@LS2982 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Hi everyone,
I'm new to this community, I'm a college student graduating in the near future, and I've always had an interest in personal finance, hence my career choice of accounting. Excuse the length of my post, the real bulk of my actual question is lower down the page, but I feel the background is relevant so here goes...
I'm starting to really get all my ducks in a row, and this includes cutting expenses. Cutting expenses may mean closing out the AMEX Gold card account that I've had for about 2 years now, because I really don't spend enough to justify the $125/year fee. But first, let me give a bit of background:
My only two sources of credit history are my current AMEX Gold card that I've had since 2011, and a past BoA card from 2009 that was a joint account with a parent. I believe I am off of this now, and the account might be in fact closed. There are actually two listed on the MyFico report, one that says its been terminated and one that says there has been no activity since 2009. I did a MyFico and CreditKarma check and both have me at 691. I'm assuming what's mostly against me here is my age, and also it looks like the BoA card was at one point late, but again, excuse my ignorance on this because I was 16 at the time so my parent was handling it, it was just an emergency card for me. But anyway, I'm never late on my charge card, so I'm assuming the only things against me are my short history and that one late payment that I got associated with.
I'm starting to babble, sorry. Back to my real question here:
Lately I've been contemplating closing my charge card. I really don't think its necessary to be paying that amount of a fee to spend as little as I do. However, I don't want to close out an account if its going to hurt my credit score, which seems to be sort of fragile at my age. Plus, as much as I dislike the fee, I do like the ability to charge large amounts with essentially no limit when necessary, for example when I had eye surgery that was covered by insurance, instead of walking around with $5000, I just put it on my AMEX. On top of that I love the customer service and non-points related benefits of AMEX.
So this is what I was thinking, opening up another account with them for the Blue Cash Rewards credit card. I figure this will help me in a couple of ways:
1. From what I understand, AMEX back dates to your earliest account? This will help my AAoA. This will also give me the ability to later close the Gold card and still have a long history.
2. It will give me a credit mix, with one Credit Card and one Charge Card.
3. From what I understand, charge cards don't go into utilization, so I can have a very low balance on my credit card, and then if I need to charge large things to my Gold card. This will give me a utilization score, which I basically don't have right now, and a good one at that.
This doesn't really solve my problem of the fee I feel like is unneccessary, but if my thinking is correct, by opening another card with AMEX now, it will give me the option to cancel the Gold card in the future with basically no real penalty.
So quick recap,
Option A: Carry on as normal
Option B: Close Gold card, open a credit card, probably AMEX Blue or one with a bank
Option C: Keep Gold card, open Blue card, with possibility of closing Gold card later.
What do you all recommend for my situation to best help my credit score?
Thanks in advance!
Welcome to the forums!!!!
I would suggest keeping the PRG because it is a NPSL card and does not affect utilization. Go ahead and app for the BCE. With 2 years of flawless history with AMEX you should be approved instantly.
Can't say what kind of CL you will get, but 2K seems to be the norm starting out with AMEX revolvers and a thin file.
Good luck to you!!
- He has a gold, the PRG annual fee is worst, 175, his AF is 125.
- It does affect utilization on the TU98.
- It is a NPSL (a limit that is adjusted frequently based on his spending habits), but why does that give reason to pay an AF of 125?
@angelnyc wrote:
@LS2982 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Hi everyone,
I'm new to this community, I'm a college student graduating in the near future, and I've always had an interest in personal finance, hence my career choice of accounting. Excuse the length of my post, the real bulk of my actual question is lower down the page, but I feel the background is relevant so here goes...
I'm starting to really get all my ducks in a row, and this includes cutting expenses. Cutting expenses may mean closing out the AMEX Gold card account that I've had for about 2 years now, because I really don't spend enough to justify the $125/year fee. But first, let me give a bit of background:
My only two sources of credit history are my current AMEX Gold card that I've had since 2011, and a past BoA card from 2009 that was a joint account with a parent. I believe I am off of this now, and the account might be in fact closed. There are actually two listed on the MyFico report, one that says its been terminated and one that says there has been no activity since 2009. I did a MyFico and CreditKarma check and both have me at 691. I'm assuming what's mostly against me here is my age, and also it looks like the BoA card was at one point late, but again, excuse my ignorance on this because I was 16 at the time so my parent was handling it, it was just an emergency card for me. But anyway, I'm never late on my charge card, so I'm assuming the only things against me are my short history and that one late payment that I got associated with.
