topic Re: Prime cards in Credit Card Applications

Prime cards

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 15:37:34 GMT

I just started rebuilding in july. Got a qs1, barclays, dcu visa, cap one secured now but in 6 months, after my newest 10 of 23 inqs are all over 6 months old, I want to app for amex, citi ty preferred and pc my qs1 to qs (hopefully visa sig at some point). Reports are clean, except for 2 pif med collections working on getting deleted. Obviously, I'm just going to garden for now but I want something to look forward to in 6 months. I was considering an amex charge but I read charge cards are pointless unless you do a lot of travel which I never do. I do still want an amex of some kind. The citi ty preferred seems like a very similar card to the csp, which id like, but chase likely has me blacklisted for burning them in 2006 from a $500 cc they gave me. Discover declined me twice now, so that's an option in 6 months. Id likely sd my barclays but keep it opened for the fico tu or close it entirely if I got discover. Opinions?

Re: Prime cards

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 20:06:41 GMT

the citi TY preferred is a travel rewards card which seems useless to you based on what you said
the CSP is also for travel so again kinda useless
amex has cash back cards (BCE and BCP) but why do you want amex so bad? there are other options out there that could be better. amex isn't the "prestigious" brand it once was.

Re: Prime cards

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 20:08:32 GMT

Good point. Those cards would be of little use. What other brand is like the new amex? Lol. I just want to get a good card and rid of these toy limits and (next to) worthless cards I have.

Re: Prime cards

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 20:11:26 GMT

the limits aren't necessarily determined by the lender. plenty of people have $1k and $2k CLs on their amex cards.

it really depends on where you spend your money honestly. there are MANY categories covered by all sorts of cards, but where you spend your money determines what cards you should get

Re: Prime cards

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 20:24:07 GMT

What's like the bce? I want that and the qs mainly. Read the citi dc isnt worth it over the qs really unless you spend more than 20k a year on it. Id spend less than half that on a card (assuming I have the bce too.) I burned lasalle bank (anyone remember them? Lol) for a $500 cc and overdrafted a bank account $500 and never paid either. Boa acquried them years ago. Assume boa has me blacklisted like chase. I figured for prime its either chase, amex, or citi. We ruled out two of those, so amex is left? Of course theres plenty more options which would specialize in travel rewards. I spend all my money on food, bars, gas, groceries basically. Amazon a good amount but my dad has a discover now so if amazon is one of the quarterly categories I'll use his cc number. Or buy giftcards at the store. That's another thing that's convenient about the bce, the giftcard possibilities, and I'll never spend 6k a year purely on groceries.

Re: Prime cards

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 20:48:11 GMT

then the BCE or BCP may work out for you. capital one is still a good one for general spend. and cap1 is less inquiry sensitive than amex

Re: Prime cards

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 22:00:55 GMT

Citi thankyou preferred is 2% back on dining and entertainment, 1% everything else. No extra points for travel (unless you consider dining and entertainment to be travel expenses, of course).

CSP also gives 2% back on dining though, so I agree that it's pointless to have the 'thankyou' and CSP.

Re: Prime cards

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 22:14:04 GMT

Yea, I do spend the bulk of my money on entertainment and dining but .5% isnt worth having an extra card. Assuming of course cap one ups my damn $300 limit on this qs1. I spend $1000 on it monthly so im sure they will soon enough.

Dcu checking for fico04 eq, amex bce for fico08 ex, barclays (in the sd) for fico08 tu and then for general spend, my qs. That would be my most logical scenario at this point unless I go for something else over bce and/or get rid of barclays for discover it.

Re: Prime cards

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 23:00:02 GMT

Be patient with the Cap1 card. It's the one most likely to grow the most and lift your scores and future card options.

Re: Prime cards

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 00:35:28 GMT

If im blacklisted from chase would I be blacklisted for jp morgan ritz card too? I assume yes since jp morgan is chase.

Re: Prime cards

UncleB — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 01:06:02 GMT

Capital One will treat you well if you take care of it... but you might end up having to get a new one to get a better credit line. I have an eight year old QS1, and only recently got the credit line over $2k, but back in March I was able to get a new Quicksilver Visa Signature, starting credit line $5k which has since been increased to $7k. My QS1 started out at a very modest $200, and I've been able to get it to $2720, so with time they do grow, but honestly it's many times faster to just get a new card with a larger CL (I say this since my story isn't unique here).

As for Amex, the BCP/BCE cards are really good for folks who have high spending in certain categories, specifically groceries. Even when you figure in the $75 AF, I still get back quite a bit more using my BCP at grocery stores than I would using another card. Of course, as you mention, grocery stores don't just sell groceries. I use mine at Kroger, and for example through Sunday any gift cards you buy you get 4x fuel points, so in one transaction ($250) I can get enough gift cards to not only effective give me 6% off many of the fast food places I frequent, I'll also earn enough for $1 off each gallon for a fill up (worth around $20 for me). My Kroger happens to sell eBay gift cards, so I use this to get 6% off my eBay purchases. Generally I get Amazon GCs monthly for the fuel points and the 6% off my Amazon purchases, but until January 1 you can get 10% off using Discover, so there's no need.

