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What card(s) should be in my goals?

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Anonymous
Not applicable

What card(s) should be in my goals?

So I am gardening right now but I’m planning for the future. 

 

I tossed the Freedom in there because it’s a rotating category spend card and it pushes me to 9/2020 before 5/24 which lines up perfectly since my BK falls 8/2020. 

 

The thing is... I am not sure if there’s a card that makes sense for me. Here’s my current setup:

 

Discover IT - rotating 5% categories and a high limit card that can get promo 0% APRs

BBVA Compass ClearPoints - 3% groceries

PayPal Business Debit with PayPal cashback as funding source - 3% utilities

PayPal Cashback - 2% general spend

NFCU Platinum - low (8.24%) APR card for BTs and unexpected expenses

 

My NFCU cashRewards is redundant other than Member Deals (previously Member Mall) so it’s basically a SD card and I may just ask NFCU to merge it with my Plat to give me a $14,700 limit come September when the card turns a year old, I am heavily leaning towards closing my SSFCU card as it’s a simple 1.5% cash back with a minimum $25 redemption with HPs to get them to even think about a CLI or interest reduction, and Capital One QS is 5 years old while the rest of my cards are less than a year old so I’ll never close it. 

 

Besides the Freedom, the Cash+ is on my want list (but I burned USB in BK7 in 2010 so I may or may not ever be able to get this one) but as I am home bound, the travel cards and such are out. 

 

And yes, I know that the PayPal Business Debit can give me 3% on all spend but for now I’m just comfortable with it being my utilities card. 

 

So is there really anything that I’m missing? The Freedom is kind of meh for a garden goal...

Message 1 of 32
31 REPLIES 31
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?


@Anonymous wrote:

@

 

 

 

 


Yeah I am being impacted on EQ and EX by the accounts that gave me 54 points on TU and I’m losing points for half of my cards having a balance because of Sync’s midcycle reporting shenanigans. I actually will go down from 4 to 2 with a balance next month (actually I’ll be AZEO if my roommates give me back the 500 they owe me before Disco cuts my next statement) so my TU should go back to 695-700. 

 

I can ask EX for EE next month on my lates and repo so that would be another 50ish boost, then June I can ask EQ for the same. Then the big 70+ point return as my BK falls from my reports. 

 

I actually have pretty decent limits for $18K income but I was just wondering what cards should be garden goals — because realistically, Freedom isn’t enough incentive for me to stay in the garden once my scores bounce back as I pay down my NFCU BT and get back to AZEO. My TU FICO9 is 730 which makes the Cash+ tempting to just pull the trigger on. 

Message 2 of 32
longtimelurker
Epic Contributor

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?


@Anonymous wrote:

 

And yes, I know that the PayPal Business Debit can give me 3% on all spend but for now I’m just comfortable with it being my utilities card. 

.


FWIW, with my long long history of Paypal Business Debit (almost seven weeks!)  I have now started using it for all uncategorized spend, except for e.g. major appliances where I want better credit card protections.    I have a $4K vet bill coming up, and because of the $3k daily limit, I can't put all that on the card, but generally I will use it pretty freely.

Message 3 of 32
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?


@longtimelurker wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

 

And yes, I know that the PayPal Business Debit can give me 3% on all spend but for now I’m just comfortable with it being my utilities card. 

.


FWIW, with my long long history of Paypal Business Debit (almost seven weeks!)  I have now started using it for all uncategorized spend, except for e.g. major appliances where I want better credit card protections.    I have a $4K vet bill coming up, and because of the $3k daily limit, I can't put all that on the card, but generally I will use it pretty freely.


I will slowly move in that direction and just keep my BBVA as my groceries card since I have personal care assistants that go and do my shopping for me and it’s the only physical card that gets swiped anywhere. Much prefer that to be on a card that gives me instant transaction alerts (I have been very annoyed that my PayPal Cashback doesn’t give me any transaction alerts) so I can call them before they get back here if there is a large discrepancy (usually things that are out of stock they don’t call me, they just don’t pick it up) or if the card ever ends up being used for fraud it’s easier to deal with.

Message 4 of 32
CreditInspired
Community Leader
Super Contributor

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?

@LTL
Suggestion: Ask vet if you can pay $2K downpayment the day before procedure and the remainder on the day of procedure.

|| AmX Cash Magnet $40.5K || NFCU CashRewards $30K || Discover IT $24.7K || Macys $24.2K || NFCU CLOC $15K || NFCU Platinum $15K || CitiCostco $12.7K || Chase FU $12.7K || Apple Card $7K || BOA CashRewards $6K
Message 5 of 32
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?

Hmmmm I’ve had the PayPal business debit card for years, I thought the debit one was only 1%? Do you guys have a credit card version that offers 3% on utilities? If so that sounds awesome! Is it still available?

Message 6 of 32
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?

@saren I know you mentioned travel cards being out, but does Amex BCP fit for you at all?
Message 7 of 32
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?


@Anonymous wrote:

Hmmmm I’ve had the PayPal business debit card for years, I thought the debit one was only 1%? Do you guys have a credit card version that offers 3% on utilities? If so that sounds awesome! Is it still available?


The credit card is the PayPal Cashback MasterCard by Synchrony. If you’re on a business account already, you may not be able to get it. Opening up a new account won’t work either because the card is linked to the account it’s opened with and if you downgrade from business to personal PayPal has been telling people they have to downgrade to the regular debit. 

 

However, if you can manage to get the card, you set it as the backup funding source for your debit card and you’ll earn 2% back from every purchase on the credit card and 1% back from PayPal Business Debit for a total of 3%. 

 

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Earn-3-on-everything-using-one-card-RECENT-UPDATE/td-p/5173215

Message 8 of 32
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?


@Anonymous wrote:
@saren I know you mentioned travel cards being out, but does Amex BCP fit for you at all?

I don’t have enough grocery spend. I budget myself $150 a month and hardly ever actually hit that. Amex also shot me down for a BCE in December which is why I ultimately went ahead and got the PayPal Business Debit so I could switch my BBVA 3% to groceries and move the utilities to the Business Debit/Cashback MasterCard combo. 

Message 9 of 32
Revelate
Moderator Emeritus

Re: What card(s) should be in my goals?

You've already done your analysis on the groceries, is there anything really uncovered by the rest of your spending profile?

 

Yeah, setting a garden goal for something you could probably acquire right now if not afoul of 5/24 doesn't seem righteous, and if you're not 5/24 and you want the Freedom I'd just put the app in now and then let everything age together towards that BK dropping off.

 

Really, unless you're looking at that Paypal upgrade to 3% (which seems like an obvious solution for any cash backer) you may just set the date as your garden goal and then see what you need at that point which is basically what I did except when I knew a mortgage was on the table in which case garden target was exactly to the point I could go talk to a loan officer.

 

Ultimately gardening for a given card isn't really the greatest planning tool: time domain is better honestly.  Also, I don't know how static your life or your finances or your expenses are, but life happens and I can't think mine is the only one that is unpredictable looking a year or more out and as such it is righteous just to put your credit report in as good a place as possible for when you do actually need to leverage it.




        
Message 10 of 32
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