Please help me fill in a few blanks

[DarkScythe]

Hello everyone,

A little over a month ago I had posted here looking for some suggestions of cards to look at.

I currently have a Capital One No Hassle Cash ($1500, 22.99%) and a Chase Freedom ($1500, 13.24%.)

I've taken some advice from my last thread and compiled a list of cards to keep track of.

At this point I'm thinking I can start applying for the first two or three cards in about a week, and stagger the rest out toward the next year. There have been a few changes since my last post though, but more importantly, I have some questions I'd like everyone's help with.

The problem I have at the moment is figuring out which CRA's each card company will pull. I found some general trends from searching here, but there are always cases of companies pulling something else, so in those cases, since I live in NYC, I'd place more weight on the CRA being pulled by someone in the same region or city.

Card	Network	Bonus Offer	Bonus Percentage	Reward Style	Rewards Program	CRA Pulled
American Express Blue Cash Everyday	Amex	$100 ($150?) for $1000	10% (15%?)	Cash	1% +2% Gas/Dept +3% Supermarkets	Primarily EX? TU / EQ pulled on occasion?
Capital One Cash Rewards	MasterCard	$100 for $500	20%	Cash	1% +50% Bonus 1.5% Effective	EQ + EX + TU
Chase Freedom	Visa	$200 (250?) for $500	40% (50%?)	Points	1% +5% Categories	Primarily EX?
Citi Dividend Platinum Select	Visa	$200 for $500 ($1000?)	40% (20%?)	Cash	1% +5% Categories	Primarily EQ? EX in NYC?
Discover More	Discover	$75 for $500 OR $150 for $1000	15%	Cash	Less than $3k = 0.25% More than $3k = 1% +5% Categories	Primarily TU?
Sallie Mae Visa Signature	Visa	$100 for $500	20%	Points	2% *If redeem at least $250 1.7% or 1.3% otherwise	TU exclusively?

The biggest change is that, although I've listed Discover here, I'm probably dropping them from consideration. Some research seemed to indicate Discover's 1% only kicks in with at least $3k spend, which I can't do, especially with so many cards. I only wanted them originally for the sake of having a Discover, but they'd otherwise be useless to me. In its place though, I'm going to put in the Sallie Mae card.

Tl;DR: Please help me fill in the CRA's pulled for each card!

The only "known" so far is Capital One - they pull all 3.

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

I'm in Ohio, so my results are obviously going to be different than yours - but anyway.

Amex has always tried to pull all 3 for me, for whatever reason. Every single time.

Citi has done EX exclusively. Chase.. I want to say EQ, although I did get an EX pull once.

Discover did TU.

But my pulls seem to always be different than what they're "supposed to" be.

As far as Discover goes, while their regular cash back is bleh (0.25% = might as well be 0%), the rotating 5% categories are what makes it worth it, in my opinion.

[DarkScythe]

That's a bit disconcerting if Amex wants to pull all 3 as well..

Chase, I'm not sure. Every time I've dealt with Chase it seems like they went after my EX, which is why I put EX for them.

Discover's 5% categories, and for that matter, pretty much anyone's 5% categories, I don't normally make too much off of because I spend almost nothing in those categories. I live in the city, so driving actually slows me down (spend 2 hours looking for parking, woot) so no gas purchases. I hardly eat out or watch movies at the theater since it's relatively expensive, etc. I'll revisit it again in the future when I get the other cards I want, but for the moment Discover doesn't really interest me enough to actively pursue them since I can't use it as an everyday card.

My current plan so far is to get the Amex, Citi and Capital One next week, depending on how the pulls come together. I think spreading them out over the reports would improve chances of approval slightly, as they won't be seeing too many new inquiries all at once.

Can anyone else offer some input?

I tried to check whogavemecredit but that site is awful in terms of filtering and sorting data.

[Creditaddict]

---

@DarkScythe wrote:

Hello everyone,

A little over a month ago I had posted here looking for some suggestions of cards to look at.

I currently have a Capital One No Hassle Cash ($1500, 22.99%) and a Chase Freedom ($1500, 13.24%.)

I've taken some advice from my last thread and compiled a list of cards to keep track of.

At this point I'm thinking I can start applying for the first two or three cards in about a week, and stagger the rest out toward the next year. There have been a few changes since my last post though, but more importantly, I have some questions I'd like everyone's help with.

