Well, I’m about 3 weeks into social distancing, or isolation, or quarantine, or whatever else you want to call it and things are starting to get weird. With the COVID-19 pandemic hitting the United States and much of the world right now, things are looking a lot different then they were just a few weeks ago.
For example, I’m currently living in Chicago and left my apartment yesterday evening for a long walk. I left my building at 4:45PM and proceeded down La Salle drive toward downtown. At around 5:00PM I needed to cross to the East side of La Salle and was able to cross without worrying about being hit by a car. Anyone familiar with Chicago knows that La Salle at 5PM on a weekday is a mad house. So the fact that I could walk straight across the street without a car in sight was a very strange feeling.
Obviously with the COVID-19 pandemic life as we know it has temporarily changed. Very few people are commuting to work, most of us are working from home, and a lot of us unfortunately have lost our jobs. It’s an incredibly strange time that I hope I only have to experience once in my lifetime.
Strange Changes To The Credit Cards I Carry In My Wallet
As the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States I knew that my life was going to change dramatically. I had read enough about the spread in China to know that quarantine was coming to most major U.S. cities. I also knew that my days of flying around the world were over. However, I didn’t know that the COVD-19 pandemic would change the credit cards I use on a daily basis.
For years I’ve been carrying the same few credit cards on a daily basis. These cards include the Chase Sapphire Reserve, American Express Gold and Platinum cards, and Citi Premier / Citi Prestige Card. I carried these cards because most of my annual spending came from travel, dining out, and entertainment. So, I carried the Platinum card to pay for flights, the Citi Prestige card to pay for dining, and the American Express Gold card to occasionally pay for groceries.
Now though, my wallet is looking a heck of a lot different. In fact, looking at the cards in my wallet right now, I’m seeing a completely different set of cards. Today, in my wallet are the Citi Prestige card, Chase Freedom card, Citi Double Cash card, and the American Express Platinum card. All I can say when I see those cards sitting in my wallet and listed out is; Wow! Never would I expect my wallet to look like this.
Why I’m Carrying These Odd Cards
The reason I’m carrying these cards over others is simple; my spending habits have changed dramatically. I continue to carry the Citi Prestige card because the card offers 5X points on dining out. In the past week I’ve ordered carry-out about once a week and I’ve never necessarily planned ahead. Instead, while I’m out for my 1-hour a day of outdoor time, I’ve decided randomly to pickup food. In those rare instances I like to have my Citi Prestige card handy to earn 5X points on my purchase.
The Chase Freedom card is another odd choice to carry, but it makes sense when you factor in the 5% Cash Back quarterly bonus categories. This quarter (Q2’20) the Chase Freedom card nears 5% Cash Back on groceries. Since, majority of my recent spend has been on groceries, this is a great card to carry to earn up to 5X Ultimate Rewards points on my grocery spend.
Another curious card in my wallet is my new Citi Double Cash card. I actually just received this card today and immediately replaced my Chase Sapphire Reserve card with it. The reason I’m carrying this card is because it offers 2% Cash Back on all purchases. It doesn’t matter what I buy, I’ll 2% cash back. So, I’ve been using this card for purchases at Walgreens or other nearby convenience stores.
Finally, I continue to carry the American Express Platinum card simply because I want to. The card obviously offers incredible travel benefits, but I can’t use any of those right now. Instead, I suppose I carry this card out of a desire for things to go back to normal. I hope that someday soon I can again use this card to book flights to far off lands.
Are These Cards Here To Stay?
Surprisingly, yes. I don’t see any of the above mentioned cards leaving my wallet in Q2’20. I now have no reason to carry the Chase Sapphire Reserve card or the American Express Gold card. However, at the end of the quarter (or when I hit $1,500 in qualifying spend) I will replace the Chase Freedom card with the American Express Gold card. The Gold card earns 4X points on groceries which is the best I can do given the accounts I currently have open.
As for the other cards, I have, none offer better points or rewards than what I am currently carrying. The Chase Sapphire Reserve card earns 3X points on travel and dining, but I’m earning 5X points on dining and travel from the Citi Prestige card. I use to use my Chase Sapphire Reserve card to pay for transit, but I now enroll in a pre-tax program with work.
So honestly, yes, with the exception of the Chase Freedom card, I see myself carrying the others even when things go back to normal.
Final Thoughts
As I was going through my wallet tonight adding my new Citi Double Cash card into the slot that normally carries the Chase Sapphire Reserve card I realized how odd my wallet seemed. For the past year (at least) I’ve carried the same 4 credit cards on a daily basis. I carried these 4 cards because they offered the best points earning potential and benefits of any of my other card accounts.
My wallet only fits 6 cards and two of those slots are always taken by my Photo ID (expires today) and my transit card. That leaves just 4 slots for me to carry credit cards in and these are the cards that currently occupy those spaces.
