Credit Cards

[thrasher865]

Howdy, I just signed up here at myfico.  I've been monitoring my credit using the annualcreditreport.com every 4 months and decided that just wasn't adequate any more and I'd like to keep a more active eye on my score.

I'm in college, so I can't afford more than to track my Equifax score, which I now know is sitting at 714

Anyway, I've financed a motorcycle and a bed and have had one credit card through my bank at FirstTennessee for overdraft protection.  So, my credit history is pretty limited.

I think the AMEX blue may have been a poor choice for me, being in college.  But I did use the Blue cash calculator on their site and I should be able to pull into the "bonus" cashback reward zones over the course of a year pretty easily.

I plan on setting up billpay for my rent and utilities and paying in full every month.

I just hope I can avoid this feeling I'm getting from these forums that credit cards are an addictive substance, and this may be a gateway drug to some debt

So that was a needlessly pointless post to get to the reason I made a topic to begin with, which is:

WOO I'm excited.  It feels like my first real credit card    Only a $2000 CL but it's a start.

My original card has been bumped from $500 to $800 to $1100 whoopeedoo  lol

So, lets hear from somebody thats got some experience with AMEX blue cash.  Satisfied?

[haulingthescoreup]

Hi, thrasher, welcome to the forums! (go Vols!)

Very nice work with the scores. It's always good to hear from college students who haven't destroyed their credit by the end of their freshman year.

I don't have Blue Cash, so I'll let others give you specific tips, but if it's the only card you use, and if you can cram everything on it possible, it should work out. Just realize that once you do hit $6500, the higher rates aren't retroactive; they just kick in from that point. And then at the end of the 12-month cycle, you start all over again.

If you do find that it's really not paying you back as you would like, you can do a swap for a different card, like Blue Sky, which is great if you travel a lot. The magic phrase is "product change."

If you haven't picked up on this so far, be sure to never carry a balance on an American Express card --even the "revolvers", credit cards like Blue Cash, are only safe for maybe 3 months max. And keep your balance down pretty low if you do.

Congrats, and I'll get out of the way for the Blue Cash people. I know Timothy has one, and I've blanked out on who else.

[Heavy-Handed]

OP - Hauling is right treat your Amex revolving cards like their charge cards i.e. PIF every month.  I converted to Blue from Delta Skymiles with $2700 cl in October.  Love buttoned to $20k in 3 months before they changed their CLI policies.  I PIF every month and have run up to $16k in a month(company reimbursed travel, etc).

Blue Cash has a cool Cash Tracker feature that compares you spending patterns vs. other customers.  It's also interactive and allows you to simulate different spending scenarios and calculates projected Cashback $$.  Also shows you your anniversary statement date when your cashback $$ get credited to your account. 

[thrasher865]

Thanks for the warm welcome.  I could have half that $6500 taken care of just by rent if I could set up billpay to my landlord sigh....  in a perfect world

anyway, I definitely intend to PIF every month

Any particular reason that it's especially important to PIF on AMEX cards?  Do they typically give higher rates?  Or are they extremely harsh on delinquent customers?

[athensguy]

They are classically a charge card PIF only type company. When they started issuing more revolvers, they started to get cold feet when people were carrying balances, so if you revolve too much, they will take AA even though you haven't violated any terms.

[FretlessMayhem]

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thrasher865 wrote:

Thanks for the warm welcome. I could have half that $6500 taken care of just by rent if I could set up billpay to my landlord sigh.... in a perfect world

anyway, I definitely intend to PIF every month

Any particular reason that it's especially important to PIF on AMEX cards? Do they typically give higher rates? Or are they extremely harsh on delinquent customers?

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I am also trying to figure out how I can pay my mortgage on one of my CCs. I'm missing out on some serious cash back every month writing a check.

[missfrustration]

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erchambers wrote:
They are classically a charge card PIF only type company. When they started issuing more revolvers, they started to get cold feet when people were carrying balances, so if you revolve too much, they will take AA even though you haven't violated any terms.

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Is this true even during the promotional 0% APR period? Because I do intend to take advantage of that promotion, otherwise what is it for? Maybe 50% util on a 7K line (overall util would still be at 10% with that).

[thrasher865]

Does this mean that I shouldn't BT my $600 balance from my other card to take advantage of the lower rate offered by the Blue Cash on transfers?

Also, I know I'm a total credit card newb, but where are they making money if I PIF every month on a card with no annual fee that's offering me cash back rewards?

Message Edited by thrasher865 on 05-22-2008 07:18 AM

[athensguy]

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missfrustration wrote:
Is this true even during the promotional 0% APR period? Because I do intend to take advantage of that promotion, otherwise what is it for? Maybe 50% util on a 7K line (overall util would still be at 10% with that).

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From what I have seen on here, whether promotional or not, Amex doesn't appear to be happy with revolving a balance for more than three months.

[haulingthescoreup]

While CCC's are generally happy to make money off of charging you interest for unpaid balances each month, they actually make money off of every purchase by what's called a transaction fee. This is why AmEx in particular loves having their cards used a lot. (They and Discover get higher fees than Vis and MC, which is mainly why not everyone takes them.)

I never carry balances, except on a 0% BT card from Bank of America, and my CCC's seem to love me.

As mentioned above, AmEx is just really twitchy about unpaid balances. My daughter got a Blue Sky card and did a BT, but she paid it down and off over 4 months. For a 0% new purchase APR, you might want to look at staggering your purchases over the intro period. So buy something for $800, pay it off over 3 months, then something for $500 and pay it off over 2 months and so forth.

AmEx seems utterly convinced that their new customers are all going to run up their cards and do a bunk.