topic Re: Which one would you keep? in Credit Cards

Which one would you keep?

DigitalArk — Fri, 09 May 2014 17:48:46 GMT

1). Discover it with 8K/17.99% or Barclays arrival no AF with 7.5K/14.99%? Why? (I want to keep one for TU FICO score)

I have Chase Freedom and Sapphire Preferred with simillar reward structures as Discover it and Barclays arrival no AF, respectively.

2). Amex BCE 4K/14.99% or Amex ED 5K/15.99%. (I will reallocate CL after one year of account opening.)

Cash rewards or MR rewards does not make too much differences to me, since I am not a big spender.

...I need to trim some of my cards.

Re: Which one would you keep?

Creditaddict — Fri, 09 May 2014 17:41:17 GMT

@DigitalArk wrote:
Discover it with 8K/17.99% or Barclays arrival no AF with 7.5K/14.99%? Why? (I want to keep one for TU FICO score)
I have Chase Freedom and Sapphire Preferred with simillar reward structures as Discover it and Barclays arrival no AF, respectively.
...I need to trim some of my cards.

But Why?!

If for sure you are closing one of these I would keep Discover iT because if you max out a category on Freedom you could fall back on discover because many times they are same categories and I feel like Discover is a more solid bank overall to just have for years and years.

Re: Which one would you keep?

DevotionToU — Fri, 09 May 2014 17:43:08 GMT

You seem to have a large array of cards. Do you use the rewards points on the Arrival to justify the AF? If not, it doesn't seem worth paying to keep it up.

Re: Which one would you keep?

Creditaddict — Fri, 09 May 2014 17:44:02 GMT

@DevotionToU wrote:
You seem to have a large array of cards. Do you use the rewards points on the Arrival to justify the AF? If not, it doesn't seem worth paying to keep it up.

OP has the NO AF version of Arrival.

Re: Which one would you keep?

DigitalArk — Fri, 09 May 2014 17:46:04 GMT

You guys were fast, before I could edit my post. Thank you for the response. Discover is not as popular as other networks. I don't really use it that much.

Re: Which one would you keep?

thelethargicage — Fri, 09 May 2014 17:47:40 GMT

Why not get rid of the USAA cards instead?

Re: Which one would you keep?

Creditaddict — Fri, 09 May 2014 17:48:23 GMT

@thelethargicage wrote:
Why not get rid of the USAA cards instead?

Close Credit Union Cards?!

Re: Which one would you keep?

DigitalArk — Fri, 09 May 2014 17:49:55 GMT

@thelethargicage wrote:
Why not get rid of the USAA cards instead?

Those are joint accounts. I have to keep those.

Re: Which one would you keep?

DigitalArk — Fri, 09 May 2014 17:52:10 GMT

@Creditaddict wrote:
@thelethargicage wrote:
Why not get rid of the USAA cards instead?
Close Credit Union Cards?!

I have closed NFCU cashRewards with 18.5K/9.65% recently.

Edit: USAA is not a credit union.

Re: Which one would you keep?

thelethargicage — Fri, 09 May 2014 17:51:48 GMT

@Creditaddict wrote:
@thelethargicage wrote:
Why not get rid of the USAA cards instead?
Close Credit Union Cards?!

Assuming he always PIFs, why not? The rewards are usually pathetic.

Re: Which one would you keep?

Anonymous — Fri, 09 May 2014 17:52:26 GMT

After the sign up bonus, I don't think the no-AF Arrival has much going for it, particularly if you have the CSP, so that would be my choice.

As for Amex, it depends if you ever think you can use MR, can you put 20 swipes a month on the Everday, and whether you use the non-grocery bonus categories on those cards.

Re: Which one would you keep?

DigitalArk — Fri, 09 May 2014 17:54:52 GMT

@thelethargicage wrote:
@Creditaddict wrote:
@thelethargicage wrote:
Why not get rid of the USAA cards instead?
Close Credit Union Cards?!
Assuming he always PIFs, why not? The rewards are usually pathetic.

That's right. Not only that, but it has other drawbacks too.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Just-closed-a-high-CL-card/td-p/3047124

Re: Which one would you keep?

