Amex Delta Gold or Green?

[Anonymous]

Hello, I'm a 22 year old college senior graduating in May. I work at a highly reputable company in the retail division with a moderately high hourly wage.

Recently I thought my Credit Score was low, but I've managed to increase it to 701 from Equifax.

My open accounts:

    $3000 CLI from BOA Platinum Plus MasterCard

    $300 Orchard Bank Visa

    $1000 Discover Student More

Back in July I was declined an Amex Zync card, (The one that's supposed to be the easiest for someone in my category of applicants).

I was doing research on Amex, as it's the only network I'm not on yet, and gave it another whirl.

I was just approved for both an Amex Green and a Gold Delta card, (don't know the CLI on the Delta yet)!!!

My question is this:

I am wary of both having a $95 fee next year.

So I'm torn between the point system for the Green Card because I would want to redeem gifts. I don't care about the travel aspect of the Delta card, but I love that it will lower my credit utilization and reports limits and can thus can help raise my score. So which one would you accept in my situation? If I haven't given adequate info, let me know. Thanks.

[andre181]

My recommendation would be to keep them both for now and in a year, before the annual fee comes due, call amex and ask to product change from green to zync. That will reduce that AF from 95 to 25. Many have gone from green or gold to zync with no problem.

You can also ask if you can change products from delta to blue or blue cash at that time too, but they may say no. Blue or Blue Cash have no annual fee.

Congrats on the 2 new cards!

[Anonymous]

I am wary, too. I had the Delta Gold for a year. And I did fly with Delta more frequently. Still, aside from the initial sign-up miles this card has lousy rewards, even for those who want to translate them into actual flights. If you can use the complimentary companion ticket (doesn't come free at this level, though, you have to pay an extra $100 to redeem a companion flight), then the annual fee might be a good value, otherwise surely NOT! I switched to Amex Blue Cash, also in light of Delta's shrinking operations with much, much fewer flights (at least where I live).

Also, I would get a more substantial VISA card that'll grow with you in the long run. The Orchard won't cut it.

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@Anonymous wrote:

I am wary of both having a $95 fee next year.

[MrShush]

If you were approved for both, you should keep both. You should have both fees, if you are new to AMEX, waived unless they offered you otherwise, so really there is no harm in keeping both. Going forward, you may want to rethink the value that both cards provide you for instance, if you rarely fly Delta, you may want to change that one to something more useful.

[haulingthescoreup]

Hi, welcome to the forums!

Just be prepared to close them several weeks before the AF is due.

I had a Gold card (free first year.) After I'd had it for 11 months, I got a Blue (no fee.) Two weeks later, I closed the Gold.

I don't know if you're aware of it, but AmEx backdates any additional cards to the year in which the first card was opened. So if you get cards now, any subsequent cards will carry the month that they are opened, but 2010 for the year.

You'll get a hard inquiry, but they won't show as new accounts, and they'll figure into your AAoA (average age of accounts) as older cards.

You could get these now, and pick up a Blue in May (after 7 months), and the date on the card will be "since May 2010", which will be before you had any AmEx whatsoever.

Rule of thumb: get the first AmEx towards the end of a calendar year, and add more cards at the beginning of a calendar year.

People used to get the second AmEx card within a couple of months --for instance, first card in November and second in January --but the common advice now is to have the first card for six months, letting them get used to you and decide that you're a keeper.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies.

Reading up on the benefits to both, here are more questions.

The plus for me on the Green Card is that it needs to be PIF which for me would mean being very careful with it.

Another positive for the charge card is that it seems to be hard to receive a F/R on the green card.

A positive for the Gold Delta is the CL. Which keeps my utilization down. Does the Gold Delta also need to be PIF?

I would just be worried about getting a F/R on the credit card instead of the charge card.

Having both just seems redundant, but I want a positive relationship with AmEx that helps my credit the most in the long run.

[haulingthescoreup]

One of our moderators was F/R'd with only a Green card. No safety there, I'm afraid.

I would strongly advise regarding every credit card, whether charge or revolving, whether from AmEx or elsewhere, as a PIF card. The only time that you might want to carry debt is with a 0% (or other really low APR) purchase or BT APR offer. And if it's a BT, you have to add in the cost of the BT fee, so it's very very rarely genuinely 0%.

Carrying CC debt is a great way to get into huge trouble, not just for scoring but for real world as well. I guess I'm a little worried by your statement The plus for me on the Green Card is that it needs to be PIF which for me would mean being very careful with it.

Unless there is some sort of horrible one-time unanticipated disaster, you just don't want to charge anything that you know for a fact that you couldn't pay off during your next two pay periods. Otherwise, it's awfully easy to get financially enslaved by lenders. That's why you'll read advice all over the place here to have at least three months' worth of expenses, including credit card payments, saved up and safe, in case the you-know-what hits the fan, and more than that is better. Roofs leak, cars die, dogs get pregnant, electricity bills triple. This isn't stuff that you want to have to use a CC for.

I think of my CC's as really slow debit cards, not posting until the end of the month. Just as I wouldn't use my debit card if I couldn't cover it, neither do I use a CC. I use CC's for convenience and rewards, and that's pretty much it. I realize that many people who come to the forums already have CC debt, and they don't have a magic wand to make it instantly disappear. But IMO, the goal should be to not acquire any new debt whatsoever, and to attack any existing debt "with gazelle-like intensity," as Dave Ramsey once said. (Just about the only thing that I agree with Brother Dave on. )

Sorry for what looks like a lecture. I just get alarmed when new members start speculating about whether they need to pay their cards off every month.

[Anonymous]

Just found out the CLI on the Gold Delta is 1000. Right where I wanted it to be.

So I can keep both, but I'd rather convert the Green to Zync and then Gold Delta to Blue, during the next year. Will that be easy?

Also, what's the link the forum about that Green Card f/r? Thanks.

[mross1080]

I had a F/R on a green card. Just make sure that the income and info you listed on your app is correct if they end doing and F/R they want proof.

[Anonymous]

If I'm ever auto CLI'd, can I ask for a reduction in order to insulate my account from F/R?