topic Re: Which credit cards did you instantly regret opening? in Credit Cards

Which credit cards did you instantly regret opening?

BuckyB — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 20:12:43 GMT

I have not one horrible credit card mistake but three and, even worse, they're recent.

NFCU nRewards: I'd just opened my Navy Federal account and was chomping at the bit for one of their cards to further my "relationship" with them. They denied me for everything but the nRewards so I put down a $500 security and opened it. Then a week later I was approved for...

NFCU More Rewards: My dumb self didn't know that Navy Federal does not combine rewards from its cards. Nor did I know that one has to accumulate $50 in rewards to even get the rewards, so the <$50 1% rewards I got from the nRewards card are lost because at 1% I will never use it again. A week after I was approved for the nRewards card I saw that I was pre-approved for this one, so I opened it. $500 limit! I already have a Savor One so this is pointless and the $50 minimum reward redemption means it will never be used.

Amex Cash Magnet Card: Admittedly I was drunk when I applied for this. Even worse, I was in pop-up jail and still accepted the card!!! $1000 limit. Totally worthless because I already have a 2% cash back card. The Cash Magnet card is Amex's worst card. I will never use this card. Lesson: don't drink and apply for credit.

Surely nobody can do worse than that. I totally trashed my average age of accounts for: three new cards with a total $2000 limit, none of which I will ever use.

Re: Which credit cards did you instantly regret opening?

CreditCuriosity — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 21:02:45 GMT

Many people open cards cause they can and end up closing them from a few hours later to a few years later. I have a list of credit cards I need just like I need a hole in my head. I close about 5 - 10 cards a years but end up opening an average 5-10 cards a year so what is the point and they really aren't any better in most cases. You certainly aren't the only one that does things that doesn't advances ones rewards or credit needs nor will you be the last. I have close to a million in credit between personal and business cards yet I get bored as mentioned and do dumb things as mentioned above. Somehow I keep my scores a bit over 800 despite killing my AAoA.

Re: Which credit cards did you instantly regret opening?

SouthJamaica — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 21:16:36 GMT

@BuckyB wrote:
I have not one horrible credit card mistake but three and, even worse, they're recent.

NFCU nRewards: I'd just opened my Navy Federal account and was chomping at the bit for one of their cards to further my "relationship" with them. They denied me for everything but the nRewards so I put down a $500 security and opened it. Then a week later I was approved for...

NFCU More Rewards: My dumb self didn't know that Navy Federal does not combine rewards from its cards. Nor did I know that one has to accumulate $50 in rewards to even get the rewards, so the <$50 1% rewards I got from the nRewards card are lost because at 1% I will never use it again. A week after I was approved for the nRewards card I saw that I was pre-approved for this one, so I opened it. $500 limit! I already have a Savor One so this is pointless and the $50 minimum reward redemption means it will never be used.

Amex Cash Magnet Card: Admittedly I was drunk when I applied for this. Even worse, I was in pop-up jail and still accepted the card!!! $1000 limit. Totally worthless because I already have a 2% cash back card. The Cash Magnet card is Amex's worst card. I will never use this card. Lesson: don't drink and apply for credit.

Surely nobody can do worse than that. I totally trashed my average age of accounts for: three new cards with a total $2000 limit, none of which I will ever use.

I quickly regretted opening the Citi Shop Your Way card. I hated everything about it, especially getting paid in gift cards instead of money.

I quickly regretted opening the Eddie Bauer card, just because it was a low limit store card; I needed it like a hole in the head. I applied just because I empathize with retail employees who don't make much money, and get small bonuses for signing up credit card customers.

It took a while for me to come to regret getting the Amex Business Platinum card, because I spent so much on it in annual fees; it was almost all money down the drain. I hated to let go of it, thinking that maybe someday someone would be favorably impressed that I had one. I was a fool.

Re: Which credit cards did you instantly regret opening?

Rogue46 — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 21:15:24 GMT

I'd say probably my Apple card. I apped back when it first came out because it was supposed to be the next best thing and quickly discovered i have no real use for it, now it sits in my sock drawer. Besides that I have a Sportsmans guide Visa and Boscovs card I picked up in the beginning of my rebuilding via the SCT and like the Apple card they sit in purgatory.

