topic Re: Going on Gap Year in Israel. Need help on what credit card to get. in Credit Cards

What card should I get for foreign gap year?

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 18:19:03 GMT

Here is my situation. Senior in High School with an income of around 6.5k. Maybe more with scholarships and such. I need a new credit card with no foreign transaction fees. Would love a CSP or Venture but not sure that is realistic. If it helps I don't keep balances on any credit cards and pay full balance weekly.

Suggestions on what card I should apply or look at?

Here is my current lineup.

Discover it (1.5k) CL (Oct 2018)

Eastern Bank Visa (1.5k) CL (Sep 2018)

Delta Blue AmEx (1.5k) CL (Nov 2018)

Authorized user on a few cards as well

FICO

718 Experian (3 HP)

735 TransUnion (3 HP)

720 Equifax (2 HP)

Re: Going on Gap Year in Israel. Need help on what credit card to get.

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 18:21:50 GMT

Your file is way too young for those.

IT cards has no FTF, but not sure how its acceptance is in Israel.

You can look into QS1 or BofA's student travel reward card.

Re: Going on Gap Year in Israel. Need help on what credit card to get.

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 18:23:43 GMT

Even with an authorized card opened in 2015, it would still be too young? I'm new to the game. Just trying to figure things out!

Re: Going on Gap Year in Israel. Need help on what credit card to get.

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 18:31:17 GMT

check your AAoA, perhaps credit karma has it. It is young if your AAoA is less than a year.

Re: Going on Gap Year in Israel. Need help on what credit card to get.

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 19:08:21 GMT

What card are you Authorized user on, any of them have 0 FTF?

You haven't had the Delta long enough, or I'd suggest upgrading to the Gold version. You should have perhaps done that originally, as the AF is 0 in the first year and $95 after. That first year would have allowed you to assess whether the AF is worth keeping it, or then dowgrading to the Blue.

As others have said you may not be in a position right now to aquire a 0 FTF card.

Last resort, you Discover does.

If you have an in with NFCU, I'd try them. All of their cards offer 0 FTFs.

Lastly, and I don't often refer Cap One, they do have the Journey Student Rewards MC. Which will have broader acceptance than Amex or Discover. It offers 0 FTFs as well.

Re: Going on Gap Year in Israel. Need help on what credit card to get.

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 19:20:13 GMT

I’m an user on my father’s Citi Premier. I would consider using that however then he gets all the points . I would also have to do a bank transfer to pay the balance on his card.

Re: Going on Gap Year in Israel. Need help on what credit card to get.

K-in-Boston — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 19:40:03 GMT

Sounds like a Citi Premier of your own or a Chase Sapphire Preferred would be ideal. On the surface, an Amex Gold Charge card would be great and Amex is somewhat commonly accepted but you wouldn't get bonus categories for non-US locations. You really do need a Visa or MasterCard in Israel. Discover acceptance is going to be somewhat low; the network wasn't even available there as recently as 4-5 years ago.

With the categories, I think those are your two best options for cards. Plus, if you want to travel around Europe or elsewhere by air or want to come home for holidays both points programs transfer to Air France/KLM and FlyingBlue still considers Israel to be "Europe" for all intents and purposes when you price out award travel. That said, it's possible that you may want to consider the new Flying Blue card from Bank of America.

Have you tried the pre-qualification pages for Citi, Chase, and BoA? I know technically they shouldn't market to you before you're 21, but since you do have established credit it doesn't hurt to try. If nothing else, the worst you'd have to lose is a HP and a little pride if turned down for one of those cards.

Edit: Also, you mentioned paying off the balances weekly. Are you letting at least one of those cards report with a small balance when the statement closes? If they're all reporting $0 on your credit reports, you're likely missing some points since not using your credit at all (as it appears on your reports) is riskier than managing your credit cards by using them and paying them (which would be shown by letting at least once balance show on your reports at all times).

Re: What card should I get for foreign gap year?

Kforce — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 19:53:10 GMT

Another option is a no FTF debit card.

Easy to open a checking, savings that comes with a debit card.

Schwab Bank -- High Yield Investor Checking has a no FTF debit card on the "Visa" network.

Re: Going on Gap Year in Israel. Need help on what credit card to get.

HeavenOhio — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 20:14:46 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
check your AAoA, perhaps credit karma has it. It is young if your AAoA is less than a year.

Never rely on Credit Karma for AAoA. They give you the average age of OPEN accounts, while FICO and VantageScore count both open and closed.

With a young file, it's better to zero in on AoOA (age of oldest account) and AoYA (age of youngest account). Doors start to open up when one's AoOA reaches a year. And it's always good that one's youngest account has a bit of age on it when applying.

