The 10 credit cards that I currently have (and why I keep them)

I always think it’s interesting to see what credit cards travel writers have in their wallets, as it’s a great way to tell what points and benefits they value the most. I also understand that the credit cards a savvy user has at any given time is simply a snapshot, since many of us cycle in and out of cards, often to take advantage of sign-on bonuses.

It’s been a while since I counted how many credit cards I have and I recognize that having 10 credit cards may seem excessive to a lot of people, and perhaps it is. In writing this article, I do not want to encourage anyone to use credit cards in an irresponsible way. Personally, I never keep a balance on credit cards (unless I have a 0% APR and the amount I have on there will not affect my credit score), meaning I pay off my cards in full each month. Note that if you play the credit card game responsibly, in addition to earning a lot of points, it can actually increase your credit score — my credit score usually ranges between 790 and 800.

A few notes:

• I have both personal and business credit cards, as I own two businesses (my law firm and my travel writing business).
• For the cards listed, I only go into the benefits that I personally value on the cards. For example, I don’t mention the 2 points per $1 spent earned on travel spend with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card since I have two credit cards that earn 3 points per $1 spent on travel, meaning that I don’t use this benefit on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

With that, here’s a list of my current credit cards and why I have each one, listed roughly in order of my favorite to least favorite for each category.

Personal Cards

American Express Hilton Honors Aspire

The American Express Hilton Honors Aspire card might be my favorite credit card because it comes with top-tier Hilton Diamond status and an annual free Hilton night that you can use at any Hilton property, which more than makes up for the $550 annual fee.

While the card does come with a $200 flight credit and $400 Hilton resort benefit, the flight credit is offered as a $50 quarterly credit and the resort benefit is offered as a $200 semi-annual credit, which is more difficult to use than if they were offered as annual credits. That said, I probably use about $150 of the flight credit and $200 of the Hilton resort benefits each year, which also helps to offset the card’s annual fee.

Chase Sapphire Preferred

I love my Chase Sapphire Preferred card since it earns 3.3 points per $1 spent on Instacart and at restaurants and dining (including UberEats, DoorDash, and Factor) and 5.5 points per $1 spent on Lyft. Note that I calculate my earning as 3.3x and 5.5x points since the card earns 3x and 5x points in those categories, but the card comes with a 10% annual bonus — so if you don’t keep the card past your anniversary date, you can get rid of the earnings after the decimal point.

Capital One Venture X

I love my Capital One Venture X card because of the 2 points per $1 spent that I earn on every purchase with no foreign transaction fee, the 10 points per $1 spent earned at hotels booked through the Capital One Travel portal, and the card’s Priority Pass benefits.

Although the Capital One Venture X card has a hefty $395 annual fee, it’s mostly offset by the $300 annual travel credit on the card.

Chase Freedom Unlimited

I signed up for the Chase Freedom Unlimited card a year ago when it offered one of the best credit card bonuses I’ve seen — a bonus that would double all the points that I earned on the card for an entire year. This turned into about a 170,000 point bonus for me, which is not bad for a $0 annual fee card.

Even without the bonus, I’ll keep using the card since it comes with 1.5 points per $1 spent as a base earning rate and 3 points per $1 spent at drug stores.

Chase United Explorer

The main reason that I keep my Chase United Explorer card is that it’s my oldest credit card, which helps me maintain my high credit score. The other reason I keep this card is that it helps me earn status on United each year through credit card spend. If this wasn’t my oldest credit card (I believe I’ve had it for over 10 years now), I’d likely get rid of it.

Business Cards

Chase Ink Business Preferred (have 2 of these)

I love the Chase Ink Business Preferred card so much that I have two of these cards — one for each of my businesses. This card often offers a high sign-up bonus but, aside from that, it’s one of my favorite cards because it offers 3 points per $1 spent on travel, which is one my biggest spends each year. I also love the card because travel paid for with the card comes with travel insurance, which I’ve used easily and successfully in the past.

American Express Business Plus

The American Express Business Plus card is one of my favorite credit cards because it earns 2 points per $1 spent on all spend (up to $50,000 per year) for a $0 annual fee. I use this card for everyday spend and can’t imagine myself getting rid of this card anytime soon.

The only downside of this card is that it charges a 2.7% foreign transaction fee, so I use my Capital One Venture X card when I want to get 2x spend for my purchases internationally.

American Express Hilton Honors Business Card

This used to be one of my favorite credit cards, as it had a $95 annual fee and with $15,000 in annual spend, you would earn a Hilton free night certificate that you could use at any Hilton property (I’ve used the free night for rooms that would cost more than $1,500 per night, so I got a lot of value from this benefit).

That said, the card’s benefits recently changed: you can no longer earn a free Hilton night with spend on the card and the annual fee is now $195. While the card does earn 5 Hilton points per $1 spent on every purchase, which I do think is a great earning rate, since I earn 2 American Express points per $1 spent with my American Express Business Plus card and those points can be transferred into 4 Hilton points per $1 spent, the value proposition is a lot lower for me for this card since I’ll only earn 1 additional Hilton point for every $1 that I spend (and in a less flexible currency).

I was about to cancel this card, but for some reason American Express let me renew about a month ago at the $95 annual fee instead of the $195 annual fee. I will likely get rid of the card next year though, unless I’m offered a high retention bonus.

American Express Business Platinum

My American Express Business Platinum card is a card that I constantly say I’ll get rid of, but end up keeping it for different reasons each year. While I have friends who love having an American Express Platinum card, largely for the perceived social status that comes with the card, that really doesn’t matter to me. Initially, I got the card because of a large sign-on bonus and because the card earns 1.5 points per $1 spent for purchases over $5,000 (I would put my quarterly taxes on the card to take advantage of this). But now that I have the American Express Business Plus card that earns 2 points per $1 spent, the 1.5x spend for purchases over $5,000 benefit isn’t of any value to me.

That said, I keep my American Express Business Platinum card because of the $400 per year Dell credit, the $120 per year cell phone credit, and $199 per year CLEAR credit (all of which, combined, more than offset the card’s $695 annual fee), as well as for the card’s cell phone insurance, American Express Centurion lounge access, and because cardholders can get early access to buy concert tickets, which I’ve used to get great seats to see Kygo and Mariah Carey in the last year or so.

This card will likely be on the chopping block next year unless I get a great retention offer.

(Note: I’ve included some referral links for a few of the credit cards listed which will earn me referral points and help support my blog, though my opinions in this post are not swayed by the possibility of earning any points)