In January 2020 I looked at the 29 credit cards Sharon and I held and tried to decide which ones I’d let go of this year. Some of them offered duplicate benefits and others we just didn’t need anymore. Finally, there was the American Airlines card. Let’s not get me started talking about how I feel about American right now.
The cards on my cut list for 2020 were:
- American Express Business Green Card
- American Express Business Gold Card (Old Version)
- Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card
- Chase Marriott Bonvoy Premier
- Marriott Bonvoy Premier Plus Business card
- AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite Mastercard
- American Express Everyday Preferred
How am I doing with my 2020 plan?
I’ll start off with the two Amex Business cards on the list. The Gold card came up first for renewal and I had no problems letting it go. I never used it after getting the sign-up bonus, which I only received thanks to a mailer with no language prohibiting previous cardholders from applying. This is one of the only cards I’ve canceled twice 🙂
What about the Business Green card? As it turns out, this is the only card I currently have that includes earning Membership Rewards points so it’s necessary to keep it until I’m able to get a different card like the AMEX Everyday or maybe the Gold personal card.
The Gold Delta SkyMiles card is on the block because Sharon needs to ditch an AMEX credit card if she wants to get the 175,000 point bonus for the Hilton Surpass card we just got in the mail. I have a SkyMiles Business card so there’s no reason for us to keep both cards since as long as we’re traveling together we’ll get the free checked bag benefit.
I let the Chase Marriott Bonvoy Premier card renewal slip by in the midst of the #coronacrapola we’re dealing with in Florida. I hope I’m able to use the 25,000 free night certificate before the renewal next year, otherwise I’m out $89.
The discontinued Marriott Bonvoy Premier Plus Business card earned a place back in the portfolio once Marriott allowed earlier in the year for you to stack the 15-night credits from both personal and business credit cards. Those nights helped Sharon reach Marriott Bonvoy Platinum status, the sweet spot of the Bonvoy program, for 2020 and 2021.
When talking about the American Airlines Aviator Red Mastercard, I was so ready to get rid of this card until a reader reminded me of why I was keeping it. I was earning 10,000 American miles every year on my account renewal. This benefit was going away but there was a chance I’d still be eligible for it in 2020. When my renewal hit earlier in the year, 10,000 miles were deposited into my account. I don’t need more American miles but “buying” them for less than 1 cent each still seems like a good deal. Eventually, we’ll find a use for them.
The Everyday Preferred is not finding much love in our wallets right now. We’ve picked up other cards that earn more without having to make 30 transactions per month to get a bonus. Even supermarket spending, which was previously this card’s superpower, has been diminished by seemingly every other card adding this to a mega-bonus category since coronavirus hit. If we ditch the Delta AMEX, we might keep this one but downgrade it to the no-annual-fee Everyday card, instead of canceling, just to keep the AMEX RAT team happy.
Final Thoughts
As far as plans go, I don’t think I did too bad so far. I got rid of one card on the list, kept three of them for good reasons and totally whiffed on another one. I still have the second half of the year to let go of a card and downgrade another to avoid paying the annual fee.
I’ll need to do this again at the beginning of 2021 when some of the premium cards will be on the block once all of the coronavirus perks have gone away.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
