What’s in My Wallet? My 2024 Core, Secondary, and Bench Credit Cards
When it comes to travel hacking, it can be quite confusing to determine which credit cards to carry with you, particularly for your daily purchases. In this post, I will share the lineup of my cards, including my Core (Primary), Secondary, and Bench cards, and what I keep in my wallet for convenience.
My Core (Primary) Cards
Ideally, we should always prioritize working on a Sign-Up Bonus (SUB) as those cards typically will almost always, trump category spend rewards such as 4x dining with the American Express Gold card. SUBs should always be the primary focus and I rotate my cards in and out as I complete them.
However, there are a few cards that I always keep in my wallet when I am not working on a SUB but still want to maximize my spending rewards. Some of these cards have higher category spends, no foreign transaction fees, purchase protection, primary car rental coverage, etc.
The cards that I keep in my wallet include:
- Visa and Mastercard Gift Cards that I pick up during sales for <b.5x back on purchases, including online shopping, entertainment, spa, nail salon services, insurance, etc.
- Chase Business Ink Cash for 5x. back on gift cards from Office Supply stores(Visa, MC, Amazon, Starbucks), etc.
- American Express Business Gold for 4x back on dining.
- Chase Sapphire Preferred for 3x back on dining (worldwide, unlike my Biz Gold), no foreign transaction fees.
- Chase Business Ink Preferred for 3x back on travel including hotels, flights, Airbnb, etc. This card also has no foreign transaction fees.
- Wyndham Business Earner Card for 8x back on gas where I also pick up gift cards from Speedway as well.
Secondary Cards
Your secondary cards are the ones that offer various benefits such as lounge access, airline perks or even a catch-all card for a minimum earning that you want to keep handy.
For me, these include the American Express Business Platinum card, the Southwest Priority Card (for travel benefits when on SW flights), and the Blue Business Plus (which earns 2x back on all purchases). However, I keep the BBP in my digital wallet rather than carrying it around since I seldomly need it. My primary cards typically outweigh the need for it unless I have a specific AMEX offer attached to it.
Bench Cards
The bench cards are not the ones you usually carry around in your wallet. These are the cards that you get mainly for the sign-up bonus, have no annual fee, or you don’t plan to keep beyond the first year. For example, I’m thinking of cancelling my AMEX Business Hilton card on the anniversary unless AMEX provides me with a retention offer since the card benefits overlap most of my other cards.
At this point, I have over 30 credit cards, and I keep a large credit card organizer (with a lock) for those cards I no longer use. I haven’t cancelled a card yet mainly because many of them are my cards I’ve had for years, don’t hold balances or fees, but may be cashback only cards, etc. I should probably cancel some, but for now, I keep most active, and it also helps my overall credit availability and history.
To get the most out of every dollar you spend, it’s best to analyze the cards you have, the benefits they offer, and go from there. Always remember, when you are working on a SUB, that will trump any other card in your wallet as you are typically earning 10-15x points per dollar, so it makes it pretty easy to decide which card you should be using.
For P2, I rotate the cards in his wallet for him, but he’s gotten pretty good about knowing which card to use for what purchases. Sometimes he will use the wrong card, but as long as it’s not a massive purchase, it’s not the end of the world.
I have included some of the cards mentioned in the link here for you to review and apply: Click Here
So, what’s in your wallet?
