Looking to add to my foundation....

[Tg123]

I just hit 13 months on my citi forward and have doubled my cl to $1600. I am looking at apping for either zync and freedom, or zync and citi aadvantage. I have been receiving the offers from American Airlines and I do fly with them predominantly. I am looking for advice on the cards and would greatly appreciate it.

[FrugalRican]

Probably better served by at least knowing what your credit score looks like.

Personally, I'd say Zync, to get the in with AMEX.

If you fly mostly with AA, then you could go with the Citi AAdvantage as well.

I'd leave Freedom as third option, unless you have a checking with them or a card with a higher limit than $1,600. They seem to enjoy matching credit limits sometimes and then are hard to increase with.

Do you have any negs/baddies?

[Crashem]

You for sure want to get 3 open revolving trade lines going.  Are you only at 1 currently?  Your credit score and income would be helpful in giving any advice.

[Tg123]

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@FrugalRican wrote:

Probably better served by at least knowing what your credit score looks like.

Personally, I'd say Zync, to get the in with AMEX.

If you fly mostly with AA, then you could go with the Citi AAdvantage as well.

I'd leave Freedom as third option, unless you have a checking with them or a card with a higher limit than $1,600. They seem to enjoy matching credit limits sometimes and then are hard to increase with.

Do you have any negs/baddies?

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My CreditKarma is 701. I am an AU on Amex TE with $8000 cl and on BofA Plantinum Visa $25000 cl. My AAoA is 3 years 4 months and my average util is 5%

[Tg123]

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@Crashem wrote:

You for sure want to get 3 open revolving trade lines going.  Are you only at 1 currently?  Your credit score and income would be helpful in giving any advice.

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I am a student so my forward card was a big step for me as a first card with no other history. My current income is 15k. I would like to stick with prime cards

[Crashem]

AMEX used to have more student cards.  But not any more.  So they will see you as a 15k Annual income guy.  However given your current relationship with AMEX (through AU), it might be worth apping.  I wouldn't apply for any other AMEX as rejection is likely.

Personally, if I was you, I would stick to the student cards.  As a student card candidate, you look ideal with some income and good credit history.  As a regular candidate, you look somewhat questionable.

However, your Credit Karma score is interesting but not really useful as it isn't a FICO score.  The credit karma score could be spot on to your FICO or 100 points in either direction.

Forget about the Prime card thing.  It doesn't really mean anything.  You need 3 open revolving TLs to build your credit faster which will allow you to get whatever cards you want in the future.  What you should be worrying about is getting cards that have no AF (unless you really love the card/issuer) and best suits your credit goals.  But get 3 going.  If I was advising you a year ago, I would have told you to have gotten 3 back then.  Then it would be hardly any question that you could qualify for AMEX now.

Given all that: App for a Zync.  Whether you are accepted or denied, be prepared to app for a couple more cards.  If you get rejected on Zync, do a student card and maybe a store/gas card (something you might use).  If you are accepted, you could consider a non student card that you would like that isn't too hard to get.

[bribro]

I would get the AmEx first for backdating purposes. Wait for a good $300+ Freedom sign-up bonus to apply.

[merlin8r]

It's my understanding that Amex no longer backdates AU accounts and hasn't for a while.   First hand experience.  I got a card from them last month and it backdated and reported me as "April 1983".  However, my wife is an AU on this account and it shows on her report as opened "April 2012".

Also, my credit karma score dropped from 710 to 681 after this account showed up.  I know, I know, but I added 29 years to my AAoA, how could this be?  It also showed a zero balance and nothing else in the report changed.  As others have stated, don't even bother with the FAKO score, my TU98 (myfico) jumped to 795 on the same day. 

[Tg123]

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@Crashem wrote:

AMEX used to have more student cards.  But not any more.  So they will see you as a 15k Annual income guy.  However given your current relationship with AMEX (through AU), it might be worth apping.  I wouldn't apply for any other AMEX as rejection is likely.

Personally, if I was you, I would stick to the student cards.  As a student card candidate, you look ideal with some income and good credit history.  As a regular candidate, you look somewhat questionable.

However, your Credit Karma score is interesting but not really useful as it isn't a FICO score.  The credit karma score could be spot on to your FICO or 100 points in either direction.

Forget about the Prime card thing.  It doesn't really mean anything.  You need 3 open revolving TLs to build your credit faster which will allow you to get whatever cards you want in the future.  What you should be worrying about is getting cards that have no AF (unless you really love the card/issuer) and best suits your credit goals.  But get 3 going.  If I was advising you a year ago, I would have told you to have gotten 3 back then.  Then it would be hardly any question that you could qualify for AMEX now.

Given all that: App for a Zync.  Whether you are accepted or denied, be prepared to app for a couple more cards.  If you get rejected on Zync, do a student card and maybe a store/gas card (something you might use).  If you are accepted, you could consider a non student card that you would like that isn't too hard to get.

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Does it matter that I have the regular forward card and not the student version?

[Tg123]

Since I just doubled my cl to $1600 should I wait till it shows up on my report as $1600 before apping or app even though it is still showing $800