Do you have one from each of the Big Four?

[Anonymous]

yes.

Chase Hyatt , Discover, Amex Everyday, Capital One Quicksilver.

[sarge12]

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@Viva-LV wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
Visa
Mastercard
Amex
Discover

Do you have at least one of each? If not, which are you missing?

I have a Visa by way of a local bank card backed by Elan, and a Quicksilver Mastercard. That's it so far. I want an Amex BCE next, so would there be any benefit to having a Discover too? I like the Chase Freedom revolving categories better than the Discover It categories, but I'm wondering if I should get an It card to have all four for any decent reason. Does it help in building a more well-rounded profile or increase your score to have them all?

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Like many members, I have all four, and then some.  Discover is worth having: customer service is top-notch, and many do well with building their limits.  I make use of the quarterly spend for 5% back. Third quarter this year was home improvement stores, so I got a decent amount back. Well-rounding profile or increasing your score?

I doubt it. Not everyone has all four to do well with their profile or scores, its what works best for you. Happy hunting!

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Maybe Discover is great to some people...but they have been the stingiest of them all for CLI to me. I hear that the want to be your everyday use card, and with me they are not, so that may be why.

[CreditDunce]

FICO doesn't care what network your cards run on.  There is not FICO benefit for having cards from the different networks.

There used to be some cachet for having Amex.  If anything, young folks probably consider Amex out of fashion.  The BCE card is a meh card.  Not bad, but the BCP beats it for most profiles. If you haven't looked at TheManWhoCan's sticky on cash back credit cards, I would do so.  The BCE and BCP probably have the same underwriting requirements.

Chase and Discover both change their categories.  Personally, I have found Discover's categories slightly broader than Chase Freedoms.  For example, Home Improvement vs. Home Depot.  If you like category cards, I would get both. Discover has one of the best cash back websites.  It can be very lucrative when combined with the first year double cash back promo.  Chase Freedom really shines when used for UR points as opposed to strait cash back.

Discover does have slightly lower acceptance rates.  However, there are times when Discover is accepted when visa/MC are not .  Most in Asian countries where China's Union Pay dominates.  Not that credit card acceptance is that good in China.  Discover has not FTF when accepted overseas. 

.

To answer your question, I have 3 Amex, 7 Visa, 5 MC, 1 Discover and 2 store cards.  My diversification goal was mostly for different CCC's, not different networks.  The different networks just happened.

[irving_magik]

CSP - Visa

TYP - Visa but being converted to MC soon

BCP - Amex obviously 

never been intreguided by Discover.... guess my perception is that it's not accepted anywhere... I know that's false but it's probably less accepted than the other 3

[Anonymous]

OP here, and for the record I app'd with Discover a few months ago and got instantly denied for a Student Chrome card even though on paper I was a better candidate that two of my friends that had gotten them recently before that. So I am hesitant to try again with them and it showed me first-hand how seemingly random they can be.

[TaterDawg]

4 Visa (DCU, USAA, Chase Freedom, Chase Amazon)

4 MC (Barclay CF World, Cap1 QS WE, Citi DC WE, Citi Simplicity)

2 AmEx (EveryDay, USAA Cashback Rewards+)

1 Discover

Also have another MC (Barclay Ring) pending, though I expect it to get denied. Went on a bit of a binge the last couple of weeks and added 4 of the above cards to my wallet, sending my total CL from around $51K to $115K, along with several other CLI's.

[Anonymous]

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@CreditDunce wrote:

FICO doesn't care what network your cards run on.  There is not FICO benefit for having cards from the different networks.

There used to be some cachet for having Amex.  If anything, young folks probably consider Amex out of fashion.  The BCE card is a meh card.  Not bad, but the BCP beats it for most profiles. If you haven't looked at TheManWhoCan's sticky on cash back credit cards, I would do so.  The BCE and BCP probably have the same underwriting requirements.

Chase and Discover both change their categories.  Personally, I have found Discover's categories slightly broader than Chase Freedoms.  For example, Home Improvement vs. Home Depot.  If you like category cards, I would get both. Discover has one of the best cash back websites.  It can be very lucrative when combined with the first year double cash back promo.  Chase Freedom really shines when used for UR points as opposed to strait cash back.

Discover does have slightly lower acceptance rates.  However, there are times when Discover is accepted when visa/MC are not .  Most in Asian countries where China's Union Pay dominates.  Not that credit card acceptance is that good in China.  Discover has not FTF when accepted overseas. 

.

To answer your question, I have 3 Amex, 7 Visa, 5 MC, 1 Discover and 2 store cards.  My diversification goal was mostly for different CCC's, not different networks.  The different networks just happened.

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For what it's worth, when I got a pre-approval for the BCE, I decided it wasn't such a great card, so I took a gamble and applied for the BCP instead. I was approved with only a $1000 limit, significantly less than my other cards, but worth it. I think they're the same requirements, but you'll just get a lower limit, which you can increase 9x within 8 to 12 months.

[CreditDunce]

I have never seen any evidence BCE is easier to get than the BCP.  I really think they have the same requirements.  If anything Amex has been trying to get me to upgrade my BCE to the BCP.  If most of my grocery spend wasn't covered by the SM, then I would upgrade to the BCP.  I currently have the BCE and ED because they have a good MSD backdate. 

ETA: Amex is good about growing credit limits.  However, you may need to be patient if they start you out at 1k or less.  They may not be comfortable giving you a 3x CLI after 60 days and then another in 6 months.  It may take more time.

[colinstu]

I have one of each, yep. 

If I had to pick faves it would be

MC: Citi DC

Visa: Chase Freedom (also the Chase AARP)

Amex: BCE

Discovert: IT 

[Anonymous]

I currently have 2 Visa, 1 MC, and Discover. I burned Amex so I know I can't go there, and I'm not sure I even want to. My very first card I got on my own when I was about 19-20 years old was the Amex charge card which Amex eventually upgraded to the gold version, if memory serves. I have fond memories, but I don't feel the need to get another Amex. No, it doesn't help your scores or credit profile. A CC tradeline is a CC tradeline.