topic Re: Does Amex gold make sense? in Credit Cards

Does Amex gold make sense?

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Jan 2019 01:39:59 GMT

I currently have a BCP and a JB card with annual fee. I’m thinking about just getting the gold since it basically offsets the fee minus 50 bucks.

I aasume amex gold allows to pay for bags on JetBlue flight or is it only drinks and stuff on the plane itself?

either way, what kind of point hit am I looking at if I got the card?

Scores are around 760 now and need them to stay there at least 5 months from now

3 and a half years AAOA. Newest is 11

thanks

Re: Does Amex gold make sense?

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Jan 2019 01:46:24 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I currently have a BCP and a JB card with annual fee. I’m thinking about just getting the gold since it basically offsets the fee minus 50 bucks.

I aasume amex gold allows to pay for bags on JetBlue flight or is it only drinks and stuff on the plane itself?

either way, what kind of point hit am I looking at if I got the card?

Scores are around 760 now and need them to stay there at least 5 months from now

3 and a half years AAOA. Newest is 11

thanks

If you already have an Amex card you have a shot at getting the gold with a soft pull, so potentially no hit for the inquiry. Click on the Reccommended Cards linkon the dashboard. Yes, you can use $100 incidental for bags or drinks but you can only select on airline per year.

Re: Does Amex gold make sense?

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Jan 2019 01:55:57 GMT

Thank you

That is great to know.

i was slightly more concerned with the added account showing and lowering age of credit.

I have some thinking to do

I’m slightly wary of the whole charge card thing. I have no problem paying something off in full, it’s just a little scary

Re: Does Amex gold make sense?

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Jan 2019 02:07:43 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Thank you

That is great to know.

i was slightly more concerned with the added account showing and lowering age of credit.

I have some thinking to do

I’m slightly wary of the whole charge card thing. I have no problem paying something off in full, it’s just a little scary

The new account will bring the score down due to the fact that it is new, but you could be saved a few points if Amex does a soft pull.

Charge card is a good way to mentally thing about your purchases more. But they do offer pay over time if you need to move large purchases to a revolver.

Re: Does Amex gold make sense?

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Jan 2019 02:51:13 GMT

What happens in 5 months?

Are you buying a house then?

If so, I would postpone new charge card.

Might not matter but why take the risk.

Re: Does Amex gold make sense?

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 17:24:23 GMT

Bringing up this old thread because I think now might be the time to make the jump..

Or should I wait based on some good offers coming?

Right now my offer is 50,000 points.

Question though, Is it true that I basically don't need to pay off my balance before my statement hits now with a charge card?

What I mean is that I always pay it off before it posts so I show zero balance. With this charge card, I can use it all I want that month, and even if its high when the statement posts, it will show no balance????

Obviously I know I have to pay it off when I get the bill but do you understand what I am saying?

Thanks

Re: Does Amex gold make sense?

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 17:55:29 GMT

From what I understand, since charge cards have no set CL, it will not show on your CR at all besides a new account. It will not show a limit, utilization, amount on the card, etc. However, if you don't pay it off in time, then Amex will tell the CR agencies that you are 30 days late, then 60, then 90, and so on.

So, in short, the charge card will never report a balance, because there isn't a balance to report.

If I'm wrong, please someone correct me!

Re: Does Amex gold make sense?

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 19:18:10 GMT

Yes this is all very confusing to me..

Yeah like if i spend $500 and decided " meh I will wait till after I get the bill to pay it off it full " would that show as zero balance on my credit?

I never had a charge card, but the Amex gold seems like a great one to have and keep. I usually always pay off everything in full anyway, or I would have other credit cards I can leave balances on if need some more time to pay off

Also, I am curious how this works, as you said if you didnt pay it off in full by the due date. Does it automatically say you are 30 days late at that point and it hits your credit. I know it works different than a normal card

Hopefully more people chime in

Re: Does Amex gold make sense?

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 19:34:18 GMT

And can someone please explain long term backdating to me, cause I hear about it and don't know what it is.

Thank you

Re: Does Amex gold make sense?

coldfusion — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 19:37:18 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Yes this is all very confusing to me..

Yeah like if i spend $500 and decided " meh I will wait till after I get the bill to pay it off it full " would that show as zero balance on my credit?

I never had a charge card, but the Amex gold seems like a great one to have and keep. I usually always pay off everything in full anyway, or I would have other credit cards I can leave balances on if need some more time to pay off

Also, I am curious how this works, as you said if you didnt pay it off in full by the due date. Does it automatically say you are 30 days late at that point and it hits your credit. I know it works different than a normal card

Hopefully more people chime in

Like a credit card, an AMEX charge card has a monthly statement date and a payment due date.

If there is a balance on the card, it will be reported on the statement. That entire reported balance must be PIF by the next payment date, unless you have a charge that was converted to Pay-Over-Time.

The current balance and the highest ever balance are reported, but as there is no fixed credit limit there won't be any listed on your credit report.

Re: Does Amex gold make sense?

coldfusion — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 19:42:38 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
And can someone please explain long term backdating to me, cause I hear about it and don't know what it is.

Thank you

AMEX stopped backdating several years ago, you can no longer take advantage of it.

A one-sentence description would be something like if you had an active card with AMEX, any additional AMEX cards later opened would report the same opening date as the original card and not the actual opening date of each of the additional cards.

