I recently wrote about the 10 credit cards that I currently have and why I keep them, and since writing that article I’ve added on an 11th card. I wanted to dive into what my favorite benefit is on each of these cards.
One important note: I am not including statement credits as a benefit for the purpose of this article. So for instance, I take advantage of the annual $400 Dell statement credit on my American Express Business Platinum card, but I’m not counting it as one of my favorite benefits here since the card has a $695 annual fee (this is because if I’m talking solely about the annual Dell statement credit, I’d essentially be paying $695 for a $400 benefit).
With that, below are my favorite benefits on each of my 11 credit cards.
American Express Business Plus
This card has one of my favorite benefits of any card — 2 points for every $1 spent for all purchases on the first $50,000 spent each year. Note that this card charges a foreign transaction fee of 2.7%, so you’ll only want to use this card domestically.
Earning 2 points for every $1 spent on unbonused spend makes this my most-used credit card.
American Express Business Platinum
This one was difficult to choose, since the benefits that I enjoy the most from this card are the statement credits for various purchases, which end up giving me more value than the $695 annual fee. But my favorite benefit of the American Express Business Platinum card that doesn’t involve a statement credit would have to be Centurion Lounge access.
While I don’t use this benefit often since I have Star Alliance Gold, almost only fly internationally, and I’m usually in business class, I still enjoy knowing that I can access a Centurion Lounge if needed.
American Express Business Gold
My favorite benefit with the American Express Business Gold card is 4 points for every $1 spent on U.S. restaurants, which includes delivery services like DoorDash and UberEats.
American Express Hilton Aspire
My favorite benefit with this card is that it comes with top-tier Hilton Diamond status. Note that it was really difficult for me to choose between the Diamond status benefit and free annual award night that both come with the American Express Hilton Aspire, but I decided to pick the card’s Diamond status benefit as I get more out of it. While the free annual award night gets me roughly $1,000-$1,500 in value every year, this benefit only gets me a one-night stay, whereas I enjoy the Diamond status benefits every night that I’m staying at a Hilton hotel.
American Express Hilton Honors Business Card
This used to be one of my favorite cards, as you could earn a free Hilton award night after $15,000 in annual spend. But since the card was “refreshed” and that benefit was eliminated, my new favorite benefit is that the card earns 5 Hilton points for every $1 spent on the first $100,000 in purchases each year.
That said, I don’t use this benefit often — my American Express Business Plus card earns 2 points for every $1 spent, which can be converted to 4 Hilton points for every $1 spent (and sometimes more if American Express is running a transfer bonus promotion). I’d personally rather earn 2 Membership Rewards points for every $1 spent than 5 Hilton points, since earning 2 Membership Rewards points gives me more flexibility.
Capital One Venture X
I recently wrote an article about why I rarely use my Capital One Venture X card, but I decided to keep it anyway because the $300 annual travel credit and 10,000 anniversary bonus miles alone make it worth holding onto the card.
With that, my favorite benefit of the Capital One Venture X card is 10 miles for every $1 spent on hotels booked through the Capital One Travel platform. If I’m not staying a Hilton, Marriott, or Hyatt, I’ll usually book the hotel through the Capital One Travel platform to take advantage of this benefit.
Chase Sapphire Preferred
For the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, my favorite benefit is 3 points for every $1 spent on online grocery purchases. I get pretty much all of my groceries delivered through Instacart, so earning 3 points for every $1 that I spend in this category is a useful benefit to me.
Pro-tip: If you’re ordering Instacart, first visit Rakuten on your computer, search for Instacart, and you’ll usually get between 1-3% extra back (note that this does not work on the Instacart app).
Chase United Explorer
My favorite benefit of the Chase United Explorer card is the ability to earn PQP through credit card spend. With the card, you earn 25 PQP for every $500 spent, up to 1,000 PQP a year (so to earn 1,000 PQP, you’ll need to spend $20,000).
Despite the official 1,000 PQP cap, this card often has promotions throughout the year where you can earn additional PQP if you spend a certain amount during the promotional period.
Chase Freedom Unlimited
For the Chase Freedom Unlimited card, my favorite benefit is that the card offers 1.5 points for every $1 spent on unbonused spend. While I can earn 2 points for every $1 spent on the American Express Business Plus and Capital One Venture X cards, I personally like diversifying my miles and points, so when I’m looking to build up my stash of Chase points, I’ll put unbonused spend on my Chase Freedom Unlimited card.
Chase Ink Business Preferred (have two of these)
I have two Chase Ink Business Preferred cards — one for my law firm and one for my travel writing business. While my favorite benefit on this card used to be the travel insurance benefit, that’s changed recently since now the Chase Ink Business Preferred travel insurance benefit is now restricted to “the actual amount charged to the Covered Card and/or redeemable Rewards used for a covered travel expense.”
So with the travel insurance benefit now limited, my favorite benefit on the Chase Ink Business Preferred card is that the card earns 3 points for every $1 spent on travel purchases. With this benefit, I book most of my airfare on the card since I prefer to book flights directly from airlines.
Does your favorite benefit on any of these cards differ from mine? Let me know in the comments.
