Credit Cards I Want to Get in 2022 – Planning Our Next Applications
There are several credit cards I want to get in 2022, and the same applies to my wife’s plans for next year. As we chart our points earning for the coming year, these cards will help us achieve our travel goals and fill some points-earning voids in our lives. Here’s the plan…subject to change, obviously!
Some of these welcome offers may have changed since posting.
Credit Cards I Want to Get in 2022
American Express Green Card
I’ve applied for this card a few times and been denied for strange reasons along the way. I see this card as a keeper, due to its 3x earning on all things transport. That even include rideshares and public transit, as well as tolls on the highway.
Annual fee: $150
Current welcome offer: Earn 45,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $2,000 on purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.
I am currently eligible for this card, since I’ve never had it and am well under the 10-card limit for Amex cards without preset spending limits.
Bank of America Premium Rewards credit card
This is a new card, and the points can be redeemed as cash, statement credits, or for travel in the portal. I look at this as a purchase eraser type of card, and I’m currently lacking a good option for this in my wallet. It also comes with a $100 annual airline incidentals credit, which more than offsets the annual fee.
Annual fee: $95
Current welcome offer: Receive 50,000 online bonus points – a $500 value – after you make at least $3,000 in purchases the first 90 days of account opening
I am currently eligible for this card, since I’ve never had it and am under the “7 new cards within 24 months” limit for those who have deposit accounts with Bank of America.
Citi Custom Cash
This is a newer card, and I like the earning structure. You automatically get 5x earning in the category where you spend the most that month. This could be my “go to” card for areas where I don’t have high earnings in some bonus categories.
Annual fee: $0
Current welcome offer: Earn $200 cash back after you spend $750 on purchases in the first 3 months of account opening.
I am currently eligible for this card, since I’ve never had it, and my number of inquiries should be acceptable to Citi.
My Wife’s Credit Card Plans for 2022
My wife is under 5/24 after doing a lot of upgrade offers and business cards in 2021. That has a big impact on her plans for 2022.
British Airways Visa Signature® card
We love using Avios—especially for short flights that require few Avios but cost a lot in cash. This card doesn’t get as much attention as it should. Along with a big welcome offer, it offers discounts on cash and on award bookings, plus elevated earnings in the first year.
Annual fee: $95
Current welcome offer: Earn 100,000 Bonus Avios after you spend $5,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.
My wife had this card a few years ago but is eligible for it, since that was more than 24 months ago.
World of Hyatt Business Card
While we don’t see this card as a long-term keeper (due to lack of ability to earn free night awards each year), we could put a decent amount of spend on it next year to replenish our Hyatt points balances. We’ll also make use of the semi-annual $50 statement credits for spending at Hyatt.
Annual fee: $199
Current welcome offer: Earn 75,000 Bonus Points after you spend $7,500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.
Since this is a new card and my wife is under 5/24, she is eligible for this card immediately.
JetBlue Business Card
My wife and I have both applied for this card in the past, and Barclays rejected both of us. They’re quite sensitive to the number of recent accounts and recent inquiries. Given that my wife is doing well with both of these, she plans to apply for a Barclaycard account that also won’t affect her 5/24 status.
Annual fee: $99
Current welcome offer: Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases within the first 90 days, and earn 20,000 bonus points after spending $6,000 on purchases within the first 12 months.
Never had this card, so my wife is eligible immediately. It just depends on how picky Barclays is being right now.
Cards for Later in 2022
We keep going back and forth on whether my wife should apply for the Capital One Venture X (or even the Venture Card). She’s never had either. These could good for immediately after passing 5/24, since her new accounts/inquiries numbers would be low. That’s helpful with Capital One.
We both also hope to see some elevated offers on Delta co-branded cards from American Express. There are several of these we haven’t had yet. However, we’ll need to be selective, since we’ll both need to close an American Express card before we can get another. For me, I’ll definitely be closing the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card, since I can’t justify its annual fee any longer while getting the benefits I care about elsewhere.
Cards We Won’t Be Applying For in 2022
We don’t plan to apply for any American Airlines cards, since they shut down our accounts during that whole fiasco. Additionally, since I am well on my way to Hilton Diamond status re-qualification in 2022 (Hilton is rolling over nights and extending status — details here), it doesn’t make sense to apply for the Hilton Aspire Card from American Express. I’ll wait to get that card once I’m not qualifying “the regular way” with Hilton. And my wife having Diamond status at the same time doesn’t do much for us, since we stay in one room together.
We also don’t plan to apply for the Hawaiian Airlines World Elite Mastercard from Barclays (or the business counterpart). After looking at the miles you can earn and uses of Hawaiian miles, they seem to be good only for flying to/from/within Hawaii. We want miles that have more than just one use.
Final Thoughts
These plans can change, such as if a new card comes out or an elevated welcome offer rolls around. However, these are the credit cards my wife and I want to get in 2022. This is our plan for the first part of the year, because these cards fill some earning and redemption voids in our current portfolios.
What credit cards do you plan to apply for in 2022?
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RYAN, I also plan to cancel my Amex Bonvoy card (already LT Titanium) and apply for the the Capital One Venture X. Should I do so before or after applying?
Jay – the only thing that would likely change is your available credit limit and credit usage. If those are pretty good, then it won’t matter much one way or the other. It won’t affect your inquiries or new card number, etc.
3 player mode: did CSP 100k offer x3 for 300k pts. last year. now working on the two chase ink no AF cards at 75k per card. in middle of #2. this is 2 player, hope to get 2 more. total 300k! may then look at BA, didn’t realize could do again after 24 mos. thanks for the tip.
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