Howdy!
New member -- first post and am learning a lot from following the site. Until recently I never much thought about what I carried in my wallet, kinda just picked up cards here and there. I got my first card when I was 19, a Capital One (I don't remember which one, but they did away with it and my account was changed to Quicksilver a few years ago.) That was my everyday carry for many years, but I mostly stuck to using check/debit cards for my purchases. I married into USAA, and picked up a Visa Cash Rewards [was actually a Master Card before they fired them] as part of my intial account opening. I was made an AU on my spouse's card [Amex Cashback Rewards] and begain utilizing my credit a little more. I didnt much care about card benefits, and didn't want to mess around with any kind of annual fee. But then I started traveling more, got into better paying positions, and have come to the point where I want to be rewarded more for using certain cards. I applied for the Citi Advantage Platinum Select a couple years ago, and that's been my everyday. Finally, a couple weeks ago, I decided that I wanted to start maximizing my benefits, so am dabbling in two new cards:
I travel quite a lot, and after tasting some luxury in Admirals Clubs with friends, decided that I could justify the annual fee on the Citi Executive. I'm also big on cooking at home, and happen to live about an hour away from where I work. I began looking for a card that would offer good returns on fuel, groceries, and other transportation costs. Found the Blue Cash Preferred Amex, and I think I can get a good bit of cash back. I should be able to ofest the fee within the first 2 months. I live in a small town, and do most of my grocery shopping at a real grocery store. I was bummed {but not shocked} to see the 6% cash back wasn't good at big stores.
So, on the same day (no clue if it was 'smart' or not) applied for BOTH the Citi Executive and Amex BCP. I was immediately approved for the Amex and given a 15k$ SCL, but my Citi went to Pending with a ref number. I figured it was because it was a fraud prevention measure, and so I called the next day to see what the deal was. The lady on their recon line was really nice and just said that for some reason it didn't capture my SSN on the app. I gave it over and she put me on hold for about 3 seconds and came back and said I was approved for 16.5K!
So my question is this: I don't want to pay extra fees for nothing extra by having two Citi Advantage cards, but I also don't want to cause any major detriment to my score. Temporary dips don't really concern me, I am in the high 700's and don't plan on buying a house or a car tomorrow, but how long should I wait before closing my Platinum Select? Will Citi look ultra unfavorably on me for doing this? It's very rare when I don't pay my cards down to 0 each cycle.
I'll see how this goes. It's kind of fun. If things go well maybe I will try churning a couple to get more miles. I'm not sure I can justify a Platinum Amex yet, despite being prequalled for that and the Prestige. Sorry for the ramble, thanks for reading!
2018 Dec Starting Score: 700
