topic Re: Amex BCE or Sallie Mae with limited history? in Credit Cards

Amex BCE or Sallie Mae with limited history?

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 17:31:00 GMT

So I'm an 18 year old college student and I've had my Discover It card ($500 CL) for 5 months now (6 months on Jan 15). I also have two student loans open totaling about $3500 which show up on my CR. Although it takes 6 months to get a FICO score, I've gotten scores from TU and EX which are both around 720 and I constantly monitor on credit karma. I've paid every statement on time and have kept utilization around 8%. Only potential problem with my history is 5 HPs (getting my first card was a struggle). I definitely want to get a new card as soon after my 6 months of hisory as possible. Amex BCE seems awesome but I'm not sure if amex would approve me with such little history. I also know very little about what scores/history barclay looks at for the sallie mae card which makes it difficult to choose between the two. If I had a choice, I think I'd prefer the amex, just to have my foot in the door with them as early as possible but I'm fine with either one as they both have great rewards for what I want. So my two questions are A. which should I apply for first? and B. should I do it right after Discover says I have a FICO (which should be right after 6 months) or should I even wait a few more months? Any help is much appreciated.

Re: Amex BCE or Sallie Mae with limited history?

Imperfectfuture — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 17:39:33 GMT

Sallie Mae likes at least two years (or close) account history. I hate to say, but app for capital one quicksilver, or journey for students, limits don't matter while building history or score, just how you use the cards.

Re: Amex BCE or Sallie Mae with limited history?

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 17:44:00 GMT

journey for students was actually the first card i applied for and got denied haha. and yeah i really don't care about limits but i do want something with rewards that I can use as a daily driver and then use my Discover for online shopping and the rotating categories, which is why the amex seemed appealing to me. i think i looked into the quicksilver a while ago and deemed it subpar but i'll take another look.

Re: Amex BCE or Sallie Mae with limited history?

RBFool — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 17:45:45 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
journey for students was actually the first card i applied for and got denied haha. and yeah i really don't care about limits but i do want something with rewards that I can use as a daily driver and then use my Discover for online shopping and the rotating categories, which is why the amex seemed appealing to me. i think i looked into the quicksilver a while ago and deemed it subpar but i'll take another look.

No offense... You can't deem something subpar when you have no history and you're building or rebuilding. You be thankful for what they give you and use it well. Anything helps.

Re: Amex BCE or Sallie Mae with limited history?

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 17:53:59 GMT

Even if I don't have an extensive credit history, I can still easily research and compare cards. $40 annual fee for 1.5% back is definitely subpar. Now I'm not saying that I can do better, and I may actually end up apping for that, but compared to other cards available for similar credit scores, it's definitely lacking.

Re: Amex BCE or Sallie Mae with limited history?

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 18:06:04 GMT

I got sallie mae wmc and BCE on same week with only 8 months of credit history but just a that time 1 HP on transunion

Re: Amex BCE or Sallie Mae with limited history?

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 18:06:20 GMT

If you don't absoluty need a new card at this moment I would wait a few months and go straight for the BCE, instead of apping for low quality cards. I think bce is pretty easy to get if you have a clean record.

Maybe wait 6 months (for the HPs to go away) and then get a few good cards that are on the wish list.

Re: Amex BCE or Sallie Mae with limited history?

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 18:10:41 GMT

Well as far as I know, it takes 2 years for HPs to go away and I accumulated most of those in July '14 (when I started apping for my first card) so it's gonna be another year and a half for those to go away. is amex known to have a problem with a lot of HPs? I'm thinking maybe app for the BCE in the summer when I have about 10 months history (and hopefully a higher CL on my Discover). any thoughts on this idea? any chance I could get it sooner? I'm just itching to get a new card

Re: Amex BCE or Sallie Mae with limited history?

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 18:16:34 GMT

The HPs don't count after 1 year.

And from what I can tell, AMEX always pulls Experian. How many of the 5 inqs are on Experian?

If its not too many, you probably don't have to wait much longer.

Re: Amex BCE or Sallie Mae with limited history?

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 18:33:55 GMT

I believe 4 of the 5 are on EX... any idea how long I should wait before apping for the BCE? don't wanna do it too early and get another HP for nothing but I definitely wanna get a new card asap

Re: Amex BCE or Sallie Mae with limited history?