The problem I have at the moment is figuring out which CRA's each card company will pull. I found some general trends from searching here, but there are always cases of companies pulling something else, so in those cases, since I live in NYC, I'd place more weight on the CRA being pulled by someone in the same region or city.

Card	Network	Bonus Offer	Bonus Percentage	Reward Style	Rewards Program	CRA Pulled
American Express Blue Cash Everyday	Amex	$100 ($150?) for $1000	10% (15%?)	Cash	1% +2% Gas/Dept +3% Supermarkets	Primarily EX? TU / EQ pulled on occasion?
Capital One Cash Rewards	MasterCard	$100 for $500	20%	Cash	1% +50% Bonus 1.5% Effective	EQ + EX + TU
Chase Freedom	Visa	$200 (250?) for $500	40% (50%?)	Points	1% +5% Categories	Primarily EX?
Citi Dividend Platinum Select	Visa	$200 for $500 ($1000?)	40% (20%?)	Cash	1% +5% Categories	Primarily EQ? EX in NYC?
Discover More	Discover	$75 for $500 OR $150 for $1000	15%	Cash	Less than $3k = 0.25% More than $3k = 1% +5% Categories	Primarily TU?
Sallie Mae Visa Signature	Visa	$100 for $500	20%	Points	2% *If redeem at least $250 1.7% or 1.3% otherwise	TU exclusively?

The biggest change is that, although I've listed Discover here, I'm probably dropping them from consideration. Some research seemed to indicate Discover's 1% only kicks in with at least $3k spend, which I can't do, especially with so many cards. I only wanted them originally for the sake of having a Discover, but they'd otherwise be useless to me. In its place though, I'm going to put in the Sallie Mae card.

Tl;DR: Please help me fill in the CRA's pulled for each card!

The only "known" so far is Capital One - they pull all 3.

Thank you!

---

Wait, this is the list of cards you want to apply for?

Do you have Fico scores from at least TU and EQ?

Why would you apply for another Cap 1 and Chase Freedom if you already have them? unless I'm off of my first question?

[DarkScythe]

Haha, yeah there are a few oddities with this so far. I'll try to explain.

First off, I do not have any true FICO scores. The last time I used MyFico's ScoreWatch trial was December of 2010 and I believe the FICO it gave me then was in the 660 range? I can't check, but all my accounts have aged since then, and I've added my Capital One. No lates. Best I have right now are some FAKO's: 762 Transrisk and 824 Vantage courtesy of CreditKarma, and CreditSesame is giving me a ridiculous 786 from what I believe is an EX national equivalency score (300-850.)

As for why two of these cards:

I currently have the "old" Capital One No Hassle Cash, which is a straight 1% cashback card. I wanted to replace it with their new one which offers a 1.5% effective cashback rate. If I get it, my current CapOne will be SD'd (no AF.) I know Cap One pulls all 3 reports, so I will apply for them last.

Why do I want a Capital One at all? I make quite a lot of purchases from Japan, so the no foreign transaction fee is huge for me.

As for Chase Freedom - this one I'm extremely unsure of.

I already have a Freedom, but it's not a 'true' freedom. It was a WaMu card that got the freedom rewards package added on to it when Chase ate WaMu. I was going to see if I could argue with that since I never got the new member promo. Probably won't work, but I see my parents constantly getting new freedoms and sapphires and get the sign on bonuses, so I don't know.

[SoulMaster]

I don't know that I'd drop Disco so quickly... there is no $3K min on their quarterlies (5% gas/movies right now) and the Disco shopping store got me $34 back on my Nook tab (15% @ B&N).  I love my Disco, but for the fact it doesn't work in Europe.  I take the CapOne abroad.

-SM

[DarkScythe]

I agree that Discover does have its uses, as do all cards. However, bear in mind that Chase also has its own Ultimate Rewards Mall and Capital One has their PerkCentral which also offer similar deals, although at different times.

If I do pick up a Discover, and I may in the future, that would probably be the only thing I'd run through it. As I said, I don't buy much gas/movies and I even avoid shopping at Amazon, even though Freedom has 5% back from Amazon.com now because NY forces Amazon to charge the stupid sales tax. For the moment, I have no immediate need, nor do I see any benefit to getting a Discover, so I'll put it off until later in the year, or next year.

[learnin113]

Dont' u have Chase and Crap 1 already?

[learnin113]

And Crap One will pull all 3 whether you live in NY or Timbuctu.

[DarkScythe]

lol, yes, I do.

I explained that three posts up.