Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is going well. Last year, we set out to simplify our wallets before Madison was born (Cutting $2,000 in Credit Card Annual Fees: Our Simplified Wallet Strategy for 2025). Our goal wasn’t to maximize every credit card perk. Instead, we wanted to reduce the total amount paid in annual fees, eliminate coupon-book credit cards (cards with high annual fees and lots of credits), and keep only the cards that delivered outsized value with minimal effort. One year later, it’s time to see how closely we stuck to that plan, what surprised us, and which cards earned a permanent place in our wallets.
One Year Later at a Glance:
- 💳 Closed 5 credit cards
- ⬇️ Downgraded 3 credit cards
- ✨ Opened 5 new credit cards (and earned 360,000 points & miles in welcome bonuses)
- 💵 Received $429 in retention offers
- 🏨 Prioritized Free Night Certificates and travel credits over coupon-book benefits
Cards We Closed
| Credit Card Name | Annual Fee | Notes |
| Laura’s AMEX Gold | $325 | Closed card in February 2025 (we were tired of jumping through hoops to get all the monthly credits.) |
| Barclays JetBlue Plus | $99 | Closed card in March 2025 (we didn’t have any upcoming JetBlue flights planned.) |
| Bank of America Air France / KLM | $89 | Closed card in March 2025 (we didn’t have any upcoming Air France / KLM flights planned.) |
| AMEX Delta Platinum Business | $250 | Closed card in July 2025 (I redeemed all my Delta SkyMiles and didn’t have any upcoming Delta flights planned.) |
| We decided to keep this credit card open in the hopes of a future product change to a Bank of America Alaska Airlines Credit Card. | ||
| AMEX Business Gold 3 | $375 | Closed card in November 2025 (we were tired of jumping through hoops to get all the monthly credits.) |
While most of these credit cards come with a variety of credits / coupons, these cards did not provide enough value for us to justify paying the annual fees for another year.
Cards We Downgraded
| Credit Card Name | Annual Fee | Notes |
| AMEX Hilton Surpass | $150 | Downgraded to no annual fee AMEX Hilton Credit Card in December 2025 (I was tired of doing $50 snack shopping sprees at Hilton hotels to use up the $50 quarterly credits.) |
| AMEX Business Platinum | $695 | Downgraded to AMEX Business Green Card in February 2026 (I received a prorated refund on the annual fee.) |
| Laura’s Chase Sapphire Preferred | $95 | Downgraded to no annual fee Chase Freedom Credit Card in May 2026 (we now have 4 Freedom cards between us.) |
I am patiently waiting for a good upgrade offer to the AMEX Hilton Surpass or Hilton Aspire credit cards, but no offers have come my way since December 2025.
Cards We Still Have
| Credit Card Name | Annual Fee | Credit Card Benefits |
| Laura’s JPMorgan Chase Ritz Carlton | $450 | 85K Marriott Free Night Certificate + $300 Airline Incidental Credit (Laura received a $150 retention offer to keep this credit card open.) |
| JPMorgan Chase Ritz Carlton | $450 | 85K Marriott Free Night Certificate + $300 Airline Incidental Credit |
| US Bank Altitude Reserve | $400 | $325 Travel Credit + |
| Capital One Venture X | $395 | $300 Travel Credit + 10K Anniversary Points + Capital One Lounge Access |
| Laura’s Chase Southwest Airlines Priority | $229 | 7,500 Southwest Airlines Points + |
| AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Business | $125 | 35K Marriott Free Night Certificate |
| Barclays Hawaiian Airlines | $99 | 70K Hawaiian Airlines Miles (we decided to keep this credit card open in the hopes of a future product change to a Bank of America Alaska Airlines Credit Card.) |
| Chase IHG Rewards Business | $99 | 40K IHG Free Night Certificate (I received a $50 retention offer to keep this credit card open.) |
| Chase IHG Rewards Premier | $99 | 40K IHG Free Night Certificate + $50 United Airlines credit |
| Laura’s Chase IHG Rewards Premier | $99 | 40K IHG Free Night Certificate + $50 United Airlines credit |
| Laura’s Chase World of Hyatt | $95 | Category 1-4 Hyatt Free Night Certificate |
| Chase Ink Plus (Travel with Grant) | $95 | 5x Office Supplies / Internet / Cable + ability to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards Points to partners |
| Citi Strata Premier | $95 | Ability to transfer Citi ThankYou Points to partners |
| Laura’s Bank of America Alaska Airlines | $95 | Alaska Airlines Companion Fare |
| Bank of America Alaska Airlines | $95 | Alaska Airlines Companion Fare |
| Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Business | $95 | Wyndham Rewards Diamond Status + 15K Anniversary Points |
| Laura’s Capital One Venture Rewards | $59 | Laura’s oldest credit card and everywhere else credit card |
| Chase IHG Rewards Select | $49 | 40K IHG Free Night Certificate (Capped) |
Despite paying several high annual fees, we’ve easily come out ahead by maximizing Free Night Certificates, using our travel credits, and taking advantage of retention offers.