Re: Which credit cards did you instantly regret opening?

BuckyB — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 21:39:15 GMT

@SouthJamaica wrote:
I quickly regretted opening the Eddie Bauer card, just because it was a low limit store card; I needed it like a hole in the head. I applied just because I empathize with retail employees who don't make much money, and get small bonuses for signing up credit card customers.

Well you took one for the (retail worker) team there. Hope they would do the same for you!

It took a while for me to come to regret getting the Amex Business Platinum card, because I spent so much on it in annual fees; it was almost all money down the drain. I hated to let go of it, thinking that maybe someday someone would be favorably impressed that I had one. I was a fool.

I feel you brother, I was hoping someone would be impressed with my gold card but ... like.. who, right? Bartenders? Waiters? First off, who cares (unless they're cute and single) and second... they've seen every **bleep** card before and only care if it goes through and what kind of tip you give them. Like with fancy watches, no one cares except you and gold-diggers, whom you want to avoid anyway.

Re: Which credit cards did you instantly regret opening?

SouthJamaica — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 21:53:59 GMT

@BuckyB wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
I quickly regretted opening the Eddie Bauer card, just because it was a low limit store card; I needed it like a hole in the head. I applied just because I empathize with retail employees who don't make much money, and get small bonuses for signing up credit card customers.
Well you took one for the (retail worker) team there. Hope they would do the same for you!

It took a while for me to come to regret getting the Amex Business Platinum card, because I spent so much on it in annual fees; it was almost all money down the drain. I hated to let go of it, thinking that maybe someday someone would be favorably impressed that I had one. I was a fool.
I feel you brother, I was hoping someone would be impressed with my gold card but ... like.. who, right? Bartenders? Waiters? First off, who cares (unless they're cute and single) and second... they've seen every **bleep** card before and only care if it goes through and what kind of tip you give them. Like with fancy watches, no one cares except you and gold-diggers, whom you want to avoid anyway.

Exactly. If you're buying someone lunch, e.g., they don't care what the card is. It could be a Verve card for all they care.

The only card I ever had that made a good impression was my Spiderman card. That usually got me a smile from the cashier or salesperson

Re: Which credit cards did you instantly regret opening?

Rogue46 — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 23:18:30 GMT

@BuckyB wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
I quickly regretted opening the Eddie Bauer card, just because it was a low limit store card; I needed it like a hole in the head. I applied just because I empathize with retail employees who don't make much money, and get small bonuses for signing up credit card customers.
Well you took one for the (retail worker) team there. Hope they would do the same for you!

It took a while for me to come to regret getting the Amex Business Platinum card, because I spent so much on it in annual fees; it was almost all money down the drain. I hated to let go of it, thinking that maybe someday someone would be favorably impressed that I had one. I was a fool.
I feel you brother, I was hoping someone would be impressed with my gold card but ... like.. who, right? Bartenders? Waiters? First off, who cares (unless they're cute and single) and second... they've seen every **bleep** card before and only care if it goes through and what kind of tip you give them. Like with fancy watches, no one cares except you and gold-diggers, whom you want to avoid anyway.

That's a good point since I almost exclusively use Applepay so nobody knows which card I'm using anyway..

Re: Which credit cards did you instantly regret opening?

willmsbrg — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 00:09:21 GMT

Back in Jan of this year I had a touch of a spree and opened several cards... most of the cards have been very good

WF Autograph $7000.00

Cap1 Savor One $5000.00

Bread Financial Amex $5000.00

Truist (though admittedly this one isn't all the good) with no SP increases, bonus or product change options... $5000.00

Now Navy Fed Amex, which is my current driver card. $5000.00

Two cards I should have never opened were the

Paypal card ($700.00) never used..

GM Card ($1500.00) never used..

Those last 2 along with (Avant $1500.00 and Mercury $1500.00 (both from 2022)) will be closed during the next year...

PayPal and GM were just spree cards that gave me nothing but a ego boost initially and nothing else...

I'm much more strategic now with Amex being my one goal card beginning of the new year...

Re: Which credit cards did you instantly regret opening?

