Gas card or regular card with rewards?

[kc12286]

I just bought a car, Nissan Versa on Saturday. Pretty excited. Debating whether I should get a gas card (Citgo, Shell, Sunoco if they have one) or a Discover card and use it strictly for gas. I want to apply before I see the hit from my car purchase. I already received a Score Watch alert, which says my score has remained the same. I know I'll take some sort of hit because I was rejected by the major banks but approved by NMAC.

Does anyone have a gas card? Or a Discover card that they use for gas? I was thinking about applying for the Discover Open Road card as it offers double cash back. And for a limited time $50 cash back bonus on gas purchases.

[Anonymous]

I've enjoyed being a customer a PenFed, and they offer 5% rebate on all gas purchases (from any gas station).  That trumps any single gas station card in my books.

[way2evil]

I have a Open Road card and it gets you 2% back on the first $250 on gas every month. Every dollar after that only gets .25% which is stupid. Discover CS is the absolute best though and I will use the card alot just for that.

[visorboy1974]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I've enjoyed being a customer a PenFed, and they offer 5% rebate on all gas purchases (from any gas station).  That trumps any single gas station card in my books.

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You're not going to beat PenFed...plus it doesn't limit the gas stations you can use it at. 

[kc12286]

Looks like Discover can be used at any gas station too.

Great Deal

0.00% Intro Purchase APR for 12 months

then the purchase APR

0.00% Intro Balance Transfer APR for 12 months

then the purchase APR

11.99% - 19.99% Variable Purchase APR

$0.00 Annual Fee

$10 Cashback Bonuson each of your first 5 fill ups of $25 or more during the first 90 days

The promotional award is in addition to the Cashback Bonus earned on all purchases.

Cash Rewards

Double Cashback Bonus at any gas station and any restaurant

5% to 20% Cashback Bonus through our exclusive online shopping mall

Up to 1% Unlimited Cashback Bonus on all other purchases

Rewards just the way you want them. Choose from Partner gift cards, merchandise, Discover gift cards, Charity, or Cash.

And that's for the Open Road card. I plan to strictly use this for gas though. Since I don't always go to Sunoco or Citgo, I'd probably better off with a regular CC.

I don't know that I want to join a CU, which is usually a hard inq in itself and then wait to apply for a CC.  I'd like to do it within the next few days so that I have it by the time I need to fill up. (Gas tank was full when I bought it).

[Walt_K]

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@kc12286 wrote:

Looks like Discover can be used at any gas station too.

Cash Rewards

Double Cashback Bonus at any gas station and any restaurant

5% to 20% Cashback Bonus through our exclusive online shopping mall

Up to 1% Unlimited Cashback Bonus on all other purchases

Rewards just the way you want them. Choose from Partner gift cards, merchandise, Discover gift cards, Charity, or Cash.

And that's for the Open Road card. I plan to strictly use this for gas though. Since I don't always go to Sunoco or Citgo, I'd probably better off with a regular CC.

I don't know that I want to join a CU, which is usually a hard inq in itself and then wait to apply for a CC.  I'd like to do it within the next few days so that I have it by the time I need to fill up. (Gas tank was full when I bought it).

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But it's just double 1% right?  So you're comparing 5% to 2%. Unless you have some other reason to be averse to a CU, having to wait a bit longer doesn't seem like a big deal.  You'd start out-earning the Discover in no time. 

[Travis-84]

Joining a credit union is not that difficult.  I Joined Penfed, then applied for the credit card 5 minutes later.  Its not a hassle at all.  

Another benefit of the penfed card is that the rewards are simple as can be.  Lets say you buy 100.00 in gas, they apply the 5% to the bill, and send you a bill for 95.00.

It doesn't get any better than that.  The only disadvantage is Penfed is extremely conservative.  Its possible even in the 700's to get declined, but many people with scores in the low 700's have been approved. 

[kc12286]

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@Travis-84 wrote:

Joining a credit union is not that difficult.  I Joined Penfed, then applied for the credit card 5 minutes later.  Its not a hassle at all.  

Another benefit of the penfed card is that the rewards are simple as can be.  Lets say you buy 100.00 in gas, they apply the 5% to the bill, and send you a bill for 95.00.

It doesn't get any better than that.  The only disadvantage is Penfed is extremely conservative.  Its possible even in the 700's to get declined, but many people with scores in the low 700's have been approved. 

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I've never joined a CU. I live in NY, there are a bunch of local CUs around me, but since I'm planning to move to the city, it's not worth joining one of them.

According to the finance manager at the dealership my TU is 724 and my EQ was 703. But that was Saturday before she applied to the four banks (all of whom rejected me) and NMAC (who approved me). So I'm sure I took a ding from those declines and possibly a bump from the approval. Scorewatch hasn't listed a score change it still says 704 when I sign in, even though it said 703 when she pulled it EQ. Will applying for the CU and CC be two hard pulls or one?