Amex Green/FNBO Amtrak/Stupidity/Decline

[AyaMai]

I applied for FNBO Amtrak Guest Rewards Preferred Mastercard on Saturday, got declined after one day being approved for another FNBO card on Friday, plain stupidity from my part, taking an advantage of my FICO score jumped 66 points to 774 on Experian, TransUnion, after suddenly an old collection which hit my credit report except Equifax last March which was supposed to be dropped in September disappeared from both credit report agencies. I took the advantage of applying for a second Discover It and FNBO Evergreen which were approved.

I might use Amtrak when I do a road trip to New York and New England between Boston and New York in September. Do I apply for FNBO Amtrak Guest Rewards Preferred Mastercard in August again or use my Amex Green Card. About 9 hard inquiries will be dropped in July starting next month. 

Any advice will be appreciated.

[coldfusion]

Based on prior data points FNBO doesn't have a blanket restriction that administratively prevents you from having 2 of their cards.

Having a plan to mark August 7th on your calendar as a potential date to apply for the Amtrak card, and in the meantime not applying for any additional cards before then is probably a good strategy.   I mention August 7th as Experian inquiries incurred in July 2021would not actually drop off your report until I believe the weekend of August 5-6.

As for whether or not you should actually apply for the card or not, that would depend onfactors like how often you plan on traveling via Amtrak and if you would be able to fully leverage the points and the companion coupons i.e. does the value proposition of the card including the SUB outweigh the $99/yr AF, at least for the 1st year,  when compared to using your Green card.

[805orbust]

^^ This.  Plus, even though it seems like the FNBO antics have seemed to subside for the time being, they still make me nervous. Like a bear that should not be poked. My personal opinion, and I tend to be cautious with these issuers.