A CSR returns 4.5% on travel/dining, if you only redeem on travel through the Chase portal, which is not a ripoff based on when I've checked and what I've read (you can get even better effective rates if you transfer miles to airlines strategically).

That means if you spend > $6000/yr on travel/dining (which includes uber/lyft/taxis and hotels/airbnbs besides the usual), you're going to come out ahead of the $150 fee ($450 fee - $300 travel credit) as compared to a no-fee 2% cash back card. The $300 travel credit won't count, so change that $6k to $6.3k. This is well within reason for a lot of white collar folks.

The Amex Platinum Card for Schwab [1] returns 6.25% cash[2] for airfare from airlines & amextravel purchases. If you can get the 400 of value from the travel & Uber credits, you break even with $2400 of spending in the 5x point categories and quickly do better than a no fee 2% cash back card.

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CSR is great if you can redeem through their portal. I mostly travel in Asia and Europe where discount airlines don't seem to be in either chase or Amex's travel portals. The traditional carrier flights they offer are usually 2-3x more expensive than the AirAsias of the world.

1: http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/investing/accounts_produ...

2: 1 MR = 1.25 cents deposited in Schwab account

Discount airlines typically don't appear in travel portals as one of the ways low-cost carriers try to be low cost is by minimising travel agent commissions.

Freedom Unlimited + Reserve nets 2.25% cash back on everything and 4.5% on travel and dining, and the annual fee nets out to $150 once you take the travel credit into account. Used properly, it's probably the most rewarding card/combo out there.

I've been using Fidelity's 2% back AmEx since forever. I was happy when they changed it to Visa and kept the same rate. But for that extra .25% I might have to switch.

Edit: reading more, it looks like that rate is only for purchasing travel through their site. Not worth it.

Same here. I've used the card for years, since it was the Amex. It gives 2% back on everything and has been flawless for me.

I've toyed with other cards that give higher rates, but those that I've looked at are always for restricted categories.

It is, yes, only when used for travel via their portal. Totally possible it's not worth it for you, but I certainly get by :) Being able to redeem as 2.25% cash if I want or 1.5X as airline miles is a ton of flexibility. Means if I want to fly Korean First to Asia, its 80K miles one-way. If I find a cheap flight, it's often better to redeem as cash. I fly a lot though.

The usual cash-back card I point people to is the Citi Double Cash 2% flat with no annual fee -- didn't realize the Fidelity went Visa!

Yep, double cash for most things, chase sapphire for travel and food things. The double cash gets stolen every couple of months, tons of skimmers while traveling or in gas station pumps. I even had someone steal a new card from my mailbox at an apartment complex and use it to get $60 worth of McDonalds then a few hundred worth of Diesel jeans. It got flagged for the McDonalds (I almost never eat fast food), I got alerted via text, and had it cancelled + a new card overnighted to me. My most recent compromise was a $0.15 charge in Capetown followed by half a dozen transactions with TopHatter which appears to be a sleazy auction site for dollar-store quality crap and not-so-hot fraud detection. I do hate that they must read the script to me each and every time it gets compromised, since it's so routine for me at this point...it's like being forced to listen to an Indian person (no offense, but their call centers / call center subcontractors are there) read you the EULA for software. It'd be nice if they saw that since you've already had your card stolen half a dozen times in the past year and a half, they can skip the formalities.

I have my cards email me every transaction​ so that I can spot these events quickly. Ironically, after I set that up, my number hasn't been stolen. It had been stolen 4 times previously. My favorite was when the fraud agent asked me, "Did you purchase 150 lbs of concrete in Mexico yesterday?" Just after he had verified I was traveling somewhere else.

I get push notifications from the Chase app every time my card is used. Just last night I caught a fradulent transaction that way...the merchant name was "ONLINE SHOP ORDER", which was interesting since it that name is seemingly a merchant account set up explicitly to mask fraudulent transactions. Having push notifications is also a great way to remember to cancel unused recurring subscriptions.

I'm always super impressed with the speed that the notifications come through when I'm checking out somewhere. I'll get a notification on my phone over a flaky 4G connection before the CC reader pops up the 'Approved' screen. Lot of computers talking to each other to make that happen...

Similary when my card was canceled last night after the fradulent transaction I got a notification before I even got off the phone with the fraud agent that the replacement cars number had been added to my Apple Pay. Pretty cool!

It's also nice when you notice a restaurant charging you an extra dollar.

Throw in a regular Freedom and an Ink Cash, gift cards, etc. and you can do even better, though at some point keeping track of it all starts having its own cost.

Haha yeah, my combo is:

5X rotating bonus categories on Freedom.

5X airfare on Amex Platinum.

3X travel and dining on Sapphire Reserve.

1.5X non-bonusable spend on Freedom Unlimited.

I haven't averaged my return but its, uh, high :) I feel better about the time spent since its sort of a hobby.

There are also PQD waivers for United (sorry :-)) for spend on Chase's co-branded cards. I get a United Club membership anyway so that card works for me. My travel patterns are such that I get decent status on qualifying miles but dollars are iffy.

I think you can do a little better if you replace your Freedom Unlimited with a Capital One Venture card and get 2x on everything else.

So if you earn 1.5 UR per dollar with the Freedom Unlimited then use their Combine Points feature to move it to the Sapphire Reserve's UR balance, each one becomes worth 1.5c towards travel, netting 2.25% :) or transferable to Korean, Singapore, United, BA, Hyatt or a couple of less interesting other options.