topic Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred coupled with BofA 3/2/1 in Credit Cards

Chase Sapphire Preferred coupled with BofA 3/2/1

Anonymous — Tue, 27 May 2014 02:29:41 GMT

Hi Everyone,

I am new to myFICO and I am looking to the community for some advice.

I currently have a BofA Travel Rewards (TR) card and a card with my credit union without any rewards. I really like the Chase Sapphire Preferred (CSP) since I travel and eat out a lot. I was planning to convert my BofA TR card to a 3/2/1 Cash Rewards card and apply for the CSP. Does this sounds like a good idea? Do they pair well? I also thought about cancelling the BofA account all together due to my poor expierence with their customer service and getting a Chase Freedom card to couple with a CSP. That is if it is possible to apply for both at the same time. Any advice or alternatives are greatly appreciated.

I typically spend anywhere from $2000 - $3000 a month on my credit card and pay the balances in full every month.

Thank you,

007

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred coupled with BofA 3/2/1

fot1 — Tue, 27 May 2014 02:35:17 GMT

I would suggest the CSP and Freedom.. It if really want to take advatage switch to chase checking for the %10 and %7 bonus as well.. I don't know anything bout BoA cards so can't comment on that.

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred coupled with BofA 3/2/1

j_casteel — Tue, 27 May 2014 02:37:33 GMT

I have all 3 and have great experiences with them all.

Freedom/CSP together work great for building UR points for travel.

BoA is great everyday card spending outside the Chase categories.

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred coupled with BofA 3/2/1

Anonymous — Tue, 27 May 2014 02:40:50 GMT

Do you have BofA TR or Cash Rewards? Should I convert my TR to Cash Rewards? Do you think it is worth it to apply for both sapphire and freedom?

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred coupled with BofA 3/2/1

j_casteel — Tue, 27 May 2014 02:47:37 GMT

I have the 123 Cash Rewards card, and I focus my travel rewards with my Chase products. You most definitely can PC the card if you like to.

You can apply for both the Freedom and CSP the same day/week/month it doesn't matter.

I suggest checking the Chase prequal site for any preapprovals and go from there. From my experience and many others on here the Chase preapprovals are damn near guaranteed of course YMMV.

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred coupled with BofA 3/2/1

lg8302ch — Tue, 27 May 2014 05:00:10 GMT

I have both the Travel and Cash rewards card but do not use the Cash rewards card anymore. My recommendation would be Freedom and CSP. If your profile warrants the CSP I would recommend to apply for this card first and wait 3-6 months and then apply for Freedom. Why? Chase tends to hand out Platinum cards only with horrible APR if it's your first Chase card. I have my Freedom now for 15 months and at time of app my Fico was 790 but Chase gave me 22,99% APR and today with 810 Fico I am constantly denied for the Signature version of the Freedom due to high APR. Chase has really funny policies....they issue you Signature cards with 15K limits but the oldest account with 5K limit is not eligible for conversion. If I had known how Chase is ticking I would have applied for the CSP and added the Freedom later. I am sure the result for Freedom would have been different. I will bother Chase once a months with my conversion request until my 2 year anniversary and then cancel the card if no success

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred coupled with BofA 3/2/1

takeshi74 — Tue, 27 May 2014 15:02:27 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I currently have a BofA Travel Rewards (TR) card and a card with my credit union without any rewards. I really like the Chase Sapphire Preferred (CSP) since I travel and eat out a lot. I was planning to convert my BofA TR card to a 3/2/1 Cash Rewards card and apply for the CSP. Does this sounds like a good idea? Do they pair well?

If it suits your spend and you're happy with the rewards. I get 6% on groceries with my BCP and 5% with my PPCR (no limit on reward) so it's not a solution that I would go for but it's really your call to make.

@lg8302ch wrote:
Chase tends to hand out Platinum cards only with horrible APR if it's your first Chase card.

You have the causality reversed. It really depends on one's credit. Chase doesn't arbitrarily hand out Platinums with high APR's on first approval. My wife's first Chase card was a Signature. My first was a World. Both of those are fixed APR rewards cards so there was no horrible APR. If one only qualifies for Platinum then one will get Platinum. If one only qualifies for a horrible APR then one will get a horrible APR. If one qualifies for better then one will get better. It's really no different than it is with any creditor.

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred coupled with BofA 3/2/1

mongstradamus — Tue, 27 May 2014 14:58:07 GMT

@takeshi74 wrote:
@lg8302ch wrote:
Chase tends to hand out Platinum cards only with horrible APR if it's your first Chase card.
Depends on one's credit. My wife's first Chase card was a Signature. My first was a World. Both of those are fixed APR rewards cards so there was no horrible APR. If one only qualifies for Platinum then one will get Platinum. If one only qualifies for a horrible APR then one will get a horrible APR. If one qualifies for better then one will get better.

Everytime i think about my freedom , i know i really should have waited till my credit was better to apply :-(

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred coupled with BofA 3/2/1

bigblue7722 — Tue, 27 May 2014 15:46:20 GMT

Ditch the BOA card. Get a freedom/CSP and Sallie Mae card. The sallie mae card kicks the crap out of the boa 123 card execpt for the lower caps.

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred coupled with BofA 3/2/1

mongstradamus — Tue, 27 May 2014 15:54:05 GMT

@bigblue7722 wrote:
Ditch the BOA card. Get a freedom/CSP and Sallie Mae card. The sallie mae card kicks the crap out of the boa 123 card execpt for the lower caps.

Reason i think he was going for boa card is to not have to take another pull since he could PC travel rewards card to 3-2-1 card.