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 01:12:10 GMT

@Rogue46 wrote:
usively use Applepay so nobody knows which card I'm using anyway..

Yes, but with Applepay some can judge you on your choice of iPhone model and color!

Similar with Samsung Pay. I guess GooglePay wins here because there are so many different models people might not know if that phone is a costly flagship from some new "in" manufacturer, or a low end Samsung clone.

But nearly 100% of people won't care.

Re: Which credit cards did you instantly regret opening?

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 01:14:08 GMT

@willmsbrg wrote:

Those last 2 along with (Avant $1500.00 and Mercury $1500.00 (both from 2022)) will be closed during the next year...
PayPal and GM were just spree cards that gave me nothing but a ego boost initially and nothing else...

Even though the limit is low, PP does have some good features, the unlimited 3% on purchases paid with Paypal.

Re: Which credit cards did you instantly regret opening?

B_Slow1 — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 04:31:48 GMT

As a stupid kid in college, applying for credit cards without knowing what I was doing or what credit cards were really all about, I made several mistakes. While not the biggest mistake, the dumbest one was going to Macy's with my friend who was buying a gift. She applied for a Macy's card to save like 20% on the purchase, but didn't get approved. So I said, "Oh, I'll get one!" and bought the thing for her on my card. I never used the card after that. Honestly, don't even remember paying the bill...

Much much later, after getting back into credit cards, I really tried to make sure I got cards that fit my needs. But the Freedom Flex is a card that I regret acquiring. Everyone has one, and most people love it. But I'm not a fan of rotating categories that I can't choose for myself, and that I have to "activate" each quarter. I only found the card useable in 4/6 of the quarters I had it. Two of those were "gas stations" where I just had to load up on gift cards, which seemed like a chore. So I closed it after the intro 15mth 0% APR ended.

Re: Which credit cards did you instantly regret opening?

SUPERSQUID — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 10:56:28 GMT

@BuckyB wrote:
I have not one horrible credit card mistake but three and, even worse, they're recent.

NFCU nRewards: I'd just opened my Navy Federal account and was chomping at the bit for one of their cards to further my "relationship" with them. They denied me for everything but the nRewards so I put down a $500 security and opened it. Then a week later I was approved for...

NFCU More Rewards: My dumb self didn't know that Navy Federal does not combine rewards from its cards. Nor did I know that one has to accumulate $50 in rewards to even get the rewards, so the <$50 1% rewards I got from the nRewards card are lost because at 1% I will never use it again. A week after I was approved for the nRewards card I saw that I was pre-approved for this one, so I opened it. $500 limit! I already have a Savor One so this is pointless and the $50 minimum reward redemption means it will never be used.

Amex Cash Magnet Card: Admittedly I was drunk when I applied for this. Even worse, I was in pop-up jail and still accepted the card!!! $1000 limit. Totally worthless because I already have a 2% cash back card. The Cash Magnet card is Amex's worst card. I will never use this card. Lesson: don't drink and apply for credit.

Surely nobody can do worse than that. I totally trashed my average age of accounts for: three new cards with a total $2000 limit, none of which I will ever use.

I would say any card I had to open early in my rebuild although a couple turned out to be decent, Target and Kohls.

First digital cc - 300 cl and fees up the ying yang plus 35 pct int.

Applied bank cc - 300 cl, fees, and high int.

Fingerhut - ok cl but their products are very high priced.

Reflex cc, decent cl of 1050 but also high int and fees.

Ollo cc - was decent on fees but cl was 600 and stayed 600 forever, eventually I just closed it.

Big lots cc by comenity, 750 cl forever, high int.

Valero gas cc - high int 300 cl.

Mission Lane cc - 1050 cl but high int.

Firestone cc, I never use it, high int.

Ikea cc by comenity - 500 cl forever, high int.

Some others like Mercury and 2 first savings cc's that I just keep open for padding.

Although these cards were not great they did serve a purpose to help me rebuild and in a few short years I have really good cards with 110k tcl.

Re: Which credit cards did you instantly regret opening?

redpat — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 11:17:00 GMT

All the cards that are no longer in my sig. Disco, Chase FU, CO Venture, Amex EDP, Amex Marriott, Amex Hilton, Barclays Aviator, Amex Gold, Citi Presitge and Macy Amex.

