3 AI prompts that show which credit cards deserve a spot in your wallet

Reading Time: 4 min

Premium travel credit cards can offer incredible value. But some can also feel like coupon books, packed with credits for things you wouldn’t buy otherwise and perks that overlap with other cards in your wallet.

Fortunately, a few good AI prompts can help you audit your wallet and figure out which annual fees are still worth paying.

If you're carrying two or three premium cards, there’s a decent chance you're doubling up on benefits you can only use once anyway. Elite status can complicate this even further. If you have airline status, you might already get a free checked bag that your co-branded airline card also offers.

Paste your card lineup into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini with a prompt like this:

I want to audit my credit card benefits. Use the most current benefits and insurance policies you can find for the cards I list below, and flag anything I should verify directly with the issuer. Identify any overlapping or redundant perks, including travel credits, dining credits, ride-share credits, airport lounge access, including Priority Pass membership differences, Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credits, rental car insurance, trip delay coverage, baggage coverage, and purchase protection.

For each overlap, tell me which cards offer the same or similar benefit, whether the overlap is useful or redundant, which card likely offers the stronger version, and any important differences in rules, exclusions, or guest access. If I have two of the same credit, e.g., Global Entry, note if I can use the duplicate to cover another person's fee.

Here are my cards and benefits:

Card 1: [ ]
Card 2: [ ]
Card 3: [ ]

The AI will surface overlaps you might’ve never noticed. Think two cards offering Global Entry credits you can only use every four to five years. Or maybe you'll realize you don't actually need three Priority Pass airport lounge memberships.

It’s also worth keeping in mind that similar benefits aren't always equal. One card's rental car protection may be stronger than another’s, or one Priority Pass membership may have more generous guesting rules than the other. Use the AI output as a starting point, then verify any details that matter most.

Your data may be traveling more than you are

Booking trips, joining loyalty programs, and shopping online ​can leave your personal information in more places than you realize​. Over time, that data can spread through broker networks that fuel spam and scams. ​Money's guide​ explains how data removal services help remove your information from many of these databases — and where their limits are.

Learn how to reduce your digital footprint

Many people don't realize how many statement credits they're leaving on the table. The Platinum Card® from American Express alone has credits for dining, airline fees, hotels, fitness, and more, each with its own reset schedule and eligible merchants. Keeping track manually can be overwhelming. Ask AI to fix that:

Create a monthly checklist for my credit card statement credits and recurring benefits. Research the cards below to find all current credits. Organize the list by month and include any credits that reset monthly, quarterly, semiannually, or annually. For each credit, include the card name, benefit amount, what it can be used for, when it resets or expires, and a one-sentence reminder for how to trigger it. Also create a "use first" section for credits expiring soonest.

Here are my cards and credits:

Card 1: [ ]
Card 2: [ ]
Card 3: [ ]

Set a recurring reminder on the first of each month, pull up the checklist, and work through anything easy. It’s not glamorous, but neither is realizing in December that you left hundreds of dollars in credits unused.

In case you missed it...

Traveling with a pet? Don't board without these

This might be the most useful thing AI can help you with. Ask it to do the math with this prompt:

Research the current annual fees, all statement credits, and other key benefits for these cards: [Insert card names].

For each card, create a table. List the annual fee first, then list each major perk and credit. Ask me which perks I actually used in the last 12 months and what dollar value I personally assign to them.

Once I provide those details, calculate my "effective annual fee" for each card. Based on that math, give me a recommendation on whether to keep, downgrade, or cancel.

Just remember that this calculation won’t account for the harder-to-quantify benefits like rewards earning rates. It's only measuring whether the card's ongoing benefits can offset the fee. A card that barely breaks even on its perks might still be a keeper if it earns well on your biggest spending categories.

Start with the easy fixes — redundant credits, overlapping insurance, and forgotten perks with expiration dates. Then revisit the math annually, ideally a month or two before each card renews, so you have time to decide.

As always, AI is only as good as what you feed it, so double-check anything important against your card's official benefits. Terms can change, and AI can miss details or pull outdated information.

Bring your books, travel guides, maps and more to life

The ​Kindle Colorsoft’s​ 7-inch color E Ink screen is perfect for travel guides, maps, comics, and cookbooks, with all the usual Kindle perks like long battery life, waterproofing, and tons of storage in a compact, lightweight reader.

Get it at Amazon