Is having 5 cards at one bank something a lot of people do?
I have less (consumer financial) accounts than that spread across multiple institutions, never mind credit cards.
I have less (consumer financial) accounts than that spread across multiple institutions, never mind credit cards.
Their various products (Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, Sapphire, Sapphire Preserved, Sapphire Reserve, Business Ink, and maybe a few others) all generate the same currency (Ultimate Rewards) but do so in different ways:
* The Freedom offers 5% (5 points per dollar) on a rotating set of categories that change each quarter. For instance, right now the categories are Gas Stations and Home Improvement stores, so put those purchases on that card (there's no annual fee), and 1% on everything else
* The Sapphire Reserve offers 3% on dining, travel and 1% on everything else. It ALSO allows you to redeem Ultimate Rewards points at 1.5x the value. It has plenty of other perks and a significant annual fee, so whether it's worth it depends on your lifestyle, but for many people it is.
* The Freedom Unlimited offers 1.5% on all other purchases, so it's a good fallback. No annual fee so no problem keeping it around.
The other cards have their own quirks as well. The point is that you can accumulate reward points on the various cards depending on the category of the purchase and them consolidate them all into one card (the Sapphire Reserve) for maximum value.
People who are truly dedicated will go even further and point out that technically, for optimum value, you shouldn't just redeem the UR points for cash/travel purchases and should instead transfer them as airline miles to various partners, but I've never found it worth it personally, as while I enjoy travelling my tier of travel is strictly coach to a variety of locations, not trying to save up 3 years of points for a first class flight to Dubai.
What are the spending requirements for the game to be worth it in money terms? And then there is the part where the game turns into work (I see keeping track of the several accounts mentioned above as a chore).
as to whether it's worth it, depends how you value your time. I'm a fairly modest spender; I get about $150 in cashback rewards and $200+ from signup bonuses each year. I don't travel much, so it would be hard for me to break even on any points card with an annual fee. not a huge chunk of change, but a decent return on ~2 hours spent each year with an excel spreadsheet. there's not much month-to-month overhead if you use autopay and something like personal capital to track your finances.
It all depends on what you want to get out of it. I don't make a living off points, but it's certainly been profitable for me as someone who pays off my cards in full every month. For reference, the signing bonus that was offered when I got the Sapphire Reserve (100K points, though it's been dropped since) was more than high enough to pay for my annual fee for the entire time I've had it so far, so everything I've paid for with points (which is thousands of dollars) has been pure profit.
The only one with an annual fee generally provides benefits of value beyond the fee, the others at least provided some value when I got them, and there's not much negative to having them, so I only close accounts if the bank is annoying (like Chase; not doing business with them again if I have a choice). Although I did close one last year because I was tired of remembering to use it once a year to keep it active.
Also chase incentivizes you to open up more than one card with their signup bonuses.
Is this a real thing? I've always had 1 card and highest credit score.
Having multiple cards seems like a risk of taking on excess debt.
it's only a moderate impact factor though. having an extremely long history of on-time payments and low overall utilization can still get you an excellent credit score. it just takes longer.
I had two credit cards with Chase (and an Amex with BoA) when Chase decided that I had died.
If it wasn't for the Amex, I would have had some big problems!
My main credit card has all sorts of incentives to open more lines that I don't pay any attention to.
I don't do anything that complicated myself, but I do have several cashback cards with different rewards categories to maximize my overall cashback rate. I don't particularly care which bank issues the card; I just decide based on signup bonus + rewards. I don't actually have any use for credit (lol) so I sign up for at least one new card every year. I just keep my credit score high enough that I don't get denied for new cards.
There's been some talk over the years that The Points Guy (who's often considered a shill in credit card churning communities) pushes Chase cards so hard because they offer him the best kickbacks.