@Aim_High wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:1.) Amex Gold. Have to put this one at #1 because dining and grocery at 4x adds up fast.
2.) Amex Business Platinum - 35% rebate on Delta and J/F flights on any airline more than covers the annual fee on its own without the other credits, and I've booked a number of business class flights in Europe that used fewer points than I would have otherwise paid for Y.
3.) Amex Blue Business Plus. 2x on all purchases beats most 3-5% cards for me.
4.) Amex Business Delta Reserve - helps with status and keeps me comfy.
5.) BoA Učitaje Cash Rewards - nearly $100k limit with never-ending balance transfer offers.
Honorable mentions would be US Bank Altitude Reserve for the 4.5% effective rewards on mobile purchases, Amex Bonvoy Brilliant and Business combo for the head start on status each year, and BECU Visa and NFCU Flagship for large limits and low/no APR BTs with no fees.
That's an interesting list, @K-in-Boston. Just wondered about your thoughts about a few observations, purely for discussion.
- No concerns about 4/5 cards with the same lender and diversity with only two?
- No concerns about only two personal cards that would report to the CRBs and potential affect on FICO?
- No concerns that one of your two cards reporting to personal credit report would be a charge card, so you'd only have one credit limit reporting (although a high one) ?
I guess I am confused with the worry/concern that someone's theoretical card line-up would only be with 1 or 2 lenders/networks. If I could only have 5 cards and all 5 cards just happened to be on the Visa network, I'm not understanding how this should keep me awake at night. ?
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@ptatohed wrote:
@Jeffster1 wrote:1. BofA CCR
2. Amex BCE
3. NFCU Amex
4. NFCU Cash Rewards Visa
5. BMO Cashback MC
...... "and why?"
@ptatohed The "why":
My CCR is my main "go-to" card. Since I'm Platinum Honors with BofA, the enhanced rewards I get make it easy for me to keep it simple by mainly using that card. However, AMEX, NFCU are 3 banks with whom I enjoy doing business, so I put lots of spend on those cards, as well. Also, since I practice AZEO, I stop using a card a few days prior to the due date, and I use the others.
@ptatohed wrote:
If I could only have 5 cards and all 5 cards just happened to be on the Visa network, I'm not understanding how this should keep me awake at night. ?
Visa recently had an outage....I for one would not like to be somewhere trying to make a purchase and be affected by an outage or having issues with one bank where my cards were not available to me. Thats why I carry one network of each (Visa, MC and AmEx) in my wallet.
For the record, in my post the cards I listed were simply the answer to the thread's subject line ("What are your top five credit cards and why?").
While those five are getting the most use at the moment, they aren't necessarily my "ride or die" lineup if I had to choose only five, since I would have other considerations in addition to rewards. That list would probably look similar, but that's a discussion for a different thread. 
Side note: I'm thankful that my being limited to five cards isn't likely to happen, since it would be very hard to pick which five to keep. Heck, ten would likely be a struggle, LOL. 
@UncleB wrote:For the record, in my post the cards I listed were simply the answer to the thread's subject line ("What are your top five credit cards and why?").
While those five are getting the most use at the moment, they aren't necessarily my "ride or die" lineup if I had to choose only five, since I would have other considerations in addition to rewards. That list would probably look similar, but that's a discussion for a different thread.
Side note: I'm thankful that my being limited to five cards isn't likely to happen, since it would be very hard to pick which five to keep. Heck, ten would likely be a struggle, LOL.
Lol B, It can be done, I triple dog dare you.
Funny how many are now hemming and hawing which ones after their original posts.
Personal Cards: Amex Plat | Amex Delta Res | CSR | Citi AA Exec Business Cards: Ink+ | Amex BGR
@NoHardLimits wrote:
@Aim_High wrote:So I'd have five cards with the lender-diversity of five different lenders, cash back (or equivalent) of 3% - 4% - 5% on anything I purchase, no AF, network diversity with all four payment networks.
@Aim_High I think you would be down to only 3 payment networks due to eliminating Amex.
Oh, you are correct, @NoHardLimits! Still, having the other three is good enough. Just wouldn't want to delete Visa or Mastercard since they are more dominant.
@Aim_High wrote:Oh, you are correct, @NoHardLimits! Still, having the other three is good enough. Just wouldn't want to delete Visa or Mastercard since they are more dominant.
Then there are those of us with only two, Visa and Mastercard. I doubt I'll ever reapply for a Discover card and the odds are stacked against me when it comes to AMEX letting me back in the door, so I'll simply sit on the two I have and be happy.
@K-in-Boston wrote:
@Aim_High wrote:That's an interesting list, @K-in-Boston. Just wondered about your thoughts about a few observations, purely for discussion.
- No concerns about 4/5 cards with the same lender and diversity with only two?
- No concerns about only two personal cards that would report to the CRBs and potential affect on FICO?
- No concerns that one of your two cards reporting to personal credit report would be a charge card, so you'd only have one credit limit reporting (although a high one) ?
I answered the thread title at face value (even if @Saleen099 didn't answer his own "why?"), so this would likely differ and require more thought if I was answering "You can only keep 5 of your cards," in which case I'd be combining limits like crazy and playing Sophie's Choice with my Amex cards! Personal Amex Platinum would almost certainly replace one of the business cards due to age alone. But honestly, I've been with Amex long enough and they see 95+% of my spend when I am not chasing SUBs - I would actually be comfortable having 4 Amex cards and either Chase CSR or USB AR if I was actually forced to pick 5.
Oh, maybe I went down an unintended path with my reply. I immediately thought of previous "down-sizing" threads instead of just picking five, but my rationale was that if those five were most valuable and getting the majority of spend, that other cards could be closed. Thanks for that clarification, @K-in-Boston.