Which card(s) would you NOT app for?

[Anonymous]

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@MrDisco99 wrote:
I don't generally worry if my score won't qualify me for a card but there's lots that I wouldn't apply for.

I pretty much won't bother with premium travel cards like Plat, CSR, or anything that has over $100 annual fee up front. The only way to come out on top with those products is to spend the way they want you to in certain specific categories, which usually don't fit my spending habits. I'm not going to buy things I normally wouldn't just to justify having a card. Often the rewards are too specific as well. The new BoA card kinda walks the line on that but I'd consider it just for the easy $405 bonus.

Other cards I wouldn't apply for... I don't know, anything that's too specific. I don't get gas cards or store cards. I'd rather use a card that lets me buy where I want and rewards me anyway. I have some travel cobranded cards but that's just because I'm scamming points to go somewhere, and I already had loyalty to some travel brands out of convenience (SkyTeam, Hilton, Wyndham).

And of course I don't apply for fee harvester cards (CreditOne) or anything that doesn't offer me some positive value in return for swipes.

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That's a rather broad statement. 

The $100+ a year Delta cards come with a yearly companion certificate, while the $450 comes with free lounge access (which costs more than $450 a year by itself). Both also come with unlimited checked bags for you and a companion. In these two cases, you could spend $1 a year and still outweigh the annual fee, as long as you fly once a year. 

The Citi Prestige offers reimbursement for the average of your hotel room costs for the 4th night an unlimited times a year, easily outweighing the annual fee, plus the $250 airline credit. 

The AAdvantage Executive World Elite MasterCard  [$450 a year annual fee] offers a reduced price Admirals' Club lounge access which is $500-$550/year depending on if you're a new customer or a renewing customer. 

Point being, it doesn't always take a lot of spend to outweigh an annual fee... Often enough all it takes is use of the benefits. 

[wasCB14]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@MrDisco99 wrote:
I don't generally worry if my score won't qualify me for a card but there's lots that I wouldn't apply for.

I pretty much won't bother with premium travel cards like Plat, CSR, or anything that has over $100 annual fee up front. The only way to come out on top with those products is to spend the way they want you to in certain specific categories, which usually don't fit my spending habits. I'm not going to buy things I normally wouldn't just to justify having a card. Often the rewards are too specific as well. The new BoA card kinda walks the line on that but I'd consider it just for the easy $405 bonus.

Other cards I wouldn't apply for... I don't know, anything that's too specific. I don't get gas cards or store cards. I'd rather use a card that lets me buy where I want and rewards me anyway. I have some travel cobranded cards but that's just because I'm scamming points to go somewhere, and I already had loyalty to some travel brands out of convenience (SkyTeam, Hilton, Wyndham).

And of course I don't apply for fee harvester cards (CreditOne) or anything that doesn't offer me some positive value in return for swipes.

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That's a rather broad statement. 

The $100+ a year Delta cards come with a yearly companion certificate, while the $450 comes with free lounge access (which costs more than $450 a year by itself). Both also come with unlimited checked bags for you and a companion. In these two cases, you could spend $1 a year and still outweigh the annual fee, as long as you fly once a year. 

The Citi Prestige offers reimbursement for the average of your hotel room costs for the 4th night an unlimited times a year, easily outweighing the annual fee, plus the $250 airline credit. 

The AAdvantage Executive World Elite MasterCard  [$450 a year annual fee] offers a reduced price Admirals' Club lounge access which is $500-$550/year depending on if you're a new customer or a renewing customer. 

Point being, it doesn't always take a lot of spend to outweigh an annual fee... Often enough all it takes is use of the benefits. 

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Delta companion certificates...4-night hotel stays...Admirals memberships...

Along the lines of what MrDisco99 was saying, these are pretty specific spending "categories" that are more useful for some than others. Maybe someone lives in a United (or a minor airline) hub and earns enough points that most hotels are award stays. Or someone uses a smaller airport without an Admirals or Sky Club. Cards don't offer much in the way of real savings unless a person would actually pay a high price for those things in the first place.

[Adkins]

Thank you for everyone's replies so far!

[Viva-LV]

High AF cards, like the Barclay Luxury lineup.  I pc'd my Prestige to avoid the $450 hit, and may cancel my Plat next year.  Keeping my Alt Reserve, though.  Longtime USB customer, and the Alt Res can pick up when I zap the Plat.

[Anonymous]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@MrDisco99 wrote:
I don't generally worry if my score won't qualify me for a card but there's lots that I wouldn't apply for.

I pretty much won't bother with premium travel cards like Plat, CSR, or anything that has over $100 annual fee up front. The only way to come out on top with those products is to spend the way they want you to in certain specific categories, which usually don't fit my spending habits. I'm not going to buy things I normally wouldn't just to justify having a card. Often the rewards are too specific as well. The new BoA card kinda walks the line on that but I'd consider it just for the easy $405 bonus.

Other cards I wouldn't apply for... I don't know, anything that's too specific. I don't get gas cards or store cards. I'd rather use a card that lets me buy where I want and rewards me anyway. I have some travel cobranded cards but that's just because I'm scamming points to go somewhere, and I already had loyalty to some travel brands out of convenience (SkyTeam, Hilton, Wyndham).

And of course I don't apply for fee harvester cards (CreditOne) or anything that doesn't offer me some positive value in return for swipes.

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That's a rather broad statement. 

