Contacts.app card disappears while creating

I have had repeated problems creating new contact cards in the Contacts application. I'm using MacOS 10.15.6 (Catalina) on an older Macbook Pro.

I begin creating a new contact card, and after entering information in a few fields the new card suddenly disappears before I finish adding information. Typically I can get through the "first name" and "last name" and maybe start to add a phone number, and then suddenly the card disappears. I manage many locally stored contacts and also link to one remote/cloud account (a google/g-suite account). I am NOT using iCloud. I suspect this bug has something to do with use of a remote/cloud account.

Workaround: before beginning to create a new contact card, select "All on My Mac" (or any group that falls under the "On My Mac" category) in the left hand column that lists contact groups.

Get it together, Apple. Built-in applications used to be rock solid in earlier versions of MacOS / OS X. Between this, the shortcomings of Mail.app, odd little bugs and UI inconsistencies elsewhere, I'm beginning to wonder if the higher price is worth it.