Need to advise my daughter

[rkshack]

Looking for advice on next credit card application for my daughter.

She graduated from college about a year ago and started working in September. At the time we tried applying for the AAA Daily Advantage because her biggest spending categories are groceries and Walmart. She shops mostly at Publix, Aldi, and Walmart.

She was denied for the AAA card. I believe the denial mentioned something about LexisNexis being too young/thin or unable to verify enough information. Around the same time we also tried Wells Fargo Autograph and Capital One and she was denied for those as well.

At that point her profile was probably pretty thin:

• recent graduate
• short independent credit history
• recent employment
• not much installment history

Fast forward to now:

• Experian score around 761
• full time employment for about 8 months
• recently closed on a house in March and is on both the title and mortgage
• last inquiry was the mortgage in March
• before that the last inquiries were the September card applications

Main goal is maximizing grocery rewards, especially Publix, Aldi, and possibly Walmart. Restaurants are not a huge category.

Would you:

1. Retry AAA Daily Advantage now
2. Try Wells Fargo Autograph instead
3. Go with something else entirely

Also curious whether people think the mortgage and a few more months of history materially improve approval odds after multiple denials last fall.

[Varsity_Lu]

Well, I'd like to tell you to get an AmEx BCP, but they won't give her a card as her first card.  I'd definitely use a pre approval before comitting to an app.  Savor might be your best bet. Or Discover.  They have been known to be first card friendly.  She could go the secure card route if she had to just to get her foot in the door, but that would be the last option. Just stay away from Mission Lane, Credit One, etc.

[radiofrequencies]

Does she have any revolving accounts or is the only account on her credit report the mortgage?

[rkshack]

So she has been a long time authorized user on several of my accounts. Approximately 7.  She has cash magnet and the bcp. She got the bcp last year when the she did not get the three cards from above.  Plan on down grading or canceling bcp due to annual fee. 

[Varsity_Lu]

---

@rkshack wrote:

So she has been a long time authorized user on several of my accounts. Approximately 7.  She has cash magnet and the bcp. She got the bcp last year when the she did not get the three cards from above.  Plan on down grading or canceling bcp due to annual fee. 

---

But they are your card, not hers, right? She is just the AU?

[radiofrequencies]

---

@rkshack wrote:

So she has been a long time authorized user on several of my accounts. Approximately 7.  She has cash magnet and the bcp. She got the bcp last year when the she did not get the three cards from above.  Plan on down grading or canceling bcp due to annual fee. 

---

If she's had the cash magnet and BCP in her name for at least a year, her approval chances for the AAA Daily Advantage will be better this time around. Same is true for cards from Wells Fargo as they like to see 12 months of history. Most issuers ignore authorized user accounts when evaluating credit applications because they don't represent credit history for the applicant since they weren't ever responsible for paying back the money borrowed. If she has less than a year of revolving account history where she is the primary account holder, a good option is the Savor card from Capital One that offers 3% cash back on groceries and they have a pre-appoval tool. Capital One is known to approve customers that have young credit profiles. At the same time, if you downgrade the BCP to a BCE, the BCE also offers 3% cash back on groceries. 

[rkshack]

She got the cash magnet 2024.  Bcp September 2026. 

[rkshack]

---

@Varsity_Lu wrote:

---

@rkshack wrote:

So she has been a long time authorized user on several of my accounts. Approximately 7.  She has cash magnet and the bcp. She got the bcp last year when the she did not get the three cards from above.  Plan on down grading or canceling bcp due to annual fee. 

---

But they are your card, not hers, right? She is just the AU?

---

The bcp and magnet are hers. 

[Varsity_Lu]

Wow! Were those her first cards? Never heard of anyone able to get an AmEx as a first card before.  Honestly, I"m surprised she is having trouble getting a third card.  She really just needs time to do its thing.  I'd keep trying pre approvals and see what pops up.  Worst case she waits a year and then adds a third card.  That's not the end of the world.

[FicoMike0]

Welcome to the forum!

Like @Varsity_Lu , I'm a big fan of bcp. It's a simple calculation on the fee, is annual grocery spend more than $3167? If not, downgrade to bce. For me, a factor is that I spend a lot a meijers, which codes as grocery Meijers is a lot like a walmart, not just groceries.

If you fail the bcp test, then 5% for no fee with AAA is hard to beat.

I have no experience with comenity. 

If lexis was an issue, you can request your report from them, see what it says.

The longer she goes without a hard pull or a new account, the better approval odds. I'd wait 6 months. Maybe others can comment on what comenity is sensitive to.

A score of 761 should be good.

Another amex feature with bcp or bce, is you can buy primary rental car insurance. Many cards offer coverage which is secondary to your regular car insurance, but mostly higher fee cards offer primary,  with no claim on your own insurance. Amex charges $20 for up to 42 days rental. A good reason to keep the bce, in my opinion.