Pros and Cons of Amex Chase and Capital One

[chalupaman]

Chase and Amex are the best ones by far. They've been incredibly generous with me and essential in helping me get where I am credit wise today. Great cards from both and everything. CapOne you're guaranteed to get triple pulls on all your reports and not really get cards as good as the other two quite frankly unless maybe you seriously wanted to have the Venture or something like that and i know GM Buypower is exclusively an EQ pull.

[mitchblue]

Whatever you decide to do, James - good luck. 

[kdm31091]

You don't always have to contact EO for an increase w/ Cap One, just to be clear, OP. I had to, because it was before the account was 6 months old and frontline CSRs insisted it couldn't be done. They said there was no way to override it. I call the EO and oh look, there's a way to override it.

Anyway, after 6 months, you can do SP CLI's with Capital One via the website. Same for Amex, SP CLI every 6 months. Chase is not as good with CLI and I believe it's always HP unless it was an auto increase.

[Anonymous]

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@chalupaman wrote:

Chase and Amex are the best ones by far. They've been incredibly generous with me and essential in helping me get where I am credit wise today. Great cards from both and everything. CapOne you're guaranteed to get triple pulls on all your reports and not really get cards as good as the other two quite frankly unless maybe you seriously wanted to have the Venture or something like that and i know GM Buypower is exclusively an EQ pull.

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+1

[NRB525]

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@JamesB95 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

All those cards are good cards, but I would say if I were you you I would desire them in the order you listed them.  Amex first by a good margin, then Chase, then Cap 1.  Amex is a good lender and you want to start your relationship as early as possible to establish your MSD and to start doing the countdown for your CLI.  Now, It's debatable if high limits will beget another high limit.  But if you can get your Amex and get your limit up to 3x higher within the first year or even earlier, then you're off to a good start.  Chase is good too, and Cap one, despite the drawbacks (triple pull / high apr), has good rewards with this card.

OTOH your score is around 615.  So you might have to work your way up.  In that case you may have to start with Cap 1 and work towards Amex as I did.  But, if you can get it with Amex first then do so.

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I have a Cap One on the way in the mail (Journey). I plan to apply for a Amex once I improve my score.

Sorry my FICO isn't exactly accurate in my sig.. I can't edit my sig with images in it since I am still considered a "New Member" for whatever reason.... My FICO score is 623. My next update is this month, the 15th. Feb will have a big jump because my utilization will be down.

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So, while gardening, spend some time in the "Credit Approvals" forum handing out "Congrats!" to all the approvals. Boosts your post count like nothing else

[JamesB95]

If I have a Journey on the way, what would you recommend? Stick with them and barely use it? Close the account after a certain amount of months/years after improving my score and moving to Amex once my score is up?

Or is it not worth closing the Journey due to the credit hit?

[Anonymous]

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@JamesB95 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

All those cards are good cards, but I would say if I were you you I would desire them in the order you listed them.  Amex first by a good margin, then Chase, then Cap 1.  Amex is a good lender and you want to start your relationship as early as possible to establish your MSD and to start doing the countdown for your CLI.  Now, It's debatable if high limits will beget another high limit.  But if you can get your Amex and get your limit up to 3x higher within the first year or even earlier, then you're off to a good start.  Chase is good too, and Cap one, despite the drawbacks (triple pull / high apr), has good rewards with this card.

OTOH your score is around 615.  So you might have to work your way up.  In that case you may have to start with Cap 1 and work towards Amex as I did.  But, if you can get it with Amex first then do so.

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I have a Cap One on the way in the mail (Journey). I plan to apply for a Amex once I improve my score.

Sorry my FICO isn't exactly accurate in my sig.. I can't edit my sig with images in it since I am still considered a "New Member" for whatever reason.... My FICO score is 623. My next update is this month, the 15th. Feb will have a big jump because my utilization will be way down.

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I was the same as you 3 years ago.  I had an MTV card (sinced changed to the Journey by them, then QS by me) and my score was probably the exact same as yours.  I got my Cap 1 mtv card and simply used it and PIF for about 16 months and then Amex started sending me letters.  PreApproved for the blue sky and 20,000 pts.  Next PreApproved for the blue sky and 25,000 pts.  Then PreApproved for the blue sky card and 30,000 pts which at that point I jumped on the offer.

If I were you I would garden your score up 50 pts then get the Amex.  Just pay in full and you can request a credit limit increase after 6 or 12 months.

[Anonymous]

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@kdm31091 wrote:

You don't always have to contact EO for an increase w/ Cap One, just to be clear, OP. I had to, because it was before the account was 6 months old and frontline CSRs insisted it couldn't be done. They said there was no way to override it. I call the EO and oh look, there's a way to override it.

Anyway, after 6 months, you can do SP CLI's with Capital One via the website. Same for Amex, SP CLI every 6 months. Chase is not as good with CLI and I believe it's always HP unless it was an auto increase.

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Chase is a different process for CLI's unfortunately. You apply for a new card (Make sure profile supports), and move limits around. They are the easiest CCC to move limits with as well. A great advantage.

[NRB525]

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@JamesB95 wrote:

If I have a Journey on the way, what would you recommend? Stick with them and barely use it? Close the account after a certain amount of months/years after improving my score and moving to Amex once my score is up?

Or is it not worth closing the Journey due to the credit hit?

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You've invested the HP. If there is no AF, then just keep the card and do the best you can with it. It's another positive TL on your credit report.

[Anonymous]

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@JamesB95 wrote:

If I have a Journey on the way, what would you recommend? Stick with them and barely use it? Close the account after a certain amount of months/years after improving my score and moving to Amex once my score is up?

Or is it not worth closing the Journey due to the credit hit?

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You already applied, so you might as well stick it out for the time being. Close it when you feel you've outgrown it.