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canyonwalkerI've written many times about the credit card game (aka What's In Your Wallet?) and how it's played. Open an account with an offer for a significant sign-up bonus (SUB), meet the spending requirement to earn the SUB, then consider closing the account after 12 months if the projected value without the SUB doesn't significantly out-earn the annual fee. Well, last night I got a credit card without following that game plan. I signed up for a card with a whopping $550 annual fee and no SUB.
WTAF? you might wonder. Isn't that against everything I write about on this topic? Well, yes, but also no. It's a calculated risk I've taken.
The card is the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire. And it's not technically a card I've opened; it's a card I upgraded to from my present card. Plus, it's a level of card I have experience with. I canceled one last June after owning it for 4 years.
Embedded within my rationale for canceling it last year is my reason for reopening it now. I canceled because I thought I could finagle another offer to this card, or the mid-tier card below it. Alas, in the past year Amex tightened up its policies to block card game-players like me from scooping up repeated SUBs. I looked carefully at the other benefits the card offers and decided that even without a big SUB, I could make the card worthwhile. Maybe.
The "maybe" is because not all of the card's benefits are guaranteed. A big one is the value of Diamond status with Hilton Hotels. Yes, having status is guaranteed, but what I'll get for that status is not. For example, will I get an appreciable upgrade at a snazzy hotel? I'm not sure. But I've got two stays at snazzy hotels planned for next month— on our trip to Italy— and my spouse and I decided to take the risk.
There's more to the calculation than "Pay $550 in hopes of some upgrades," of course. A $550/year premium card comes with premium benefits. There are a few cash-back-for-specific-travel-spend offers I expect to hit in the next year. Plus there's an annual free night certificate. Recall that last year we used two of those certs at the phenomenal Waldorf Astoria Pedregal in Los Cabos.
Another piece of the calculation is that with no SUB there's also no required spending target. I don't have to spend $3000, $5000, or more on this card to earn anything. That frees me up to sign up for another card, a net-new card, and put my spending toward earning a big SUB there!
How will all this work out? I'll check back in ~12 months on how this card does— plus how whatever other card with a big SUB I sign up for does!
WTAF? you might wonder. Isn't that against everything I write about on this topic? Well, yes, but also no. It's a calculated risk I've taken.
The card is the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire. And it's not technically a card I've opened; it's a card I upgraded to from my present card. Plus, it's a level of card I have experience with. I canceled one last June after owning it for 4 years.Embedded within my rationale for canceling it last year is my reason for reopening it now. I canceled because I thought I could finagle another offer to this card, or the mid-tier card below it. Alas, in the past year Amex tightened up its policies to block card game-players like me from scooping up repeated SUBs. I looked carefully at the other benefits the card offers and decided that even without a big SUB, I could make the card worthwhile. Maybe.
The "maybe" is because not all of the card's benefits are guaranteed. A big one is the value of Diamond status with Hilton Hotels. Yes, having status is guaranteed, but what I'll get for that status is not. For example, will I get an appreciable upgrade at a snazzy hotel? I'm not sure. But I've got two stays at snazzy hotels planned for next month— on our trip to Italy— and my spouse and I decided to take the risk.
There's more to the calculation than "Pay $550 in hopes of some upgrades," of course. A $550/year premium card comes with premium benefits. There are a few cash-back-for-specific-travel-spend offers I expect to hit in the next year. Plus there's an annual free night certificate. Recall that last year we used two of those certs at the phenomenal Waldorf Astoria Pedregal in Los Cabos.
Another piece of the calculation is that with no SUB there's also no required spending target. I don't have to spend $3000, $5000, or more on this card to earn anything. That frees me up to sign up for another card, a net-new card, and put my spending toward earning a big SUB there!
How will all this work out? I'll check back in ~12 months on how this card does— plus how whatever other card with a big SUB I sign up for does!
