Hi all,
So thanks to the advice of people here (and stupid USAA- at least as far as keeping my business to themselves) I now have:
USAA MC - $24k
USAA Amex - $14k
PenFed Visa - $9,500 (assuming nothing goes wrong and it shows up in my mailbox next week)
(VS store card, AU on a few of my mother's cards)
So, should I complete the group with a Discover card? I figured I can do gas on PenFed (running ~$140/mo), Cell phone on Amex (thanks to the iPhone, this is running ~$80/mo on it), and "personal fun" on the MC (running ~$100/mo)...however, I don't know what I'd put on the Discover or which one to get or whatnot...
My current scores were quite high, but they might drop with this newest inq from PenFed....and I always PIF but I still want a reasonable (<15%) APR and fairly high (>$5,000) limit.
Other considerations:
I had 2 inq - one will be 1 yr old at the end of June, the other at the end of Sept.
I will be going back to school in Aug so household income will drop (again, not a problem as far as I'm concerned but the CC companies don't see it that way)
I am an AU on my mother's Discover but I don't want to count AU cards...
So I'm throwing it as a vote to y'all...should I get a Discover? If so, which one? Thanks! (If I don't get one now, the next time will probably be 3-4 more years, once I'm out of school and have income again.)
Starting Score: 799
Thanks for the input everyone - honestly the stupid answer is that I want 1 of each of the big four....
That being said, pratically, some months I buy airline tickets (not enough to warrent a CC for that) and in those cases, I'd want to use one of my rewards cards, and would thus use the Discover to take the place of whatever other card I used (to minimize a large amount on any one card).
Also, the categories are attractive to me - if I do need the airfare and it happens to be a 5% month, I could put it on the discover instead of another card - thus earning more back...same for home improvement and other categories.
Finally, all my other cards are through a CU/CU like bank (USAA) - I would like a card NOT tied to a bank just in case my relationship with them soured.
But I think probably I should wait until I'm done with school and back to earning real money just to test juggling 3 cards and see where the Discover would really fit in so thanks for the input everyone - sometimes I think we all need to be grounded!
Peach--the others' advice is good. If you don't see a definite need for Disc, best not to apply. Another way to look at it is to see your total spending for the year and calculate $ gained/lost by having/not having the card. I did this exercise with Amex/PenFed. if the difference is enough to make you regreat not having the card, that is a strong indicator. Your idea about spreading out the relationships is good, but it looks like you have at least two different actual lenders. if your scores stay high, you should have not problem replacing one or two immediately should a relationship sour.
While it's not one of the "Big 4", if you feel compelled to get one more, I'd go for the Nationwide Visa. With your current scores & such, you'll be approved with no sweat!
They give you 6 mos 0% int, very reasonable int after that. Mine is 10k limit, 11% int with scores lower than yours & 48% util at time of approval. This card also gives 0% int for 12 mos on any automotive related purchase. This can be anything from gas to a paint job! Every purchase starts it's own 12 mo timeframe.
Just a suggestion....
