topic Re: What card(s) should be in my goals? in Credit Cards

What card(s) should be in my goals?

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 04:39:03 GMT

So I am gardening right now but I’m planning for the future.

I tossed the Freedom in there because it’s a rotating category spend card and it pushes me to 9/2020 before 5/24 which lines up perfectly since my BK falls 8/2020.

The thing is... I am not sure if there’s a card that makes sense for me. Here’s my current setup:

Discover IT - rotating 5% categories and a high limit card that can get promo 0% APRs

BBVA Compass ClearPoints - 3% groceries

PayPal Business Debit with PayPal cashback as funding source - 3% utilities

PayPal Cashback - 2% general spend

NFCU Platinum - low (8.24%) APR card for BTs and unexpected expenses

My NFCU cashRewards is redundant other than Member Deals (previously Member Mall) so it’s basically a SD card and I may just ask NFCU to merge it with my Plat to give me a $14,700 limit come September when the card turns a year old, I am heavily leaning towards closing my SSFCU card as it’s a simple 1.5% cash back with a minimum $25 redemption with HPs to get them to even think about a CLI or interest reduction, and Capital One QS is 5 years old while the rest of my cards are less than a year old so I’ll never close it.

Besides the Freedom, the Cash+ is on my want list (but I burned USB in BK7 in 2010 so I may or may not ever be able to get this one) but as I am home bound, the travel cards and such are out.

And yes, I know that the PayPal Business Debit can give me 3% on all spend but for now I’m just comfortable with it being my utilities card.

So is there really anything that I’m missing? The Freedom is kind of meh for a garden goal...

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 05:00:43 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Saeren

my 2 cents, if you don't need it, let your Garden Grow!
if those are your real scores in your Siggy? let them come up,
and you'll get some lower interest, higher Limit Cards.

this is only my opinion, and take it with a grain of salt.

I'll Let The Real Professional's chime in on The Subject.

Yeah I am being impacted on EQ and EX by the accounts that gave me 54 points on TU and I’m losing points for half of my cards having a balance because of Sync’s midcycle reporting shenanigans. I actually will go down from 4 to 2 with a balance next month (actually I’ll be AZEO if my roommates give me back the 500 they owe me before Disco cuts my next statement) so my TU should go back to 695-700.

I can ask EX for EE next month on my lates and repo so that would be another 50ish boost, then June I can ask EQ for the same. Then the big 70+ point return as my BK falls from my reports.

I actually have pretty decent limits for $18K income but I was just wondering what cards should be garden goals — because realistically, Freedom isn’t enough incentive for me to stay in the garden once my scores bounce back as I pay down my NFCU BT and get back to AZEO. My TU FICO9 is 730 which makes the Cash+ tempting to just pull the trigger on.

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 05:00:50 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

And yes, I know that the PayPal Business Debit can give me 3% on all spend but for now I’m just comfortable with it being my utilities card.
.

FWIW, with my long long history of Paypal Business Debit (almost seven weeks!) I have now started using it for all uncategorized spend, except for e.g. major appliances where I want better credit card protections. I have a $4K vet bill coming up, and because of the $3k daily limit, I can't put all that on the card, but generally I will use it pretty freely.

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 05:07:39 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:

And yes, I know that the PayPal Business Debit can give me 3% on all spend but for now I’m just comfortable with it being my utilities card.
.
FWIW, with my long long history of Paypal Business Debit (almost seven weeks!) I have now started using it for all uncategorized spend, except for e.g. major appliances where I want better credit card protections. I have a $4K vet bill coming up, and because of the $3k daily limit, I can't put all that on the card, but generally I will use it pretty freely.

I will slowly move in that direction and just keep my BBVA as my groceries card since I have personal care assistants that go and do my shopping for me and it’s the only physical card that gets swiped anywhere. Much prefer that to be on a card that gives me instant transaction alerts (I have been very annoyed that my PayPal Cashback doesn’t give me any transaction alerts) so I can call them before they get back here if there is a large discrepancy (usually things that are out of stock they don’t call me, they just don’t pick it up) or if the card ever ends up being used for fraud it’s easier to deal with.

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?

