Pros and Cons of Amex Chase and Capital One

[kdm31091]

BCE is not totally obsolete with Sallie Mae. I have both. I use BCE when I exceed the grocery cap on Sallie. Also use BCE for the department store 2%. So it's not totally obsolete, but nearly. I still wouldn't give up Amex though and there seems to be nothing I'd be interested in PC'ing my BCE to.

Also, I don't know how much redemption options matter with the OP, but BCE offers more options for redemption vs Sallie Mae. Sallie Mae is statement credit only (unless you have a loan), which I am fine with, but I like to get gift cards sometimes with my BCE. At least you have the option w BCE.

[Anonymous]

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@kdm31091 wrote:

BCE is not totally obsolete with Sallie Mae. I have both. I use BCE when I exceed the grocery cap on Sallie. Also use BCE for the department store 2%. So it's not totally obsolete, but nearly. I still wouldn't give up Amex though and there seems to be nothing I'd be interested in PC'ing my BCE to.

Also, I don't know how much redemption options matter with the OP, but BCE offers more options for redemption vs Sallie Mae. Sallie Mae is statement credit only (unless you have a loan), which I am fine with, but I like to get gift cards sometimes with my BCE. At least you have the option w BCE.

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Could always buy GC with your CC and then redeem rewards for statement credit.

[Anonymous]

Agree about BCE not being obsolete with SM. Depends on your spending habits I suppose. BCE is my go to for most grocery spend since SM has a low cap but SM works for any Target and Wal-Mart purchases so thats where it gets the most use. 5% back on a mini stepper and comfy pj's last month, I like! Also not really interested in other Amex cards

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Agree about BCE not being obsolete with SM. Depends on your spending habits I suppose. BCE is my go to for most grocery spend since SM has a low cap but SM works for any Target and Wal-Mart purchases so thats where it gets the most use. 5% back on a mini stepper and comfy pj's last month, I like! Also not really interested in other Amex cards

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I'd be interested in a SPG in 2016

[Anonymous]

Le Méridien, St. Regis and certain Westins are pretty nice Go for it

[Anonymous]

Oooh, I see the Capital One Fuss Bus has already made several stops in this thread!

To answer your question, OP:

1) Amex BCE 

-Pros: Great card to start off if you want to get your foot in the door with Amex (important because of SP CLI, non-HPs if applying for future Amex cards and you get denied, backdating, etc.), as well as decent rewards structure (unusual for Amex for any of their no AF cards)

-Cons: The rewards, while good, are somewhat outclassed by other cards (including but not limited to Sallie Mae MC, despite the caps). Also, there are some establishments that do not accept Amex.

2) Chase Freedom

-Pros: Great card to start off if you want to get your foot in the door with Chase (important because they offer one of the best, if not the best, selection of credit cards), interesting rewards structure (most people don't like rotating categories, but for people who don't have the Citi Forward, nothing beats 5% back on restaurants!!!), gives UR points which can be more valuable than one cent per point if used properly (for travel, for transferring to CSP, etc.)

-Cons: Often has overlaps with Discover It (however, I completely disagree with people who say this takes away from the value of the Freedom card, since overlaps should, logically, benefit Chase Freeedom, since most point-savvy people would rather get 5 UR points than the 5% back offered by Discover...Plus, if it comes down to a tie, I would still rather use my Freedom since I would rather foster a relationship with Chase than Discover, since Discover only offers a couple of cards and Chase offers many, many cards, some of which I would like to acquire in the future.) An obvious con is that if your spending doesn't align with a rotating category, you only get a measly 1% back.

3) Capital One Quicksilver

-Pros: A solid 1.5% cashback rate with truly stellar "no hassle" redemption, no FTF

-Cons: The dreaded triple pull.... Also, Quicksilver's rewards rate is strictly outclassed by both the Amex Fidelity and the Citi Double Cash. Furthermore, many people on this forum do not consider Capital One an important CCC to foster a relationship with due to the relative scarcity of quality credit cards, inept CSRs, subprime reputation, etc.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

3) Capital One Quicksilver

-Pros: A solid 1.5% cashback rate with truly stellar "no hassle" redemption, no FTF

-Cons: The dreaded triple pull.... Also, Quicksilver's rewards rate is strictly outclassed by both the Amex Fidelity and the Citi Double Cash. Furthermore, many people on this forum do not consider Capital One an important CCC to foster a relationship with due to the relative scarcity of quality credit cards, inept CSRs, subprime reputation, etc.

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-Correct.

-Correct.

-Correct, Neither do they with us as consumers. Fair is fair, right?

-Not nescessarily inept, Powerless is more like it.

[Anonymous]

Can I hitch a ride on that fuss bus or is it already full? In short, not a fan Contacting the EO, then waiting for days, over simple requests is not my cup of tea, dont care how solid a card may be its still not worth 3 HP's to me. Not to mention potential of low limit hell and automatic enrollment in their fabulous credit steps program! But to each their own as usual

[kdm31091]

It's all up to how you are going to redeem if you want to decide if Freedom or Discover is more valuable. I'd rather have the cash back, since UR points are not particularly exciting for me since I don't really travel, and there's no extra benefit to redeem them for cash. But it depends what you're going for.

I don't think Capital One is as bad as people paint it to be. They can be a pain in the ass with some things, and they don't have a long list of great cards, but to be fair, Chase doesn't have a long list of great cards either IMO (outside of travel cards). They do not even have a general spending card if you want more than 1% back. Citi's Double Cash may outclass the Capital One Quicksilver for now but it's anyone's guess how long it will take before it will get nerfed - I'm sorry but almost every card Citi has released has been nerfed in some way. The Forward, Dividend, and the Thank You Preferred come to mind. (The latter was not directly nerfed, but thank you points have been nerfed and decreased in value over the years). Double Cash also has a bit more of a hassle with redemption (25 minimum, which in practice should not matter but it is annoying, they're your rewards you should be able to redeem whenever you want), and also the 1+1 structure is a turnoff for some.

With any card you have to weigh the pros and cons vs worrying about who you want to build a relationship with. It is important to establish a long history of responsible payments with any lender, but also important to remember that in most cases, they do not consider it a "relationship" in the same sense. You are one out of many thousands of cardholders. If they want to cancel your card for any reason, they can and will. I'm not saying not to build goodwill, but, at the end of the day, we are all disposable to the issuer. Do not focus too much on "who should I build a relationship with?", IMO. Get the card that suits you, period.

[Anonymous]

In case it hasn't been said...

OP, I applaud you for picking the Journey vs the QS1 for a starter CapOne.