How to maximize points going forward without Bilt for lowish spender

Card Recommendation Request (Template Used)

CREDIT PROFILE

  • * Current credit cards you are the primary account holder of:
    • Discover It ($3,300/2021)
    • BOA Travel Rewards Credit Card ($6,428.64/2021)
    • WF Autograph (from Bilt/2023)
  • * FICO Scores with source: Experian 767 
  • * Oldest credit card account age with you as primary name on the account: 5
  • * Number of personal credit cards approved for in the past 6 months: 0
  • * Number of personal credit cards approved for in the past 12 months: 0
  • * Number of personal credit cards approved for in the past 24 months: 0
  • * Annual income $: $40k (from student loans)

CATEGORIES

  • * OK with category-specific cards?: YES
  • * OK with rotating category cards?: NO
  • * Estimate average monthly spend in the categories below. ~$1200-1400
    • * Dining $500
    • * Groceries $50 Trader Joe's/Whole Foods
    • * Groceries $250 Walmart Plus Delivery
    • * Uber/Lyft/Transit $50
    • * Yoga Membership $100
    • * Do you plan on using this card abroad for a significant length of time? Yes but have other cards with no FTF

MEMBERSHIPS & SUBSCRIPTIONS (delete lines that don't apply)

  • Currently paying $2/mo for Hulu and $6/mo for Apple Music
  • Rest N/A leaching off of family members subscriptions

PURPOSE

  • * What's the purpose of your next card?
    • I've been using Bilt as my main card (occasionally using Discover It when 5% applies but I'm not great at remembering it) so looking to maximize points going forward. Planning on using the WF Autograph for my biggest expense (dining). I currently do not have a way to max grocery.
    • I am a law student so I only spend ~$1200-1400 monthly (outside of rent). My main expenses are restaurants/bars (~$500) then grocery (~$300). I get most of my groceries delivered with Walmart One so that takes out most grocery perks...
    • I usually travel internationally once a year and would like to cover flights as much as possible. I'm not loyal to any airline (usually budget), but most often fly Air France. Currently have 40k Bilt points and $300 in BOA credit, so would be more for 2027 travel.
    • * Do you have any cards you've been looking at?
      • Amex BCE (the BCP 6% grocery category won't work with Walmart)

      • Could be persuaded into Amex Gold (Already meeting the Dunkin/Uber monthly credit) but I don't want to commit to the annual fee until I graduate and also do not want to be incentivized to spend more to try to get points or break even with a coupon book

My current plan for post Bilt:

Dining: 3x points WF Autograph (through online retail purchases category)

Grocery: 3% cash back Amex BCE

All Other: 1x points WF Autograph (not many purchases. main expense here is yoga membership at $1200 a year)

Thanks so much for any advice this site has been so helpful and informative!!!

Posted Feb 7, 2026, 10:57 PM UTC

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