Hi everyone first post here, and would love some advice from the credit card and reward experts!
I'll try to make this as brief as possible. We plan to make a first Disney and Universal trip next year, likely sometime between May and August. 4 of us, me, wife, and 2 kids who will be 8 and 10. I'd like to both earn some and use some travel cards/rewards. We plan to drive from Virginia and would likely stay on site at a value for both parks.
Goals:
it's a little late to plan and accumulate a ton for this trip, so main long term goal would be accumulate points/miles for annual vacations or every other year and shorter trips. Examples- a yearly/every-other-year WDW or Universal trip, week at the beach either hotel or rental house (we live in VA, so examples might be Outer Banks, Ocean City, Myrtle Beach or Hilton Head, or other east coast beaches), shorter 2-3 day trips to VA beach oceanfront for marathon events held there, possible cruises- either from FL or Norfolk where Carnival has added a ship port, and possible international travel in the future to somewhere like Ireland or Italy. We would prefer to drive to most destinations. We're also pretty simple- don't need luxury hotels or fancy restaurants, airport lounges, etc. For the most part we're happy with low-mid to mid-tier stuff.
Have Now:
Me with wife as auth user- Barclay Arrival Plus with about 350,000 points that I believe only gets redeemed with booking travel and then redeeming for statement credit. Old card with pretty high credit limit, have had for many years. Also have Amex green for many years, don't even know where the card is and don't use.
11/24- Wells Fargo Active Cash also under me with wife auth user
Spending:
Been trying to cut down on wasteful spending, but major purchases are:
Grocery, including Sam's Club and Costco
Gas, including sometimes at Sam's/Costco
Utilities, some allow using CC as payment method, most don't
Online purchases,
Amazon and occasionally others
Kids' expenses- clothing, costs for swimming, tennis, gymnastics,
Home expenses, residence and we have a rental home
Small business expenses- part time business doing junk removal, expenses are gas, dump fees, and commercial insurances but not a whole lot
Healthcare- I've hit my insurance's max OOP last 2 years of $5000 and pay with CC and reimburse through HSA
We don't travel much but would like to do so more so no travel expenses now
We also don't eat out much. Occasional take-out
Been watching a lot of
youtube videos about cards, and plan on:
Citi Strata Premier: due to 3x on grocery and gas, some of our biggest expenses and then 10x on travel when we use it and the different points transfers. From all the card breakdowns I've seen and card comparisons it seems like it would be the best option- i Prefered 1 to 4 and choice 1 to 2 and plenty of air for when we need it.
Citi Double Cash: for SUB which transfers 20000 points, then open up
Citi Custom Cash for the 5% highest category spend of gas/grocery. Then convert CDC to another CCC for separate category 5%. Funnel all points to the Strata premier.
Bilt, once they launch their cards that allow mortgage payments w/o processing fee sometime in 2026 as I understand
This should take care of most or any expenses we pay and allow build-up over time and with SUB for the type of trips mentioned above without loyalty to an airline or hotel group and redeem/transfer for whichever partner is best for trips we take.
Also wanted to confirm that for my Barclaycard, my understanding is that
undercover tourist codes universal and disney as travel, so I can use my 350K points there and redeem for statement credit but if I purchase through WDW they code as entertainment. Is this still accurate?
TLDR: We rarely travel but want to more, want to build up SUB and max our monthly expenses to built over time for short or longer trips, rarely fly but may in the future. Expenses are: gas and grocery (regular and Sam's/Costco), regular online shopping, medical, homeowner expenses, bills, mortgage, some but not much small business. Looking at Citi products as the best fit, with Bilt once they add mortgage points w/o transaction fee in 2026
Expert questions and advice welcome