The cut-off for Citi DC vs. Quicksilver once you figure in Capital One's $100 bonus is $20,000 of spend. In other words, you have to spend over $20,000 before the Citi DC's cash back is better than Quicksilver's, which is really high for most people, and even then it's truly not that much difference. Considering how the Quicksilver is generally easier to quality for, and they are known to be more generous with starting credit lines (again, usually) the Quicksilver tends to be quite attractive to many people, in particular those who are rebuilding.

Here's the math:

Citi DC $20,000 * 2.0% = $400 Cash Back

Quicksilver $20,000 * 1.5% = $300 Cash Back + $100 Bonus = $400

You mention you plan on waiting six months or so before applying for anything, which will likely put you in a stronger position. When the time is right, I would give the Amex pre-qual site a try. I will add that it didn't show me pre-qualified for anything, and I was still approved for two cards, so don't be discouraged if it doesn't have anything for you.

I'm a big believer in not placing my eggs all in one basket, but in your case (like my own) when the time comes, you might benefit from checking the Capital One site for their pre-qual offers, since they tend to be solid (meaning, whatever interest rate you're offered is usually what you're approved for). If approved, after six months you could then 'merge' the new account with your old one (using the online tool), and simply keep whichever card has the better terms (APR/annual fee). It's true there have been issues with the 'merge' feature on the website, with it not working for some folks, but it does work for many (including myself) and if you wait six months to app, it would be another six months before you could use it anyway, which is plenty of time for Capital One to work out the bugs.

Finally, don't give up on Discover. Since you've been declined twice I would app for them last if it were me, but again, you've got time to work on the issues they detailed on the letters you received from your previous applications. As a data point, I was approved for my Discover with a score around 710, and with two old COs still on my reports.

It sounds like you're already doing a good job at rebuilding. Hang in there, and you'll be where you want to be in no time.

Re: Prime cards

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 01:52:49 GMT

@UncleB wrote:
Capital One will treat you well if you take care of it... but you might end up having to get a new one to get a better credit line. I have an eight year old QS1, and only recently got the credit line over $2k, but back in March I was able to get a new Quicksilver Visa Signature, starting credit line $5k which has since been increased to $7k. My QS1 started out at a very modest $200, and I've been able to get it to $2720, so with time they do grow, but honestly it's many times faster to just get a new card with a larger CL (I say this since my story isn't unique here).

As for Amex, the BCP/BCE cards are really good for folks who have high spending in certain categories, specifically groceries. Even when you figure in the $75 AF, I still get back quite a bit more using my BCP at grocery stores than I would using another card. Of course, as you mention, grocery stores don't just sell groceries. I use mine at Kroger, and for example through Sunday any gift cards you buy you get 4x fuel points, so in one transaction ($250) I can get enough gift cards to not only effective give me 6% off many of the fast food places I frequent, I'll also earn enough for $1 off each gallon for a fill up (worth around $20 for me). My Kroger happens to sell eBay gift cards, so I use this to get 6% off my eBay purchases. Generally I get Amazon GCs monthly for the fuel points and the 6% off my Amazon purchases, but until January 1 you can get 10% off using Discover, so there's no need.

The cut-off for Citi DC vs. Quicksilver once you figure in Capital One's $100 bonus is $20,000 of spend. In other words, you have to spend over $20,000 before the Citi DC's cash back is better than Quicksilver's, which is really high for most people, and even then it's truly not that much difference. Considering how the Quicksilver is generally easier to quality for, and they are known to be more generous with starting credit lines (again, usually) the Quicksilver tends to be quite attractive to many people, in particular those who are rebuilding.

Here's the math:

Citi DC $20,000 * 2.0% = $400 Cash Back
Quicksilver $20,000 * 1.5% = $300 Cash Back + $100 Bonus = $400

You mention you plan on waiting six months or so before applying for anything, which will likely put you in a stronger position. When the time is right, I would give the Amex pre-qual site a try. I will add that it didn't show me pre-qualified for anything, and I was still approved for two cards, so don't be discouraged if it doesn't have anything for you.

I'm a big believer in not placing my eggs all in one basket, but in your case (like my own) when the time comes, you might benefit from checking the Capital One site for their pre-qual offers, since they tend to be solid (meaning, whatever interest rate you're offered is usually what you're approved for). If approved, after six months you could then 'merge' the new account with your old one (using the online tool), and simply keep whichever card has the better terms (APR/annual fee). It's true there have been issues with the 'merge' feature on the website, with it not working for some folks, but it does work for many (including myself) and if you wait six months to app, it would be another six months before you could use it anyway, which is plenty of time for Capital One to work out the bugs.

Finally, don't give up on Discover. Since you've been declined twice I would app for them last if it were me, but again, you've got time to work on the issues they detailed on the letters you received from your previous applications. As a data point, I was approved for my Discover with a score around 710, and with two old COs still on my reports.

