u/Finnesota_Nice

Looking for a second card for my wife and I to complement our shared Amex gold. Ideally, a Visa or another one that is more universally accepted than Amex.

• Current cards:
  • Amex Platinum, spending power of $60k (approved, unsure if that matters for this), May 2026
  • Amex Gold, spending power of $75k (approved, still no idea if applicable here), April 2024
  • Delta Skymiles Amex Platinum (authorized user), $35k, June 2014 - I do not use this, my parents gave me it primarily to build my credit while I was in college. The account-holder, my Dad, has a Delta Reserve card.
  • Chase Freedom Unlimited, $38.7k, opened as a CSR in February 2020 - downgraded to CFU when I got the Amex Plat this week.
  • Wife-only: PNC cash rewards, $18k, March 2018.
• FICO Score: 822, wife's is 812.
• Oldest account age: 12 years 8 months (student loan)
• Chase 5/24 status: 0/24, unless downgrading to CFU from CSR counts - then 1/24.
• Income: $225,000, $400,000 including my wife.
• Average monthly spend and categories: $5,465
  • dining: $670
  • groceries: $965
  • gas: $97
  • travel: $736 (flights: $428; hotels: $233; uber/lyft: $76)
  • other: $2,997 (hardware stores: $603; retail: $1,207 [amazon: $521; other: $686]; streaming: $156; utilities: $267; other: $764 [mostly home-or-lawn-care and pet-related]
• Open to Business Cards: sure.
• What's the purpose of your next card? round out our benefits by adding a second shared card with my wife. Would like to have a non-Amex in the mix. Currently, our only shared card is Amex Gold. Wife likely wouldn't want three cards - but possible, if we use Prime Visa + a travel/catch-all card.
• Do you have any cards you've been looking at? 
  • Prime Visa: $500/mo spend would imply $300/year cash back. This was initially the top contender but, I 'm unsure if we're leaving value on the table by going with a specific card.
  • Capital One Venture X: the #2 contender. Do all hotels/flights need to be booked through the C1 portal to get 10x/5x points? That'd be somewhat off-putting to us but the price-match could change our minds.
  • Chase Sapphire Preferred: primary benefit seems it would be that I have 120k unused UR points and could transfer them somewhere else because I failed to before the switch. Seems fairly similar to our Amex Gold, otherwise.
  • Chase Freedom Unlimited or Amex Platinum: could add the wife to either of these but need to retain one for my use only. Current plan is to use Amex Platinum for travel and CFU for other personal purchases. I travel ~15x times per year for work/personal travel without her, ~3x internationally, and do not want that mixing with our shared account - we keep some charges separated from our shared accounts (e.g., my golfing spend and work trips).
  • Delta Skymiles Reserve (or Platinum): I could obtain gold medallion status and likely maintain it with a platinum card, would be easier with the reserve card. Our home airport only has Sky and Admirals Club lounges and my wife and I typically have a meal before going somewhere (we fly ~6/year together on top of my ~15x/year work travel). Lounge would save us money but I'm deciding if $50/trip with Amex platinum is worth more than the $650 reserve cost for no fee to bring her + the companion pass. Could also pay my father $175/year to upgrade to an additional Delta Reserve card but that wouldn't really help me reach/maintain gold medallion status (which is doable without a card but far more doable with a Delta card).
• Are you OK with category spending or do you want a general spending card?: General or travel spend is ideal, primary desire is a card that isn't grocery/dining spend focused - like our Amex Gold is.