I'm starting to babble, sorry. Back to my real question here:
Lately I've been contemplating closing my charge card. I really don't think its necessary to be paying that amount of a fee to spend as little as I do. However, I don't want to close out an account if its going to hurt my credit score, which seems to be sort of fragile at my age. Plus, as much as I dislike the fee, I do like the ability to charge large amounts with essentially no limit when necessary, for example when I had eye surgery that was covered by insurance, instead of walking around with $5000, I just put it on my AMEX. On top of that I love the customer service and non-points related benefits of AMEX.
So this is what I was thinking, opening up another account with them for the Blue Cash Rewards credit card. I figure this will help me in a couple of ways:
1. From what I understand, AMEX back dates to your earliest account? This will help my AAoA. This will also give me the ability to later close the Gold card and still have a long history.
2. It will give me a credit mix, with one Credit Card and one Charge Card.
3. From what I understand, charge cards don't go into utilization, so I can have a very low balance on my credit card, and then if I need to charge large things to my Gold card. This will give me a utilization score, which I basically don't have right now, and a good one at that.
This doesn't really solve my problem of the fee I feel like is unneccessary, but if my thinking is correct, by opening another card with AMEX now, it will give me the option to cancel the Gold card in the future with basically no real penalty.
So quick recap,
Option A: Carry on as normal
Option B: Close Gold card, open a credit card, probably AMEX Blue or one with a bank
Option C: Keep Gold card, open Blue card, with possibility of closing Gold card later.
What do you all recommend for my situation to best help my credit score?
Thanks in advance!
Welcome to the forums!!!!
I would suggest keeping the PRG because it is a NPSL card and does not affect utilization. Go ahead and app for the BCE. With 2 years of flawless history with AMEX you should be approved instantly.
Can't say what kind of CL you will get, but 2K seems to be the norm starting out with AMEX revolvers and a thin file.
Good luck to you!!
- He has a gold, the PRG annual fee is worst, 175, his AF is 125. He's paid the AF for 2 years now whats the difference? He's already said he likes the NPSL side of the card.
- It does affect utilization on the TU98. Which is pretty much outdated and a useless score.
- It is a NPSL (a limit that is adjusted frequently based on his spending habits), but why does that give reason to pay an AF of 125? If the OP uses the card alot and uses the points wisely it will be worth it.
@LS2982 wrote:
@angelnyc wrote:
@LS2982 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Hi everyone,
I'm new to this community, I'm a college student graduating in the near future, and I've always had an interest in personal finance, hence my career choice of accounting. Excuse the length of my post, the real bulk of my actual question is lower down the page, but I feel the background is relevant so here goes...
I'm starting to really get all my ducks in a row, and this includes cutting expenses. Cutting expenses may mean closing out the AMEX Gold card account that I've had for about 2 years now, because I really don't spend enough to justify the $125/year fee. But first, let me give a bit of background:
My only two sources of credit history are my current AMEX Gold card that I've had since 2011, and a past BoA card from 2009 that was a joint account with a parent. I believe I am off of this now, and the account might be in fact closed. There are actually two listed on the MyFico report, one that says its been terminated and one that says there has been no activity since 2009. I did a MyFico and CreditKarma check and both have me at 691. I'm assuming what's mostly against me here is my age, and also it looks like the BoA card was at one point late, but again, excuse my ignorance on this because I was 16 at the time so my parent was handling it, it was just an emergency card for me. But anyway, I'm never late on my charge card, so I'm assuming the only things against me are my short history and that one late payment that I got associated with.
I'm starting to babble, sorry. Back to my real question here:
Lately I've been contemplating closing my charge card. I really don't think its necessary to be paying that amount of a fee to spend as little as I do. However, I don't want to close out an account if its going to hurt my credit score, which seems to be sort of fragile at my age. Plus, as much as I dislike the fee, I do like the ability to charge large amounts with essentially no limit when necessary, for example when I had eye surgery that was covered by insurance, instead of walking around with $5000, I just put it on my AMEX. On top of that I love the customer service and non-points related benefits of AMEX.
So this is what I was thinking, opening up another account with them for the Blue Cash Rewards credit card. I figure this will help me in a couple of ways:
1. From what I understand, AMEX back dates to your earliest account? This will help my AAoA. This will also give me the ability to later close the Gold card and still have a long history.
