How I Save $1,400 Using Credit Cards

Hey there Money Saver! Welcome back to another week of How to Save A Buck, where we explore ways of saving money in personal finance, credit cards, and investing! Check out my archive here!

Yes - I save over $1,400 each year using many credit cards.

But how?

I have 12 cards.

Why so many? Well, each one serves a different purpose. And some have a chunky fee.

Don’t be alarmed, but the total annual fee I pay across all cards? $1,400. But I don’t pay that amount.

And my credit score hovers around 800.

This strategy allows me to gain maximum rewards.

This is how many people use multiple cards to reap rewards and extract huge value from them. I’ll show you how to hold several cards with high annual fees and get those fees reduced to almost zero.

Cue the Samuel Jackson CapitalOne commercial - “What’s in your wallet?”

• 5 Chase cards: Sapphire Reserve, Freedom Unlimited, Freedom, Freedom Flex, IHG Premier

• 3 Amex cards: Gold, Blue Cash Everyday Rewards, Blue Cash

• 3 Citi cards: Costco, Double Cash, Rewards+

• 1 Capital One: Venture X

CHASE

Let’s start with my most premium card, the Chase Sapphire Reserve. Annual fee = $550. I get a travel credit of $300 yearly for any kind of travel (parking, airfare, rental cars, etc). I always use this credit so my fee gets reduced to $250.

It also offers a $5/month credit via DoorDash. I easily use this up each month to buy the occasional lunch - that’s another $60 off per year.

The remaining $190? Well, my annual spend on this card in 2023 was close to $29,000. I get about 3pts per dollar which equates to 87,000 Chase points. Those points have a value of at least $0.015 per point. That means the value of the points exceeds $1,300 (87,000 × 0.015 =$1,305).

This also means I have no issue paying the remaining $190 - I’ll get way more in value than my cost to hold the card.

AMEX

Next up? The American Express Gold card with an annual fee of $250. Hint: my fee is $10.

This card offers 2 different credits, each worth $120.

1) A monthly $10 credit via Uber which can be used on Uber car rides or UberEats. I prefer to use UberEats and order lunch once a month in the app - that’s $120 a year recouped (12 months x $10 = $120).

2) A monthly $10 credit for Shake Shack restaurants. I’m lucky to have a Shake Shack relatively close to me to utilize this credit. So each month, I use that $10 for lunch. Another $120 recouped and bringing my annual fee from $250 to $10. ($250-$240=$10)

CapitalOne

My CapitalOne Venture X card costs $395 annually. But of course, I don’t pay that amount.

The card offers a $300 travel credit each year through their travel portal. It’s not as simple as the Chase Sapphire Reserve method, but it’s still $300 off. You book your travel and receive a discount on the amount. Result? Your fee is now $95.

The card also provides 10,000 anniversary points. At the very least, these are worth $0.01 per point in their portal, which makes their value $100.

In the end, CapitalOne is paying me $5 to keep the card. The $100 value from the points makes up for the remaining $95 fee.

All my other cards have no annual fee. I keep them to retain my credit history and keep my credit utilization low.

My Costco card does have a fee, but it’s technically a membership fee to Costco - not a credit card issuer fee. (I recoup that fee anyway in the form of an annual refund from the shopping we do at Costco!)

Most of the above point values are published online, and range from site to site. Points become even more valuable when you transfer them to airline partners for premium travel. Flying international first class for 120,000 credit card points vs. paying $10,000? This is the real reason to play the credit card game.

Don’t forget the most important step - pay off your credit cards each month. Otherwise, the strategies mentioned above are completely moot. And that’s no fun.

And neither is a low FICO score!

Save On,

Chris

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