It sounds like you're already doing a good job at rebuilding. Hang in there, and you'll be where you want to be in no time.

Excellent post, thank you. Very insightful, particularly about the qs1/qs. Makes me question my decision for a general spend card next year. I will email cap one eo eventually and see what they say plus a new card could be out next year that's similar to qs/dc.

The bce/bcp would be especially good for me because of the giftcards. I really only spend maybe $150 a month on groceries but I'd easily spend $200 a month on giftcards.

I will likely go for discover again in six months. Third times a charm??

Re: Prime cards

ddemari — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 20:57:35 GMT

A lot of people think the whole prime vs non prime card thing is something that is irrelevant. I think, to each their own. I like the notion of having "prime" cards because I know whats its like to have sub sub subprime cards and how great it feels to not have to deal with those cards anymore.

The hard part of credit and everyones journey to whatever their goal is, is the fact that you have to establish your payment history with lenders, show them you can pay on time and manage different types of credit/loans.

Once you put in a solid 24 months of excellent payment history, your report is not showing charge-off's, collections, bankruptcy, etc. or those items are super old, is when lenders open up their offers to most people.

Capitalone for example is great for providing people with products for a variety of needs. They treat you better than you might even treat them lol. But, they also keep you in a bucket and encourage you to apply for new products, get into the better bucket and obtain the better products. But they also will make your rebuilding cards more attractive to you but its not going to happen over night. It took me 3 years to get them to start removing fees, lowering rates, etc.

Back to prime cards. I like to think that prime cards exist. To me, my cards that are prime have no annual fee, a low apr and good rewards structure. But I also have cards I consider prime that have an annual fee or slightly higher apr but that is due to the rewards being more lucrative.

At the end of the day, out of the 40 cards I have, my quicksilver visa signature with 12.9% apr, no annual fee and 10k limit is my go to prime card.

Re: Prime cards

UncleB — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 21:14:58 GMT

@ddemari wrote:
A lot of people think the whole prime vs non prime card thing is something that is irrelevant. I think, to each their own. I like the notion of having "prime" cards because I know whats its like to have sub sub subprime cards and how great it feels to not have to deal with those cards anymore.

The hard part of credit and everyones journey to whatever their goal is, is the fact that you have to establish your payment history with lenders, show them you can pay on time and manage different types of credit/loans.

Once you put in a solid 24 months of excellent payment history, your report is not showing charge-off's, collections, bankruptcy, etc. or those items are super old, is when lenders open up their offers to most people.

Capitalone for example is great for providing people with products for a variety of needs. They treat you better than you might even treat them lol. But, they also keep you in a bucket and encourage you to apply for new products, get into the better bucket and obtain the better products. But they also will make your rebuilding cards more attractive to you but its not going to happen over night. It took me 3 years to get them to start removing fees, lowering rates, etc.

Back to prime cards. I like to think that prime cards exist. To me, my cards that are prime have no annual fee, a low apr and good rewards structure. But I also have cards I consider prime that have an annual fee or slightly higher apr but that is due to the rewards being more lucrative.

At the end of the day, out of the 40 cards I have, my quicksilver visa signature with 12.9% apr, no annual fee and 10k limit is my go to prime card.

Very well stated... and excellent points!

I know Capital One gets knocked a bit sometimes on here, but to me they are indeed "prime"... they treated me well when times were hard, and now that things are better they have acknowledged and rewarded that as well. For me, they are rock-solid... not to mention (as I've said on here before) they are dependable - their cards just work. They don't get nervous if you use your entire credit line, and they don't make you let them know every time you cross the state line.

Actually, if I were forced to close every card but one, I would choose my Capital One card as the one to keep.

Re: Prime cards

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 21:21:50 GMT

I'm very certain I'm going to go for the amex bcp in april, then the discover it, then the qs since they would likely approve me with a good sl possibly visa sig. Unlikely my qs1 will get a decent enough cli. Amex pulls ex so it wont affect the discover it app which is eq and then cap one isn't inq sensitive so that should be perfectly fine.

None of those banks care about inqs that were more than 6 months old right?

Re: Prime cards

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 21:25:56 GMT

not really. and amex isn't THAT inquiry sensitive and cap1 could give a flying pig.

Re: Prime cards

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 22:20:46 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
not really. and amex isn't THAT inquiry sensitive and cap1 could give a flying pig.

Haha good to hear.

Citi mailed me an offer for a dc which lasts until december 12th. I'll still have 8 less than 6 month old inqs on eq then so forget that offer I guess lol.

Re: Prime cards

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 22:21:36 GMT

really the benefit of the DC over the QS is virtually nonexistent.

Re: Prime cards

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 22:27:12 GMT

Yea dunno why they even offered me this today my credit isnt THAT good...I got an offer for a surge mastercard last month. The terms were like 30% apr, $7 monthly fee and $125 annual fee lol. Yet, citi prescreens me for one of their cards. Odd. And a week after I was declined for one of their other cards haha.