That's been a topic of debate as well. Personally when I app, I try to stagger bureaus pulled and get everything at once. I only went on one "massive spree" obtaining 3 or 4 cards to establish history and let them age together. Also lets the inqs age off together. Since then, I'll do one or two as needed.
As salt water said, if you want Chase, go ahead and do them first. Barclay can be inq sensitive so them next if you go that route. The freedom card is good with 5% quarterly categories. Amex blue cash everyday is 3% groceries, 2% gas, 1% everything else. Discover is another card that works for many. Acceptance is also something to consider with them.
Barclay rewards is 2% back on utility bills and gas. All of these are CB cards and come with no annual fee. APR will be determined by credit.
Typically, Chase and Amex will pull EX, Barclay TU, and discover EQ, which accomplishes staggering apps. YEMV depending upon where you live in regards to bureau pulled. Some banks may pull more than 1. Oh and of course cap1 QS is unlimited 1.5% for everything.
Citi DC is 2% everything with a caveat of 1% for the purchase, 1% for the payment.
These are just a few good cash back cards and is not a comprehensive list. Some of these also overlap in categories so plan accordingly, as to not get cards you may not use or may become redundant/useless.
When you figure out what you for sure wanna go for, we can help ya with a strategy if you'd like. Sorry for jumping around so much it's one of those days
As salt water said, if you want Chase, go ahead and do them first. Barclay can be inq sensitive so them next if you go that route. The freedom card is good with 5% quarterly categories. Amex blue cash everyday is 3% groceries, 2% gas, 1% everything else. Discover is another card that works for many. Acceptance is also something to consider with them.
Barclay rewards is 2% back on utility bills and gas. All of these are CB cards and come with no annual fee. APR will be determined by credit.
Typically, Chase and Amex will pull EX, Barclay TU, and discover EQ, which accomplishes staggering apps. YEMV depending upon where you live in regards to bureau pulled. Some banks may pull more than 1. Oh and of course cap1 QS is unlimited 1.5% for everything.
Citi DC is 2% everything with a caveat of 1% for the purchase, 1% for the payment.
These are just a few good cash back cards and is not a comprehensive list. Some of these also overlap in categories so plan accordingly, as to not get cards you may not use or may become redundant/useless.
When you figure out what you for sure wanna go for, we can help ya with a strategy if you'd like. Sorry for jumping around so much it's one of those days
Figure out what spending categories you use the most, and your choices will be narrowed by those answers. Then check the cash back charts for the more common categories: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Cash-Back-credit-card-charts/td-p/4004725
You should also consider if you plan to eventually get high credit limits, like 25K or so on some cards. Its easier to get high limits once you have experience with high limit cards already, so that can affect your initial choices. And are you interested in obtaining some cards for high sign up bonuses, and cancelling before the annual fee is due?
Make sure you know how to optimize your FICO score prior to applying for cards: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/How-do-I-play-the-1-9-Utilization-Game-Please-...
@SlidingBy wrote:Groceries would be by far my greatest spend. So i guess that looks like one of the revolver category cards like Cap1 might be ok at least some points of the year, otherwise its the lower % CB on anything cards. I would think it best to grab both and use the 5% when it lines up.
I think the low APR on Barclays sounds good, might be nice to have a card to put bigger purchases on when I wont be able to pay them off right away. How are they for none use, do they require regular monthly spending through the card to keep it alive? What is the timeframe on CLI?
For the CB type cards I think the BCP or BCE look great (seems about the same when you take into account of the AF), Citi DC and Chase Freedom are all %CB on anything I think so they seem like good ideas. I would definitely like to have a few cards with higher limits (though I dont know about 25k+) rather than lots of cards with lower limits that I need to constantly keep track of and keep updating.
I am thinking I'll go Freedom, Barclays, BCP and possibly Citi DC. None will be for a little while to get util down and still have to decide if I want to try all at once or not.
Thanks for all the info!!
Freedom will be denied if you have obtained 5 cards in the past 2 years, so factor that into when you apply for the card (IE, probably first). Barclays doesn't like a lot of recent applications, and they report new cards to the credit bureau's extremely quickly. That just means you might get a lower starting limit of you apply for other cards and then wait a few days before applying for the Barclay card.
Fidelity is announcing a new 2% card on Monday, so that might affect your Citi DC choice. Or it might be an alternative if Citi denies your application.