Sure, you can use miles to cover airplane tickets and other travel expenses. So whether you paid the dinner bill or ordered a new piece of furniture, you’ve got rewards miles to show for it. There seems to always be something new to go after, and having a fairly lean portfolio can help.With a Capital One Venture credit card, you can earn unlimited miles on every purchase you make with the card. She’ll be particularly focusing on Bank of America products, while we’ll each dive deeper on cards from smaller banks and credit unions. My wife and I each expect to apply for even more cards during the fall. But we’re already back to picking up more. Without too much work, our credit card portfolio has gotten substantially leaner. I encourage any Marriott fan to consider the same! But $250’s more than I want to spend in year two, especially after already picking up the 2023 cert.Ĭlosing Credit Card Accounts – Conclusion How dare Amex charge a $250 annual fee on a card without an automatic free night award (that people apparently think they’re entitled to)? Meanwhile, I picked up the welcome offer and two $15k free night awards – one this year and last, similar to the Hilton Business card strategy. Many trashed this card when it came on the scene. Not yet closed, I plan to do so once the annual fee hits on my Bevy in the next few weeks. That options even more useful for my wife and I, as we don’t expect to ever apply for a Chase cards again. More importantly, I’m able to upgrade back into a Premier if or when that’s sensible. The silver elite status is meaningless, but the ability to continue earning IHG points, if needed, via credit card spend is somewhat useful. The Traveler card has no annual fee and, importantly, preserves my access to fourth night free redemptions. But I opted to use my brain instead, deciding to product change to the IHG Traveler card. And it’s often enough where I need to keep a watch on my count against the ten pay over time card limit.īased on my recent feelings about IHG, I wanted to close this card. No lifetime language offers have been a bit more unpredictable recently, but they’re still out there occasionally. Indeed, I closed via chat on the weekend to avoid the business retention department, perhaps the most efficient way to close such cards. Again, I didn’t really care about retention offers. The reasonable year two $89 annual fee didn’t bring much value in her situation, so the decision was easy. How could we ever close one of my favorite cards? Simple – it was my wife’s account, and I just picked up multiple during the elevated offer. It was a good run, but on to the next one!īank of America Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard We took year one as a big win, though, double dipping the now-defunct $300 Marriott and newer monthly dining credits, all while paying the old $450 annual fee. My wife and I had no interest in paying the hiked $650 annual fees on these cards. The year two annual fees for both of our Brilliant cards simultaneously arrived. Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Amex (Multiple) I didn’t bother asking for a retention offer. Besides, I needed the slot to keep pushing hard with Amex. In addition to already picking up the free night cert, I already had the Hilton Honors Gold status from unrelated card perks. Sure, the $95 annual fee isn’t much, but there were no other benefits I could leverage. I had maximized year one, picking up the welcome offer and two free night certificates from the $15k annual big spend bonus – one during 2022 and the other this year. This card was on the chopping block first, as the second year annual fee hit. Here’s everything we’ve closed (plus one we’ve downgraded) since March and why we did so. Indeed, closing cards enables other lucrative moves, most often new cards with big rewards. I actually don’t mind that – the exercise of closing bank accounts is what I truly despise. The process of closing credit card accounts is a not-so-fun but necessary chore for active points and travel enthusiasts. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. This post may contain affiliate links - Advertiser Disclosure.
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