lakpr

NFCU Flagship Rewards also offers free Global Entry / TSA Pre-Check. I checked Gaston's link, it's not listed there, so adding it here. I know the subject line says "Which Chase credit cards...", but since I saw Penfed card mentioned in a reply above, thought I'd add this as well.

Can you ask Amex for a limit increase? Sounds like you have only one credit card. Your need for increase in credit score is also not much, so even a modest increase in credit limit could put you over (due to decrease in the utilization ratio). There is also the $2 trick. This is basically making sure that your credit statement cuts with a $2 balance on only one credit card ($3 if that lone card you choose is a Discover card) and $0 on all others. This is expected to fetch you the maximum FICO points. One big caveat is that this trick is expected to really work only on clean reports, and not likely if you have any delinquencies on your reports (which is your case). But you have at least two more statement cycles before July, may be this is worth a try.

But Sams has the inconvenience factor that negates this small advantage. The cash back can only be redeemed once per year, and it becomes invalid (zero) if you decide to cancel your Sams Club membership. With Penfed, the only inconvenience factor is to having to redeem in the form of Visa gift cards, $50 (5880 points) at a time. You aren't obligated to pay an effective annual fee of $50 or $60 per year (Sams club membership fee) Penfed card also is a decent groceries cash back card, with effective 2.45% cash back. This is a more common expense category for average American households than Dining that's offered on Sams card.

You're right. I got in at Navy this morning! Wondering if I should join Alliant, too? They're in Illinois. I know I can get in. And shouldn't I wait a bit before applying for a card? Especially with my scores? Unlike credit cards, there is no requirement or an implicit need to wait certain time before joining credit unions. Your specific financial needs should dictate the course of action. If it is a credit card that you are after ... and otherwise have no specific reason to join a credit union, you don't have to join at this time. Alliant is a conservative lender; and it's almost a given that you will not qualify for a credit card from them. If that potential no makes joining the credit union pointless at this time, so be it ... you can always join at a later time when time is right and you have a need for Alliant's services. [ Specifically for me, their high savings account rates and next-day ACH transfers are the main draw as to why I joined ] NFCU is a lenient lender, so you can go ahead and apply for both the card and CLOC with them, and you have a good chance of obtaining one or both. Best of luck!

I think that memberships in any federal credit union that is governed by NCUA is open to military members, including those who are honorably discharged. Based on that, I believe you can get into Alliant too. see page 5 on this document https://www.ncua.gov/services/Documents/2015-summary-of-proposed-field-of-membership-rule-changes.pdf

It appears from the OP's post that the card is being reported as 90 days late or worse. That will indeed do it -- drop the score like a rock from 800 to 680. Back in 2012, I had a similar issue; my wife used (she's an authorized user) my seldom-used Macy's card and forgot to let me know. I did not know that a payment was due until after two bills have passed, and I received a letter from the lender saying that payment is past due and a $39 late fee has been added. I noticed this only because my credit score reported a 721 instead of the 800's I used to see -- through my monthly DCU FICO score. This is for a single 30-day late. I pulled up the credit reports from the "annualcreditreport.com" site and found this 30-day late in the "Potentially Negative Items". First order of business: I promptly paid Macy's over the phone. After the payment posted on Macy's site, I then called them again and pleaded that they never sent me any statement and that I otherwise would have made the payment immediately. Wrote them a good-will letter. They rescinded the late payment notation and sent it to all three bureaus (so they said); but I found that it's removed from EQ and TU only. EXP refused to budge. My scores on EXP rebounded into the 800's after 2 full years, the late payment had no or negligible effect on the scores after that point, except that it is visible for anyone who pulls the report. I froze EXP. Bottom line for the OP: - Call and plead your story, the first-line CSRs might (or might not) be able to help - Write a goodwill letter to the executive offices, and see if it helps - Be prepared to have your EXP not budge, even if the Executive Offices cooperate - Make sure on every one of your credit cards, set up automatic withdrawals of minimum payment amount from your checking account - Then basically wait for two years as I did, and be perfect within these two years with no other negatives. The effects will wear off, even if the late payment still appears on your report - Subscribe to a monthly score reporting service; many banks and credit unions provide this free of charge. There's a master thread on this board that lists all financial institutions that provide free credit scores. Also a caution, if the severity of the late is 90 days+, the time period before which your score rebounds might vary.

Yes, two credit cards is very anemic. Not saying you cannot survive just two, just like a man can survive on only one meal a day, but is it truly enough? My opinion, as I said above, is that one should have at least 5 cards. Your sweet spot might be three ... I have no quarrels with that. Choose a credit card based on your specific needs; which implies that you should analyze your needs first. Diversifying among the credit card networks is just a suggestion and should you decide to take it, should be a DISTANT second. Like 95% based on need and 5% on CC network. Want a straight up cash back? Your choices can be either Fidelity Visa, or Citi Double Cash Mastercard Spend a lot on gas / groceries and want a single card that provides rewards on both with no annual fee? Your choices can be either Bank of America Cash Rewards Visa (or Mastercard), and the "Commence" Mastercard from Barclays Are you ok with quarterly rotating categories? Your choices can be Chase Freedom or Discover ... etc. Travel a lot? Multiple offerings among Chase, Citi, Capital One, Barclays, American Express ...

