First, I want to thank you for bringing all of this information to my attention--this was a great discussion which lead to a thought exercise to determine what the break even spend would be to justify the rewards of adding the CSP versus just having the C1VX alone. Thank you.

• The difference in effective annual fee is $50, which would mean you have to spend $784 on annual flights on the CSP ($50 divided by 6.38x points) to justify the EAF difference. I am using flights as the main spending category, since this post is about travel credit cards (I am assuming people want these cards because of how much flying they do).
• If someone were to only have the C1VX, they would NOT have have to justify this $50 difference, so if they spent $784 on flights would they would immediately earn 3,920 C1 points ($784 x 5 points = 3,920 points; worth $39)
• In order to recoup that $39 reward that the CSP loses out on while it was trying to justify the annual fee difference, one would have to spend an additional $2,826 on annual flights to be at the same total points earned as the C1VX
  • CSP earns at least 6.38x points compared to 5x points for C1VX, this means the CSP earns 1.38 more points per dollar spent on flights
  • $39 divided by the 1.38 differences comes out to be $2826
• This means the total break even number is $3,610 spent on annual flights (the $784 needed to make up the annual fee difference + the $2,826 needed to make up for points lost during that time)

This means if you spend more than $3,610 on annual flights, you are losing out on maximizing points on dining, streaming, online groceries, non-portal travel, and potentially everyday purchases throughout the year by only having the C1VX. This is a number I personally spend more than on annual flights, so it makes sense for me. However, if you don't, then C1VX alone is a better option. If you only spend money on hotels or rental cars through the portal (assuming you fly at least once to get your travel credit...), or if you spend a little bit of money on hotels/cars booked through the portal, then the C1VX alone is a much better option. If you don't use the portal for hotels/rental cars (which some people don't, because you sometimes don't get hotel membership points) then you still want the CFU+CSP as well as the C1VX.

The addition of the CSP could also make sense for heavy diners. If we were to look at the category in which the CSP gets the most points in comparison to the C1VX, that would be dining. Dining earns 3.88x points for CSP compared to 2x for C1VX, a difference of 1.88x points.

• The $50 difference in effective annual fee would mean you have to spend $1,289 in dining on the CSP to make up for this difference ($50 divided by 3.88x).
• If someone were to only have the C1VX, they would NOT have have to justify this $50 difference, so if they spent $1,289 on dining, would they would immediately earn 2,578 C1 points ($1,289 x 2 points = 2,578 points; worth $25.78)
• In order to recoup that $25.78 reward that the CSP loses out on while it was trying to justify the annual fee difference, one would have to spend an additional $1,371 on annual dining to be at the same total points earned as the C1VX
  • CSP earns at least 3.88x points on dining compared to 2x points for C1VX, this means the CSP earns 1.88 more points per dollar spent on flights
  • $25.78 divided by the 1.88 difference comes out to be $1,371
• This means the total break even number is $2,660 spent on annual dining, or $222/month (the $1,289 needed to make up the annual fee difference + the $1,371 needed to make up for points lost during that time)
• I personally do not spend this much money on dining, but I know plenty of people who do!

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This ultimately means that if you do not spend a lot of money annually on hotels and rental cars in the travel portals (I personally do not), then the numbers to focus on are:

• $3,610 on annual flights
• OR (not both)
• $2,600 on annual dining

If you spend more than $3,610 on annual flights, then it makes sense to pair the CFU+CSP with the CV1X to maximize your reward points. If you spend less than this (with no other money spent on dining), then it does not make sense, and you are better off with the C1VX alone. Alternatively, if you spend more than $2,600 on annual dining, then it makes sense to pair the CFU+CSP with the CV1X to maximize your reward points. If you spend less than this (with no other money spent on flights), then it does not make sense, and you are better off with the C1VX alone. Any combination of these two categories would also work (for example and not backed by math: $2000 on annual flights and $2000 on annual dining), but I am not interested in determining the complex calculation (sorry).

I really do appreciate you engaging in this discussion--I will update the main post to reflect these break even numbers for justifying whether or not adding the CFU+CSP makes sense for people.