2. It will give me a credit mix, with one Credit Card and one Charge Card.
3. From what I understand, charge cards don't go into utilization, so I can have a very low balance on my credit card, and then if I need to charge large things to my Gold card. This will give me a utilization score, which I basically don't have right now, and a good one at that.
This doesn't really solve my problem of the fee I feel like is unneccessary, but if my thinking is correct, by opening another card with AMEX now, it will give me the option to cancel the Gold card in the future with basically no real penalty.
So quick recap,
Option A: Carry on as normal
Option B: Close Gold card, open a credit card, probably AMEX Blue or one with a bank
Option C: Keep Gold card, open Blue card, with possibility of closing Gold card later.
What do you all recommend for my situation to best help my credit score?
Thanks in advance!
Welcome to the forums!!!!
I would suggest keeping the PRG because it is a NPSL card and does not affect utilization. Go ahead and app for the BCE. With 2 years of flawless history with AMEX you should be approved instantly.
Can't say what kind of CL you will get, but 2K seems to be the norm starting out with AMEX revolvers and a thin file.
Good luck to you!!
- He has a gold, the PRG annual fee is worst, 175, his AF is 125. He's paid the AF for 2 years now whats the difference? He's already said he likes the NPSL side of the card.
- It does affect utilization on the TU98. Which is pretty much outdated and a useless score.
- It is a NPSL (a limit that is adjusted frequently based on his spending habits), but why does that give reason to pay an AF of 125? If the OP uses the card alot and uses the points wisely it will be worth it.
LOL Red seriously?
Listen he is a young student closing in on his graduation, I am trying to HELP this person make right decisions so lets remember to keep that the agenda.
- He has a gold, the PRG annual fee is worst, 175, his AF is 125. He's paid the AF for 2 years now whats the difference? He's already said he likes the NPSL side of the card.
So historically he has expended already 250 dollars in AFs, it's not about difference but why should he keep paying more if he gets approved for the revolver, the OP already said he likes NPSL, but hence why I explained to OP what NPSL entails and perhaps why it is not a good enough reason to keep paying an AF.
2. It does affect utilization on the TU98. Which is pretty much outdated and a useless score.
The OP however has the right to know. You may conceive it however you may but it is still being used and the OP has the right to be informed of where it is being used as opposed to just telling the OP it does not affect utilization like your previous post, that would just be plain wrong.
3. It is a NPSL (a limit that is adjusted frequently based on his spending habits), but why does that give reason to pay an AF of 125? If the OP uses the card alot and uses the points wisely it will be worth it.
The OP has to spend an excess of over 35K annually to make back the annual fee of a PRG card... remember the OP is still a college student. Now remember from post 1 your question of what is the difference? The gold card has worst reward structure then PRG, so it will be even more difficult for the OP to make that annual fee back with that reward system, which is why many gold card members (who really have the means of spending annually that much) switch to the PRG.
@artvandalay wrote:Very original user name...
Mine is spelled right 
haha, jk. Always nice to encounter a fellow Seinhead!
Sorry that I'm not replying individually guys, but I'm not sure how to multi-quote on these forums yet. Which reminds me, first off let me just say I'm a member of a ton of forums like this, and its always so much greater when there's quick, helpful responses and active members, and this definitely seems to fit the criteria so far!
@Creditseeker93: Thanks, that is pretty sound advice. Are you suggesting to look into the Chase Freedom on top of the BCE? Just want to clarify. Will this be too much new credit opening in a short period?
@angelnyc: Can you clarify what you mean by this a little bit, sorry I'm a bit confused on it..
- "When you use your charge card whatever POSTS is your utilization, if it is your first posted balance it is just straight debt, after you pay it, that posted balance will be use as a criteria for the credit portion of credit to debt ratio.
- The work around to #4 is charge everything to your credit card, pay off whatever goes over the debt - utilization ratio you don't like immediately, then let your closing date post on the ratio you favor."
@LS2982: Thank you for the advice, and as someone else has already said, I just have the regular Gold card. I would upgrade to get better points, but if I'm already going for the BCE, it makes no sense to have both, as I really only spend enough to get points from one card. As it stands, I only have like 23,000 points over my entire history, and probably 35% of that is random large purchases that I hope to never have to make again (like eye surgery lol).
