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What is the best No Annual Fee card?

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Dustink
Valued Contributor

Re: What is the best No Annual Fee card?


@Elcid89 wrote:

Nah, just apply for the card if you like. I will say that they are going to look at more than scores with this card. They have minimum income floors in place as well.


Do you know what the income floor is? It is probably just whatever is needed to qualify for signature. Maybe $36k annually as long as everything else looks good.

Too many INQs & low AAoA so I'm off to tend the Garden.     Age:23    


     $17k       $8.5K          Closed          $19k      $6.5k        $24.2k        Closed         $5k       Closed     $8.5k        Closed      @2.49%
Message 11 of 95
Elcid89
Contributor

Re: What is the best No Annual Fee card?


@AZHeather wrote:

If you utilize Discover's 5% cash back rewards program, it is a great no af card.


It's ok. Discover will only allow you to redeem cash or statement credit in $50 increments, so unless you use the card regularly and heavily, you could be waiting a while to collect any of your rewards. They also only offer the 5% cashback at selected market segments during different times of the year. For example, January through March might be gas stations and grocery stores, while April through June is theme parks and bordellos (kidding ...)

 

I found it to be a mediocre card, so I just never applied for one.

 

FICO 04 scores: 809 (EQ) 812 (EX) 818 (TU)

Amex Platinum NPSL - Citi HHonors Sig. $58k - BMW Ultimate $40k
Chase Sapphire Preferred $62k - Merrill Lynch + Signature $41k - USAA Rate Advantage $28k
NFCU Flagship Signature $50k - USAA Cash Rewards AMEX $28k
Citi Platinum Select / AAdvantage Signature $31k - Chase Amtrak Rewards World MC $41k

Message 12 of 95
AZHeather
Frequent Contributor

Re: What is the best No Annual Fee card?

If you take advantage of the additional rewards they have on their site (some places like Starbucks, etc. run 10, 15, 20% cash back deals), plus your 1% on anything outside of those or the quarterly 5% deals, your rewards can\do add up quickly.  Especially if you push a lot through it every month.  

 

Whether or not it is worthwhile just depends on your needs or your qualification citeria.  Me personally, I am in a rebuild mode and cannot qualify for some of the top tier prime cards...yet. Smiley Tongue  For me, Discover is a nice staring prime card.  I get rewards (that I use), no af, 0% financing for the first 15 months, and a card that will grow with me.  Is it the best out there...no, but for a beginner, I think it's a pretty nice card.  Oh, and customer service has been really nice too. Smiley Wink

Message 13 of 95
Elcid89
Contributor

Re: What is the best No Annual Fee card?

I have no idea what their cutoff is. I was approved with my scores and $335k in income. My son was declined with 760 range credit / no baddies and $65k in income.

 

The only reason they provided for the decline was "you do not meet our underwriting guidelines for this product".

FICO 04 scores: 809 (EQ) 812 (EX) 818 (TU)

Amex Platinum NPSL - Citi HHonors Sig. $58k - BMW Ultimate $40k
Chase Sapphire Preferred $62k - Merrill Lynch + Signature $41k - USAA Rate Advantage $28k
NFCU Flagship Signature $50k - USAA Cash Rewards AMEX $28k
Citi Platinum Select / AAdvantage Signature $31k - Chase Amtrak Rewards World MC $41k

Message 14 of 95
Dustink
Valued Contributor

Re: What is the best No Annual Fee card?

Discover build your own card.

https://www.discover.com/credit-cards/get-discover/build-card/index.html?ICMPGN=LNV_CB_TXT

 

Choose between cash back or travel. Choose between a sign on bonus or an interest free period.

Too many INQs & low AAoA so I'm off to tend the Garden.     Age:23    


     $17k       $8.5K          Closed          $19k      $6.5k        $24.2k        Closed         $5k       Closed     $8.5k        Closed      @2.49%
Message 15 of 95
Dustink
Valued Contributor

Re: What is the best No Annual Fee card?


@Elcid89 wrote:

I have no idea what their cutoff is. I was approved with my scores and $335k in income. My son was declined with 760 range credit / no baddies and $65k in income.


Does he have other high limit cards? Sometimes that can cause problems. If open utilization is already high relative to income. For example, if he already had $50k in available credit. They may determine his income and length of credit history aren't sufficient to cover more available credit.

