Hi Improvingmycredit,
When is that new mastercard supposed to come out? The nearest Sam's Club to me is over an hour away unfortunately, plus I don't ever shop in bulk, 50% of the time it's just me, so is it still worth it to get a $45 membership just to be able to get this card over the AMEX BCP? Will there be a sign on bonus with this card? I spend more money on food than I do on gas, ($450+ in food vs $200 in gas a month) so I'm weighing the total benefits of each card. Amex 6% cash back on supermarkets/groceries, $150 cash reward for sign up, you can technically buy gift cards at the grocery store to a lot of other stores, including restaurants and amazon and still get the 6% cash back. I'm not sure the Sam's Club card would be better for me.
I think it's still between the AMEX BCP and the Sallie Mae. Sallie Mae 5% back on gas is great. Maybe it's good to get both cards eventually? Get one now and get the other in 6 months to a year?
I'm also interested in learning how the backdating works with AMEX and how it would benefit me. I have very short credit history at 33 years old, because I'm from the Caribbean and didn't start having a credit file until I was 22 or so. My longest TL is only 7 years, and I only have that and my car loan. So if I get AMEX now, anything new in the future can be backdated right? I'm not really clear on this.
@islandgirl759 wrote:Hi Improvingmycredit,
When is that new mastercard supposed to come out? The nearest Sam's Club to me is over an hour away unfortunately, plus I don't ever shop in bulk, 50% of the time it's just me, so is it still worth it to get a $45 membership just to be able to get this card over the AMEX BCP? Will there be a sign on bonus with this card? I spend more money on food than I do on gas, ($450+ in food vs $200 in gas a month) so I'm weighing the total benefits of each card. Amex 6% cash back on supermarkets/groceries, $150 cash reward for sign up, you can technically buy gift cards at the grocery store to a lot of other stores, including restaurants and amazon and still get the 6% cash back. I'm not sure the Sam's Club card would be better for me.
I think it's still between the AMEX BCP and the Sallie Mae. Sallie Mae 5% back on gas is great. Maybe it's good to get both cards eventually? Get one now and get the other in 6 months to a year?
I'm also interested in learning how the backdating works with AMEX and how it would benefit me. I have very short credit history at 33 years old, because I'm from the Caribbean and didn't start having a credit file until I was 22 or so. My longest TL is only 7 years, and I only have that and my car loan. So if I get AMEX now, anything new in the future can be backdated right? I'm not really clear on this.
Just so you know in most instances 2x SM is better than BCP , there is an spreadhsheet somehwere in these forums that show the breakpoints.
Does that mean getting 2 identical Sallie Mae cards vs. one SM and one Amex?
@islandgirl759 wrote:Does that mean getting 2 identical Sallie Mae cards vs. one SM and one Amex?
2x SM vs 1 BCP. In most cases the 2x SM beats out the 1 BCP
@islandgirl759 wrote:Hi Improvingmycredit,
When is that new mastercard supposed to come out? The nearest Sam's Club to me is over an hour away unfortunately, plus I don't ever shop in bulk, 50% of the time it's just me, so is it still worth it to get a $45 membership just to be able to get this card over the AMEX BCP? Will there be a sign on bonus with this card? I spend more money on food than I do on gas, ($450+ in food vs $200 in gas a month) so I'm weighing the total benefits of each card. Amex 6% cash back on supermarkets/groceries, $150 cash reward for sign up, you can technically buy gift cards at the grocery store to a lot of other stores, including restaurants and amazon and still get the 6% cash back. I'm not sure the Sam's Club card would be better for me.
I think it's still between the AMEX BCP and the Sallie Mae. Sallie Mae 5% back on gas is great. Maybe it's good to get both cards eventually? Get one now and get the other in 6 months to a year?
I'm also interested in learning how the backdating works with AMEX and how it would benefit me. I have very short credit history at 33 years old, because I'm from the Caribbean and didn't start having a credit file until I was 22 or so. My longest TL is only 7 years, and I only have that and my car loan. So if I get AMEX now, anything new in the future can be backdated right? I'm not really clear on this.
Hey islandgirl759!
Being that there is no Sam's Club near you.. probably not a viable choice for you. 
It would be a waste of an AF to Sam's Club to not be able to use the facility. Still a great rewards card though. You might want to look at BCP and SM together as an option. I don't spend a lot in groceries but I do eat out a lot along with gas expenditures.. this card (BCP) works very well for me because of the gift card for restaurants at the grocery store option at 6% rewards. What's really cool is here in East TN, Kroger offers extra points for gas purchases at Shell so I get to triple dip. Discounts off gas for my gift card purchases and 6% rewards to my BCP for groceries and 3% back for gas purchases.
With regards to backdating... how it works.. Once a card member with Amex, always a card member with Amex. So once your membership date starts, any subsequent new CLs with Amex will be backdated to the year you opened your first card. This is a great benefit for AAoA in the future if they have a product that better suits you as your lifestyle changes or your spending habits change.
Starting Score: 642Thanks for all the advice everyone. I ended up applying for the Discover It card, and got approved with a $3500 limit right away. Then I just recently applied for the Citi Simplicity card and initially got approved for $500, but I requested a CLI once the card came in the mail and got them to increase it to $5000! Between these two cards and a CLI on my BofA rewards card to $6500 I have enough available credit to upgrade my photography gear for my business, and still keep my CC utilization low. Discover has 0% for 14 months and Citi has 0% for 18 months, so I plan to split the upgrade over these 2 cards and pay it off before the 0% runs out. I will probably spend around $4000 out of the $15000, which will make my utilization around 27% is that correct?
I went with Discover It and Citi Simplicity Cards instead. I get good rewards from BofA and Discover now, so I'm done applying for cards for right now. I have more than enough inquiries between these new ones and buying a new car last month 
@islandgirl759 wrote:I went with Discover It and Citi Simplicity Cards instead. I get good rewards from BofA and Discover now, so I'm done applying for cards for right now. I have more than enough inquiries between these new ones and buying a new car last month
congrats on the new cards, if you wanted to wait 3 months, and if you think you may ever want another AMEX card, I would apply for the AMEX prg (first year APR is $0) and set your membership date before the end of the year. You most likely would of gotten the AMEX revolver of your choice because with a nearly clean report and a 751 and a card that is 7 years old, approval is almost guaranteed. I got my amex revolver with a 720 EX score and my AAoA was just over 1 year.