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 18:34:41 GMT

Hey OP. My little sister, who just turned 19 three weeks ago with 7 months of credit history and a TU score of 701 was approved for the Salle Mae WMC for $2,500 so I'm pretty sure you have a good shot given your credit history. I made a thread with her background if you want to know more. Best of luck.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Card-Applications/Sallie-Mae-MasterCard-and-Discover-It-Approval-Odds-for-Little/m-p/3680311

Re: Amex BCE or Sallie Mae with limited history?

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 19:10:07 GMT

Hey OP. My little sister, who just turned 19, with an AAoC of 7 months and 706 TU score was approved for the Sallie Mae WMC for $2,500. Given your credit history I'm pretty sure you have a good shot at that one. Not sure about BCE but the Sallie Mae card is better in general. Only plus I see with BCE is to get an early MSD (member since date) if you're approved before this year ends. You can go ahead and apply for both at once if you're confident enough. I applied for the Citi Double Cash, Sallie Mae WMC, and Amex EveryDay on the same day and was approved all three, though my history is a little different.

As for my sister, I'll quote her background from another thread:

TU score: 706

AAoC: 7 months (oldest account is 1 year, 2 months and newest is 2 months)

Credit cards: BofA Cash Rewards ($2,300 @ 19.99%) and Wells Fargo Cashback ($1,200 @ 19.99%)

Inquiries: 3 (December/2013, March/2014, June/2014)

Annual Income: $25,000

Student Loans: $4,333 outstanding (subsidized)

No late payments or derogatory marks.

Best of luck.

Re: Amex BCE or Sallie Mae with limited history?

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 18:59:23 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hey OP. My little sister, who just turned 19, with an AAoC of 7 months and 706 TU score was approved for the Sallie Mae WMC for $2,500. Given your credit history I'm pretty sure you have a good shot at that one. Not sure about BCE but the Sallie Mae card is better in general. Only plus I see with BCE is to get an early MCD. You can go ahead and apply for both at once if you're confident enough. I applied for the Citi Double Cash, Sallie Mae WMC, and Amex EveryDay on the same day and was approved though my history is a little different.

I agree. The Sallie Mae looks like a great card. It'll be on my list as well after I make my big purchase of 2015 .

Re: Amex BCE or Sallie Mae with limited history?

Gunnar419 — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 19:05:26 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Even if I don't have an extensive credit history, I can still easily research and compare cards. $40 annual fee for 1.5% back is definitely subpar. Now I'm not saying that I can do better, and I may actually end up apping for that, but compared to other cards available for similar credit scores, it's definitely lacking.

The Quicksilver doesn't have an annual fee. You may be thinking of the Quicksilver One (which Imperfecture did suggest).

Of course you're entitled to dub any card to be subpar. Your standards are your standards and are your business. However, I have a Quicksilver. I also have an 800+ FICO score, util below 6%, CLs that are double my annual income, and 40+ years of credit history and therefore have no need to go for "subpar" cards. The Quicksilver's $0 fee and 1.5% everyday cashback make it a good card in my book.

To each his own, but for somebody just getting started, the QS One isn't a bad card and you might be able to convert it to the regular QS after a year or so.

Re: Amex BCE or Sallie Mae with limited history?

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 19:14:05 GMT

Iv reaserched Amex requirements extensively . With your record Id say your chances are 50/50 . Some get approved with 3 months of good history and some denied with 3 years of good history . I know this doesn't help you much but I thought I'd save you the research time . Apping is the only way to find out if you qualify . Good luck .

Re: Amex BCE or Sallie Mae with limited history?

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 19:14:19 GMT

@Gunnar419 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Even if I don't have an extensive credit history, I can still easily research and compare cards. $40 annual fee for 1.5% back is definitely subpar. Now I'm not saying that I can do better, and I may actually end up apping for that, but compared to other cards available for similar credit scores, it's definitely lacking.
The Quicksilver doesn't have an annual fee. You may be thinking of the Quicksilver One (which Imperfecture did suggest).

Of course you're entitled to dub any card to be subpar. Your standards are your standards and are your business. However, I have a Quicksilver. I also have an 800+ FICO score, util below 6%, CLs that are double my annual income, and 40+ years of credit history and therefore have no need to go for "subpar" cards. The Quicksilver's $0 fee and 1.5% everyday cashback make it a good card in my book.

To each his own, but for somebody just getting started, the QS One isn't a bad card and you might be able to convert it to the regular QS after a year or so.