CreditInspired — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 15:13:30 GMT

@LTL
Suggestion: Ask vet if you can pay $2K downpayment the day before procedure and the remainder on the day of procedure.

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 15:20:06 GMT

Hmmmm I’ve had the PayPal business debit card for years, I thought the debit one was only 1%? Do you guys have a credit card version that offers 3% on utilities? If so that sounds awesome! Is it still available?

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 18:21:53 GMT

@saren I know you mentioned travel cards being out, but does Amex BCP fit for you at all?

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 18:23:54 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hmmmm I’ve had the PayPal business debit card for years, I thought the debit one was only 1%? Do you guys have a credit card version that offers 3% on utilities? If so that sounds awesome! Is it still available?

The credit card is the PayPal Cashback MasterCard by Synchrony. If you’re on a business account already, you may not be able to get it. Opening up a new account won’t work either because the card is linked to the account it’s opened with and if you downgrade from business to personal PayPal has been telling people they have to downgrade to the regular debit.

However, if you can manage to get the card, you set it as the backup funding source for your debit card and you’ll earn 2% back from every purchase on the credit card and 1% back from PayPal Business Debit for a total of 3%.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Earn-3-on-everything-using-one-card-RECENT-UPDATE/td-p/5173215

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 18:26:37 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@saren I know you mentioned travel cards being out, but does Amex BCP fit for you at all?

I don’t have enough grocery spend. I budget myself $150 a month and hardly ever actually hit that. Amex also shot me down for a BCE in December which is why I ultimately went ahead and got the PayPal Business Debit so I could switch my BBVA 3% to groceries and move the utilities to the Business Debit/Cashback MasterCard combo.

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?

Revelate — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 18:43:33 GMT

You've already done your analysis on the groceries, is there anything really uncovered by the rest of your spending profile?

Yeah, setting a garden goal for something you could probably acquire right now if not afoul of 5/24 doesn't seem righteous, and if you're not 5/24 and you want the Freedom I'd just put the app in now and then let everything age together towards that BK dropping off.

Really, unless you're looking at that Paypal upgrade to 3% (which seems like an obvious solution for any cash backer) you may just set the date as your garden goal and then see what you need at that point which is basically what I did except when I knew a mortgage was on the table in which case garden target was exactly to the point I could go talk to a loan officer.

Ultimately gardening for a given card isn't really the greatest planning tool: time domain is better honestly. Also, I don't know how static your life or your finances or your expenses are, but life happens and I can't think mine is the only one that is unpredictable looking a year or more out and as such it is righteous just to put your credit report in as good a place as possible for when you do actually need to leverage it.

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 18:40:53 GMT

@ktspicks

We have the PayPal 2% CB Mastercard issued by Synchrony. You'll need this card to enable/set-up the 3% earning.

Check out this post.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Earn-3-on-everything-using-one-card-RECENT-UPDATE/m-p/5173215

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 18:45:10 GMT

Think you are in good shape. Unless you want to chase some subs.

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?

HeavenOhio — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 18:48:06 GMT

@Revelate wrote:
Yeah, setting a garden goal for something you could probably acquire right now if not afoul of 5/24 doesn't seem righteous, and if you're not 5/24 and you want the Freedom I'd just put the app in now and then let everything age together towards that BK dropping off.

If I remember correctly, Chase denies applications when a bankruptcy is on one's report and recon very rarely helps.

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 18:59:26 GMT

@Revelate wrote:
You've already done your analysis on the groceries, is there anything really uncovered by the rest of your spending profile?

Yeah, setting a garden goal for something you could probably acquire right now if not afoul of 5/24 doesn't seem righteous, and if you're not 5/24 and you want the Freedom I'd just put the app in now and then let everything age together towards that BK dropping off.

Really, unless you're looking at that Paypal upgrade to 3% (which seems like an obvious solution for any cash backer) you may just set the date as your garden goal and then see what you need at that point which is basically what I did except when I knew a mortgage was on the table in which case garden target was exactly to the point I could go talk to a loan officer.

Ultimately gardening for a given card isn't really the greatest planning tool: time domain is better honestly. Also, I don't know how static your life or your finances or your expenses are, but life happens and I can't think mine is the only one that is unpredictable looking a year or more out and as such it is righteous just to put your credit report in as good a place as possible for when you do actually need to leverage it.

