What's My Next Step? AMEX? Continue to Garden?

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

It's been about 5-6 months since my most recent HPs last year in late Sept.

Stats:

-Scores: EQ: 757; TU: 730; EX: 753

-INQs: EQ: 2; TU: 1; EX: 2

-Income: $60K

-Credit History: 9 years

-My Oldest Account: ~4.5 years

-My AAoA: 2 years

-My Individual Utilization: 6%

-Total Utilization (My Accounts + AU Accounts): 23% [I don't think they look at this though?]

-Accounts: 4 Student Loan Accounts (Just came out of deferral a month or two ago); Chase CSR $17K SL, Discover IT $4.2K; CU $1K SL

-I'm also AU on the following: an AMEX PRG w/ >$10K spending power, Discover IT $15K, and Target Credit $3.2K SL

-PIF & On-Time

Amex Offers:

Prequal Plat Card - 100K signup bonus after $3K spend in 3 mos

Prequal PRG - 50K signup bonus after $1K spend in 3 mos

Prequal ED - 25K signup bonus after $2K spend in 3 mos - 17.49% APR

Amex Delta Gold Skymiles - 60K miles signup bonus after $1K spend in 3 mos & $50 statement credit after Delta purchase in 3 mos [not a prequal, given an APR range]

Amex Delta Plat Skymiles - Probably not interested

Amex Delta Reserve Skymiles - Not interested

Amex BCE/BCP - No prequal offer

A little background...

I would like to purchase or lease a car in the next 3-12 months. I've never owned a car before (mine is owned by my parents). I would also like to purchase a home in the next 12-24 months, given I am still happy with the area/company/job. Typical promotions at my company for my position happen about 6-15 months from where I am now, with the new income to be between $70-75K.

What I'm Looking For:

I like to eat out. I'm getting good points for that with my CSR.

I generally get my gas at warehouse clubs or regular gas stations. I generally shop at Target, and I've found my Target has been coding as a grocery store/supermarket, rather than a discount store. which is great. I like when Discover has the revolving categories for gas, supermarkets, and warehouse clubs, but it would nice to supplement that during the times those categories aren't happening.  I don't want another Chase card at the moment (i.e. Freedom), though, because I think it would be good to not put all my eggs in one basket.

I like to shop online sometimes, and I like how Amex and Chase do the bonus multipliers when you shop through them for a certain retailers. I know Amex special offers vary month to month, and those aren't just multipliers, so I think those would nice to activate sometimes too.

I'm not traveling much right now, one to three times a year, but it's nice to have the CSR.

I do want to "get in" with AMEX eventually. I'm concerned I may not get a PRG bonus offer since I am an AU on a PRG card already - is this true or false?

I also wouldn't mind having a free checked bag with Delta, or the $100/yr incidentals with Delta through the PRG.

I don't want too high of an annual fee, or even none at all, since I have the $450 CSR AF.

Bottom Line:

I'm trying to figure out what seems like the most logical "next step" for me. I'm not in a hurry to have a new card; my Discover and CSR work well for me right now. I want to maximize my rewards and have a good card diversity (of strong cards, not retail cards or anything similar) in my wallet.

Questions:

(1) Are any of the current signup bonus offers pretty good right now and worth jumping on?

(2) Which of the Amex cards seem like the best for me?

(3) Is there a chance I would be instantly declined for any of the Amex cards I'm interested in, or does my credit profile seem OK enough for a chance at any of them?

(4) Is there a better card for me? I still would like to get in with Amex eventually/soon!

(5) Should I be waiting until after I would like to purchase a car and/or house?

(6) Should I wait until I pay down more on my student loans?

(7) Any other tips/advice?

I know the credit score game is a marathon and not a sprint; I just want to make sure I have a good, strong assortment of cards that works for me and gives me the most rewards. I also want to keep improving my credit score, but I think it may be being brought down by some of the high balances on the AU accounts, as well as, of course, the student loan.

Thanks in advance!!

[redpat]

Your best bet if you are under 5/24 is to get Chase Freedom U for 1.50x combined w/ CSR at least gives you 2.25% on travel or better with transfer partners.

It is best not to dilute your spend across different reward programs unless you have high spend to get the best of the two.

IMO for now stick w/ Chase UR program.

Now if you must have an Amex, EDP can give you a decent amount of MR points with usage.

[NRB525]

Congrats on the good profile. Thanks for listing out all your info, you have a good start.

My first inclination would be to go for the regular Chase Freedom with rotating categories. Yes, the FU is 1.5 points, but there's probably not a lot of "non category" spend you have left. The Freedom rotating categories will get you a nice 5 points in those quarters. Getting the Freedom now also takes care of any concerns about 5/24. I believe the Freedom cards also contain their own UR bonus points? the "$150" bonus is really 15,000 UR points.

I would think your score and profile would be absolutely no issue for an AMEX app.

This next advice is from the bonus harvester in me. Given the string of nice offers you have listed from AMEX, a bonus harvester would start with the Platinum, book the 100k points. Work with that card for a while, and it has some nice perks like lounge access and airline fee credits such as your Delta bag fees. The Delta Gold card itself has a very nice offer there, and in addition to the checked bag, it has early boarding. The PRG and ED offers are quite nice as well.

However that Bonus Harvester activity will add to your HP list. You would eventually probably close accounts. In the mean time, however, building up common points can be a nice thing, even if they hang around in the ED no AF account for a while. It is also good advice to watch how many programs one gets involved with, as the points often get dispersed too far and wide, become more of a challenge to work with.

You have plenty of options, so just carefully review those options then make a choice. And one legitimate choice is to not apply for anything, to work toward a new car and / or house app. Credit card bonuses will likely be around for a while, and a selective apper may find that the competition between Chase and AMEX gets better over time.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies so far! Hoping to hear more opinions too. I would like to add I also have a pre-selected offer for the USAA Limitless CB 2.5% new card, 17.4% APR. Also, NRB, you mentioned going for some bonus harvester cards and then closing them later. I'm not sure that's what I would like to do. I would like to get good cards I want to have for a long time. I also don't want to appear to companies that I'm only getting cards for the signup offers. Lastly, I don't know if I want another high AF card at this time, as is the case with the Plat card. 

[Anonymous]

Not sure  if I'm allowed to bump (saw no rules against it).. still hoping for some more opinions on my options for my "next step." Thank you all! 

[Anonymous]

Good job on the Sapphire Reserve.  I think the Amex EDP is a good card to have and would also go good because Amex cards can grow large very fast.  If you are minimizing the amount of cards you have an Amex Revolver is a good choice to go with your Reserve.

To add to that, check out Penfed and Navyfed.  Getting in with a great credit union like those can be very beneficial.

Just make sure to garden for at least 12 months before house shopping.