DigitalArk — Fri, 09 May 2014 18:00:29 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
After the sign up bonus, I don't think the no-AF Arrival has much going for it, particularly if you have the CSP, so that would be my choice.

As for Amex, it depends if you ever think you can use MR, can you put 20 swipes a month on the Everday, and whether you use the non-grocery bonus categories on those cards.

I might be able to use MR once a year for HI airlines. I am a light traveler. I don't think I can put 20 swipes a mo on the ED, though. It makes me think.

Re: Which one would you keep?

Kenny — Fri, 09 May 2014 18:08:39 GMT

If you didn't think you'd be able to do 20 swipes in a month, I'm curious as to why you applied for the Everyday card? Backdating? If that's the case, close it. BCE is a crap card, too, though. And I can say that because I have the BCE! lol

Re: Which one would you keep?

Themanwhocan — Fri, 09 May 2014 21:31:23 GMT

Keep Discover. Apply for Sallie Mae Rewards Mastercard. Then claim the limit on your Sallie Mae is too low, and ask to move the limit from the Arrival. And THEN close the Arrival.

For the Amex cards, just pick one. If you aren't going to use them, then it doesn't really matter which one you have, no?

Re: Which one would you keep?

B335is — Fri, 09 May 2014 23:00:21 GMT

I would close ~~both Discover and~~ Barclays Arrival. Im on the fence over your Amices.

ETA: Discover is worth keeping for the Fico score, missed that part in original post.

Re: Which one would you keep?

Anonymous — Fri, 09 May 2014 21:49:02 GMT

Keep the Discover because they're a better customer's company. Dump both the BCE and ED since you have a TE or what Themanwhocan said. Put them both in a hat and pull one out.

Re: Which one would you keep?

celluloid17 — Fri, 09 May 2014 22:20:19 GMT

I would close both BCE and ED because you already have the TE.

I would probably close the Discover card and keep the Barclay Arrival. Both have no FTF, but a MasterCard is more versatile than a Discover card (unless travel is primarily done in Asia).

I agree that a Sallie Mae card would be a good addition to your portfolio.

Re: Which one would you keep?

Cdnewmanpac — Fri, 09 May 2014 22:23:01 GMT

With low spenders (which OP claims to be in this and other thread), putting spend in multiple competing 'systems" reduces the marginal value of points. 20000 UR points are worth more than 7000UR, 7000MR, 6000 barclays points. For high spenders, this is less true and you worry about things like maxing out category spend, etc. Shouldn't be an issue here.

So: I'd ditch arrival because every dollar you spend on it reduces the UR points you could earn with CSP and puts you farther away from key redemption values. Also, I'd take Chase customer service over barclay's any day. I'd ditch discover because every year their categories overlap more with freedom, they aren't accepted as many places and the best value you can get for rewards is 1 cent per point. Use the freedom and those points become UR, which you can still easily use for 2cpp or better.

Unless you spend a lot on groceries, I'd ditch both amex cards (after a year) and keep the TE. Every dollar you spend on MR is lost UR points and as a low spender, I'm guessing your grocery rewards with amex amount to $15-20/year.

But I've had good experiences with Chase, no longer worry about credit limits and have an AAoA well north of 9 years at this point. I also want to concentrate my reward spending as much as possible so that I can more easily hit key redemption targets (in my case, 45k points I redeem for direct flights DIA to HLL on United) that increase the value of my points. YMMV

Re: Which one would you keep?

Anonymous — Fri, 09 May 2014 23:54:08 GMT

@Cdnewmanpac wrote:
With low spenders (which OP claims to be in this and other thread), putting spend in multiple competing 'systems" reduces the marginal value of points. 20000 UR points are worth more than 7000UR, 7000MR, 6000 barclays points. For high spenders, this is less true and you worry about things like maxing out category spend, etc.

Strongly agree. I would add that very low spenders (for some definition) should focus on cash back only, because even with large bonuses like those with CSP and Arrival, the spend just won't add enough points for useful rewards (which doesn't rule out getting CSP for the bonus and simply cashing out and close/downgrade before AF becomes due).

For high spenders, you may want some diversity to deal with devaluations etc, but even then, some focus is desirable.

Part of the issue is that people read about, e.g. the SPG card and get it, even though their spending doesn't justify the card at all.