topic Re: Guidance on new CC in Credit Cards

Guidance on new CC

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 20:52:08 GMT

Hello. New to the forums here.

Mortgage paid off 2002. No Installment loans. We buy used cars, PIF and keep for 10 years. I’ve been living with just 2 CC for the past couple of decades, and pretty much use them as charge cards.

One CC is an Elan Visa tied to my Fidelity brokerage acct. This is my daily go to for 2% back.

The other is an old Citi Dividend MC that lost all its best benes last year. Thx Citi! It does have 5% rotating categories, but I hate having to sign up all the time.

Travelled to Caribbean and FL at Xmas and set up travel alerts before leaving. Two days into my vacation, Citi shut me down for a fraud alert anyway. Thx Citi! This Citi MC is now pretty much useless to me. Now I’m looking for a new CC to replace it.

Ideal replacement CC has cash back, no foreign fees, warranty protection and roadside.

My FICO 8 around 770 +/-. Good not excellent, prob due to thin credit history. Any suggestions on a card that hits my wants that I'll get approved for?

Re: Guidance on new CC

Gmood1 — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 21:15:30 GMT

The Paypal 2% Cash Back MasterCard comes to mind. 2% cash back and no FTF. Pretty cut and dry.

USAA, Penfed, Navy Federal, NASA FCU, Redstone FCU all have CC's that are no FTF with some sort of cash back.

Just to name a few. You have a boat load to choose from!

Re: Guidance on new CC

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 21:43:03 GMT

You're right about the CUs!

I was so focused on the big names Citi, Chase...but I'm a longtime member of FirstTech. Why didn't I think about that earlier?

Thx!

Re: Guidance on new CC

Gmood1 — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 21:54:52 GMT

Lol, yeah I'm a member of them as well. I forgot about them. That sounds like the ticket! They offer some nice CCs for traveling.

Re: Guidance on new CC

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Jan 2020 01:36:50 GMT

How about a flat rate 1.5% cashback card with no annual fee? Say, Cap1 Quicksilver, Amex Cash Magnet or Chase Freedom Unlimited? Looking at your scores you should be good to go on any one of them. Good luck on your CC journey!

Re: Guidance on new CC

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Jan 2020 21:21:49 GMT

I decided to stick with my local CU. My thinking is that it's one less username and pw to try to remember.

I decided to try for with the Odessey MC which has a $75 AF, but it has most of what I wanted and some I didn't know I wanted until now:
Roadside Asst (Can cancel AAA now -$59)

No FTF

Purchase protection-- not as good as extended warranty tho

Travel/Delay Ins (Can cancel the Allianz Annual Ins now -$180)

Points back which can be used as credit on a statement

and Cell phone coverage which is a bonus I'll gladly take (-$8/month vs Tmobile)

I was able to apply through their link last night. It said to log in if you're already a member, then the application populated with all my info already filled in. I've got an acceptance email this morning.

Pretty painless. This would be my first new CC in over 16 years.

The CU suggestion was indeed the way to go. Thanks Forum!

Re: Guidance on new CC

K-in-Boston — Sat, 25 Jan 2020 21:28:08 GMT

Welcome to the forums and nice job with the CU card! As for Citi, it sounds like it's a pretty well-aged account. Citi is extremely flexible when it comes to product changes. While you would not be eligible for any new cardholder signup bonuses, there is an enormous catalog of Citi cards that you could consider product changing to if the Dividend no longer makes sense for you, so that it would still be useful to you and also retain the full account history and age.

Re: Guidance on new CC

AllZero — Sat, 25 Jan 2020 21:34:02 GMT

Congratulations on your approval!

Re: Guidance on new CC

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Jan 2020 21:39:03 GMT

There are plenty here who would like to get a card with First Tech and can't because they have too much credit so great pick. Enjoy!

Re: Guidance on new CC

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Jan 2020 21:54:54 GMT

I set a Travel Advisory before I went on vacation, then they shut me down on the third day while I was abroad. Thankfully flights and hotel were prebooked and paid for well in advance, and at the time they shut me off the only odd thing on the card was a $1 pending from the hotel in Trinidad for 'incidentals'. Citi fraud dept left me messages on my landline, and when I called in on my cell, they said I needed to call in from my primary number on file--which was my landline. They wouldn't budge on the calling back from the secondary number, it had to be the primary.

While I appreciate fraud alerts, what's a Travel Advisory for anyway? In a fit of anger I swore off all Citi. It's their CS not their actual products.

