I thought I'd post this, which I've posted in the past for you (in case you missed it previously) and others who may be new to this thread in case they have not seen it before. PC strategies to avoid annual fees are one thing and may work if one doesn't have an emergency, need to book asap and can't PC back for whatever reason. The topic of keeping a high AF card like the CSR comes up fairly often and for those newer to the game will cause a knee jerk reaction and people assume that keeping a lower AF card like the CIP or CSR is more cost effective. That well may be true in some cases. However, I think it is important to look at the big picture because it may actually cost a person more to keep the lower AF card if they are redeeming for paid travel in the UR portal. Below, I have copied, pasted and added to one of my previous posts:
I see quite often where folks can get sticker shock when it comes to the AF of a card, especially one as high as the CSR. I think it is important to look well beyond the bonus and that high AF before passing judgement with a knee jerk reaction as you may wind up paying more for not having it in the long run.
The CSR is $450 and comes with a $300 travel credit that can be triggered for a number of things. Merchants in the travel category like airlines, hotels, motels, timeshares (DVC dues), campgrounds, car rental agencies, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, and operators of passenger trains, buses, taxis, limousines, ferries, toll bridges and highways, and parking lots, garages,
Undercover Tourist etc.
If your household spends $300 per year in any combination of these categories then the travel credit will be triggered and the CSR will be a $150 AF per year card because you were spending that money anyhow with or without the card. For me, it's tolls for work and I spend well over $300 a year on those. Fortunately, I do get reimbursed on it so it is "free money" in my case. I also have DVC so even without the tolls, I am spending over $300 each year in a travel category for annual dues. Assuming that you wish to keep either a CIP or CSP for use at .0125 cpp in the UR portal or to transfer to an airline or hotel you are paying $95 per year for that card. The difference between that and the CSR is $55.
Math: $450 AF on CSR - $300 travel credit you are spending anyway = $150. Difference between $150 CSR - $95 CIP/CSP = $55.
I am not even going to go into the fact that the CSR will earn 3x vs 2x on dining and travel because I have all but sock drawered the card and the extra point earning is irrelevant with the point I am trying to make here. It's literally icing on the cake.
The important thing to look at is what does it cost you per year to redeem your UR points through the travel portal? It is very possible that keeping a CSP or CIP over a CSR is actually costing you more money. This is especially true for those who are redeeming for paid coach seats on flights via the UR portal. More often than not it costs fewer points to redeem coach airfare via the UR portal over transferring points to an airline.
Let's say you are going to redeem a $300 RT flight for a party of 2. That's $600. If you hold a CSP or CIP that should cost you 48,000 UR points. If you hold a CSR those flights would cost you 40,000 points. That is a difference of 8,000 points which is equivalent to $100 in the CSP/CIP UR portal. So holding the CIP or CSP over the CSR just cost you $100 in points. When you factor in the $55 difference then it cost you $45 to keep a card with a "lower AF". That is just one redemption example. How much is it costing a family of 4 to keep the lower AF card?
And do I feel special now? You bet I do. (This is a joke)
)