OP, if you go with Capital One, don't grab a QuicksilverOne. They're too hard to deal with over the long term. You could probably get the Journey right now, and Quicksilver would likely be available come summer. Journeys can typically be upgraded to Quicksilvers at some point.

Re: Going on Gap Year in Israel. Need help on what credit card to get.

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 21:09:29 GMT

So here is what it is going to look like overseas. I am going to have a TD bank Premier Checking. We are going to keep a minimum of 2.5k in there as I get reimbursed all ATM fees and with TD bank there are no FTF’s.

Should I wait until maybe June until applying for a CC? Possibly apply for the CSP first if my income goes up due to scholarship or figuring out what type of allowances I will have from the family? Then if I get declined, shoot for a Quicksilver or BofA Travel Rewards?

Re: Going on Gap Year in Israel. Need help on what credit card to get.

K-in-Boston — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 21:10:15 GMT

IIRC CK also does not factor in AU cards on account age.

Re: Going on Gap Year in Israel. Need help on what credit card to get.

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 21:12:26 GMT

Also that Flying Blue card from BofA might be nice if it didn’t have the $89 fee in the first year.

Re: Going on Gap Year in Israel. Need help on what credit card to get.

K-in-Boston — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 21:24:02 GMT

Yes but if you get the sign-up bonus that $89 could buy you a business class ticket home. The Air France award fares can be crazy.

Re: What card should I get for foreign gap year?

zerofire — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 21:34:20 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Here is my situation. Senior in High School with an income of around 6.5k. Maybe more with scholarships and such. I need a new credit card with no foreign transaction fees. Would love a CSP or Venture but not sure that is realistic. If it helps I don't keep balances on any credit cards and pay full balance weekly.

Suggestions on what card I should apply or look at?

Here is my current lineup.
Discover it (1.5k) CL (Oct 2018)
Eastern Bank Visa (1.5k) CL (Sep 2018)
Delta Blue AmEx (1.5k) CL (Nov 2018)
Authorized user on a few cards as well

FICO
718 Experian (3 HP)
735 TransUnion (3 HP)
720 Equifax (2 HP)

I am seeing a massive gap in the recommendations so far so I will throw in my opinion on what I believe is the most appropriate card. I vote the PayPal 2% Cashback MC from Synchrony Bank. You get a very easy 2% back for every perchase, the card has no FTF, and Synchrony Bank is pretty much the easiest bank to get a card from. On top of that they hit TU and that is your highest score right now. The best thing about it though is that it will be useful once you come back as well as you can add the PayPal Cashback Buisness Debit MC to it to get an additional 1% to get 3% total.

Re: Going on Gap Year in Israel. Need help on what credit card to get.

HeavenOhio — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 21:51:18 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
So here is what it is going to look like overseas. I am going to have a TD bank Premier Checking. We are going to keep a minimum of 2.5k in there as I get reimbursed all ATM fees and with TD bank there are no FTF’s.

Should I wait until maybe June until applying for a CC? Possibly apply for the CSP first if my income goes up due to scholarship or figuring out what type of allowances I will have from the family? Then if I get declined, shoot for a Quicksilver or BofA Travel Rewards?

June would be a good time for a lot of decent cards. At that point, your youngest card would be about six months old. And what's nice is that the date fits into your schedule.

Chase doesn't typically approve unless one's oldest card (not AU) is a year old. That puts you into November. Whether you'd be positioned for a CSP would depend on what your profile looks like at that time.

Re: Going on Gap Year in Israel. Need help on what credit card to get.

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 22:08:29 GMT

Fantastic. Maybe, I'll just pull the trigger on the BofA or Cap1 card at that time, depending on signup bonuses and the like. Also, I am not so sure about the PayPal Synchrony card. I have heard mixed experiences with them.

Re: Going on Gap Year in Israel. Need help on what credit card to get.

K-in-Boston — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 22:17:34 GMT

It’s a recent development but that 3% loophole is gone as of next month.

Re: Going on Gap Year in Israel. Need help on what credit card to get.

zerofire — Fri, 15 Feb 2019 17:04:25 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
It’s a recent development but that 3% loophole is gone as of next month.

I do not have any notice to that effect. Maybe that is for some customers and not others. I know my card's account did not get any changes applied to that effect.

Re: Going on Gap Year in Israel. Need help on what credit card to get.

Anonymous — Sat, 16 Feb 2019 01:30:26 GMT

I thought that the CSP had an income requirement, which I think OP's $6.5K might be too low?

I do know that some CCC's have a minimum income on their various products.

Re: Going on Gap Year in Israel. Need help on what credit card to get.

Anonymous — Sat, 16 Feb 2019 01:33:17 GMT

What are the minimum income’s for the cards I should look at?