All my Favorite Cards
With my referral links below. Please consider using my links as they help me with referral points and are of no charge to you :)
My favorite transferrable card options
Want to know the best card for you? This blog post will be a DEEP dive on my favorite cards in my wallet and how they can help you achieve your dream travel!
Chase
Chase Ultimate Reward points are some of the most valuable cards and are getting increasingly more difficult to obtain due to their new eligibility and refferal rules. Why are they so sought after? Their relationship with Hyatt allows for some of the cheapest hotel redemption options in the game and they are one of the only cards to transfer to SW Airlines and United.
Now I LOVE me some Amex cards. Amex customer service is unparralled and the Platinum is truly a luxury card. If you can make the most of all the perks, it is 100% WORTH it.
The Amex Gold card- Great card to earn some serious points. Best for groceries and dining out. My link usually has crazy high, up to 100k points! IF you have any interest in the green card, make sure you get that on before you get this one. Always get the Gold before the Platinum otherwise you miss out on the Gold sign up bonus. Weird Amex rule.
$395 annual fee
Offset with $10 monthly Uber cash, $10 monthly Grubhub/Cheesecakefactory/5guys/Wine.com/Goldbelly credit, $7 monthly DunkinDonuts credit, and $50 twice a year Resy dining credit
4x MR points at Grocery stores (not walmart or target)
4x on dining
3x on flights
2x on hotels and other travel booked in portal
My FAVORITE card- The AMEX Platinum. This card is a powerhouse card. Is the fee high? Yes. Did it just go up… Also, yes.
American Express
American express is one of my favorite credit card companies for multiple reasons. Amex has some of the highest sign up bonuses (make sure you sign up in order of lowest card to highest ie: green, gold, platinum) and when linked with Rakuten you can earn even more. I LOVE amex customer service. They are incredible, can be accessed easily in the chat function, and are so helpful.
Citi
I don’t have any of the Citi cards yet BUT thanks to their new agreement with American Airlines, you better believe that I will be adding them to my wallet soon! They are the only card that can transfer to AA directly. With DFW being my main airport, AA points are incredibly valuable for me!
Chase Cards
First up is the Chase Sapphire Preffered card. By holding this card, you get to transfer any UR (ultimate reward) points OUTSIDE of the Chase travel portal. This is what you want to do. Info about this card:
$95 annual fee
Offset with $50 Hotel Credit when booked through portal and $10 a month on Door Dash
Some of the best rental car insurance
Usually a good sign up bonus is 75-100k, however the 100k has only been seen about twice in lifetime of this card
The Ink Business Cash Card is a great card to have in your wallet due to it’s NO annual fee and 5% cashback at office stores. I like to get gift cards at office stores to earn 5x on purchases I would usually make like on Amazon, Target, etc. This is a cashback card BUT if you hold any of the preffered cards, these can be combined as points..
$o annual fee
5% back at office stores
Usually a decent sign up bonus (standard is usually 75k but a great one is 90K). There is usually a higher minumum spend though
Does not take up a 5/24 rule spot
The Ink Business Unlimited card is another great earner as you get unlimited 1.5% back and NO annual fee! I’d wait to sign up until you see an offer of 90k or so.
1.5% cash back which turns to UR points when you hold a preffered card (personal counts or even a partner’s)
$0 annual fee
Does not take up a space in the 5/24 rule
These are all the chase cards that I have. My husband has the Ink Business preffered because they had a sign up bonus of 90k that we wanted. We don’t currently hold either the Chase Business Reserve or the Personal Reserve. If you have some high spending coming up (like 30k in 6 months) I HIGHLY recommend signing up for the Business Reserve as they have a 200k sign up bonus right now!! You can click on any of the business cards linked above to apply :)
The Chase Reserve card just increased their fee and I am not a big fan of their coupon book style options to offset the cost. I am still considering this card though as it is the only card on the market now that allows you to bring a guest into their lounges (RIP capital one venture x). The Chase lounges are superior. If you’re interested in this card, sign up using the link listed with the preffered card above! As of 10/15/25, the sign up bonus is still 125k! Which is HUGE. *** Caveat- you cannot hold the Preffered and the Reserve at the same time anymore.
AMEX CARDS
Capital One
Capital One cards are pretty amazing. They have some great airline transfer options but their hotel transfers are really limited. They do offer the purchase eraser. While this isn’t my first choice for redeeming points due to the poor rate redemption, it can be beneficial in keeping travel costs low to offset costs like trains or excursions that you cannot book with points.
My favorite Co-branded cards
Currently, I only have 3 cobranded cards. The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Amex, The Hawaiian Airline card, and the American Airlines Barclay card. The Barclay AA card is great because it typically only requires a $1 minimum spend and pay the $99 annual fee, then you get the sign up bonus. However, they are doing away with this card as Citi will be the only cobranded AA card. With that being said, I have expanded more on why I LOVE my Marriott card below.
Why: I love this card. You get instant platinum elite status, a free night every year up to 85k points which you can add up oto 15k points to, and a $300 dining credit.
Dining credit: The dining credit is $20 monthly and auto credits to your credit card. This equals $300 a year and offsets the card’s annual fee by almost half.
Platinum elite status: The platinum elite status gives you 15x the points on stays and room charges PLUS 6x that the Amex card gives you. So any hotel purchase, room rate charge, when linked to your marriott bonvoy account and then charged with this card earns you 21x the points. You also get early check in, check out, and room upgrades (when available), free breakfast fro 2.
85k Free Night Award: This is the reason I keep this card!! When you can utilize this award to the max, it makes this card a money maker. On two of my European trips I was able to use my free certificate at two of the most luxurious properties in the Marriott chain. I used it at the Gritti Palace in Venice and at the Hotel Imperial in Vienna. The basic room at the Gritti Palace was around 1800 euro for the night but the room upgrade was valued at around 2500 euro for the night!! At the Hotel Imperial, the basic room booked was 800 euro and the room upgrade was 1800 euro! Both stays included late 4pm check out, chapagne and fruit in the room upon arrival, and a chapagne buffet breakfast for 2. I have had phenomenal luck using this certificate in Europe and recommend looking for the Luxury Collection properties. I did have it close to expiring this past year and decided to use it at a JW Marriott in San Antonio. While it was a free night, the “free” breakfast was only for the pastry breakfast so we had to pay to upgrade. We recieved a basic room but were offered chips, salsa, and 2 beers in the room. These rooms were 750 for the night, but I would recommend redeeming at a Luxury Collection.
Want this card for yourself? Apply HERE!
Marriot Bonvoy Brilliant by AMEX