Wasted time for more MR and UR points, along with the airlines I fly most.

I flipped from attaining credit that I wouldn't use to become more efficient acquiring MR, UR points and AA miles.

Oh, life is so much easier.....While traveling like a king and paying like a pauper.

Re: Which credit cards did you instantly regret opening?

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 15:41:46 GMT

@redpat wrote:
All the cards that are no longer in my sig. Disco, Chase FU, CO Venture, Amex EDP, Amex Marriott, Amex Hilton, Barclays Aviator, Amex Gold, Citi Presitge and Macy Amex.

Wasted time for more MR and UR points, along with the airlines I fly most.

I flipped from attaining credit that I wouldn't use to become more efficient acquiring MR, UR points and AA miles.

Oh, life is so much easier.....While traveling like a king and paying like a pauper.

Yes, I think once you decide that a particular set (or sets) of travel points is your credit card goal, things get much more focussed because of the much more restricted choice.

Re: Which credit cards did you instantly regret opening?

RedundantCredit — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 16:38:59 GMT

AmEx Gold: I got the card because I thought having a single card for any food would be super nice and wanted to try the AmEx membership point ecosystem, I figured the annual fee wouldn't be a big deal because of the two credits for Uber and GrubHub. It turns out that I didn't care to do crazy research to find good flights with membership points (mostly domestic travel as well) and I hate the credits, I don't use Uber much because for whatever reason they don't have the same resturants in my area that DoorDash does, which I had a DashPass membership with from my Chase Sapphire Preferred, and I also didn't like GrubHub at all because of the UX design in their app and lack of resturants in my area that I enjoyed. I still have the card but will be cancelling it once the year comes up.

Affinity Cash Rewards: I got the card because I was looking for another decent credit union to have a relationship with and figured it may be nice to have another card that gave points for Amazon, none of that ended up mattering because their app and website have terrible designs that I never want to use again. You have to jump through hoops just to pay the card using an external bank account. I still have the card but will be cancelling it once the year comes up.

PenFed Power Cash Rewards: I got the card because if you keep $500 in a checking account with them then its an 2% card, I heard they had good customer service as well. I have realized I don't like to manage extra accounts for what amounts to very little real world usage, I don't want another checking account to monitor, their app and website is also fairly basic though more functional than Affinity. I still have the card but will be cancelling it and the checking account once the year comes up.

Re: Which credit cards did you instantly regret opening?

SouthJamaica — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 17:17:09 GMT

@RedundantCredit wrote:
AmEx Gold: I got the card because I thought having a single card for any food would be super nice and wanted to try the AmEx membership point ecosystem, I figured the annual fee wouldn't be a big deal because of the two credits for Uber and GrubHub. It turns out that I didn't care to do crazy research to find good flights with membership points (mostly domestic travel as well) and I hate the credits, I don't use Uber much because for whatever reason they don't have the same resturants in my area that DoorDash does, which I had a DashPass membership with from my Chase Sapphire Preferred, and I also didn't like GrubHub at all because of the UX design in their app and lack of resturants in my area that I enjoyed. I still have the card but will be cancelling it once the year comes up.

Affinity Cash Rewards: I got the card because I was looking for another decent credit union to have a relationship with and figured it may be nice to have another card that gave points for Amazon, none of that ended up mattering because their app and website have terrible designs that I never want to use again. You have to jump through hoops just to pay the card using an external bank account. I still have the card but will be cancelling it once the year comes up.

PenFed Power Cash Rewards: I got the card because if you keep $500 in a checking account with them then its an 2% card, I heard they had good customer service as well. I have realized I don't like to manage extra accounts for what amounts to very little real world usage, I don't want another checking account to monitor, their app and website is also fairly basic though more functional than Affinity. I still have the card but will be cancelling it and the checking account once the year comes up.