@ryanbush: I considered that as well, and I have to look harder into the differences between the Gold and the Green to see if it makes sense. Thanks
Also, another random question. Say I get the BCE and get a $2000 limit. The point system on that card is better than my Gold card, especially because groceries and gas are my primary purchases. If I spent, hypothetically, $1000 on my BCE within my bill cycle, and then paid it down to the 9% mark BEFORE the bill closed, in this case $180, would it only count as a 9% utilitzation? Or would it be 50%?. I've heard this before and I don't know if its a myth or a real thing lol. I'm still learning here.
@Anonymous wrote:
@artvandalay wrote:Very original user name...
Mine is spelled right
Sorry that I'm not replying individually guys, but I'm not sure how to multi-quote on these forums yet. Which reminds me, first off let me just say I'm a member of a ton of forums like this, and its always so much greater when there's quick, helpful responses and active members, and this definitely seems to fit the criteria so far!
@Creditseeker93: Thanks, that is pretty sound advice. Are you suggesting to look into the Chase Freedom on top of the BCE? Just want to clarify. Will this be too much new credit opening in a short period?
@angelnyc: Can you clarify what you mean by this a little bit, sorry I'm a bit confused on it..
- "When you use your charge card whatever POSTS is your utilization, if it is your first posted balance it is just straight debt, after you pay it, that posted balance will be use as a criteria for the credit portion of credit to debt ratio.
- The work around to #4 is charge everything to your credit card, pay off whatever goes over the debt - utilization ratio you don't like immediately, then let your closing date post on the ratio you favor."
@LS2982: Thank you for the advice, and as someone else has already said, I just have the regular Gold card. I would upgrade to get better points, but if I'm already going for the BCE, it makes no sense to have both, as I really only spend enough to get points from one card. As it stands, I only have like 23,000 points over my entire history, and probably 35% of that is random large purchases that I hope to never have to make again (like eye surgery lol).
@ryanbush: I considered that as well, and I have to look harder into the differences between the Gold and the Green to see if it makes sense. Thanks
Also, another random question. Say I get the BCE and get a $2000 limit. The point system on that card is better than my Gold card, especially because groceries and gas are my primary purchases. If I spent, hypothetically, $1000 on my BCE within my bill cycle, and then paid it down to the 9% mark BEFORE the bill closed, in this case $180, would it only count as a 9% utilitzation? Or would it be 50%?. I've heard this before and I don't know if its a myth or a real thing lol. I'm still learning here.
You are absolutely correct about paying it down before the closing date, that is why I suggested that strategy to you, what will report is the balances on the closing date. That answers your question to elaborate on the tid bit I gave you, you just answered it yourself 
angelnyc wrote:
You are absolutely correct about paying it down before the closing date, that is why I suggested that strategy to you, what will report is the balances on the closing date. That answers your question to elaborate on the tid bit I gave you, you just answered it yourself
That's what I thought you meant, just making sure! Thanks!
What does everyone think about CreditSeeker93's suggestion about the Chase Freedom card on top of the BCE? Bad idea, good idea? I guess it will increase my avaliable credit and in turn utilization, but that also would be two credit applications in a pretty short amount of time.
Also, would you guys consider my credit score good considering my age and what not? I tried to compare with peers, but no one in my close circle of friends has a credit card, and only one has any credit at all, in the form of an auto loan.
@Anonymous wrote:@angelnyc wrote:
You are absolutely correct about paying it down before the closing date, that is why I suggested that strategy to you, what will report is the balances on the closing date. That answers your question to elaborate on the tid bit I gave you, you just answered it yourself
That's what I thought you meant, just making sure! Thanks!
What does everyone think about CreditSeeker93's suggestion about the Chase Freedom card on top of the BCE? Bad idea, good idea? I guess it will increase my avaliable credit and in turn utilization, but that also would be two credit applications in a pretty short amount of time.
Also, would you guys consider my credit score good considering my age and what not? I tried to compare with peers, but no one in my close circle of friends has a credit card, and only one has any credit at all, in the form of an auto loan.
It's a sound suggestion if you don't mind having to maintain rotating categories every quarter of the year. You are right, it will increase your total credit as well. For your age to be close to 700 is descent, you have many years ahead of you to build a very respectable credit score, just make sure to do it on your terms and your way, get the credit cards you want and will work for you, then hold them. Every now and then do a credit increase on the cards you happily stayed with, and you'll be just fine.