Recent Grad Needing Advice

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

I'm a new grad who has my been in my job a couple months now. $60k salary. FICO scores: EQ 768/EX 755/TU 726

I've been an authorized user on my parents' credit cards since I was probably 16: AMEX Premier Rewards Gold, Discover, and Target. Two years ago, I opened up a credit card (with my mom also on the application since I wasn't working much during school) at our local CU. $1k CL and 8% APR. I also have around $30k in student loan accounts, which are currently deferred. The payment is irrelevant, as my parents are gracious enough to pay them for me each month once they come out of deferment.

I am looking to get a rewards/cashback credit card that I can use for daily expenses, rather than just using my debit card and getting nothing out of it. I plan to pay it back each month. I also wanted to request a CLI on that CU card, so I haven't been given one in 2 years, and my income has changed significantly. My mom's idea was to apply for a card and push a button on my credit card to request a CLI all at the same time, but the problem there is that there's no CLI button for my CU card; we would have to go in and talk to a representive.

I don't think I want a travel card at this time, as I want to start earning rewards/cashback immediately, and I don't plan to travel anywhere in the next year, unless it were a smaller trip that I don't mind using savings for (I have 2 weeks of vacation, so that's not an issue). I was considering getting the Gold or Plat AMEX Skymiles card in a year, and I could start earning it after that.

So she and I thought the best card for me right now would be the Discover IT card. Originally I was thinking USAA Visa or AMEX, but she thinks USAA doesn't normally give out very high CLs, as my sister, whom is now 29, has had a card with them since college, and they've barely raised her CL to $2.5k.

I should add I only have 1 HP on TU, which was my rent application a couple months ago. I have 3 on EQ, 1 from almost 2 years ago, 1 from over a year ago, and one from a couple months ago for Comcast. No missed payments, no bad marks, nothing.

I looked at the Discover IT revolving categories currently, and I liked all of them, and I don't mind signing up each quarter... that's no problem.

So my question is --- Does Discover IT sound like the right card for me right now / will I get a CL of more than $1k in you all's opinion? I searched for myself in the "personalized offer" section, and it gave me an APR of 19.24%, which I honestly thought was pretty high given the upper bound on their APR is 23.24%.

Or maybe there is a better card for me?

[Anonymous]

Clean young-ish file, solid APR prequal, I say do not pass go, do not collect $200 dollars - go app NOW! I love the cash back, it's my daily driver, especially with the double cash back match. I think you'll get an excellent SL personally. Best of luck!

[Themanwhocan]

Yes, you should be good to go to apply for a couple of cards, and then once those are established you can close that joint card at your credit Union.

The Discover It is nice, and the double cash back in the first year is a nice bonus as well. Perhaps get your parents to give you a referral for the Discover It using their account, that way you each get $50. 

The Marvel Mastercard is prettty good, its issued by Synchrony bank and they give quite large increases... I received $5000 and immediately called and asked for $25,000 and got it. Note that Entertainment is a rather broad category. http://marvel.com/creditcard?siteCode=MCLAMONB&cmpid=MCLAMONB&Dcom=MOLNAV

You might also consider the US Bank Cash+, having two selectable 5% categories each quarter can be rather useful. 

It would not be unreasonable at all to apply for all three cards at once. But after that, don't apply for more credit for at least 4-6 months.

[Anonymous]

Our thought was to keep the CU CC for a long time, since it has such a low APR. Mom wanted to ask for a CLI at the same time as applying for Discover IT. For the referral, it seemed like the fine print implied you couldn't get the referral if already a Discover cardholder and technically I am as an AU, no?

The Marvel one does not look super appealing to me. The US Bank website did not have any existing offers available for me. Still a decent option? Any others you suggest?

[Themanwhocan]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Our thought was to keep the CU CC for a long time, since it has such a low APR. Mom wanted to ask for a CLI at the same time as applying for Discover IT. For the referral, it seemed like the fine print implied you couldn't get the referral if already a Discover cardholder and technically I am as an AU, no?

The Marvel one does not look super appealing to me. The US Bank website did not have any existing offers available for me. Still a decent option? Any others you suggest?

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Pre-qualify is not always accurate. US bank and Capital One never have any decent offers for me

Read my thread on cash back credit cards, and then ask questions about the ones that catch your interest: 

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Cash-Back-credit-card-charts/td-p/4004725

[AverageJoesCredit]

With your scores why not apply for a Citi DC?. I know the sl may not be super high but you never know maybe you will have a profile they love. Best of luck on your journey

[Anonymous]

I like the 5% revolving categories from Discover better than the 2% overall of Citi DC. I feel like, with the ones that it showed me for the next year, that I would use all of those, therefore getting more out of it. That was my thought there in Discover IT over Citi DC.

[brother7]

It sounds as if you think all of your spending will fall into a Discover 5% category, but I don't think that will be the case. For the times when your purchases fall outside of Discover's 5% categories, a 2%-cashback-on-everything card would be a great choice. I would not dismiss the Citi DC as a good and viable option for you.

[Anonymous]

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@brother7 wrote:

It sounds as if you think all of your spending will fall into a Discover 5% category, but I don't think that will be the case. For the times when your purchases fall outside of Discover's 5% categories, a 2%-cashback-on-everything card would be a great choice. I would not dismiss the Citi DC as a good and viable option for you.

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Thanks for the thoughts. It does say I'm pre-qualified on Citi's site for the DC card. How reliable are Citi PQs? It lists an APR of 23.24% though. That's the highest they have, so I don't like that. Plus Discover does the 0% intro APR offer, and the DC card doesn't.

[brother7]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the thoughts. It does say I'm pre-qualified on Citi's site for the DC card. How reliable are Citi PQs? It lists an APR of 23.24% though.

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I'm not sure how accurate Citi's PQs are so I can't answer that.

I have a question. Do you intend to pay each statement's balance in full before the next month's statement? Or do you intend to pay less than the statement balance, thus incurring interest charges?

If you're a newcomer to credit, I strongly recommend that you you get into the habit of paying in full, avoiding any interest charges. If you do this, then the interest rate really doesn't matter. All of my FICO scores are 800+ and I still have cards (mainly store-branded cards) that have very high interest rates but that doesn't affect me at all because I pay in full every statement.