@Aim_High wrote:For the community, how do you set limits for yourself on new cards or inquiries and do you have a process before applying for new credit? How long do you plan or do you impulsively app? Is impulsive or excessive app'ing a problem or a concern? We're in the last three weeks of 2020. As it draws to a close, what are your credit goals for 2021?
..... Kudos to @Remedios for the topic.
Without a long story, I will begin by stating my relationship with credit has been a revolving journey. In my early naive days of not understanding rewards structures I viewed credit as a way to defer paying for things and as some may recall from my long thread in the rebuilding forum this cost me a lot of grief over several years.
I had the short period where I paid for everything with my debit card or cash, but as I became disciplined enough to not overspend I also started learning of credit card rewards. Most of the cards I have gotten I have gotten for SUBs.
These days though, with a lot of sock drawered cards that I have to remember to run spend through and my excessive travel days for work likely gone through the forseeable future (new role, not just pandemic related) and after gardening for 18 months in prep of a home mortgage my relationship with cards has simply changed.
All that to say, in the past I would somewhat impulsively app for a card for a SUB, because I know now that waiting for things to age can help credit scores and can grant me higher limits and better interest rates and after showing I could garden for 18 months I expect that in the future there will be A LOT of planning for cards. After losing out on a really good CSR SUB a couple of years ago because of 5/24, I also have a desire to stay below 5/24 moving forward.
My goals for 2021 are pretty simple, we close on our house in January. After a lot of thought and deciding I should focus more on no AF cash back cards I am going to apply for the AOD 3% card, I am also going for the Chase Prime card and most likely the PayPal Mastercard as a 2% back up for the AOD on the chance that I don't get approved for the AOD card or that they nerf it.
I do not plan to do any other apps in 2021, these three cards will put me at 4/24 (though I will drop down to 3/24 in May). It would take a really amazing SUB on a card that would give me good value outside of SUB in order to consider apping for anything else in 2021.
My focus in 2021 will be less on new credit and more on continuing to find ways to decrease overall spend and maximize savings and investing.
My 2021 strategy is about optimizing. I have more cards with large annual fees than I can justify, especially as they are all travel-focused and we are in the covid era. Hopefully coming out of it in 2021 but I don't think it will be like flipping a light switch. The first thing I plan to do is close or downgrade my Hilton Aspire. Great card, but my Amex Platinum gives me Hilton gold status, so I don't think diamond status plus the other goodies are worth $450, at least not this year.
I have often thought about closing the Apple Card, which I have very little use for and opened "just because", but I guess it doesn't hurt anything. I am also giving some thought to Citi AAdvantage, but will probably keep it as a long-term bet.
Other than possibly culling the herd, I am always looking for CLIs.
As far as cards I plan to add, there aren't many I am interested in for now, that I can actually get. The one I am most likely to get in 2021 is NFCU Flagship. I am also interested in US Bank and Chase, but both are pretty hostile to my profile right now. I think about Propel sometimes. That's about it.
@Anonymous wrote:
@sourpuss29 wrote:In light of the time I spent contemplating which card I REALLY wanted before I chose the Flex, a product change isn't in the cards for me. I actually wouldn't mind having the Citi Double Cash, but the lack of a SUB is a bit of a turn off for me.
I understand, but spend patterns do evolve over time and sometimes a card that made more sense at the time makes less sense later on. I do get what you're saying though. Agreed that the Citi DC would be much more enticing if it offered a SUB. I guess all of the money Citi spent on marketing that product eroded away any SUB chances and evidently they're grabbing plenty of new cardholders without offering one.
When I got my PPMC, it came down to the SUB (they occasionally offer a $50 and $100 SUB) and the fact that cashback could be redeemed at any amount at time for me choosing it over the Citi DC. The other end of it is how quickly the PPMC grows (mine went from $6,500 - $15,000 in 11 months). The only real thing I didn't like about the card initially was lack of real time purchase alerts, but they've added that now and it works as it should. Some people don't having go have a PayPal account to use the card, but I had that anyway, so that wasn't an issue for me.
Merry Happy Everything All!
I am now at 2/24, and for 2021 looking at two cards I have been eyeing for the whole year:
- Fidelity Rewards Visa (because of my investments)
- REI Co-op WEM (because I am an avid hiker, and shop for gear year-round)
Just looked over my 2020-spend and confirmed that my three most-used cards were my AMEX Gold, Costco Visa, and Chase Amazon. Pleased that I stuck to my resolution of putting all my cards thru a rotation, using each as a daily driver for at least three weeks at a time. I can do this because I don't have that many cards, plus I am anal when it comes to SD'ing cards.
Finally, my 2021 resolutions:
- Put enough spend on my Apple Card to get a CLI, even a tiny one!
- Use some of these Alaska Airlines Miles that I have been accumulating for three years.
