Advice needed regarding Amex BCE and Citi DC

Anonymous · ‎02-11-2017

Hello everyone,

I had a few questions regarding applying for new cards. I have a fairly new and thin (though clean) credit file - Discover it (Opened Feb 16, CL 3000), and Chase Freedom (Opened Sep 16, CL 500). My FICO scores are TU-731 and EX-718. Reported income is around 28k (I'm a student working part time). I've been planning to apply to some new cards now that the Discover double cash back period is getting over, and I was looking at the Amex BCE and Citi DC cards. I did have a prequalified offer for the BCE on the Amex website with a 150$ bonus, while the Citi website doesn't show anything.

I wanted to ask as to how reliable the Amex prequals are. Also, what would you say my chances of getting the Citi DC are? I just wanted a 2% CB card for general spend, and thought it would be nice to get a Mastercard as well.

Also, why is an app spree recommended over spacing the applications over time?

kdm31091 · ‎02-11-2017

With your income, I'd be careful using more than a couple cards, only because spreading your spend is going to dilute the rewards you stand to gain since most cards have redemption thresholds.

Although it is nice to have a Mastercard, etc, once you have a Visa, you're pretty much fine -- almost anywhere that takes Mastercard is also going to take Visa. If someone is solely using an Amex, they may have (occasional) reason to worry but generally Visa and Mastercard are totally interchangeable 99% of the time so don't get too caught up in network. Other than Costco only taking Visa, I cannot even think of any example of a mainstream place that takes only Visa or Mastercard (in the US anyway). The Double Cash is a useful 2% card, but comes with no sign up bonus, meaning it will take many thousands of dollars in spend before it outpaces a card with even a $100 sign up bonus. With your lower income and therefore lower spend, this is important to keep in mind.

To answer your question, I think your score would likely get you approved for the Double Cash, although generally the limits are fairly low. With Amex, the initial limit isn't as much of a concern as it is usually easy to get increased over time. But the Amex reward system is subpar, requiring $25 increments for redemption, so you'll likely be waiting a long time to claim all of your rewards.

Anonymous · ‎02-11-2017

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello everyone,
I had a few questions regarding applying for new cards. I have a fairly new and thin (though clean) credit file - Discover it (Opened Feb 16, CL 3000), and Chase Freedom (Opened Sep 16, CL 500). My FICO scores are TU-731 and EX-718. Reported income is around 28k (I'm a student working part time). I've been planning to apply to some new cards now that the Discover double cash back period is getting over, and I was looking at the Amex BCE and Citi DC cards. I did have a prequalified offer for the BCE on the Amex website with a 150$ bonus, while the Citi website doesn't show anything.
I wanted to ask as to how reliable the Amex prequals are. Also, what would you say my chances of getting the Citi DC are? I just wanted a 2% CB card for general spend, and thought it would be nice to get a Mastercard as well.
Also, why is an app spree recommended over spacing the applications over time?

Amex offers are very solid and you will probably be approved.

Anonymous · ‎02-11-2017

I do understand that these cards have redemption limits. However, I felt that because these cards offer SP CLIs anyway, these will be no AF cards which will grow over time. The Freedom and Discover don't have redemption Limits, and I was planning to use the BCE just for groceries, and the DC for general non-category spend. My Freedom's CL is a bit too low for my general use anyway, as most places on campus don't accept AMEX or Disco

Anonymous · ‎02-11-2017

I personally despise Citi - that said, if you do choose that route, I'd recommend the following strategy:

Do not go directly for the DC - they never come with starting bonuses or decent limits. Instead, choose another of their cards that does have a decent bonus, complete the bonus requirements, and THEN product change into the DC. You'll end up with a higher limit and a bit of intro cash in your pocket.

If you'd like to get a decent 2% card without dealing with the monstrosity that is Citi, PenFed just came out with one (true, it's 1.5% unless you're military or have checking with them, but checking with them seeems easy to keep fee free)

If you're considering the BCE on the other hand, I'd advise taking a close look at your grocery spend. If you spend more than about $3100/yr on grocery, you actually do better with the BCP, as the 6% back easily pays for the AF and then some

Whatever you do, good luck and keep us posted!

Anonymous · ‎02-12-2017

@Anonymous wrote:
I do understand that these cards have redemption limits. However, I felt that because these cards offer SP CLIs anyway, these will be no AF cards which will grow over time. The Freedom and Discover don't have redemption Limits, and I was planning to use the BCE just for groceries, and the DC for general non-category spend. My Freedom's CL is a bit too low for my general use anyway, as most places on campus don't accept AMEX or Disco

I don't see anything wrong with getting both. The BCE has a nice bonus and is a solid card, but I prefer the DC overall (if you were only going to get one). These 4 cards you have or are considering are the exact 4 that I use regularly, and I think it's a nice set-up.

