Looking to upgrade - Need Advise

[Anonymous]

Hey Fico Fam, 

Currently, I have the following cards in my wallet that were recently paid off:

• Credit One Premier 
• Credit One 
• Capital One Platinum
• Capital One Basic 
• Chase Amazon Card 
• Priceline Barklays Card

As you can probably see these cards are not the best in the bunch, my current Fico is borderline 700, the last payment made to the cards has not reported and the simulator states I should hit 750 as it was a hefty payment, Utilization will be below 10%.

My question is what should the main cards I shoot be? I travel a good amount and wouldn't mind having an Amex Platinum for the benefits, as a charge card I would use it as the everyday card for groceries and gas. Do you have any other recommendation, this is an area I am a bit green on, and there are many options. Places like CK don't provide much clarity as they have their own interests in the mix.

Thank you for your time.

[Meanmchine]

You can try the prequal sites

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Pre-Approval-Sites-June-2015/td-p/4059266

Try the Amex link

[Anonymous]

For travel, the big 3 point systems are Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, and Citi Thank You points. UR is generally the most highly valued, followed by MR then TY. Each program is appealing for different reasons, so you may find that 1, 2, or all 3 are worthwhile.

For Chase, you're looking at the Sapphire Reserve (or Preferred) as your centerpiece card, as it'll allow you to transfer points from other core Chase cards (not including the Amazon one you already have), namely the Freedom and Ink cards. I'd suggest the Freedom and either or both the Freedom Unlimited and Ink Cash (FU if it will be lucrative for you, IC if you have a business).

With Amex, unless you're able to use the Centurion lounges a lot, you'll probably find the Amex Platinum hard to get your expected value from. That said, personally I am getting this card since I fly out of an airport with a Centurion lounge. Sadly, there really aren't many cards to support the Platinum with more MR earning, other than the PRG and Amex Everyday, but the returns on those cards really aren't that lucrative: you'd be better off, IMO, getting an Amex Platinum and a Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Freedom than Amex Platinum, PRG, and Everyday. You might try the Ameriprise version of the Platinum card. There's no sign up bonus, but the annual fee is waived the first year so you get a good chance to see if the card holds value for you.

For Citi, you have the Premier and Prestige to transfer TY points. It's still easy to justify having Citi even if you do have Chase and Amex because the Prestige offers the 4th night free (reimbursement) at any hotel and the use of that benefit is unlimited. It's possible to get the Prestige for a reduced fee of $350, bringing it down to $100 after the $250 travel credit, so if you're willing to make that happen it's probably a better value than the Premier for its $95 annual fee. There isn't really much in the way of TY point earning cards to help bolster the Premier/Prestige, but there is a little known diamond in the rough that you won't see advertised: the Sears MasterCard. It earns Shop Your Way points by default, but you can call Citi and have them enroll the card in the TY point program and it'll start earning TY points instead of SYW points. The benefit here is they periodically (seems at least once a year) send out offers for 10% back on gas/groceries/restaurants, and after enrolling the card for TY points you'll get that return as 10x TY points per $ on those categories!

Personally, if you do get all 3, I don't see much point in the Sapphire Reserve, as most of the unique benefits it has over the Sapphire Preferred are covered with the Amex Platinum and Citi Prestige, and the Sapphire Preferred has pretty much all of the Chase exclusive perks that the Amex and Citi cards miss. But with the Centurion Lounge, 4th night free hotels, and especially the reduced annual fee on the Prestige, it can be very justifiable to get the Sapphire Preferred, Amex Platinum, and Citi Prestige.

So:

Chase: Sapphire Preferred (or Reserve), Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, Ink Cash

Amex: Platinum

Citi: Prestige (or Premier), Sears MC


But, that's just my take!

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for your post, it def took some time out of your day and I appreciate that. I do plan on applying for most on the same day, would you recommend Amex Plat -> Chase -> Citi? I was looking to take advantage of the single HP hit on same day apps, which route would you recommend?