New Cards We Opened
| Credit Card Name | Annual Fee | Credit Card Benefits |
| Barclays American Airlines Red (opened in August 2025) | $99 | Received 50,000 American Airlines Miles, then automatically product changed to the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select Credit Card (April 2026). I eventually want to product change this card to a different Citi ThankYou Point earning card. |
| Bank of America Atmos Rewards Summit (opened in August 2025) | $395 | Received 100,000 Atmos Rewards Points + 25K Global Companion Award. I’m sitting on 1.4M Alaska Airlines Miles and am looking forward to taking Madison on some flights in the coming years. |
| Wells Fargo Autograph Journey (opened in December 2025) | $95 | Received 60,000 Autograph Points. I will probably close this card and keep the no annual fee Wells Fargo Autograph Credit Card that used to be the Bilt Card. |
| Laura’s Citi Strata Elite (opened in December 2025) | $595 | Received 100,000 Citi ThankYou Points (we used the 2025 and 2026 $200 Splurge Credit and $300 Hotel Credit). We are planning on using the $200 Splurge Credit and $300 Hotel Credit in January 2027 before the annual fee is due and then we will decide if the card is worth keeping another year. |
| Bilt Palladium (opened in February 2026) | $495 | Received 50,000 Bilt Points + $500 Bilt Cash (we used the $200 Bilt Hotel Credit in H1). I am leaning toward keeping this card another year, but I will decide once we get closer to February 2027. |
Looking back over the past year, I’m happy with how closely we stuck to our original plan. Instead of chasing every credit card perk or coupon, we’ve built a card collection that’s easier to manage while still delivering excellent value through Free Night Certificates, travel credits, retention offers, and sign up bonuses. Looking ahead to 2027, I expect our wallets to become even simpler. Unless card issuers significantly improve their benefits, we’ll probably continue moving away from coupon-book cards and toward cards that provide outsized value with very little effort. I’ll post another update next summer to see things have changed.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned after more than a decade of using reward credit cards, it’s that the “best” card isn’t necessarily the one with the biggest signup bonus. It’s the one that consistently provides value year after year without becoming another chore to manage. Of course, today’s “best” card can’t rest on its laurels. A major devaluation or benefit change can quickly move it onto next year’s chopping block.
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Which cards would you have kept, downgraded, or closed? Please leave a comment below. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend.
Do you use that many alaska companion fares? Also surprised you want to keep the USBAR open. I wouldn’t count on transfer partners ever coming.
Yes, we have 2 standard companion fares from the Atmos Ascend CCs and the 25K Global Companion Award from the Atmos Summit CC.
I feel like as soon as I product change out of the USB AR CC, that’s when they will announce the transfer partners, so that’s why I keep waiting.
Fascinating article. How does having so many cards open affect your credit rating?
Hi David, even though we have a ton of CCs, we don’t use all of them every month, so only about 5-10 CCs will have any activity in a given month. We make sure to pay the full credit card balance each month and never carry a balance. As a result of doing this for 10+ years, both of us have excellent credit scores in the low to mid 800s. Let me know if you have any other questions. Have a great day :)