Re: Does Amex gold make sense?

Anonymous — Sat, 30 Mar 2019 00:33:02 GMT

Well that was interesting. Too bad I missed it

I just I'm just concerned adding the new account will drop me alot of points. My oldest card is about 5 and a half years old, and my newest is about 1 year 2 months old .

Average age is about 3 years 7 months..

Don't need that dropping below 3 years if I get this card. Could lose a good amount of points

Not to worried about the hard pull, might not even get one, and I have no INQ on anything

Re: Does Amex gold make sense?

Anonymous — Sat, 30 Mar 2019 00:42:29 GMT

@coldfusion wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
And can someone please explain long term backdating to me, cause I hear about it and don't know what it is.

Thank you
AMEX stopped backdating several years ago, you can no longer take advantage of it.

A one-sentence description would be something like if you had an active card with AMEX, any additional AMEX cards later opened would report the same opening date as the original card and not the actual opening date of each of the additional cards.

Yes, it was a very strange concept, IMO giving a misleading message but of course I still took advantage of it! It was actually a little weirder than the one sentence summary: Suppose you opened a card in say June 1980. If in March 2010 you open another Amex (even if the original one was closed in say 1981) the new card would get an open date of March 1980, taking the current month and the year of the original issue. If you get another in Jan 2012, that would be Jan 1980, suggesting that that was the first card you got!

Before I got in the game, Amex would backdate AUs to the date of the original cardholder. When parents put children on their cards, this could lead to open dates of before the child was born. Amex stopped doing this first, before getting rid of backdating entirely.

Re: Does Amex gold make sense?

EAJuggalo — Sat, 30 Mar 2019 12:11:03 GMT

Charge cards aren't included in the utilization figures for FICO 08 and later models. My understanding is that earlier models and the Vantage models took the highest balance line and used that for the credit limit and figured out utilization that way. My Gold card shows on my report with the balance each month.

OP, please answer the question of what is happening in a few months that you need your score to stay where it is? If it is a mortgage than I would do absolutely nothing to your credit file between now and when you close.

That said, I love my Gold card and it's making a very good case to get me to pay the $250 AF that comes in October.

Re: Does Amex gold make sense?

Anonymous — Sat, 30 Mar 2019 18:15:17 GMT

Well I was considering buying a home, but now I am pushing that for another 12 months.

Also, I know your score drops when you report a balances ( I usually leave one though as it makes the score better )

Wont my score drop if I let balances show on the account, even if it doesn't count towards UTI? Or am I wrong about that

Lastly, I know sometimes its a soft pull and sometimes its a hard pull. Do I need to show a prequal on my account for it to be a soft?, and if its hard, do they pull all three? When I click apply now on my account it says " NAMENAME. You are preapproved! "

And they guy told me the annual fee posts 45 days after approval, as does it showing as new account. Is this true?

Thank you

Re: Does Amex gold make sense?

JustBPatient — Sat, 30 Mar 2019 19:59:26 GMT

Often times you can find offers that let you try the card out for 12 months. And the balance isnt calculated on your overall utilization.

Re: Does Amex gold make sense?

SouthJamaica — Sat, 30 Mar 2019 21:08:48 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I currently have a BCP and a JB card with annual fee. I’m thinking about just getting the gold since it basically offsets the fee minus 50 bucks.

I aasume amex gold allows to pay for bags on JetBlue flight or is it only drinks and stuff on the plane itself?

if you're talking about the statement credit, yes it would cover extra bag fees, etc, but it's capped at $100 per year

either way, what kind of point hit am I looking at if I got the card?

i don't see why there would be a point hit

Scores are around 760 now and need them to stay there at least 5 months from now

3 and a half years AAOA. Newest is 11

thanks

Re: Does Amex gold make sense?

SouthJamaica — Sat, 30 Mar 2019 21:11:45 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Bringing up this old thread because I think now might be the time to make the jump..

Or should I wait based on some good offers coming?

Right now my offer is 50,000 points.

That's the highest I've heard of. Mine was only 25,000.

Question though, Is it true that I basically don't need to pay off my balance before my statement hits now with a charge card?

What I mean is that I always pay it off before it posts so I show zero balance. With this charge card, I can use it all I want that month, and even if its high when the statement posts, it will show no balance????

The Amex charge cards are not factored into utilization except by one of the older mortgage models.

Obviously I know I have to pay it off when I get the bill but do you understand what I am saying?

Thanks

Re: Does Amex gold make sense?

SouthJamaica — Sat, 30 Mar 2019 21:13:02 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
And can someone please explain long term backdating to me, cause I hear about it and don't know what it is.

Thank you

No backdating anymore.

Re: Does Amex gold make sense?

SouthJamaica — Sat, 30 Mar 2019 21:14:46 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Well that was interesting. Too bad I missed it

I just I'm just concerned adding the new account will drop me alot of points. My oldest card is about 5 and a half years old, and my newest is about 1 year 2 months old .

Average age is about 3 years 7 months..

Don't need that dropping below 3 years if I get this card. Could lose a good amount of points

Not to worried about the hard pull, might not even get one, and I have no INQ on anything

If you don't want to lose any points then you shouldn't get any new cards. Right now your age of youngest account is great. Any new card will reset that.