 

Too many INQs & low AAoA so I'm off to tend the Garden.     Age:23    


     $17k       $8.5K          Closed          $19k      $6.5k        $24.2k        Closed         $5k       Closed     $8.5k        Closed      @2.49%
Message 16 of 95
Elcid89
Contributor

Re: What is the best No Annual Fee card?


@Dustink wrote:

@Elcid89 wrote:

I have no idea what their cutoff is. I was approved with my scores and $335k in income. My son was declined with 760 range credit / no baddies and $65k in income.


Does he have other high limit cards? Sometimes that can cause problems. If open utilization is already high relative to income. For example, if he already had $50k in available credit. They may determine his income and length of credit history aren't sufficient to cover more available credit.

 


All of those would have triggered a specific line item on the denial letter. There was nothing, at all, other than "you do not meet our underwriting ...". They didn't even pull his credit as far as we can tell. No inquiry ever showed up.

FICO 04 scores: 809 (EQ) 812 (EX) 818 (TU)

Amex Platinum NPSL - Citi HHonors Sig. $58k - BMW Ultimate $40k
Chase Sapphire Preferred $62k - Merrill Lynch + Signature $41k - USAA Rate Advantage $28k
NFCU Flagship Signature $50k - USAA Cash Rewards AMEX $28k
Citi Platinum Select / AAdvantage Signature $31k - Chase Amtrak Rewards World MC $41k

Message 17 of 95
Dustink
Valued Contributor

Re: What is the best No Annual Fee card?

Elcid89

 

Have you ever thought about getting the reserve card? I think your spending and use of the benefits might warrant the annual fee.

 

https://creditcards.citi.com/credit-cards/hilton-hhonors-reserve-card/

 

Too many INQs & low AAoA so I'm off to tend the Garden.     Age:23    


     $17k       $8.5K          Closed          $19k      $6.5k        $24.2k        Closed         $5k       Closed     $8.5k        Closed      @2.49%
Message 18 of 95
Elcid89
Contributor

Re: What is the best No Annual Fee card?


@Dustink wrote:

Elcid89

 

Have you ever thought about getting the reserve card? I think your spending and use of the benefits might warrant the annual fee.

 

https://creditcards.citi.com/credit-cards/hilton-hhonors-reserve-card/

 


I considered it, but I don't stay in Hiltons often enough for the slight increase in rewards to justify the fee. It's really not much of a bump up IMO. to really get any value out of the Reserve card, you need to basically live in Hilton hotels.

 

FICO 04 scores: 809 (EQ) 812 (EX) 818 (TU)

Amex Platinum NPSL - Citi HHonors Sig. $58k - BMW Ultimate $40k
Chase Sapphire Preferred $62k - Merrill Lynch + Signature $41k - USAA Rate Advantage $28k
NFCU Flagship Signature $50k - USAA Cash Rewards AMEX $28k
Citi Platinum Select / AAdvantage Signature $31k - Chase Amtrak Rewards World MC $41k

Message 19 of 95
Dustink
Valued Contributor

Re: What is the best No Annual Fee card?


@Elcid89 wrote:

@Dustink wrote:

@Elcid89 wrote:

I have no idea what their cutoff is. I was approved with my scores and $335k in income. My son was declined with 760 range credit / no baddies and $65k in income.


Does he have other high limit cards? Sometimes that can cause problems. If open utilization is already high relative to income. For example, if he already had $50k in available credit. They may determine his income and length of credit history aren't sufficient to cover more available credit.

 


All of those would have triggered a specific line item on the denial letter. There was nothing, at all, other than "you do not meet our underwriting ...". They didn't even pull his credit as far as we can tell. No inquiry ever showed up.


Wow, now I just want to apply for the heck of it. I think I will wait until I actually have a shot at approval. Although, always hard to tell what that is. I will go check some stats at Credit Karma. It looks like the average limit is between 5 and 10k. The average credit score is between 720 and 750, and the average account holder is around 30 years old.

 

Credit karma has my score at 744, but that is a FAKO score and is low this month due to utilization. I think I would likely be declined, but never know.

 

Too many INQs & low AAoA so I'm off to tend the Garden.     Age:23    


     $17k       $8.5K          Closed          $19k      $6.5k        $24.2k        Closed         $5k       Closed     $8.5k        Closed      @2.49%
Message 20 of 95
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