I have thought about the Forward card for a while because it has 5X points on restaurants and I spent over $3,000 at restaurants through the first 11 months of this year. That's over $150 in rewards I missed out on.
Now that both the Freedom and Discover 5% categories have been released, I have decided that only the Freedom is really going to benefit my spending needs given the 2 quarters with 5% on gas, and the first quarter with restaurants at 5%. I will be applying for this in late December, and not applying for the Discover. With that, I have an open space in my wallet for the year to help maximize my rewards. So this is where the Forward comes in.
A couple questions are: does an application for the Forward in March (as the Freedom 5% is expiring) fit my card needs from what you all can tell? I plan to use the rewards on my student loans. What are the underwriting standards? I haven't seen a lot of discussion on this, but most of the people on the forum who have the non-student Forward have scores in the 700s with multiple years of history. What are my chances? Any comments on the Forward card or Citi overall?
My profile:
Over 4 years AAoA on all 3 bureaus
Will hit 6 months history with my only credit card (Capital One $3,000 limit) on December 15. Currently 8% Utilization. I always PIF.
Multiple student loans reporting on each bureau. Also a 28 month car loan.
No baddies - everything paying as agreed.
2 INQs on each report as well, all will be 6 months old in December. Since I plan to apply for Amex BCP (perhaps a long shot) and Chase Freedom in December, there will by additional INQs, and possibly new accounts reporting.
Income of $60K
Credit Score was 700 in June (don't know what bureau, per Capital One pull). Score should be higher now, especially with a new mix of credit and new available credit of over $3,000
I think you have a good chance for the Forward. Citi's TY points can be a little confusing due to different redemption rates (some gift cards are worth more than others, cashback is not worth a lot, etc.) though, but I heard its decent for student loan payments. I think the card will be a good fit for you since you spend a lot at restaurants. The points add up really fast...I got more than 10k TY points after my first statement due to heavy use, lol!
Also, Amazon counts as a "bookstore" so you get 5x points on Amazon too!
SnackTrader wrote:
Thanks! I didn't know that, that will be a nice added feature.
Your 10K TY points were probably from the sign up bonus + paperless statement bonus. Unless you spent $2,000 at amazon.
It wasn't from the signup bonus; I applied for the student version and had no signup bonus. I indeed did spend a lot at Amazon, bought a TV and upgraded some equipment. 
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