I think you should add at least three more credit cards to your credit card portfolio. Depending on a single card is risky, what happens if (when) it is compromised? I suggest you start with Chase, add two Chase cards that are of interest to you. However note that there have been reports on this site and on doctor_of_credit's site that applying two Chase cards on the same day could trigger a cancellation of all Chase cards, even older established ones. So may be space those applications to Chase out by about 3 months. Other than that I would suggest diversifying based on the network, meaning Visa/Mastercard/American Express/Discover

What is your credit score? And Average Age of Accounts? How old is your oldest account? Chase Sapphire Preferred might be the best fit if you can qualify. Hence my questions above. Zero annual fee the first year and a 50000UR points bonus that can be exchanged for $500 cash or $625 in travel, if you can spend 4000 dollars in 90 days Anecdotal posts suggest that the Foreign exchange rate is actually higher with Chase cards compared with Capital One or Amex cards, by about 1%. Edited to add: I mean you get better exchange rate with Chase, I realized "higher" could mean either better or worse depending on which currency you are talking about.

I have $24K limit card with them. I have been a member for the last 21 years with them, I got the limit the first time I applied, no limit increase since then. I did not ask either. As someone mentioned above, the card has the lowest APR of all my cards, has no cash advance fee and if I am in a temporary pinch for quick cash I simply transfer money from that card to checking account (instantaneous) and write checks or do bill pay. In a way, it is my second emergency fund - although I do have a separate emergency fund that covers six months expenses This card is my second oldest card, has no annual fee, and a source of cheap funds. Never will I close this card. I feel that the criticism towards DCU is unwarranted. That they are conservative is long known. Don't understand why do people apply for their cards and then be disappointed after receiving lower limits than other cards in their portfolio? For someone who take time to establish full relationship with them they are generous in their own way. I have direct deposit of my pay check to DCU,I have Roth IRA certificates with them since 2004, I have had my mortgage with them until I sold my previous home, I still have an HELOC on my current home with them.

Some ideas: 1. Prepay your federal taxes, you pay only 1.8% for the privilege. Do remember to adjust your W4 withholdings later at your job, or simply look forward to a big refund next year. 2. Change your insurace company (home or auto), then prepay a full year worth of premium. Ask the previous provider to refund unused premium. There is no "fee" 3. Buy gift cards for gas or groceries at the chains that you most frequent. You can often find them listed on gift card reseller sites for a discount. 4. Buying Costco cash cards. In NJ, one eed not be a member of Costco to fill up gas at Costco stations. Their gas is also consistently the cheapest. You can buy them at costco.com and have the physical cards shipped to you. Ofcourse thisdoes notwork if you are not near to a Costco. 4. Prepay any medical expenses ahead of time if your doctor/dentist/physical therapist accept such payments. 5. Pay state, local and property taxes. I put this at the bottom because the fees are usually steep, 2.5% to 2.9% or even higher

The statement that never knew what Easy Deals should be the clincher that you should convert. Basically it is a points accumulation system exchanged for crappy merchandise. Give it up you hadn't lost or going to lose anything That said, since you are primarily interested in travel rewards look into Citi Thank You Premier that covers all categories you mentioned: travel, dining, entertainment. Note that travel rewards cards almost always come with annual fee, also by converting to a Citi travel rewards card you would lose out on the introductory bonus on the card that you would have earned if you applied separately and stand alone. Citi Double Cash has no introductory bonus, but the 2% reward it gives, in cash, is the BEST in all cash rewards cards. If I were you? I would convert in a heartbeat

Came across this discussion in another website https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=201887 What I took away from that discussion was that, if the rewards are redeemed into a bank account that is also owned by the credit card issuer, it might fall in that gray area where the rewards are hard to distinguish from regular interest payments etc that we know are taxable. So the legalese might just be Bank of America trying to protect itself

Some ideas for meeting the spend requirements: 1. Pay your rent or mortgage through Plastiq or RadPad 2. Pay estimated taxes to IRS or state taxes for first quarter 2017 (and of course increase your deductions on W4 form to increase your take home pay) 3. Prepay your insurance (home, auto, life) 4. If your auto insurance does not allow prepay for a full year in advance, change your auto insurance company to one that does. The unused premiums should be refunded to you by law from the previous insurance company 5. Buy prepaid gas cards. I am a member of Costco, and Costco gas is the cheapest around here. So I bought $1500 worth of Costco cash cards in $100 denominations, $1500 is what I estimated to be my annual gas expenses. 6. Do your children go to daycare or before or after school care? Or perhaps even college? Can you prepay those childcare costs or college tuition? 7. Home improvements. Remodel your kitchen or lay a new deck (assuming you are a home owner here) 8. Front load the Charity contributions for 2017 9. This advice is specific to C$R, max out your travel related expenses early. Prepay parking, or EZ Pass, or buy United/Delta gift cards if you fly often or at least plan to fly in 2017. Global Entry / TSA Precheck expenses charged to C$R count towards the $4000 required spend while at the same time automatically reimbursed I am sure you will be able to come up with ideas of your own to meet the spend requirements.

Penfed Platinum Rewards Visa gives 5% in points on Gas, and 3% in points on Groceries. But given that each point is less than 1 cent (approximately 0.85 cents), this works out to 4.25% on Gas and 2.55% on groceries. Another limitation is that the rewards can only be redeemed in gift cards, not a pure cash back. A $50 pre-paid Visa card costs 5880 points. This is the closest card that has rewards for both Gas and Groceries, as Sallie Mae card did. 4.25% on gas is better than Costco Citi Visa, and 2.55% is a solid offer on groceries category (Edited to remove the "best offer on groceries" to "solid offer on groceries", before someone points out the Amex BCE and BCP cards to me).