Up Next: Amex ED and Citi DC?

Anonymous · ‎06-13-2018

Hi All,

My 21st birthday is coming up in a few days and I plan on adding a couple of cards to my wallet. On the AMEX website I got an offer of 25,000 MR points for $2,000 worth of spend on the Everyday card and I think it's a good offer. I have a couple hesitations though. One is that it gets 2x points at grocery stores and I already have a card for grocery spend (JetBlue) but it wouldn't be bad to also be able to gain AMEX points in this category. My main hesitation is that I've heard that once you get a card with AMEX it's unlikely you'll be targeted for the 100,000 point bonus on the platinum. I plan to add this after law school and was wondering if there was any truth to this? If this is just a rumor then I think the ED is a solid choice for me.

The other card I'm set on is the Citi DC. Often times I have a lot of non category spend and I would like to be able to build out my card base so the DC is a solid choice for me especially with the $100 SUB. I also like the thought of adding an AMEX to my wallet and getting my foot in the door with them with a nice 25,000 offer, but I don't want to risk loosing the 100,000 in the future with the plat. Any thoughts or comments? I've looked at the Chase cards and while some are good, with all the recent changes and shifts in attitude I don't know if I really want to do business with them. None of their cards scream out at me as really great either, they're fine but not extrodinary for my current situation. Also any thoughts on how I might fare if I applied for both at the same time? Thanks for all of your help!

Some stats for you guys: I'm a college student with 2 credit cards (Discover IT Student and JetBlue Plus Mastercard) my first card was the Discover IT student card in August 2015 that has a 6,000 limit now and a 13.49% APR. My next card was JetBlue Plus Mastercard May 2016 with a $2,200 limit and a 22.24% APR. So I have no hard pulls on my record and I have a 774 TU and 770 EQ I'd probably put down like $36,000ish for income. I have no baddies, lates or delinquencies. Squeaky clean but thin file I'm not an authorized user on any cards nor have I been so everything I have as far as credit is all me.

Anonymous · ‎06-13-2018

I think approvals are a pretty sure thing given your credit profile.

As it pertains to the 100K MR offer, there are folks here that have managed to get it once already being in with Amex. Though I think they had to go elsewhere for the preapproval like CardMatch or jump through hopes like incognitio mode or intentional misspelled names. There are also some datapoints that show some clawback when Amex determined the 100K MR points wasn't for them. So I surmise there's some truth in the speculation.

That being said, no one really knows how long the 100K MR offer will be around. Amex seems to be changing the way it does bonuses frequently. There may be a move in the future to more targeted MR points for spend in lieu of huge SUBs. Who knows? The game is changing. Presently, the offer you have on the Everyday card is a pretty high SUB for that card. I think I've seen 30K for it but no higher than that.

Solid start you've given yourself on your credit build. I commend your effort at 21. Are those scores true FICO scores or Credit Karma scores?

Anonymous · ‎06-13-2018

They're true FICO scores. FAKO scores are around 760 I believe. I appreciate your input! I think the 25k SUB is a good offer on the ED and I really think the DC would be a great addition given my spending.