The Frequent Miler team has confessed to having many credit cards. But many of those cards are held primarily for benefits — whether lounge access, elite status, annual credits, or the collectability, there are many cards that we have and hold….somewhere in a sock drawer or filing cabinet. Every now and then, I like to share the cards that are in my actual wallet — the one I’m carrying day to day. I’m not saying that this is the best collection of cards to have and use — in fact, if you read the notes below, you’ll see that I’m carrying several unideal cards right now. Still, I find it worthwhile to now and then share a peek at what I’m actually carrying — if for nothing else, to keep me honest and give me the kick I need to improve my daily wallet!
I’ll note as in previous iterations that this is by no means all of the cards I have — between my wife and I, we have literal dozens of credit cards. Nor are these the cards I use most often. Indeed, most of the money I spent is either online, with cards that don’t need to be in my wallet from day to day, or I swap out a card in my wallet for a specific purpose (like if I know I’m going to an office supply store). The cards below are just what you’d find if you stopped me on the street today and asked me to see what’s in my wallet.
Currently carried in my wallet (with explanations)
Capital One Savor Cash Rewards card (3x Dining, grocery, and entertainment)
I have been carrying my Capital One Savor card for dining and grocery lately, which doesn’t necessarily make sense. That’s because I currently have an Amex Gold card, which would earn 4 points per dollar on dining and 4 points per dollar on up to $25,000 per year in eligible purchases at US Supermarkets (then 1x). The Capital One Savor card has no annual fee, but even still I did the math last year and decided to keep the Gold card. So what gives here?
I can’t really justify carrying the Savor card — I should be carrying the Gold card. But the reasons that the Savor have been in my wallet are:
- Amex is widely accepted, but not accepted everywhere. My Savor card is a Mastercard, so it has wider acceptance.
- The Savor card also bonuses entertainment. I’ve found that useful multiple times over the past several months, for everything from purchases at Disney to all sorts of touristy stuff.
- Long-term, I’d like to have a higher limit with Capital One (this is an old card that wasn’t used often before I product changed it to the Savor card), so I’m trying to load this card up with spend when it’s convenient.
For the sake of clarity, the Savor card earns 3% cash back on dining, grocery, and entertainment — but if you have a Capital One card that earns miles, you can convert the rewards at a value of $0.01 = 1 mile (this conversion only works in that direction), so I look at this as a 3x transferable currency card with no annual fee.
Blue Business Plus (2x everywhere on up to $50K, then 1x)
This card had fallen out of my wallet for a while because of the cost of spending on a transferable currency card feels kind of high when my alternative has been spending on a Bank of America card with Platinum Honors status. I won’t keep Platinum Honors status forever, but I’ve continued to get it for the time being. I therefore earn a base rate of 2.625% back everywhere on my Bank of America Unlimited Cash Rewards card. That means that when I choose to earn 2x on the Blue Business Plus, it is costing me the opportunity to earn 2.625 pennies. That’s kind of like paying 1.31c per Membership Rewards point. While that can be a decent deal, particularly if you redeem your Membership Rewards points for international premium cabins, it isn’t necessarily a bad trade.
However, I’m usually flush enough with Amex points that I’m not a “buyer” at 1.31c each (in other words, I ordinarily wouldn’t choose 2 Amex points over 2.625%). However, I used a ton of points last year, so I’ve been carrying the Blue Business Plus card for a while as I build back up. That said, I think this card’s time in my wallet is nearly done and it’ll go back to the sock drawer for a future rainy day.
Amex Platinum for Schwab customers (new card)
I recently picked up a Schwab Platinum card. I’ve said before that I don’t usually carry new cards as “everywhere” spending machines as I’d rather hit the spending requirement in one or two fell swoops with something like a tax payment. Nonetheless, I tossed it in my wallet for a little spending “around town”. I sometimes like to use a Platinum card for its purchase protections anyway and I don’t mind making a small number of somewhat ideal purchases on a new card. This one will soon move into the unused compartment of the wallet where it will lie in wait for the day when I need it in order to access a Plaza Premium, Centurion, or Escape Lounge.
