Citi Forward or Chase Freedom

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Maybe start with Citi now and apply for Freedom in 6 months-1 year. Citi tends to soft for CLI while its a guaranteed HP with Chase. That way you can start building a good relationship with Citi and maybe up your CL a bit. Then when you apply for Chase they will see this and also give you a good starting CL.

Like you said, no wrong answer. First step is to get yourself through the door!

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Thanks again for all your help.  I think I will do just that.  I really wish I could get Amex Zync so I could later get a good backdated Amex card, but I doubt I will be approved by them at all, so I'm holding off on them for a year or so.  One last question if you have any suggestions.  Right now, my only two cards are my own Cap One Platinum ($500 limit, about 8 months old) and my wife's Cap One Platinum (AU, $500 limit, 22 months old).  I am thinking it shouldn't hurt me at all to cancel my Cap One if/when I am approved for a decent prime card, since it isn't my oldest account.  I will probably stay on my wife's card, and she is in much worse position than me, so she won't be getting a prime card any time soon, but will be listed as an AU on mine.  I just want to avoid the annual fee that is coming up at 1 year, I get no rewards, and the low limit means I can barely use it without maxing it out.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, one more one last question, ha.  I just thought of this.  Does Citi (or anyone else) blacklist authorized users?  I used to be an AU on my wife's card that went into default.

(Long story, but we were struggling, they offered us a payment plan, and when we called back to accept, they would no longer honor it because we had made a payment with the first guy, to keep it current.  We were never late on this account before that, but it went into default)

Anyway, since I used to be, but no longer am an AU on that account, and got it removed from my credit, any chance they would have blacklisted me, or do they only blacklist account holders?  I am assuming it is the latter.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Maybe start with Citi now and apply for Freedom in 6 months-1 year. Citi tends to soft for CLI while its a guaranteed HP with Chase. That way you can start building a good relationship with Citi and maybe up your CL a bit. Then when you apply for Chase they will see this and also give you a good starting CL.

Like you said, no wrong answer. First step is to get yourself through the door!

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Thanks again for all your help.  I think I will do just that.  I really wish I could get Amex Zync so I could later get a good backdated Amex card, but I doubt I will be approved by them at all, so I'm holding off on them for a year or so.  One last question if you have any suggestions.  Right now, my only two cards are my own Cap One Platinum ($500 limit, about 8 months old) and my wife's Cap One Platinum (AU, $500 limit, 22 months old).  I am thinking it shouldn't hurt me at all to cancel my Cap One if/when I am approved for a decent prime card, since it isn't my oldest account.  I will probably stay on my wife's card, and she is in much worse position than me, so she won't be getting a prime card any time soon, but will be listed as an AU on mine.  I just want to avoid the annual fee that is coming up at 1 year, I get no rewards, and the low limit means I can barely use it without maxing it out.

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Like you I hate the thought of paying an annual fee but in your case I think I would hold onto it at least until you get 2 prime cards. The reason I say this is b/c some creditors want you to have 2+ established tradelines in your name (not AU) otherwise they might deny your application for "too few revolving accounts." I think I have read on here Amex doing that.

[Anonymous]

Not sure about the blacklist thing, hopefully someone else can help!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Like you I hate the thought of paying an annual fee but in your case I think I would hold onto it at least until you get 2 prime cards. The reason I say this is b/c some creditors want you to have 2+ established tradelines in your name (not AU) otherwise they might deny your application for "too few revolving accounts." I think I have read on here Amex doing that.

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I guess I can do that.  Fortunately I at least got the better (non Classic) Cap One card, so my AF is only $19.  I will proably take it out of my wallet though and just set up an auto pay for something small so they don't cancel and otherwise never use it.

[Anonymous]

How about Discover More?  Anyone have/had them?  How does it compare to Chase and Citi as far as approval and rewards?

[Ridbidge]

I apped for the Forward on Tuesday night, got the 7-10 day message, called back door and approved for $7k.  I apped for the Freedom on Wed night, again with the 7-10 day, called back door, also approved for $7k.  Waiting on them to come in the mail.

[Anonymous]

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@Ridbidge wrote:

I apped for the Forward on Tuesday night, got the 7-10 day message, called back door and approved for $7k.  I apped for the Freedom on Wed night, again with the 7-10 day, called back door, also approved for $7k.  Waiting on them to come in the mail.

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Wow, nice!  Did they pull EQ for you?  Also, what scores if you don't mind saying?

I am a little worried I would get denied for INQ, although if so I will recon.  I have a bunch from mid January when I was shopping for a car, all within 3 days of each other.  I know FICO only scores them as one, but sometimes CCs will score them separately.  I am impatiently waiting until my utilization posts down and will probably app for Forward right away.  I may still try Freedom afterwards, and I might even try PNC Cash Builder in a month or so when my EX clears up (I know they always pull EX, I have apped 2 itmes in the past with them).

I already bank with PNC and with my account, I will get a set 1.75% cash back on every purchase, so maybe that is the best option of all for me?

[Ridbidge]

yes, EQ... I was hoping they'd pull TR... I'm at 798 on there... was 778 on EQ.  I have 12 INQ on EX w/762 Faco, 6 INQ on EQ w/778 and 5 INQ on TU w/798  None have been within the last 6 months.  My total CL prior to these cards was a combined 20.5k w/balance carried of 2700 on a 10000 CL.  The 2700 is on my work Visa, and I'm only an AU on that account.  All of my personal UTIL is 0.   I paid down $6024 in personal UTIL during the month of Feb.  Now that they have all updated as $0 my scores shot up avg of 100 points across the board.  I'm stoked!  FIgured now was a great time to app for those cards as these are the highest my scores have ever been... since my early 20s when I completely hosed my credit. I am 37 now and have been rebuiling for several years.

1.75% on everything isn't too shabby!

[JustMe77]

I'm confused about the Citi TY Points. If you stick with gift cards for points, it's at least possible for 1 TY point to = $1 right? Sort of like Amex Zync points? The only reason I wanted Citi Forward was for the category rewards (I spend a lot at restaurants!).

To the OP, I love my Chase Freedom. It's so easy to get a statement credit with your cash back, but you can redeem for gift cards if you want (they sometimes have good deals on them, which make your points worth > $1). The 5% categories are nice, too. In my first month with Chase Freedom, I got $25 in cash back excluding my sign-up bonus.