MBB Credit Card & Alt Travel
I have just accepted an offer from an MBB firm. I understand there are forums out there on the topic of credit cards already, but I wanted to see if there were any new tips out there for a new consultant expecting to travel? Also, is alt travel considered a taxable benefit or can you do it without paying taxes on it? Thanks!
Chase Sapphire Reserve for points.
Alt Travel should technically be taxed.
Travel policies (incl. how to pay for weekly travel & how alt travel is handled) are very different from firm to firm even within MBB. You're better off asking someone at your firm (which should be easy if you've already accepted).
As stated above, alt travel is separate depending on firm. As for credit cards:
As a general rule I want my credit cards to do 3 things: 1. maximize my points, 2. maximize my perks, 3. diversify against devaluations (awards going up in price). Depending on where you live (your primary airline) and how you travel (amtrak vs airline) different cards have different benefits that you want to maximize. As a general rule, we can assume you will stay at SPG hotels and will want the SPG card to charge these expenses. After that, you should make decisions based on what perks you value and how much you are willing to pay in annual fee. There are 3 major transferrable points currencies, (Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi TY Points), and I think a good points accrual strategy earns at least two of these in addition to SPG points. I'll throw out a couple of examples of good credit card mixes.
For example, let's say you are staffed out of a Delta hub like Atlanta, Minneapolis or NYC. You might want to get an Amex Platinum despite the $450 annual fee because you will give 5 points/$ on airfare and get Delta lounge access while flying delta (AFAIK consulting firms do not reimburse lounge expenses). For other travel expenses you could get either a Chase Sapphire preferred (double points on all travel and dining) or a Citi TY Preferred (triple points on travel, double on dining). The Amex earns Membership Rewards points, the Chase earns Ultimate rewards points and Citi earns TY points, all of which transfer to multiple airlines. Your points are quite well diversified.
If you're staffed out of a United hub like Houston, or SF, use the Chase Sapphire Reserve, which earns triple points on airfare and dining and gets United Lounge access. Again, a high annual fee but worth it in the right situation. You can diversify with a Citi TY preferred or an Amex Premier Rewards Gold to earn points in an additional currency.
American Airlines (Dallas, Philly, Chicago) is a bit trickier since Citi's premier card doesn't offer lounge access, but you can use a premier rewards gold for triple points on airfare and a Chase SP for other expenses. Or, if you want more EQMs, you can get an AA Executive card which gets you lounge access and 10,000 EQMs after hitting a $40K spend target.
If you are staffed out of a city with multiple competing airlines (LA, DC, NYC), or you are doing tons of Acela travel, you can use a hybrid strategy here, Mix and match the cards that work best for your particular situation.
Above I've list a couple of different 3 card strategies (SPG, 1 premium card w/lounge access, 1 "fast earner" card like PRG, CSP or TYP) that will have you rolling in more points than you know what to do with. Enjoy...and remember that Cathay Pacific has the best Airline Pajamas!
Great advice, everyone. I'll be sure to ask about alt travel. One question I do have is about being approved for these high reward cards. My credit is not necessarily bad, but I do have a substantial amount of student loan debt and not too much of a credit history beyond that and the card I got for this past summer. If I work MBB, am I virtually guaranteed to get one of these cards because the companies understand that I will be expending most to all of the charges?
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