One thing to consider about the BCE which could affect your timing, the Freedom will be doing groceries as a 5% category in the 2nd quarter. Depending on your spending, that might mean it'd make sense to go ahead and get it now (if you'll easily spend $1000 in groceries before April 1st) or wait until the 3rd quarter if you won't spend that much by then.

Another factor is whether or not the BCE will be offering the Amazon 10% bonus again later this year. They did it at the end of 2016, but that promo ended this January 11th. That made the BCE essentially come with a $350 bonus (if you can spend $2000 on Amazon over a 6 month period). I have no idea if they'll run that promotion again, but it might be worth waiting a little bit if there's a chance.

But again, if you have a use for both, just go for it. It sounds like your profile is strong and there's nothing wrong with a couple of new inquiries and apps for cards you'll use.

kdm31091 · ‎02-12-2017

@Anonymous wrote:
I personally despise Citi - that said, if you do choose that route, I'd recommend the following strategy:

Do not go directly for the DC - they never come with starting bonuses or decent limits. Instead, choose another of their cards that does have a decent bonus, complete the bonus requirements, and THEN product change into the DC. You'll end up with a higher limit and a bit of intro cash in your pocket.

Keep in mind that although this stategy should work, you have to wait a year before Citi will let you product change the card, so you can't do it immediately after collecting the bonus

deltatee · ‎02-12-2017

With your spending, I wouldn't get both cards. The BCE can only be redeemed in $25 increments and as kdm said, the spreading your spend across multiple cards is going to make it that much harder to hit the $25 threshold on Ames. Also, I personally think the BCE is inferior to a flat 2% card for rewards purposes.

As for Citi, there are a lot of people who complaint about how small the limits are and won't grow with them. I know you said you wanted a 2% CB card, but I would personally suggest that instead of the DC, you apply for the Venture or V1 card from capital one, earn the signup bonus, then PC to the Quicksilver. That is what I did with my QS, and in my experience, the Venture miles transfer 1:1 from miles to cents. I was also able to PC from Venture to QS within a couple months of opening my account. I discovered that after taking into account the Venture signup bonus, and the 1.5% rewards on QS, it would take years for the DC to even break even with the QS, let alone become more profitable. That also doesn't take into account the Uber benefits and no FTF on the QS. I suspect with your income and spending, you might find the same to be true for you. Just a suggestion to consider.

Anonymous · ‎02-12-2017

The main reason I was planning to get the BCE was because I saw how people were able to get reasonably good CLs over time, and I thought that it would help keep my utilization low, and help me later on when I graduate. Also, being a student, most of my spend (say 600pm, which means most minimum spends are a bit out of my reach without some planning) is in groceries and Costco. I was just planning to let the cashback build up, I have no hurries in redeeming. The reason I was thinking about the DC is that it is just a no frills credit card, without needing me to hit a minimum spend. Is it a bad card to just hold onto?

Going back to one of my initial questions, is there any advantage to do multiple apps other than letting them age together?

I did look into the Cap1 cards as per your suggestion, the only card which interested me was the QS (the Ventures have way higher minimum spend requirements, and I have no need for a travel card right now anyway). As far as you know, are there any datapoints of people getting the standard QuickSilver with such limited history?

Anonymous · ‎02-12-2017

@Anonymous wrote:
The main reason I was planning to get the BCE was because I saw how people were able to get reasonably good CLs over time, and I thought that it would help keep my utilization low, and help me later on when I graduate. Also, being a student, most of my spend (say 600pm, which means most minimum spends are a bit out of my reach without some planning) is in groceries and Costco. I was just planning to let the cashback build up, I have no hurries in redeeming. The reason I was thinking about the DC is that it is just a no frills credit card, without needing me to hit a minimum spend. Is it a bad card to just hold onto?
Going back to one of my initial questions, is there any advantage to do multiple apps other than letting them age together?
I did look into the Cap1 cards as per your suggestion, the only card which interested me was the QS (the Ventures have way higher minimum spend requirements, and I have no need for a travel card right now anyway). As far as you know, are there any datapoints, of people getting the standard QuickSilver with such limited history?

I got my first QS by product changing a platinum 2.5 months after i got it - so there's that backdoor