That’s the thing, I think I’m pretty much set at this point because I do have the Business Debit/PayPal Cashback combo and the only cards that make sense are category spend cards that earn more than 3% unless I am going for a backup card or a nice SUB. I am only aware of two of those 5% cards besides Disco IT - the Freedom and US Bank Cash+ cards. I burned USB in my BK so I want to wait until my BK falls before I go for another card with them but I don’t have high hopes of getting in because it wasn’t just credit cards that got burned, they got burned for my reserve line attached to my checking too.

The $7200 NFCU Plat is there for any emergencies plus I may merge my cashRewards into the Plat which would give me a $14,700 card under 9% - currently my medical needs mean I can’t have more than $2000 in the bank so a low APR emergency card is a must and I may look to add a second one with another CU.

Time is going to have a marked impact on my credit reports regardless of whether I stay in the garden or not since that BK is going to be a big jump when I ask TU for EE a year from now.

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 19:04:44 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Think you are in good shape. Unless you want to chase some subs.

I am thinking this as well.

If I had any actual spending planned, I would go for some SUB chasing but I quite literally have no major expenses planned this year that could use an offset or a 0% intro. If I do, I’ll probably get the SavorOne. While I’m not a big fan of Cap’s 3B pull, $150 for $500 spend paired with a 0% for 15 month intro would be quite nice and give me a 3% dining card, which is something I don’t currently have a dedicated card for (but can achieve with the PayPal Business Debit).

Regular Savor has no 0% period so while that $500 SUB sounds nice, it’s not practical for $3000 spend without paying interest.

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 19:10:41 GMT

@HeavenOhio wrote:
@Revelate wrote:
Yeah, setting a garden goal for something you could probably acquire right now if not afoul of 5/24 doesn't seem righteous, and if you're not 5/24 and you want the Freedom I'd just put the app in now and then let everything age together towards that BK dropping off.
If I remember correctly, Chase denies applications when a bankruptcy is on one's report and recon very rarely helps.

It’s an auto denial isn’t it? I just realized I had forgotten that so I guess Freedom as a 2020 goal isn’t a bad one since I’m not eligible for it until then anyway lol.

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 01:16:20 GMT

Nusenda and Citi Dividend also have rotating 5% categories if you're into that.

Uber 4% dining probably beats out the Savor.

A 2nd Discover it when your cashback match runs out on your first.

This is my go to place when looking for ideas for cashback cards.
https://www.magnifymoney.com/blog/earning-cashback/best-cash-back-credit-cards-for-every-category222723218/

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 10:35:01 GMT

Nusenda

Citi Dividend

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 01:57:00 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Nusenda and Citi Dividend also have rotating 5% categories if you're into that.

Uber 4% dining probably beats out the Savor.

A 2nd Discover it when your cashback match runs out on your first.

This is my go to place when looking for ideas for cashback cards.
https://www.magnifymoney.com/blog/earning-cashback/best-cash-back-credit-cards-for-every-category222723218/

You’re right about the Uber card but I don’t know that I want to deal with Barclays. Cap is a solid issuer. If you have the limit, you can use it, and AA is very rare with them. Barclays is way too quick to be stupid.

Nusenda was the one I forgot about so thank you for that. Dividend you have to PC to, right?

I have thought about a second Disco and I may go for that next year since I got so many cards last year that a lot of spend got sent to other SUBs. I am planning on getting a new TV next year so that would be the perfect time to get another 0% intro card that has an effective 2% cash back.

Right now I am leaning towards going for the Nusenda card first, I’ve got to look at some DPs to get an idea of what they’re looking for and I have to wait to see what the denial letters coming from US Bank for the Cash+ and Gold checking say because I didn’t get an HP — and then I looked up credit pulls and EX is what they pull for CO. Which was frozen because I mistakenly believed them to be a TU puller and didn’t feel like filling out the Experian form for no reason. Although it probably would have been a denial since my EX is lower than TU quite a bit. But if it doesn’t say previous relationship or something to that effect, I will clean up my EX in April and go for that one again first.

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 01:54:15 GMT

Correct about the Citi Dividend, you must PC to it.