Amex vs. Chase question

[Anonymous]

Hey all!

This might be long but want to get all the details out to get feedback/thoughts so bear with me, and thanks in advance!

So I am getting ready to pull the trigger on a new card in a few months and doing my research now. Before I was pretty locked in on going the CSP or CSR route for some travel perks etc... to pay off the rest of my wedding expenses ($8k guarenteed spend that I already have cash to pay off now)

The more I look at it though it is seeming like AMEX makes so much more sense and here is my rational that I would love thoughts on:

FICO - 690-700 current (plan on letting this sit another 3 months)

Income - $170k annual

- I don't carry a balance and only buy if I have cash for it anyhow, so charge card vs credit makes no difference

- My spend is normally flights, hotels or food (So AMEX Platinum and then Gold seems like a smarter points play)

- There are no CSR lounges at my airport

- I tend to fly Delta (which is already a partner)

- There are two lounges at my airport I could get into with a Amex Plat (one delta lounge and one airspace lounge)

- All my travel is domestic (have left the country once)

I know this will punt me on some 5/24 if I went this route, so maybe grab like a CSP and then go for the Plat shortly after if I want to be in on chase? But honestly at this point thinking Chase isn't worth it that much rewards wise.

Also I have heard approval odds tend to be better with Amex than Chase even if you dont have a relationship with them yet. Could be wrong here.

Has anyone else thought the same? People here hard in on Chase? Would love some outside opinions!

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

It sounds like you've more or less already made the decision to go Amex.  Good to see that you're considering the benefits and not just cold apping.  How does your profile/scores look?

[Anonymous]

I am sitting at 690-700 across the board now.

I do have two 60 day lates on my account from over a year ago when my identity was stolen and I flubbed setting crap back up right. These are in constant goodwill request land.

Everything else is paid in full or I leave $1 to report and then pay it off after. Plan was to let everything sit for three more months to put everything in the low 700s and then pull the trigger.

[Anonymous]

I am not sure you can get CSP/CSR with that score though. Gold is more likely, Plat is a bit risky.

To figure out what combo nets you more value, do the math here https://www.thepointcalculator.com/Credit-Card-Comparison-Tool

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Everything else is paid in full or I leave $1 to report and then pay it off after. Plan was to let everything sit for three more months to put everything in the low 700s and then pull the trigger.

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Have you implemented AZEO to see if that helps with your scores?  From your statement above, it sounds like you may be allowing non-zero balances to report on multiple/many accounts, which relative to just one could adversely impact your scores which could be considered "on the cusp" for the products that you're considering. 

[Anonymous]

For AZEO, not fully no.

Normally what I do is whatever my "spend" card is for the month is what I let report. But if I have a card that I dont use often like my store card or a low rewards card, sometimes those will get a report with my normal spend card.

So normally it looks like this:

Cap One  - 0

Citi - 0

Comenity - 0

NFCU - $1

But if I havent used others in a bit (like this month)

Cap One - 1

Citi - 0

Comenity - 1

NFCU - 1

I will try and follow that AZEO method the next 3 months and see if it kicks up.

Thanks for that tip!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I am not sure you can get CSP/CSR with that score though. Gold is more likely, Plat is a bit risky.

To figure out what combo nets you more value, do the math here https://www.thepointcalculator.com/Credit-Card-Comparison-Tool

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I added my income to the main post as well which is $170k annual.

Which I have been told will make a big difference here.

[xaximus]

Definitely echo the statements above but also, to mention - the CSR does have a $300 travel credit, so effectively, the the AF is $150. I would definitely keep that bit in mind. I know the Plat has some benefits as well but would you use them?

[Anonymous]

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@xaximus wrote:
Definitely echo the statements above but also, to mention - the CSR does have a $300 travel credit, so effectively, the the AF is $150. I would definitely keep that bit in mind. I know the Plat has some benefits as well but would you use them?

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Doing the run down of these two I will definitely hit some -> most of them, I might have to actively use them more than the passive travel credit with CSR.

The lounges however I feel is where I would make back my money there as well as hotel status breakfast etc... since most my travel does stay at those hotels and is frequent enough where I feel that if there is much difference it is negligable. But I am defintely keeping that easier $300 play in mind when I look at these.

[Anonymous]

Didn’t you just get declined for an NFCU card? I’d sit and garden ALOT longer “income like that” doesn’t make a big difference when you have 30 and 60 day lates and biggest cl is 1500.