred because Visa is more widely accepted. When I'm at home, I primarily use the Amex Gold for dining and groceries. Luckily, neither card charges foreign transaction fees.
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I have more than 30 rewards credit cards, and each of them has a particular purpose in my wallet. I don't carry them all at the same time, but a select few rarely, if ever, leave my wallet thanks to their earning potential: the Amex Gold and Chase Sapphire Preferred.
I always try to maximize the rewards I earn on my spending, and these two cards have bonus categories that align well with my daily spending habits. They also work well for me when I'm traveling; I tend to use the Sapphire Preferred abroad and the Amex Gold for many of my purchases at home. Neither card charges foreign transaction fees.
These two cards earn two of the most valuable flexible rewards currencies: American Express Membership Rewards points and Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Both the Amex and Chase rewards programs allows you to redeem points by transferring to multiple airline and hotel partners or by purchasing flights or other travel directly on each issuer's travel-booking portal.
Keep in mind that we're focusing on the rewards and perks that make these credit cards great options, not things like interest rates and late fees, which will far outweigh the value of any points or miles. It's important to practice financial discipline when using credit cards by paying your balances in full each month, making payments on time, and only spending what you can afford to pay back.
American Express Gold Card
The American Express Gold card earns 4 points per dollar at restaurants and 4 points per dollar on $25,000 per year in US supermarkets (then 1 point per dollar). Up until June 2019, the 4x points earned at restaurants was solely for US-based restaurants, but American Express expanded it to 4x at all restaurants worldwide.
The minor caveat with this earning benefit is American Express isn't as widely accepted globally as Visa or Mastercard networks. This is why my strategy relies on using the Amex Gold at home or when I'm traveling within the United States to earn 4 points per dollar when dining out.
For families and anyone else who purchases groceries frequently, using the Amex Gold card for grocery purchases at US supermarkets can be a lucrative way to generate points. This card is the highest Membership Rewards points-earning card in the grocery category.
If you were to max out the full $25,000 annually on groceries with the Amex Gold credit card, you would earn 100,000 Membership Rewards points, which are roughly valued at 2 cents apiece (or about $2,000 worth of travel, depending on how you like to redeem your points).
The Amex Gold card has a $250 annual fee, but thanks to its incredible earning potential and benefits, it's a mainstay in my wallet.
In addition to the 4x categories, it earns 3x points on flights booked directly with airlines or through amextravel.com. You also get up to a $100 airline fee credit every calendar year that covers checked baggage fees, change fees, seat assignment fees and even pet-flight fees. Plus, you get up to $120 in dining credits each year (divided as up to $10 per month in statement credits) when you use the Amex Gold card at eligible dining partners including at participating Shake Shacks, The Cheesecake Factory, Ruth's Chris Steak House, and Grubhub/Seamless. These two statement credit benefits alone nearly cancel out the annual fee.
Chase Sapphire Preferred
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is commonly known as the best card for those starting off with travel rewards. It earns 2 points per dollar on travel and dining expenses worldwide - and these categories are defined broadly so it's easy to rack up the bonus points. For example, the travel category includes airfare, hotels, car rentals, metro passes, taxis, and ride-sharing apps like Uber and Lyft.
The card offers a plethora of additional benefits that help justify the $95 annual fee, including trip cancellation and interruption insurance and primary car rental insurance.
Although the Amex Gold earns 2 more points per dollar on restaurant spend than the Sapphire Preferred, Chase Ultimate Rewards points are arguably the most valuable flexible rewards currency in existence.
The two most valuable factors of this Visa-branded card for me is that it's widely accepted globally (in contrast to the Amex Gold) and the excellent list of transfer partners. Ultimate Rewards can be transferred at a 1:1 ratio to airline and hotel partners including British Airways, Southwest, United Hyatt and Marriott, just to name a few. Even if you opt to redeem points directly via the Ultimate Rewards portal and not transfer them, you would get 25% additional value from your points - meaning they're worth 1.25 cents apiece rather than just 1 cent each.
One of the main reasons I value the Chase Sapphire Preferred card so greatly is Chase allows you to combine Ultimate Rewards points with other household members. For example, if your spouse has the popular no-annual-fee Chase Freedom or Chase Freedom Unlimited, you can pool the points together to your Ultimate Rewards account. Linking their account to your Chase Sapphire Preferred Ultimate Rewards account results in an immediate uptick of the value of the rewards.
With the current welcome offer for the Sapphire Preferred, you can earn a whopping 60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after spending $4,000 in the first three months. If using those points for travel, you would be getting at least $750 worth of value if redeeming through the Ultimate Rewards portal. Or you could transfer to a specific partner airline or hotel and maximize your travel redemptions even more.
The Amex Gold and the Chase Sapphire Preferred are both excellent credit cards for earning flexible travel rewards, and they offer useful bonus categories for earning maximum points. When it comes time to use those points, both Amex and Chase have some great airline and hotel transfer partners. My approach is to utilize both cards on a regular basis, so I can accrue valuable points in two of the best credit card travel rewards programs.
Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the Personal Finance Insider team. We occasionally highlight financial products and services that can help you make smarter decisions with your money. We do not give investment advice or encourage you to adopt a certain investment strategy. If you take action based on one of our recommendations, we get a small share of the revenue from our commerce partners. This does not influence whether we feature a financial product or service. We operate independently from our advertising sales team.
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Please note: While the offers mentioned above are accurate at the time of publication, they're subject to change at any time and may have changed, or may no longer be available.
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