Your post hit home for me. I too had the Amex Gold, and closed it partly because I got tired of jumping through hoops to do what they wanted me to do in order to get the credits, and partly because I did not like never knowing how much my credit limit was. I have a PLOC with Affinity FCU and know exactly what you mean about how poorly they're set up for payments from external accounts. And I too have the PenFed Power Cash, and do not like having to go through the checking account machinations to make the card a 2% card, rather than a 1.5% card.

Re: Which credit cards did you instantly regret opening?

ptatohed — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 17:25:34 GMT

I'm trying to think and I don't believe I have any regrets. I got cards I later didn't need but I believe they were good for me at the time. I remember my first CB card. Disco. 0.25% for the first $1,000 spend, 0.50% for the next, 0.75%....

And I remember I thought the Quicksilver's 1.5% was the bee's knees at the time. Now I don't get anything less than double that!

But I appreciated the cards at the time.

Re: Which credit cards did you instantly regret opening?

RedundantCredit — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 17:45:51 GMT

@SouthJamaica wrote:
@RedundantCredit wrote:
AmEx Gold: I got the card because I thought having a single card for any food would be super nice and wanted to try the AmEx membership point ecosystem, I figured the annual fee wouldn't be a big deal because of the two credits for Uber and GrubHub. It turns out that I didn't care to do crazy research to find good flights with membership points (mostly domestic travel as well) and I hate the credits, I don't use Uber much because for whatever reason they don't have the same resturants in my area that DoorDash does, which I had a DashPass membership with from my Chase Sapphire Preferred, and I also didn't like GrubHub at all because of the UX design in their app and lack of resturants in my area that I enjoyed. I still have the card but will be cancelling it once the year comes up.

Affinity Cash Rewards: I got the card because I was looking for another decent credit union to have a relationship with and figured it may be nice to have another card that gave points for Amazon, none of that ended up mattering because their app and website have terrible designs that I never want to use again. You have to jump through hoops just to pay the card using an external bank account. I still have the card but will be cancelling it once the year comes up.

PenFed Power Cash Rewards: I got the card because if you keep $500 in a checking account with them then its an 2% card, I heard they had good customer service as well. I have realized I don't like to manage extra accounts for what amounts to very little real world usage, I don't want another checking account to monitor, their app and website is also fairly basic though more functional than Affinity. I still have the card but will be cancelling it and the checking account once the year comes up.
Your post hit home for me. I too had the Amex Gold, and closed it partly because I got tired of jumping through hoops to do what they wanted me to do in order to get the credits, and partly because I did not like never knowing how much my credit limit was. I have a PLOC with Affinity FCU and know exactly what you mean about how poorly they're set up for payments from external accounts. And I too have the PenFed Power Cash, and do not like having to go through the checking account machinations to make the card a 2% card, rather than a 1.5% card.

Yeah, I really like the AmEx app and their customer service for me has been great but I despise how so many of their cards seem to specifically be set up to annoy the customer with required usage. If the Gold card had a general food credit or travel credit instead of specific merchants it'd be fantastic but AmEx would make less money that way so they don't care. Same goes for something like the Platinum where so many credits are merchant specific, even the airline one you have to constantly swap it around if you want to use it.

I never had any issues with the limit on my Gold card and was never declined any purchase but I have heard stories of it randomly being declined, though most of the ones I've heard seemed to be with newly opened accounts which is expected I think.

Technically any card can be declined even if you have used less than the total available limit so I'm not sure how much it really matters. For example it seems that Mastercard doesn't want my business because every Mastercard I've ever used from any bank always declined transactions above $100 no matter where I was or what I was buying, the bank said they had no idea why the network was declining it and whenever I got on a three way call with the bank and Mastercard they would never give me a specific reason.

Re: Which credit cards did you instantly regret opening?

ChargedUp — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 02:25:09 GMT

@RedundantCredit wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@RedundantCredit wrote:
AmEx Gold: I got the card because I thought having a single card for any food would be super nice and wanted to try the AmEx membership point ecosystem, I figured the annual fee wouldn't be a big deal because of the two credits for Uber and GrubHub. It turns out that I didn't care to do crazy research to find good flights with membership points (mostly domestic travel as well) and I hate the credits, I don't use Uber much because for whatever reason they don't have the same resturants in my area that DoorDash does, which I had a DashPass membership with from my Chase Sapphire Preferred, and I also didn't like GrubHub at all because of the UX design in their app and lack of resturants in my area that I enjoyed. I still have the card but will be cancelling it once the year comes up.