US Bank Altitude Reserve (3x Travel)
The US Bank Altitude Reserve (which, sadly, is no longer accepting applications) mostly resides on my phone, where it earns 3x on mobile wallet — effectively giving me 4.5% back everywhere that I can tap my phone to pay with Google Pay (or Apple Pay for you Apple users) since the points are worth 1.5c each toward travel booked through US Bank or Real-time mobile rewards. In reality, this is my workhorse when I’m spending money in-person — my wallet rarely comes out of my pocket because of this card.
However, I also carry the physical card in my wallet to provide at check-in on paid hotel stays. Note though that my wife has a Sapphire Reserve and it often makes more sense to use her card (but I don’t want to pay the authorized user fee to add me to it, so I live with 3x on the Altitude Reserve since I don’t usually have a lot of paid stays anyway).
Amex Business Gold (4x on top two spend categories, Gas & Dining for me)
The Amex Business Gold card has been hidden away inside my wallet to use on dining when I can and to use on gas. That’s because the card earns 4x on your two biggest spend categories each month. Mine are usually gas and dining (I know a lot of people have been working on maxing this on computer services as of late, but I’ve taken a break there).
Note that this isn’t my best card for gas. I should be using the Wyndham Earner Business card for gas since it earns 8x on those purchases. However, I misplaced a wallet at home that has my Wyndham card inside it and I’ve been hoping I’d find it rather than calling Barclays to replace it (thankfully, I know it’s at home somewhere). I don’t fill up the tank all that often, so I gave myself a long grace period to toss that call on the back burner, but it’s probably time I do that.
Chase Ritz-Carlton (Travel incidentals)
I carry a Chase Ritz-Carlton card in my wallet because it is often the card I use for award taxes when traveling by myself (I’m not concerned about the difference between 2x Marriott points and 3x transferable points on the $5.60 in taxes on a domestic flight). I keep it on hand in case I need to make a claim of some sort (though I mostly keep this card for its terrific benefits). I also keep it on hand for travel incidentals that I think might trigger the Ritz airline fee credits. Since “what works” is so broad on that card, I typically just use it for natural incidental purchases without sweating whether they will work for sure (I always end up with $300 in easy charges I’d have made anyway). For instance, I flew Southwest Airlines yesterday and bought in-flight Wi-Fi for eight bucks. I charged it to my Ritz card and I imagine that I’ll probably be able to get that reimbursed. I don’t often pull this card out of my wallet apart from those incidental situations.
SoFi Money (debit)
This is one that only makes sense for me because I have a very old SoFi Money card. My SoFi Money card was opened many years ago at a time when SoFi offered ATM fee rebates at basically all ATMs worldwide. They later switched that to a specific (large) network of ATMs, but I’m still grandfathered into ATM fee rebates worldwide. Note that since I have a Schwab account, I could get a Schwab Investor Checking account and get ATM fees rebated with that account’s debit card, but the rebates on that card work differently. Whereas I believe that the Schwab account reimburses ATM fees in one chunk monthly, my SoFi Money debit card reimburses them instantly after using an ATM. Practically speaking, that’s not really a difference, but I like being able to see the ATM fee refund right away so I continue to hold this card.
I’ll note that SoFi has sent me a million notifications to “upgrade” to a newer type of SoFi Money account, but I’ve refused all of them because I want this feature. I don’t keep enough money in this account to care about the interest I’m losing but rather it just has enough to give me the cash I’d need in a pinch.
Bottom line
I want to reiterate that I’m not insinuating that this is a great wallet or an ideal wallet or anything like that. And perhaps it gives the wrong impression: I spend more money on cards that aren’t in the everyday wallet because the cards I use to pay regular bills (when sitting at home on my computer) aren’t always the ones sitting in my day-to-day wallet. But, as I said at the beginning, I like taking a look at my physical wallet from time to time and sharing with readers what I’m carrying and why — if for no other reason because it keeps me honest. In this case, it’ll give me the kick I needed to call Barclays today and get my Wyndham card replaced so I can get it back in my wallet for gas at 8x!
The post What’s in Nick’s wallet, January 2025 edition appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.
