@Patient957 wrote:If you're already meeting the requirements to get the AF waived on the Schwab Amex Platinum, that sounds like an attractive option to me.
I am thinking about it. The last time I looked at the Plat and BCE, I was in pop-up jail. However over the last few months I put heavy spend on my BBP, and normal spend on my Gold. My Biz AMZ and BBC has also seen some light usage over the past few months. If I'm not in Pop-Up Jail it would be hard for me not to accept (I also need to buy some plane tickets for the holidays).
Elan finally reported my new lower balance (still is the 0% APR window) to the big 3. So I though I try my odds to see what I'm preapproved for.
- Schwab Amex Platinum: I was pre-approved however I'm still in Pop-Up Jail with no offer for a SUB so that would a PASS. (I don't get it, I put a lot of spend on the AMEX Gold, and the BBP this year. I put a decent amount of spend on my BBC. Maybe it is the BIZ AMZ, I thought I would use it more that I do).
- Blue Cash Preferred Card. "Already Approved with SUB." Nice to know, but I want the MR points. I'll have to think about it.
- CitiBank. No pre-screens, so Pass on Citibank for now.
- Chase. Pre-approvals for the: a. Slate (nope); b. CSP; c. CSP; d. United Explorer and e. Southwest Rapid Rewards. For the Airline partner cards, I'm not loyal to any company so my only Pre-approvals I see are the CSP/CSR, but see my first my first post. However there are still no active offers under the "Just for you" section. I'm also 'iffy' on Chase income to available revolving credit underwriting ratio which seem to be 50% income to credit. With my HELOC this puts me way out of their ratio, but I also haven't seen any DP to see if Chase does or doesn't consider a HELOC in the available revolving credit ratio.
At this point, I'm probably just talking to myself, but after some thinking and plotting my plan moving forward was this:
Plan A)
Apply for the Chase Ink Business Unlimited (CIU) as a Sole Prop. I think this would be a better fit when directly compared to the Chase Freedom Unlimited (CFU). The cards earn the same 1.5% CB, but if approved for the CIU the SUB is better ($750 for 6K spend vs $250 for $500 of spend) and I would get to keep a 5/25 slot open.
Or
Plan Backup)
If deined for CIU, that I would move back to AMEX. I have a current offer to "upgrade" the Gold to a Platinum with a SUB of 100K MR points (I would much prefer the Charles Schwab Plat, but with the changes to their Charge Card/Lifetime SUB small print, I don't think I going to be approved for a SUB higher than 100K MR points).Since I would be losing a major spead category of "groceries", I would app for the Blue Cash Preferred which (I'm already approved for, I would just need to complete the app). I would have 2 AMEX SUBs to track, but it would be doable.
However, with the announcement of CFF 2025 Q1 including "groceries", I going to go with;
Plan C).
Stay in the Garden for at least the next 3 months for Q2 or if CSP has an elevated UR point offer.
"Groceries" is a major part of my monthly spend, and it would be hard for me to hit heavy spead SUB without this category.