Time for my first SPREE?!!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I would actually prefer the AARP to the Freedom if not both that is. The Citi DC came in at 0% for 15months and 22.99% after that. I pretty much let my discover run on auto pilot for 5 years while I was in college, although in retrospect I wish I had been building AAoA with multiple cards all that time. Any idea if I would stand a chance for US Bank+? I am about to start doing some research on approvals for it as soon as I finish typing. The trifecta of these three would cover every aspect of my spend as long as my grocery card (sallie mae) does not get nerfed.

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Us bank can be difficult but not always. Your scores are good but you have to freeze two other non fico reports before apping if u want any chance of approval. 

Have you checked their site for pre-approval? Only downside to apping for cash plus is it can be downgraded to the version without dual 5% categories. 

If you don't mind, list your monthly spend and the categories you use most. 

[Anonymous]

Just checked US Banks site for pre-approval and it came back with nothing for me, still nailing down monthly spend completely as me and the wife just moved into a new apartment. This is pretty accurate though as I pulled it straight from my mint budget.

Monthly Spend:

Rent: 700

Utilities: 300 (Rough estimate)

Groceries: 600

Restaurants: 100

Fast Food: 150

Shopping: 250 (should go down once we furnish the new place)

Gas: 100

Other: 100

Grand Total: 2,300 per month

Phone & Insurance benevolently paid by our parents for now, as we are still on their plans.

[Anonymous]

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@NRB525 wrote:

OP, you have an interesting file, with the Discover since 2010. I also have a Discover from 2012, which I found out this year was the Discover More (Less) card which does indeed give you all of 0.25% rewards on the first non-category $3,000 per year of spend then boosts your earnings to 1% thereafter. Such a deal. I PC'd it to the IT a few months ago.

My suggestion would be to go to the Citi site and check the prequalification page, looking for "cash back" category cards. Do you get the Double Cash with a fixed APR? Or is it a range of APR? This is a good bellweather of where you stand, certainly in the eyes of Citi. i would even suggest it is a way to see how your apps look to other banks.

As to Chase, I'd be inclined to stay conservative and go for either the AARP or the Freedom, not both, and not the CSP. The reason for this is, the CSP is going to require a mega spend, and then a year from now it's going to have an AF. The benefits of points on dining are not enough with the CSP to outweigh the AARP, and probably not even the Freedom, since it's only one more point. If you have a good offer from Citi on the Double Cash, that can be a better long term no AF card than CSP.

The CSP (or similar version) will be there a year or two from now, and you can look at that to transfer some of your Freedom points (which you should ideally be stockpiling for that future transfer).

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I disagree about skiping the CSP for the AARP.  Here are the reasons:

• If the OP can reach the $4K in 90 days spend then they'll get the 45K UR points which is worth up to $900 worth of travel and at the very least $450 worth of gift cards, more than enough to offset a future annual fee.  With holiday shopping season approaching, racking up $4K is a lot more feasible.  (You could buy your relatives bigger presents on your card and have other family members go in with you on them and pay you back cash for their share of the gift)
• CSP also maximize the value he gets from the 5% Freedom spending, turning 5% into up to 10.5% worth of travel value.
• CSP can give you about 4% cash back on restaurants if you use the poins for traveling.
• Freedom and Discover most likely offering rotating quarterly 5% on restaurants so for 1-2Q of each year you won't be using the AARP on restaurants.
• It is much easier to get a co-branded Chase card later.  With the 5/24 rule you need to get the core Chase cards early in your spree or wait 2 years for new accounts to age. 

I would not be looking to add a card for a measily 1% extra in one single category (without any other benefits on the card) unless you spend A LOT in that category.  Here are two scenarios of you spending $150/week on restaurants on CSP vs AARP (assuming you achieved the UR signup bonus):

[ Year 1 ]

AARP = $7800 spent on restaurants = $234 cashback - $0 AF = $234

CSP as travel = $7800 spent on restaurants= 15600 UR = $327 - $0 AF + $900 UR bonus = $1227

CSP as gift cards = $7800 spent on restaurants = 15600 UR = $156 - $0 AF + $900 UR bonus = $1056

[ Year 1 & 2 ]

AARP = $15600 spent on restaurants = $468 cashback - $0 AF = $468

CSP as travel = $15600 spent on restaurants = 31200 UR = $655 - $95 AF + $900 UR bonus = $1460

CSP as gift cards = $15600 spent on restaurants = 31200 UR = $312 - $95 AF + $900 UR bonus = $1117

[ Year 1 & 2 & 3 ]

AARP = $23400 spent on restaurants = $702 cashback - $0 AF = $702

CSP as travel = $23400 spent on restaurants = 46800 UR = $983 - $95x2 AF + $900 UR bonus = $1693

CSP as gift cards = $23400 spent on restaurants = 46800 UR = $468 - $95x2 AF + $900 UR bonus = $1178

If you are travel frequently or going to take a decent sized vacation in the next few years the CSP would be a no-brainer in my book.

[Anonymous]

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Monthly Spend:

Rent: 700

Utilities: 300 (Rough estimate)

Groceries: 600

Restaurants: 100

Fast Food: 150

Shopping: 250 (should go down once we furnish the new place)

Gas: 100

Other: 100

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With such little spend on restaurants, do not waste the inquiry and wallet spot for the AARP.  It will only give you $12 extra/yr above a 2% card at your current restaurant spend level.

But I would definitely add AMEX BCP to your list of consideration.  With its 6% cashback on your $600/mo groceries it'll rack up cash pretty quickly.  Just make sure your grocery stores are coded to match AMEX's list.