Re: Guidance on new CC

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Jan 2020 22:03:07 GMT

To be fair, no bank is going to allow you to call from a number not on the account when it comes to fraud concerns if that's part of their fraud verification process -- that's for your security as well as their own and is why your creditors should have your cell phone number. Travel advisory says you're on vacation but that doesn't mean your card is in your possession and not someone else's. I think a lot of people forget that stealing foreigners' wallets is a thing that happens all the time.

But yes I have heard that Citi can be a bit ridiculous with fraud precautions. Their app has been hounding me every time I open it to enable them to track my location so they can use it to approve or deny purchases.

No single card is going to be impervious to issues though. Having at least two cards, one VISA and one MC, is a smart way to minimize issues and their impact.

Re: Guidance on new CC

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Jan 2020 22:26:41 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
...Travel advisory says you're on vacation but that doesn't mean your card is in your possession and not someone else's. I think a lot of people forget that stealing foreigners' wallets is a thing that happens all the time.

I absolutely see your point here. But, I think that a hotel hold should pass the sniff test for travelling. I can see if there were charges at a furniture store or other showed up. I'm sure it was a computer algorithm that made that fraud decision, but the CSR should have some discretion.

Anyway, my cell# is on my acct. it was just not the primary number. I have since switched it, but then I started thinking about what happens if you lose/damage your cell while travelling. You can never win.

You're right too about the secondary backup card. The Visa and debit came in handy.

In all, the silver lining is that this incident has prompted me to change to a better product which I wouldn't have due to inertia.

Re: Guidance on new CC

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Jan 2020 22:32:13 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
...Travel advisory says you're on vacation but that doesn't mean your card is in your possession and not someone else's. I think a lot of people forget that stealing foreigners' wallets is a thing that happens all the time.

I absolutely see your point here. But, I think that a hotel hold should pass the sniff test for travelling. I can see if there were charges at a furniture store or other showed up. I'm sure it was a computer algorithm that made that fraud decision, but the CSR should have some discretion.

Anyway, my cell# is on my acct. it was just not the primary number. I have since switched it, but then I started thinking about what happens if you lose/damage your cell while travelling. You can never win.

You're right too about the secondary backup card. The Visa and debit came in handy.

In all, the silver lining is that this incident has prompted me to change to a better product which I wouldn't have due to inertia.

That's definitely ridiculous that it has to be the primary number. That would annoy me as well since a lot of banks won't accept my Google Voice number anymore (doesn't matter that I have had it since 2004 and it's the number on my credit report, they don't want anything to do with anything that could be VoIP). I have a habit of changing cell providers and not porting my number and it annoys me that I would actually have to go through that hassle now because of creditors.

It sounds like it all worked out in the end. I've heard great things about First Tech credit cards from those who have them and thanks for the reminder not to put too many eggs in the Citi basket.

Re: Guidance on new CC

K-in-Boston — Sat, 25 Jan 2020 22:48:27 GMT

To be fair, that has happened to many people with other lenders such as Chase. I agree it's frustrating, especially when you've set a travel notice. Even with bitter feelings, some cards are too aged to want to let go, though, so a PC is certainly an option even if you're not comfortable relying on it out of the country.

Re: Guidance on new CC

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Jan 2020 22:54:15 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I decided to stick with my local CU. My thinking is that it's one less username and pw to try to remember.

I decided to try for with the Odessey MC which has a $75 AF, but it has most of what I wanted and some I didn't know I wanted until now:
Roadside Asst (Can cancel AAA now -$59)
No FTF
Purchase protection-- not as good as extended warranty tho
Travel/Delay Ins (Can cancel the Allianz Annual Ins now -$180)
Points back which can be used as credit on a statement
and Cell phone coverage which is a bonus I'll gladly take (-$8/month vs Tmobile)

I was able to apply through their link last night. It said to log in if you're already a member, then the application populated with all my info already filled in. I've got an acceptance email this morning.
Pretty painless. This would be my first new CC in over 16 years.

The CU suggestion was indeed the way to go. Thanks Forum!

Congrats

Re: Guidance on new CC

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Jan 2020 23:02:03 GMT

Occasionally, it helps to vent to others who can sympathise.

I'll post my DP over on the approval board.

Thank you all!

Re: Guidance on new CC

M_Smart007 — Sun, 26 Jan 2020 00:22:40 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Occasionally, it helps to vent to others who can sympathise.

I'll post my DP over on the approval board.

Thank you all!

"This would be my first new CC in over 16 years." ..Now that is what I call being a statue in the garden!

Take that as a compliment

Re: Guidance on new CC

Anonymous — Sun, 26 Jan 2020 03:25:46 GMT

I know you’re not happy with citi, but keep in mind the simplicity retained the extended warranty benefit.

Re: Guidance on new CC

Rudy1 — Sun, 26 Jan 2020 04:44:30 GMT

Congrats on your approval.