The $100+ a year Delta cards come with a yearly companion certificate, while the $450 comes with free lounge access (which costs more than $450 a year by itself). Both also come with unlimited checked bags for you and a companion. In these two cases, you could spend $1 a year and still outweigh the annual fee, as long as you fly once a year. 

The Citi Prestige offers reimbursement for the average of your hotel room costs for the 4th night an unlimited times a year, easily outweighing the annual fee, plus the $250 airline credit. 

The AAdvantage Executive World Elite MasterCard  [$450 a year annual fee] offers a reduced price Admirals' Club lounge access which is $500-$550/year depending on if you're a new customer or a renewing customer. 

Point being, it doesn't always take a lot of spend to outweigh an annual fee... Often enough all it takes is use of the benefits. 

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Delta companion certificates...4-night hotel stays...Admirals memberships...

Along the lines of what MrDisco99 was saying, these are pretty specific spending "categories" that are more useful for some than others. Maybe someone lives in a United (or a minor airline) hub and earns enough points that most hotels are award stays. Or someone uses a smaller airport without an Admirals or Sky Club. Cards don't offer much in the way of real savings unless a person would actually pay a high price for those things in the first place.

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Spending categories are the typical gas, groceries, restaurants,  hotels, flights purchased directly with airlines. 

Checked bags, 4th night free, and lounge access aren't spending categories. You're not paying for these benefits after a certain point (after their worth has become more valuable than the AF). Often times the annual fee has already been ouweighed by one benefit, so the others are basically free anyway. 

Disco said cards with high annual fees require a lot of spending in their higher rewards categories to outweightthe annual fee, for example, you need to spend enough on groceries and gas on the Blue Cash Preferred to outweigh the annual fee, which is completely different than having a card where utilizing the benefits once outweighs the fee. You have to spend thousands on the Blue Cash Preferred to outweigh the annual fee, but not a single penny on the cards I listed (with exception of $195 or $450 a year). 

[MrDisco99]

So the BCP doesn't really fit what I was saying.  That's a cash back card.  I can spend that reward on whatever I want, and if I spend enough on groceries to make up for the annual fee, then the card is objectively worth it.  I would totally get a BCP if I knew for sure that I would spend more than $300ish per month on groceries.  That's just math.

SkyMiles card benefits are a little harder to quantify.  Sure lounge access costs over $450.  But if I wouldn't have paid for it anyway, then giving it to me for free isn't really the same as giving me $450 or however much it costs.  Same with the companion pass.  If I don't plan to take anyone with me, or if I was planning to use miles to pay for all my flights, then the companion pass is worthless.  I've flown a lot in my lifetime, but the last time I actually bought a plane ticket with my own money was 4 years ago.  I've never paid a baggage fee or for onboard snacks.  Getting $100 in airline incidentals from my PRG card is not worth $100 to me.  I'd rather keep the money than spend it on something I normally wouldn't have bought.  In my case, I used it on gift cards that I'll use on some future flight I haven't planned yet, just so I wouldn't leave the money on the table.  That's an inconvenience to me, and is the primary reason why I will cancel the card after the first year is up.

And that's just on the almost-but-not-quite-premium cards.  It's worse with Plat.  I have no use for $200 travel incidentals per year, so that's not compensating value for the whopping $550 fee.  I also don't use Uber so that credit is useless to me, as well.  Status at hotels doesn't mean anything to me.  I've never set foot in an airport lounge, so I don't value that perk very much.  For some people ithe perks are great and the card is totally worth it.  For me, it's not.  As for the CSR, at least its $300 credit is broad enough that I could potentially get real value from it.  But if I have to adjust my spending habits to get a perk, there's an opportunity cost for that money that I otherwise would have spent on something else or saved instead.

So yeah... premium cards have incentives to get you to spend your money a certain way.  I'd rather tell my card where to put my money than have the card tell me.  If we agree anyway then that's great.  But if we don't, then I'm not applying.

[K-in-Boston]

Going against the grain here, I would happily apply for a card no matter what the annual fee is if I felt that the rewards and perks were worth it. If I can get back $15,000 in rewards and perks, you bet I’ll sign up for a $10,000 annual fee card! On about $100k in spend that’s still 2 1/2 times more net than a 2% card!

I would never apply for a card from Credit One or one of the even worse subprime lenders. As for prime lenders, I won’t deal with Barclaycard. (Took less than a year for them to rub the relationship with my wife wrong.) I also have no plans to ever deal with Capital One once I get around to closing my existing card. 20+ of years of being a customer and I’m stuck with an APR over 26% and have never had a single CLI from them. 

[AverageJoesCredit]

I wouldnt app for a card i already have

[K-in-Boston]

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@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
I wouldnt app for a card i already have

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Even if it were 2015 and Bank of America would still let you get pretty much as many Better Balance Rewards as you wanted and deposit the $120 or whatever it was into your account for each card every year?

[Shooting-For-800]

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@SOGGIE wrote:
To each his/her own, but I refuse to app for any card with an annual fee. I'm a wise consumer. I don't need travel rewards as I pay a low annual fee for Spirit Airline Membership. This allows me average airfare cost of $28 to $50 for each one-way flight as well as very affordable lodging. I travel quite frequently and my scores are between 825 and 840. I also save tons of money by shopping at cost-saving stores (online and in-store). I always search online for discount coupon codes when shopping and take advantage of earning cash while shopping online. Paying an annual fee for a credit card that offers rewards for designated purchases at designated merchant types during designated time periods will not work for me.

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I pay $59 to earn $1500-$2000 cash back per year.  EMMV but to me that too is being a wise consumer.