Helping daughter's fiance... need card advice

[kstmommy]

I'm helping my daughter's fiance establish credit. He's just a couple weeks shy of 6 months of history. No FICO's yet that I know of. Here are his stats...

Income 21k

AAoA - 5mo + 2 weeks

Cap 1 - 07/13 - 0/300 limit

Cap 1 AU - 05/13 - 91/200 (My daughter's secured 1st card)

Kays - 05/13 - 0/400

Checked this morning and he had an Exclusive Offer on CardMatch for the Amex BCP and BCE. I advised them to start with the BCE bc of spending, they're young. Got 14 day message, but 30 seconds later got approval email. Haven't called to check the limit, yet. APR after promo 12.99, pretty decent.

So, I'm thinking since he got approved for the BCE, maybe he should go for one more card. I checked all the preapproval sites, nothing else pops up. I'm thinking the Freedom might be best for rewards? Thoughts?

[GOldfishes]

Freedom would be the right card to app for but i'm not sure I see an approval given the limited history and recent inq

[colinstu]

I don't see Chase approving with such limited history. Might be approved but the limit would be low, probably around $500, which is a shame for such a good looking card.

I'm surprised that Amex approved them... the CL should AT LEAST be $1000, I don't think they have CLs lower than that from what I've seen/heard. Congrats to him!

I think he should hold off for another 6 months, if not maybe try apping for Discover IT... they seem to be more lenient than Chase. Or Citi, they've been really good with me (gave my first highest limit of $1500, and after my CLI spree, my highest CLI too of +$1000 for $2500). 

Good luck! 

[Themanwhocan]

It would be useful to know the credit scores, and unfortunately since they obtained the best terms from American Express, they won't be receiving the credit score when the card arrives.

Still, he did get approved for an Amex. It might be worth waiting 2 months, applying for a 3X credit line increase, then once that increase is updated on the credit reports, then apply for the additional card(s).

He should be able to get a Discover IT card. Probably even a Sallie Mae Rewards card (low monthly spending caps, but multiple 5% categories).

https://www.salliemae.com/landing/WorldCreditCard/

Also check for cards in any other categories where he expects to have a significant amount of periodic spending:

http://boardingarea.com/frequentmiler/2012/11/09/best-category-bonuses/

[09Lexie]

Congratulations to DDF! It would be important to know what type of card he's looking for: rewards, BT, cashback etc? Credit scores would also be helpful.

[kstmommy]

Thank you all so much for the advise. They're both very excited & my daughter a little jealous that she didn't have an Amex preapproval LOL.. Identical stats, but she has 10 inquiries from the few cards she has + cable, cell phone, and she applied for an auto loan without being serious about getting one.

My girl rules the roost with them and she says no more cards, yet. LOL.

[09Lexie]

Probably for the best.

[Creditaddict]

WAIT for the new amex to report and the credit scores to generate then you can probably add chase, citi, and discover all at once then gargen garden garden! would be fantastic group for a year or more.