If spend were no object…

14

Suppose you could manufacture an unlimited amount of spend on your credit cards…  What would you do?  That is, suppose you could charge things to your credit card, earn rewards, and get all of your money back without limit and with little or no effort?  I don’t have the secret formula to make that happen, but sometimes, on a slow news day, I like to dream about possibilities…

I would run up spend on several different cash back cards and earn a comfortable living.  And, I’d use the extra cash (after saving for retirement and contributing to charitable causes) to pay the annual fees on all of these cards mentioned in this post.

I would run up spend on cards that earn points that can be used to pay for airfare at better than 1 cent per point rates (e.g. Citi Prestige card, US Bank FlexPerks, Barclaycard Travelocity, etc.).  Then, I would fly anywhere, anytime without having to worry about award availability.

I would run up spend on cards that earn points that can be used to pay for other travel (hotels, trains, etc.) at better than 1 cent per point rates (e.g. Chase Ultimate Rewards, Barclaycard Arrival, etc.).  Then, I would stay anywhere, anytime without having to worry about price or award availability.

I would run up spend on multiple Delta Reserve cards in order to earn top tier Diamond StatusJust because I can.

I would sign up for half a dozen Citi Executive AAdvantage cards and run up $40K spend on each to earn American Airlines elite status.  I’d also run up $25K spend on three or more US Airways cards to earn elite status there (I think that would work?) just in case the status levels get added together due to the merger.

I would run up $40K spend on either the Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve card or the Amex Hilton Surpass in order to earn top tier Diamond status.  Just because I can.

I would run up $75K spend on the Chase Ritz Carlton card to get top tier Platinum Elite statusJust because I can.

I would run up $110K spend on a Chase Southwest card to get a companion pass good for unlimited flights for the rest of this year and all of the next.  Oh wait, I’m already flying for free everywhere, maybe I wouldn’t do this one.  For similar reasons (and the fact that it is mostly useless), I probably wouldn’t run up spend on my British Airways card for the Travel Together ticket.

That’s what I would do (and a little of what I wouldn’t do).  What about you?

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