ive opened up way too many credit union/bank accounts

[Taurus22]

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@mfinsmi1 wrote:

@Taurus22(goal right now is to get into the AMEX family) 

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Good for you. I have Amex BCP and it's been good to me and I was able to get a couple of 3x CLI's to get a solid limit on mine. And one of my goals was to have a card from each issuer (Discover, MC, Visa, Amex).

But.....(and I'll probably get some backlash from the diehard Amex'ers out there....lol)  For most cardholders I would say Amex is fairly over-rated. (my opinion only) I have realized that the majority of Amex benefits are most useful to those who can afford to pump $5000+ each month through their Amex Gold for Work, Travel and Dining. The concierge/luggage benefits are good and there are some extra perks for high-rollers.  But for most modest spenders like myself, the AF (which most Amex cards have) offsets a lot of cashback gains and I'm strongly considering downgrading my BCP to the non-AF BCE.

For grocery, which is what the BCP is primarily designed for, my spending is largely done at Walmart Marketplace. Amex is friendly in that regard and codes it as Grocery rather than a Superstore/Discount Store. Most other CC grocery categories don't code that way.....Walmart Marketplace is still considered Superstore to most of them. (There are exceptions out there in some areas, but not in my area)

But I would honestly prefer a dedicated 5% Grocery card that I could use at Marketplace, Publix, Kroger, whatever I wanted without concern about coding. Unfortunately, lenders just don't make it that easy. I would gladly sock drawer my downgraded Amex BCE for this.

[mfinsmi1]

@Taurus22 thats exactly the card i want - the new refreshed Blue cash everyday 

[PullingMeSoftly]

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@Taurus22 wrote:

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@mfinsmi1 wrote:

@arifjk im not sure from what i researched they pull EX8 but thats about as much as i know 

@LADave yes its a promition and drops to 2% but theyve renewed the promotion multiple years so maybe hold out till 2023 and see if the 3% is still there ? i know ill probably wait and make sure its still 3x points comr January. 

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Personal opinion here.....I think applying for any card which has known potential to be nerfed to what might end up being a useless/redundant card in the wallet is not a great idea, long term. Alliance dropped off my radar a long time ago for that reason alone.

Alliant is the only realible, solid "above 2%" general spend card someone can immediately apply for now. There are those rare people out there who have received that Ollo Optimum invitation, but it's not readily available to most people.

And I'm impressed with people like yourself who are able to juggle and maintain that many accounts. I have one bank account and 2 CU's......and it's comfortable for me to manage. But I'm able to split my DD into 3 installments to feed all those accounts. I don't think many employers allow more than that, so having to constantly feed 8-10 accounts to pay off CC's seems daunting to me. @PullingMeSoftly  has like 10 or 37 CU's or something crazy like that.....and they also have about every Rotator CC on the market. And when they finally get their Vantage West card, when they aren't looking, I'm going to sneak it out of their wallet.

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@Taurus22 I think you're a mind reader lol, this just happened. You're mental push got VW in the right direction thanks! Will be ordering a Costco pizza in your honor.

To the point of the OP, as long as each account serves a purpose and will organically come into use, there will always be some accounts that will be more active than others at any given time, so management becomes more of an exercise of just periodic checking and paying occasional balances (which can be set to auto-pay anyway). I think the point where one has "too many" would be with redundant products overlapping each other and then having to decide how best to plan utilization and determining the best rewards structures, etc. If one gets to that point, then you can always thin the herd down to what memberships/accounts/products represent the best ongoing value. 

[coldfusion]

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@coldfusion wrote:

US Alliance does pull EX8.   They are pretty sensitive to inquiries/new accounts.

As mentioned up thread they aren't afraid to make a followup phone call but IME the context is just a soft sell to ask if you have questions or need assistance.  It looks like they've finally pulled their prequalification page, but their prequalifier wasn't particularly reliable either.

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USAlliance must be psychic.   I got this email from them early this afternoon.

But...the small print says: "Valid for new USALLIANCE Visa Classic or Signature Credit Cards opened on or after July 1, 2022."

Too funny.

[Anonymous]

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@D10001 wrote:

Concerning US Alliance's 3% card, it's enticing as a daily-driver, catchall card in place of my two 2% cards.  I do see that they guarantee the 3% until the end of the year, but also that they've extended this added % a few times. 

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I've seen this type of thing said a few times and I don't think it's quite true!    From what I recall, USAlliance did indeed reduce the card to 2%, maybe around Feb 2021.   Then, after membership complaints, they pushed it back to 3%, eventually pushing the 12/2022 end date.

We lost either one or two months of 3%.

So, IMO, it's not as if they have a long history of constantly extended this promotion.   Rather the lesson they may have taken is to provide more notice (the 2021 downgrade was after 3-4 months notice).    Now maybe they will keep 3%, but history hasn't been kind: the Florida CU went to 1% (!!!) and AOD, while for now maintaining 3% for cardholders, has stopped offering new accounts.

[Citylights18]

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@Taurus22 wrote:

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@mfinsmi1 wrote:

@Taurus22(goal right now is to get into the AMEX family) 

---

Good for you. I have Amex BCP and it's been good to me and I was able to get a couple of 3x CLI's to get a solid limit on mine. And one of my goals was to have a card from each issuer (Discover, MC, Visa, Amex).

But.....(and I'll probably get some backlash from the diehard Amex'ers out there....lol)  For most cardholders I would say Amex is fairly over-rated. (my opinion only) I have realized that the majority of Amex benefits are most useful to those who can afford to pump $5000+ each month through their Amex Gold for Work, Travel and Dining. The concierge/luggage benefits are good and there are some extra perks for high-rollers.  But for most modest spenders like myself, the AF (which most Amex cards have) offsets a lot of cashback gains and I'm strongly considering downgrading my BCP to the non-AF BCE.

For grocery, which is what the BCP is primarily designed for, my spending is largely done at Walmart Marketplace. Amex is friendly in that regard and codes it as Grocery rather than a Superstore/Discount Store. Most other CC grocery categories don't code that way.....Walmart Marketplace is still considered Superstore to most of them. (There are exceptions out there in some areas, but not in my area)

But I would honestly prefer a dedicated 5% Grocery card that I could use at Marketplace, Publix, Kroger, whatever I wanted without concern about coding. Unfortunately, lenders just don't make it that easy. I would gladly sock drawer my downgraded Amex BCE for this.

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AMEX has a few sweet spots.

1) If you don't have the income to get big limit cards a NPSL card will keep your utilization down. AMEX Green is a good starter travel card.

2) Great if you are heavily invested in the Delta or Hilton ecosystem.

3) Easy entry point for business cards.

But yes they start to get you into a lot of AFs and points with limited usage.