[ Combo 1 ]

$500/mo groceries on BCP (max 6% CB at $6K/yr) = $6000/yr x 6% = $360 - $75 (after 1st year) AF = $285/yr

$100/mo groceries on Sallie Mae = $1200/yr x 5% = $60 - $0 AF = $60/yr

Total 1st year (with waived AF) = $420/yr (5.8%)

Total 2nd+ years = $345/yr (4.8%)

[ Combo 2 ]

$150/mo groceries on Sallie Mae = $1800/yr x 5% = $90 - $0 AF = $90/yr

$450/mo groceries on Citi DC = $5400/yr x 2% = $108 - $0 AF = $108/yr

Total = $198/yr (2.75%)

[Anonymous]

You raise some good points and I definitly appreciate you breaking down the numbers for me. Perhaps what is best for me at this time would be a freedom (stockpile pts for CSP) and bcp then pick up CSP later this year if I can hit spend. Currently I get nothing substantial at fast food or resturant as the discover more card blows and sallie only gives me one point per buck.

That would give me three new accounts within two years prior to app for CSP. The annual fees do make me hesitate though, but it's not necessarily a deal breaker. One other thing playing in the back of mind is my city will be opening up a ALDI discount grocery store soon which I plan to frequent and they do not take credit cards of any kind although I'm sure I can not avoid stores like Walmart forever.

Update: Now I am thinking just a freedom for now (most boring spree ever haha), I am mentally talking myself out of the others at the moment. Once I deplete the CSP signup bonus I am not convinced my spend is enough to cover the fee. The BCP does seem to fit my spend well though so I am going to keep it in mind as I press on, I am thinking patience over the year may benefit me more then anything even if I will not be capitalizing rewards until then... That way I can see what shakes out with sallie mae, and hopefully build up some CLI along the way. This will also give me some options down the road because only two accounts would be established over the last two years. A final reason I think I should probably wait is now that my wife has healthy scores I want to get her a discover it, which will give us bonuses there too.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

You raise some good points and I definitly appreciate you breaking down the numbers for me. Perhaps what is best for me at this time would be a freedom (stockpile pts for CSP) and bcp then pick up CSP later this year if I can hit spend. Currently I get nothing substantial at fast food or resturant as the discover more card blows and sallie only gives me one point per buck.

That would give me three new accounts within two years prior to app for CSP. The annual fees do make me hesitate though, but it's not necessarily a deal breaker. One other thing playing in the back of mind is my city will be opening up a ALDI discount grocery store soon which I plan to frequent and they do not take credit cards of any kind although I'm sure I can not avoid stores like Walmart forever.

Update: Now I am thinking just a freedom for now (most boring spree ever haha), I am mentally talking myself out of the others at the moment. Once I deplete the CSP signup bonus I am not convinced my spend is enough to cover the fee. The BCP does seem to fit my spend well though so I am going to keep it in mind as I press on, I am thinking patience over the year may benefit me more then anything even if I will not be capitalizing rewards until then... That way I can see what shakes out with sallie mae, and hopefully build up some CLI along the way. This will also give me some options down the road because only two accounts would be established over the last two years. A final reason I think I should probably wait is now that my wife has healthy scores I want to get her a discover it, which will give us bonuses there too.

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Fellow Aldi Shopper!  Love Aldi!

Well lucky for you, with your monthly spend, if you ever did go for some bonuses, you wont have a problem getting one!  Thank you for actually divulging your monthly budget. Some folks seem hesitant to share that info (which is fine) but it really makes the advice much easier!

Your plan of banking points with the freedom is great.  Even if you only travel 1-2x a year its worth it.  Too bad SM is done, as having 2 of those would give you most cash back per year

[Anonymous]

Love ALDI too, I may even do a cart comparison between it and walmart when it opens up here.

I could not stand it any longer just applied online for the Freedom and was approved for a $3,500 limit at 18.99% APR. The approval said something about how if the credit limit did not meet my needs I could ask to have it raised when I called in to confirm I got the card so I plan to do just that. I should be able to meet the 500$ spend without much trouble and start stacking up the points. If I add my wife as an AU for the extra 25$ and then removed her once I got it how would that show on her FICO, not good I am assuming?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Love ALDI too, I may even do a cart comparison between it and walmart when it opens up here.

I could not stand it any longer just applied online for the Freedom and was approved for a $3,500 limit at 18.99% APR. The approval said something about how if the credit limit did not meet my needs I could ask to have it raised when I called in to confirm I got the card so I plan to do just that. I should be able to meet the 500$ spend without much trouble and start stacking up the points. If I add my wife as an AU for the extra 25$ and then removed her once I got it how would that show on her FICO, not good I am assuming?

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Why not just leave her on there? unless you plan to have high util, it wont hurt her scores. she will have to possibly call to get it erased from her reports once you remove her as an AU.

Congrats on the approval!  I believe chase is more apt to 2nd pull you if you ask for a CLI at activation but I am not sure if that has anything to do with that or not.

[Anonymous]

I was thinking it would ding her AAoA of five years that she now has since I added her to my Discover, although 2.5yrs would still be a lot better then nothing. I could just leave her on it though if she would still qualify for decent cards. Although now that I am thinking about it her profile is very different from mine and she will hardly take a hit due at all due to her student loans. Thanks, for helping me think that one through! 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I was thinking it would ding her AAoA of five years that she now has since I added her to my Discover, although 2.5yrs would still be a lot better then nothing. I could just leave her on it though if she would still qualify for decent cards. Although now that I am thinking about it her profile is very different from mine and she will hardly take a hit due at all due to her student loans. Thanks, for helping me think that one through! 

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no prob. have quite a few student loans too thru navient. u can pay them with credit cards so if shes making payments I'd hope she is earning cash back or points in the process.