[Anonymous]

Both Chase and Citi pulled EX and EQ for me. I’m pretty sure AMEX pulls EX. So you’ll probably have three pulls on your EX report. The way I’d do it is apply in the order of which card I wanted the most.

[Anonymous]

First to clarify you can only combine hard pulls from an individual institution. So no matter what you do a pull from Citi can't be combined with a pull from Chase. That said, I'd save Amex for last because they're the easiest to get. Chase has the 5/24 rule (5 or more cards opened within the last 24 months with any issuer will get your application denied) 2/30 (no more than 2 personal cards in 30 days) so you can apply for a sapphire and a freedom card at the same time on the same day. If you're eligible for a business card, I'm not sure if you can do that the same day and combine all 3 on a single hard pull, but you'd be looking at spending $7500 in 3 months to hit those sign up bonuses.

I'd go for Citi second. They have a 6/6 rule (6 or more hard inquiries in the last 6 months will likely get you denied) and 1/8 (only 1 card in an 8 day period) so you can't app for 2 Citi cards on the same day.

Like I said, Amex last. They don't really have stringent rules like the ones above, just be aware of the once in a lifetime rule on bonuses. Once you get a SUB for a particular card you can't ever get it again so you might want to time your application when you can get an elevated offer.

If you apply for all of the cards I listed, you're probably looking at 6 hard inquiries. Like frencheese said, it's wise to consider how much you want each card, but to optimize your chances of getting all of the ones you want, you want to pay heed to the rules I outlined in this post.

EDIT: it takes a bit of a 'hack' to get the Citi Prestige for the reduced fee. Let me know if you're interested and I'll describe the process. I haven't tried it yet, but intend to at some point. I'm initially getting the Premier, based on the current sign up bonuses, and PCing to the Prestige in year 2. That's when the method for the lowered fee is employed.

[Anonymous]

Phantom thank you for your post, I'd definitely going to take that route, Chase -> Citi-> Amex. My goal is to increase overall Credit Limit to maintain a sub 5% Util all the time. 

That hack would def be appreciated. 

[Anonymous]

From what I've seen, you need to have Citi Gold or Priority status when you open the Prestige card and when the annual fee drops. I've seen people who had the status, open the card, then lose the status and still keep the lowered annual fee. So you can actually get Priority status by signing up or Priority banking for 1 month and pay the $30 monthly fee (gotta break an egg) - to waive the fee you need $50,000 in assets with Citi, and if you do that you'd might as well keep the status. Otherwise, a week or two into the first month, open the Prestige card. Once the annual fee drops, you should be able to cancel the Premier status and lock in the reduced annual fee.

[Anonymous]

Hey Phantom , I'm just waiting for my last cc to show up here on myFico so I can Apply in the order mentioned above, today I stopped by Chase to deposit and I asked the banker if they look at the main checking accounts as part of the process, she mentioned that she has no clue lol. I wanted to know if you knew the answer to this by any chance. My wife and I bank with Chase and there has been times where the Main pulls from the savings if a bill came in that me or my wife forgot about. We always transfer or deposit prior to 11 pm so that there are no issues with overdraft fees. From what you have heard could this also hinder the chances for the CSR? If so I might shoot for the CSP as the daily driver and the Amex for the travel rewards.

[Anonymous]

You mean if your checking account falling back to your savings account for backup funding would hinder your chances of getting approved for the Sapphire Reserve? Honestly I really don't know. If the checking account wasn't actually overdrawn then I assume it's probably fine. Personally though if you're opening the Prestige and Amex Platinum as well then I'd say you don't have much benefit to gain by getting the Sapphire Reserve over the Preferred. The Prestige has better trip delay, prestige and Platinum have better roadside, they all have global entry and priority pass, and the Sapphire Preferred lets you use Chase's transfer partners just as well.