Should I go for Amex?

[Aarvard]

Hi guys,

Currently I'm having 3 credit cards: Citi Forward with $500 CL for 7 months, Discover with $1K and Cap1 Journey with $500 (both got approved in this June). My TU score is 738 (Discover); never missed a payment, utility <5%, income about 20k/yr. Should I apply for Blue Cash Everday in September?

[coldnmn]

In my opinion wait until the end of December at the earliest.

[GooseGirl]

At a minimum, I would wait until your Citi Forward has 1 year of history reporting. I think it would be even better to wait until December when Discover and Cap1 have both hit 6 months. That will still give you the benefit of having a member date in 2014 for future backdating.

[bigblue7722]

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@coldnmn wrote:

In my opinion wait until the end of December at the earliest.

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I dont have an amex but wouldnt Jan 1st be the best for maxium backdating?

[manwoot]

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@bigblue7722 wrote:

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@coldnmn wrote:

In my opinion wait until the end of December at the earliest.

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I dont have an amex but wouldnt Jan 1st be the best for maxium backdating?

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If you wait until January, your MSD becomes 2015 instead of 2014.  You're correct in that once you have a MSD, you should apply in January (any time) for maximum backdating.  Then, your cards will say opened 01/2014.

[vygotsky]

Amex is going to be difficult with those 2 new cards and low AAoA. All cards should have atleast 6 months of age which will also give the inqus a little time to age also.

[baller4life]

I agree. Wait till December.

[core]

I was faced with almost exactly the same dilemma a little over a week ago.  I could have waited until December to apply for a BCE when all my baddies were gone, but then the pressure would really be on to get approved before Dec 31st and I still might have been denied.  I decided to go for a charge card right away (MUCH easier to get) and got it.  Now my 2014 date is locked in, I don't have to worry and stew over things until December, and with 6 months of charge card history I may have better chances of being approved for a BCP on Jan 2nd.  Also because of the way the dates worked out, the new INQs and new accounts will be older than 6 months by then.  It'll be a soft pull for me so I won't be all that disappointed if they deny me on the first go-round.  I'll probably cancel the charge card after the BCP backdates and before the AF hits.

Just throwing that out a possible plan to consider.  In my case my own sanity for the next 6 months was more important than trying to minimize the chance of being denied once.  I'm glad I did it, because now I feel home free.  Well assuming I don't get FR'd somewhere along the way, that is.

[Aarvard]

Thanks you guys!

By the way where does Amex pull hard inq from? I hope it's not Transunion 'cause I have 3 hard inq already. It'd better be Equifax or Experian

[core]

Almost always EXperian.