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred coupled with BofA 3/2/1

bigblue7722 — Tue, 27 May 2014 16:12:05 GMT

@mongstradamus wrote:
@bigblue7722 wrote:
Ditch the BOA card. Get a freedom/CSP and Sallie Mae card. The sallie mae card kicks the crap out of the boa 123 card execpt for the lower caps.
Reason i think he was going for boa card is to not have to take another pull since he could PC travel rewards card to 3-2-1 card.

Id take the HP for a sallie mae anyday

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred coupled with BofA 3/2/1

Anonymous — Tue, 27 May 2014 16:48:03 GMT

@bigblue7722 wrote:
Ditch the BOA card. Get a freedom/CSP and Sallie Mae card. The sallie mae card kicks the crap out of the boa 123 card execpt for the lower caps.

Reason i think he was going for boa card is to not have to take another pull since he could PC travel rewards card to 3-2-1 card.

mongstradamus is correct. I wanted to convert to BofAs 3.2.1 card so my credit would not be pulled again.

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred coupled with BofA 3/2/1

Anonymous — Tue, 27 May 2014 18:53:01 GMT

i was in a very similar position as you: my family is all bofa so i started with a 3-2-1 card. my 3-2-1 is now sock drawered and i have the CSP, Freedom, and Sallie Mae.

As many others have said, CSP is an awesome card and Ultimate Rewards points are arguably the best points you can get (due to its flexibility and your ability to rack up UR points faster than any other membership type). If you decide to go for a CSP, it is absolutely worth it to apply for a Freedom. This is because the CSP and Freedom play well with a Chase checking account, and you can transfer Freedom points into UR points if you have CSP. For example, many people value one UR point at around 1.6 cents per point. If you earn gas at 5 points per dollar using the Freedom, you're essentiallygetting 1.6 * 5 = 8% back from those purchases.

Whether you apply for them at the same time or at separate times is up to you. Depending on your score, you should be able to get both (apply for CSP first. and apply for CSP in branch because they usually give the best offer in branch).

I also agree the Sallie Mae is definitely worth the hard pull, whether you choose to go for it now or later. 5% is solid for those times when the Freedom is off gas rotation, and it's great for grocery and Amazon purchases as well. i know in the short term you're trying to avoid getting too many pulls, but you want to think long term and what's best for your credit / spending situation.

my bofa 3-2-1 is currently sock drawered. it would be cancelled if it wasn't the UCLA version (gotta hang on to my alma mater, even if it doesn't provide me any benefits!)

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred coupled with BofA 3/2/1

Anonymous — Tue, 27 May 2014 19:47:14 GMT

Milkshakes,

Thank you for your response! I believe I am going to follow your footsteps.

Additionally, is the CSP worth the $95 annual fee after the first year?

Lastly, always remember to Fight On (I'm a Trojan).

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred coupled with BofA 3/2/1

Anonymous — Tue, 27 May 2014 23:24:03 GMT

saw you created a post dedicated to whether or not it's worth it. see the response here

tldr: it really depends on your expenditures and how you spread it among cards. if you're primarily using CSP + Freedom, absolutely yes. if you have plans to travel in the future, it's an awesome card to have. I spent less than you per month (majority of my spend is for the ridiculous rent prices up here in the bay) and still make it worth it to me.

also: as I tell all my Trojan friends, "see you in football season!" since you know... you guys don't really play any other sports

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred coupled with BofA 3/2/1

bk510 — Tue, 27 May 2014 23:52:07 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
i was in a very similar position as you: my family is all bofa so i started with a 3-2-1 card. my 3-2-1 is now sock drawered and i have the CSP, Freedom, and Sallie Mae.

As many others have said, CSP is an awesome card and Ultimate Rewards points are arguably the best points you can get (due to its flexibility and your ability to rack up UR points faster than any other membership type). If you decide to go for a CSP, it is absolutely worth it to apply for a Freedom. This is because the CSP and Freedom play well with a Chase checking account, and you can transfer Freedom points into UR points if you have CSP. For example, many people value one UR point at around 1.6 cents per point. If you earn gas at 5 points per dollar using the Freedom, you're essentiallygetting 1.6 * 5 = 8% back from those purchases.

Whether you apply for them at the same time or at separate times is up to you. Depending on your score, you should be able to get both (apply for CSP first. and apply for CSP in branch because they usually give the best offer in branch).

I also agree the Sallie Mae is definitely worth the hard pull, whether you choose to go for it now or later. 5% is solid for those times when the Freedom is off gas rotation, and it's great for grocery and Amazon purchases as well. i know in the short term you're trying to avoid getting too many pulls, but you want to think long term and what's best for your credit / spending situation.

my bofa 3-2-1 is currently sock drawered. it would be cancelled if it wasn't the UCLA version (gotta hang on to my alma mater, even if it doesn't provide me any benefits!)

yeah go Bruins

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred coupled with BofA 3/2/1

bk510 — Tue, 27 May 2014 23:56:57 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Milkshakes,

Thank you for your response! I believe I am going to follow your footsteps.

Additionally, is the CSP worth the $95 annual fee after the first year?

Lastly, always remember to Fight On (I'm a Trojan).

I am too.....I bank with sc credit union and was wondering if I should open a credit card with them, since I'll be getting my car loan and a mortgage in about a yr from now.

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred coupled with BofA 3/2/1

Anonymous — Tue, 27 May 2014 23:58:25 GMT

a hybrid Bruin/Trojan?!?! we've heard so many stories about you! :]

Re: Chase Sapphire Preferred coupled with BofA 3/2/1

bk510 — Wed, 28 May 2014 07:55:26 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
a hybrid Bruin/Trojan?!?! we've heard so many stories about you! :]

lol, yeah i guess u can say that.

my lil brother went to ucla and my sister went to sc.