It is time once again to review how my credit card strategy performed for me over the month of July. My strategy hasn't changed much since my June review, the only difference was once I met the sign-up bonus on my Hilton Honors card, I swapped it for the Hilton Honors Surpass. You can read my June review for more information on my strategy and how/why I value American Express Membership Rewards points at 1.1 cents per point and Hilton Honors points at 0.5 cents per point, but the general outline of the strategy is as follows:
* I'm using the Hilton Honors Surpass card as my 'catch-all' in hopes of being able to earn the free weekend night reward by spending $15,000 within a year.
One thing I've also come to realize is that in order more accurately depict how much value I'm getting out of these cards I'll need to factor in the fees of my cards and whatever credits I manage to use from them for a particular month. The fees are:
The credits I've been able to use are: * American Express Digital Entertainment Credit: (Disney+ $8.62*) * American Express Hotel Collection credit: $200 * Saks 5th Avenue credit: $10** * Uber credit: $30
I booked another trip for myself and my Significant Other and managed to use the $200 hotel credit, obviously this isn't typical on a month-to-month basis and has increased the overall credit value from my setup this month.
Now for the fun part: How much I spent on each card:
Spend on Miscellaneous cards (Discover, Citi Doublecash, Costco, Amazon, and US Bank): $603.68 (See the June Review for more info. on these cards) Cash back: $27.30; Percent back: 4.52%
Spend on American Express Platinum (Gas, Groceries, Restaurants, Hotels): $4249.15 Points earned: 16,019; Value at 1.1 cents per point: $176.21; Percent back: 4.15%
Spend on Hilton Honors cards: $1391.99 Points earned: 103,426*; Value at 0.5 cents per point: $517.13; Percent back: 37.15%
Total Spend: $6244.82 Cash Value back: $720.64; Percent back: 11.54% Total Value accounting for credits and fees: $845.50; Percent back: 13.54%
Total Value accounting for credits and fees, less sign-up bonus from Hilton Honors card: $345.50; Percent back: 5.53%
My August strategy netted me 11.54% back. A slightly amusing/obnoxious take would be to say that my use of credit cards negated the impact of inflation on me. Obviously the fact that I got a hefty sign-up bonus inflated the numbers quite a bit, but I'm very pleased that even factoring that bonus out I managed to surpass my goal of >5% back overall, although this still was inflated by the fact that I got the $200 hotel credit benefit last month. For the month of August I don't plan on pursuing any new sign-up bonuses or being able to utilize a large credit from American Express, so I would expect my return to drop back down to around 4.5%.
None of the links in this post are affiliate links, I have nothing to gain or lose by you clicking on these links and getting these cards. Nothing you read on aeryck.com should be construed as financial advice; you are responsible for doing your own research before making any financial decisions. This post is nothing more than one guy on the Internet's personal experiences.
Posted: 2022-08-18