Affinity Cash Rewards: I got the card because I was looking for another decent credit union to have a relationship with and figured it may be nice to have another card that gave points for Amazon, none of that ended up mattering because their app and website have terrible designs that I never want to use again. You have to jump through hoops just to pay the card using an external bank account. I still have the card but will be cancelling it once the year comes up.

PenFed Power Cash Rewards: I got the card because if you keep $500 in a checking account with them then its an 2% card, I heard they had good customer service as well. I have realized I don't like to manage extra accounts for what amounts to very little real world usage, I don't want another checking account to monitor, their app and website is also fairly basic though more functional than Affinity. I still have the card but will be cancelling it and the checking account once the year comes up.
Your post hit home for me. I too had the Amex Gold, and closed it partly because I got tired of jumping through hoops to do what they wanted me to do in order to get the credits, and partly because I did not like never knowing how much my credit limit was. I have a PLOC with Affinity FCU and know exactly what you mean about how poorly they're set up for payments from external accounts. And I too have the PenFed Power Cash, and do not like having to go through the checking account machinations to make the card a 2% card, rather than a 1.5% card.
Yeah, I really like the AmEx app and their customer service for me has been great but I despise how so many of their cards seem to specifically be set up to annoy the customer with required usage. If the Gold card had a general food credit or travel credit instead of specific merchants it'd be fantastic but AmEx would make less money that way so they don't care. Same goes for something like the Platinum where so many credits are merchant specific, even the airline one you have to constantly swap it around if you want to use it.

I never had any issues with the limit on my Gold card and was never declined any purchase but I have heard stories of it randomly being declined, though most of the ones I've heard seemed to be with newly opened accounts which is expected I think.

Technically any card can be declined even if you have used less than the total available limit so I'm not sure how much it really matters. For example it seems that Mastercard doesn't want my business because every Mastercard I've ever used from any bank always declined transactions above $100 no matter where I was or what I was buying, the bank said they had no idea why the network was declining it and whenever I got on a three way call with the bank and Mastercard they would never give me a specific reason.

I've only had the actual card network (Visa) decline me once and it was when buying 7 airline tickets from United on CSP for $3600. I think the most I've put through MC at once was about $8K and didn't have an issue.

As far as regretted cards... SYNCHRONY! I picked up the Rakuten Visa way back when and ended up with a puny $1500 limit that wouldn't grow no matter what I put through that card. Closed it after about a year as Synch is just way more headache than any lender should be.

Re: Which credit cards did you instantly regret opening?

MikeyMagic — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 04:49:46 GMT

@BuckyB wrote:
I have not one horrible credit card mistake but three and, even worse, they're recent.

NFCU nRewards: I'd just opened my Navy Federal account and was chomping at the bit for one of their cards to further my "relationship" with them. They denied me for everything but the nRewards so I put down a $500 security and opened it. Then a week later I was approved for...

NFCU More Rewards: My dumb self didn't know that Navy Federal does not combine rewards from its cards. Nor did I know that one has to accumulate $50 in rewards to even get the rewards, so the <$50 1% rewards I got from the nRewards card are lost because at 1% I will never use it again. A week after I was approved for the nRewards card I saw that I was pre-approved for this one, so I opened it. $500 limit! I already have a Savor One so this is pointless and the $50 minimum reward redemption means it will never be used.

Amex Cash Magnet Card: Admittedly I was drunk when I applied for this. Even worse, I was in pop-up jail and still accepted the card!!! $1000 limit. Totally worthless because I already have a 2% cash back card. The Cash Magnet card is Amex's worst card. I will never use this card. Lesson: don't drink and apply for credit.

Surely nobody can do worse than that. I totally trashed my average age of accounts for: three new cards with a total $2000 limit, none of which I will ever use.

I think you probably know my answer to this lol, the Amazon Secured Card by Synchrony Bank. A "former" friend a few months ago recommended it to me and at the time I had not done any research on credit or credit building. He was building his credit up and told me about this card.