Agreed. You can't really find many better complete cashback cards than the Capital One Quicksilver. The only card I'm aware of that gives better returns overall is the Citi Double Cash, which only trumps the QS 1) if you pay in full every month, 2) you only make domestic purchases (QS has no FTF as far as I'm aware. That card has a decent chance of being nerfed in the future as well. Anyawy, obviously with 1.5% cashback on everything (perfect card to pay for purchases you can't get 3%-5% cashback for), they're going to want strong credit history, which is the case with QS. That's why the QS1 is available. It's there for you if you don't have excellent credit required for the QS but still want the same feature and the opportunity to prove to Capital One that you can be responsible with their rewards program.

Re: Amex BCE or Sallie Mae with limited history?

Ghoshida — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 21:40:56 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
So I'm an 18 year old college student and I've had my Discover It card ($500 CL) for 5 months now (6 months on Jan 15). I also have two student loans open totaling about $3500 which show up on my CR. Although it takes 6 months to get a FICO score, I've gotten scores from TU and EX which are both around 720 and I constantly monitor on credit karma. I've paid every statement on time and have kept utilization around 8%. Only potential problem with my history is 5 HPs (getting my first card was a struggle). I definitely want to get a new card as soon after my 6 months of hisory as possible. Amex BCE seems awesome but I'm not sure if amex would approve me with such little history. I also know very little about what scores/history barclay looks at for the sallie mae card which makes it difficult to choose between the two. If I had a choice, I think I'd prefer the amex, just to have my foot in the door with them as early as possible but I'm fine with either one as they both have great rewards for what I want. So my two questions are A. which should I apply for first? and B. should I do it right after Discover says I have a FICO (which should be right after 6 months) or should I even wait a few more months? Any help is much appreciated.

To your exact questions:

(A) I'd go for Sallie Mae, because (1) It has better rewards than BCE; its limits are well suited for a student. I have both, but each month, I pull out the SMMC first. (2) Barclays pulls TU. Given you have 4/5 Inq on EX, AMEX is very likely a no-go. Of course YMMV.

(B) I'd suggest wait for 2-3 months after you get your first Discover score. 720 is often the score given by FAKOs for new credit because there's nothing much to score. Discover will be a FICO and monitoring it for 2-3 months will give you a good idea (it'll help in TU apps especially, i.e. SMMC). It'll age your accounts some more. You might also get an auto-CLI from Discover or ask for a CLI (I believe after 6 months is generally a good time).

Other suggestions:

Search for pre-qualified offers before applying. There are anecdotal evidence of people with short history getting good cards (I got some good cards with less than 1 year of AAoA. That doesn't prove much. I got low limits / high APRs / non-reward cards that I then gardened). There are many incidents of failure through cold apps. Waiting for a while might help, especially 2-3 months after generating first FICO.

Re: Amex BCE or Sallie Mae with limited history?

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 21:50:05 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Even if I don't have an extensive credit history, I can still easily research and compare cards. $40 annual fee for 1.5% back is definitely subpar. Now I'm not saying that I can do better, and I may actually end up apping for that, but compared to other cards available for similar credit scores, it's definitely lacking.

Subpar compared to what's out there? Yes.

Subpar compared to rebiller (rebuilder) cards like CreditOne and FirstPremier? No.

Re: Amex BCE or Sallie Mae with limited history?

Ghoshida — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 21:57:47 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Even if I don't have an extensive credit history, I can still easily research and compare cards. $40 annual fee for 1.5% back is definitely subpar. Now I'm not saying that I can do better, and I may actually end up apping for that, but compared to other cards available for similar credit scores, it's definitely lacking.
Subpar compared to what's out there? Yes.

Subpar compared to rebiller (rebuilder) cards like CreditOne and FirstPremier? No.

I'm thankful that I didn't need to go through them. With Cap One I started with a zero-fee Platinum (can't find that on their website, it was a mail offer) which later got credit stepped by 4X and even later PCed to QuickSilver (no AF). I did miss out on about $60 of rewards because I didn't know I could PC earlier (stupid me, not reading forums).

Re: Amex BCE or Sallie Mae with limited history?

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 22:23:18 GMT

The Capital One Journey card was my first card when I started rebuilding earlier this year. I started out with $300 and was raised to $3300 just a couple of months ago. I do have "better" cards now but I love that I get %1.25 cash back and no annual fee and still use this card for daily purchases. Well not as much right now because I'm trying to meet my spend requirements for my SW RR Visa to get my "free" flight but after that, it will be right back to the Journey unless I can get a card with better cash back.