No Longer Giving United Business Card the Business
One year ago I opened a new Chase United Business MileagePlus credit card. A few weeks ago the annual fee for the next posted. As always, this annual fee-paying anniversary prompted me to count my wins over the past 12 months and decide if the card stays in the fleet to keep flying for another year or if it's time to stop giving Chase United Business the business.
Why Buy One When for Twice the Price You Can Have Two?
This card is one of actually two United affiliated cards I opened within a few months of each other.
The offer on this one, the business version of the card, was 75,000 bonus miles with UA after spending $5,000 within the first 3 months. I knocked out that $5k spend target within 2 months (it was easy with a quarterly income tax payment in addition to ordinary spend) and pocketed the 75k miles in my UA frequent flyer account.
The reason I applied for two UA affiliated cards in rapid succession was that there was a "better together" offer: an extra 5,000 bonus miles at renewal time for people who own both. I learned belatedly, that that 5k bonus is only paid a month after the annual renewal- if you still have both cards then.
Totting Up the Score
Across 12 months with this card I spent a bit under $6,000 total and earned a total of almost 82,000 UA miles. At my current valuation of 1.1 cents per mile, those miles are worth $902. That's a pretty nice haul! That's the gross value, though. To get the net value I subtract 2% of the amount charged as an opportunity cost. That's how much cash back I had to forego by using this card instead of a no-fee 2% cash back card. 2% is $120, so the net value drops to $782. That's still a nice win!
Off to the Hangar 🛬
Totting up how much I scored with a credit card over the past year is a fun little exercise but it's not in and of itself the answer to the question of whether it's worth keeping the card for the next year. It's just a point of comparison that helps put the estimate in perspective.
Over the next year I figure the value of this card would be less than zero on a net basis. That's because with the big signup bonus gone there's just the basic earning rate on charges. At 1x miles/dollar on general spend, and with miles being worth only $0.011 a piece, that's way less than the 2% cashback I can earn with a basic card. Even counting in $55 for that "better together" bonus it's still less than break-even. And, most importantly, it's way less than I can earn if I shut down this card to make room in my wallet for a new card with another juicy signup bonus!
Why Buy One When for Twice the Price You Can Have Two?
This card is one of actually two United affiliated cards I opened within a few months of each other.
The offer on this one, the business version of the card, was 75,000 bonus miles with UA after spending $5,000 within the first 3 months. I knocked out that $5k spend target within 2 months (it was easy with a quarterly income tax payment in addition to ordinary spend) and pocketed the 75k miles in my UA frequent flyer account.
The reason I applied for two UA affiliated cards in rapid succession was that there was a "better together" offer: an extra 5,000 bonus miles at renewal time for people who own both. I learned belatedly, that that 5k bonus is only paid a month after the annual renewal- if you still have both cards then.
Totting Up the Score
Across 12 months with this card I spent a bit under $6,000 total and earned a total of almost 82,000 UA miles. At my current valuation of 1.1 cents per mile, those miles are worth $902. That's a pretty nice haul! That's the gross value, though. To get the net value I subtract 2% of the amount charged as an opportunity cost. That's how much cash back I had to forego by using this card instead of a no-fee 2% cash back card. 2% is $120, so the net value drops to $782. That's still a nice win!
Off to the Hangar 🛬
Totting up how much I scored with a credit card over the past year is a fun little exercise but it's not in and of itself the answer to the question of whether it's worth keeping the card for the next year. It's just a point of comparison that helps put the estimate in perspective.
Over the next year I figure the value of this card would be less than zero on a net basis. That's because with the big signup bonus gone there's just the basic earning rate on charges. At 1x miles/dollar on general spend, and with miles being worth only $0.011 a piece, that's way less than the 2% cashback I can earn with a basic card. Even counting in $55 for that "better together" bonus it's still less than break-even. And, most importantly, it's way less than I can earn if I shut down this card to make room in my wallet for a new card with another juicy signup bonus!