Credit Card Advice

[Anonymous]

I have a few credit cards, but I am looking to maximize my cashback and was looking for advice for which ones to get/switch to. 

Groceries: $400-600/month

Gas: $100/month

Restaurants & Fast food: varies ($300-400)

My current cards are:

Sallie Mae

Amex Costco

Chase Freedom

Quicksilver Capital One

After looking at the spreadsheet comparison, I was thinking to add:

Amex BCP (for groceries and gas)

Security Service Power Travel (restaurants (& fast food???) 

BOA BBR (for bonus)

Keep Sallie Mae for 5% Amazon

Cancel my Amex Costco (Ending soon anyway)

Keep Chase for 5% categories

Keep Quicksilver for everything else

Please let me know if theres anything that could be improved upon

[Anonymous]

I don't see why you'd need to get rid of the Costco card; you can just SD now and see if Citi/Amex throws existing cardholders a nice offer before deciding whether or not to get rid of the account.  Especially since you may be able to get a free BCE out of it, which may or may not be better than the BCP for you actually.

Overall your plan seems solid, but some additional tweaks might be possible if you're comfortable answering the below questions:

1. Do you have any other categories of spend?  And how large is the "other" category?

2. How much of the grocery spend is on nontraditional grocery stores (aka Costco/BJ's/Walmart/Target/etc. things that might not code as grocery stores)?

3. Did you confirm you're in Security Service's service region?  They're very region-specific if I remember correctly...

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have a few credit cards, but I am looking to maximize my cashback and was looking for advice for which ones to get/switch to. 

Groceries: $400-600/month

Gas: $100/month

Restaurants & Fast food: varies ($300-400)

My current cards are:

Sallie Mae

Amex Costco

Chase Freedom

Quicksilver Capital One

After looking at the spreadsheet comparison, I was thinking to add:

Amex BCP (for groceries and gas)

Security Service Power Travel (restaurants (& fast food???) 

BOA BBR (for bonus)

Keep Sallie Mae for 5% Amazon

Cancel my Amex Costco (Ending soon anyway)

Keep Chase for 5% categories

Keep Quicksilver for everything else

Please let me know if theres anything that could be improved upon

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The Barclay Rewards card gives you 2% cash back on groceries, utilities, and gas.

[Anonymous]

1.My other spending really varies month to month so it's hard to say... What cards did you have in mind? I don't do much traveling though

2. Most of my grocery spending is done at grocery stores. After doing some calculation I think the BCP is what I'll go for

3. I didnt realize it was so specific and am not eligble... I was thinking of maybe the Chase AARP card with 3%

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

1.My other spending really varies month to month so it's hard to say... What cards did you have in mind? I don't do much traveling though

2. Most of my grocery spending is done at grocery stores. After doing some calculation I think the BCP is what I'll go for

3. I didnt realize it was so specific and am not eligble... I was thinking of maybe the Chase AARP card with 3%

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1. I was trying to see if there was another big category that was worth splitting out to another card.  I was also curious as to the amount; depending on how much misc spend you have, it may be worth it to get a 2% card like Citi DC, Fidelity Amex, or FNBO Visa.

2. Since your first $250 monthly will be on Sallie Mae, you'd need to spend an additional $200+ monthly (on average) in order for BCP to make more sense than BCE.  If that's what it is, then definitely go for it; I would recommend seeing if you can get a better offer than the current $150 bonus though (I believe it's gone up to $250)

3. AARP is solid, nothing more to add there especially with the current $200 bonus for $500 spend!

[Anonymous]

I was able to use incognito mode and get a $250 offer for BCP, so I pulled the trigger on that one.

I think I'll wait until next year and get the AARP since I spend a lot more on groceries than dining.

I don't think I do enough "other" spending that the Citi DC extra 0.5% over the quicksilver would be worthwhile.

Thanks for all the help! I think I should be set after that:

6% Groceries - BCP

5% Gas & Amazon - Sallie Mae

3% Restaurants/Fastfood - AARP

5% Categories - Freedom

1.5% Other - Quicksilver

Cash Bonus - BBR

[Anonymous]

Congrats on the approval!  The only other thing I **might** recommend would be jumping on the Discover double cash back offer, as that will get you 2% minimum on everything for the next year for the short term (even better if you can take advantage of Discover Deals, quarterly 5%, and/or Apple Pay promo), and long term will net you TU FICO, Discover Deals, and quarterly 5%.

Any reason not to jump on the AARP now?  Would give you an extra year of AAoA long term, but of course short term your AAoA will take a bigger hit.  The $200 promo might not be around for much longer is the other reason I would think about pushing for that now.

[Anonymous]

The only reason I;m holding off is that I'm not too keen on how my credit score will be affected and if I will get approved or not. What do you advise I do if I want to open up the following:

BCP (accepted today)

Chase AARP

BoA BBR

Discover it

How long do I wait between applying and in what order?

I checked on my capital one credit score and have 790

[Gmood1]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The only reason I;m holding off is that I'm not too keen on how my credit score will be affected and if I will get approved or not. What do you advise I do if I want to open up the following:

BCP (accepted today)

Chase AARP

BoA BBR

Discover it

How long do I wait between applying and in what order?

I checked on my capital one credit score and have 790

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BOA can be a little picky. You may want to hit them first.  If you app Chase..and you see another card that you could use.  You can maximize the pull and do a two for one.

Discover will be a cake walk...whether you wait or not. Amex is their rival. 

Right now no cards have reported. So if you're planning on getting them. Might as well knock them all out and be done with it. Have you checked your Experian and Transunion fico 8 scores? 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The only reason I;m holding off is that I'm not too keen on how my credit score will be affected and if I will get approved or not. What do you advise I do if I want to open up the following:

BCP (accepted today)

Chase AARP

BoA BBR

Discover it

How long do I wait between applying and in what order?

I checked on my capital one credit score and have 790

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Capital One score is a FAKO, so I would rather check SM's TU and Amex's EXP scores if I were you.  In terms of order, as long as you do them all today it shouldn't matter too much (at most the other lenders will see the inquiries, if even that).  With that in mind, I would apply in descending order of preference (aka apply for the one you want most, first).

If you do apply for them all now they will all age together; as long as you plan on gardening for a year or so after these apps then the temporary drop in your score from the AAoA decreasing shouldn't affect you very much (unless you're planning on buying a house/car soon, in which case don't apply for any more credit!).