My current credit cards and how I use them

I started off the year with 12 credit cards in my wallet, but am down to 11 cards after getting rid of one my Chase Ink Business Preferred cards and the American Express Hilton Honors Business card and adding the Atoms Rewards Ascent card. Below are the cards that I currently have:

• American Express Business Gold
• American Express Business Platinum
• American Express Business Plus
• American Express Hilton Aspire
• Atmos Rewards Ascent
• Capital One Venture X
• Chase Freedom Unlimited
• Chase Ink Business Preferred
• Chase Sapphire Preferred
• Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business
• Chase United Explorer

With that, I figured I’d outline how I currently used each card.

American Express Business Gold

This is my go-to card for U.S. restaurants and food delivery services and for Uber and Waymo, as the card earns 4x in these categories.

American Express Business Platinum

I mainly use this card for my monthly cell phone bills, since I get a $10 credit for having those purchases run through this card. I’ll also use this card to either purchase $50 Hilton gift cards every quarter or at a Hilton for the first $50 in spend to take advantage of that credit.

Otherwise, I generally don’t use this card unless there’s an AmEx offer or other credit to take advantage of (and we’ll see if the upcoming AmEx Platinum refresh changes how I use this card).

American Express Business Plus

This is my go-to card for putting unbonused, domestic spend as it earns 2x points on the first $50,000 of purchases. So, I’ll use it for Amazon, my dog’s daycare, haircuts, Pilates classes, and other unbonused spend. I’ll even put some of my quarterly taxes on this card, although the $50k cap isn’t ideal since sometimes I have to be careful about making sure I don’t put more than that amount on this card.

American Express Hilton Aspire

I use this card when I stay at hotels in the Hilton portfolio and I put airfare on here quarterly to take advantage of the $50/quarter credit.

Atmos Rewards Ascent

I pretty much don’t use this card (just got it for the sign-up bonus), although if I do decide to pursue Atmos status and don’t get approved for the Atmos Rewards Summit card, I may put some of my tax spend on this card to help me get MVP Gold status with Alaska.

Capital One Venture X

I use this card for unbonused spend internationally since it earns 2x points, for purchases made on the Capital One Travel portal, and for U.S. unbonused spend when I’m close to hitting the $50k cap on my AmEX Business Plus card.

Chase Freedom Unlimited

I use this card mostly for drug store purchases, since it earns 3x points on those purchases. Although I have Capital One and AmEx cards that earn 2x points for unbonused spend, I’ll sometimes use this card for unbonused spend if I want to focus on increasing my Chase points balance (even though its “only” earns 1.5x points on general spend).

Chase Ink Business Preferred

I use this card for my electricity bill and for “travel” spend that’s other than airfare booked directly with an airline or hotels booked directly with hotels (like Airbnbs or for a safari booked through a travel agency), as I earn 3x points for those categories.

Chase Sapphire Preferred

I use this card for international dining, meal delivery services (currently with CookUnity, but used to use the card for Factor75), Spotify, and Instacart, as I get 3x points on all of that spend.

Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business

This is my go-to card for paying for airfare directly with airlines and for hotels booked directly with the hotel (except for Hiltons), as it earns 4x points in those categories. I also use this card for Lyfts, since it earns 5x points for those rides. Aside from that, I only use the card to take advantage of the coupon book (like the $50 semi-annual giftcards.com credit).

Chase United Explorer

If I’m going for United status, I use this card to get PQP with United. Other than that, I pretty much only use this card to take advantage of the $10/month Instacart credit and $5/month Lyft credit.

Bottom line

It can sometimes be hard to keep track of which credit card to use for what, but I’ve got a system in place for now, with a lot of the spend above being automatic bills where I don’t need to think about which card to use. I planned on getting rid of my AmEx Business Platinum and my Chase United Explorer cards, but received retention bonuses that convinced me to keep them both for at least another year.