Do I App Amex BCE?

[Anonymous]

So some of you may have read my new member post, and I appreciate all of your help in getting me started with CC's. For those who don't know, I'm a college student with mid 700 scores across the board (been an AU on my parents' AMEX BCP and Citi DC for about 2 years) with perfect history, low util, PIF every month. I have an upcoming job offer that puts my income around 60k, and I just opened a Discover IT Chrome for Students with a 1.5k SL (this has been great so far since I'm getting 4% on restaurant purchases for the first year, plus bonuses for GPA, plus bonuses for signing up under a friend). My Discover's first statement just posted, and I plan to ask for a CLI after a couple more statements. My ultimate goal is a CSR, which I have already gotten rejected for along with the CF.

I'm trying to build my limits as quickly as possible under my own name so that I can App CSR again, and many of you recommended I get an Amex BCE. From my understanding, getting in with Amex early will allow me to grow the card quickly, and they also seem to be quite generous with CLI's (3x). Pretty much 90% of my purchases go to restaurants and groceries, so my Discover has become my restaurants card, my AU Amex BCP has become my groceries card, and my AU Citi DC is my everything else card. It seems like Amex is the card for me to get since I can start building a relationship with them for the future. I just checked and I am prequalified for BCP, BCE, and ED on Amex's portal (this has changed to approval since I opted in for offers and since my Discover posted). I would assume I have a good shot at getting the BCE. I don't spend enough on groceries annually to make the BCP's AF worth my time, and the ED card doesn't seem useful to me.

My questions are:

-Is the BCE the right card to get? Is there another Amex that would be better for me? Should I be looking at non-Amex cards?

-Should I go ahead and app the BCE now since I'm prequalified, or should I wait a bit?

-Is it redundant to app this card and receive less rewards (3% vs 6%) than I would staying as an AU on my parents' BCP? (this is particularly bothersome because my parents actually have the AF waived for their BCP indefinitely because they've been with Amex for so long -- 25+ years) (Additionally, if I got the BCE I would be inclined to run 1k through it in the first 3 months in order to get the $250 cash back offer.)

Sorry for the lengthiness of this post. I wanted to be thorough and give you guys as much information as possible. Thanks so much for the help! 

[Anonymous]

Bump

[AverageJoesCredit]

If you feel itll be beneficial for you id say go for it now. Itll help strengthen your profile, help you stand on your own 2 credit feet, and hopefully by the time you go for your CSR youll have a nice limit to show Chase your responsible with those kind of limits

[Anonymous]

---

@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
If you feel itll be beneficial for you id say go for it now. Itll help strengthen your profile, help you stand on your own 2 credit feet, and hopefully by the time you go for your CSR youll have a nice limit to show Chase your responsible with those kind of limits

---

Thanks for the advice! You don't think it's redundant to app the card even though I'm an AU on the BCP with my parents?

[Anonymous]

Good for you being on myFico while in college. Wish I was that smart back then lol. As far as applying goes, I would hold off until you get the job offer and guaranteed the income jump just in case the creditor wanted to verify. As far as long run, you want to decide what you want the card to do for you. Since you will be starting a new job "fingers crossed" your lifestyle may also change from what it is now. You may not be eating out as much or needing to travel more etc. Dont worry about building the credit limits as quickly as possible that will come. Its good that your pre-qualified but I would wait until the job is in place and you have at least two pay periods under your belt. I have that discover student card (never closed it) but after school it really does not do anything for me. If you hold off also you may get a great targeted offer too. The BCE is a good card. Their current promo ends May 3 for 10% back on restuarants up to 200$ back for first 6MTHS. Do you think you would prefer a travel/hotel rewards card for more long term strategy to start getting points accumulated for honeymoon (thinking long term here lol). Just some thoughts for you to ponder over. All I can say in closing is you are doing a great job getting ahead of the game and thinking about your finances at early age. Think about holding off applying in case something falls through with the job just to be safe.

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Good for you being on myFico while in college. Wish I was that smart back then lol. As far as applying goes, I would hold off until you get the job offer and guaranteed the income jump just in case the creditor wanted to verify. As far as long run, you want to decide what you want the card to do for you. Since you will be starting a new job "fingers crossed" your lifestyle may also change from what it is now. You may not be eating out as much or needing to travel more etc. Dont worry about building the credit limits as quickly as possible that will come. Its good that your pre-qualified but I would wait until the job is in place and you have at least two pay periods under your belt. I have that discover student card (never closed it) but after school it really does not do anything for me. If you hold off also you may get a great targeted offer too. The BCE is a good card. Their current promo ends May 3 for 10% back on restuarants up to 200$ back for first 6MTHS. Do you think you would prefer a travel/hotel rewards card for more long term strategy to start getting points accumulated for honeymoon (thinking long term here lol). Just some thoughts for you to ponder over. All I can say in closing is you are doing a great job getting ahead of the game and thinking about your finances at early age. Think about holding off applying in case something falls through with the job just to be safe.

---

Thanks for your kind words and response.

The job is guaranteed, and I can reasonably assume (as of right now, excluding the job) that I have access to around 60k/yr (from investments, parents, etc. -- although I don't spend anywhere CLOSE to this much, maybe 15k/yr maximum). I'm also underestimating at 60k/yr for salary. All in my income will probably be around 75-80k+ with the job if I count other sources of income. 

I've done most of the calculations of how I'll be living in the future, and the majority of my expenses will go to travel and restaurants (why I want the CSR so badly) due to the context of my job. The BCE is nice to build a reputation with Amex on my own as well as garner CLI's; however, it won't be too useful after the bonus if I continue to use the AU BCP under my parents. Like you, I don't expect the Discover being too useful after its first year (and the double year-end cash back expires). 

[Anonymous]

Bump. Any other opinions on whether or not this is a good idea? Ready to hit the app button...