AmEx advice needed - or another card?

[supern8ural]

Good morning everyone

 

Was thinking about my current card collection and a comment I'd made yesterday.  Currently I have, in order that I acquired them

 

Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards (currently set to home improvement stores)

JPMCB Freedom Unlimited

Capital One Savor

Discover It

Citi Costco Visa (used mostly for gas, but it's huge, as I fill up at Costco 98% of the time)

Macy's AmEx

Citi Double Cash

 

since Cap1 acquired Discover now I only have cards with four issuers so I was thinking of getting another card.  With the economy as it is realistically I'm still not buying a house for another year so might as well get one now and let it age.  I thought maybe an AmEx so I unfroze my credit and did their pre-approval.  They suggested the following

 

AmEx Platinum

AmEx Gold

AmEx Blue Cash Preferred

 

now here's the thing, I don't really travel a lot and wasn't really looking for a card with an annual fee.  if I was pre-approved for those cards do you think I would get approved for a BCE?  How's the "shortened application" they offer work?  Was thinking BCE as it's no AF and then I could use it for online stuff and also it's a good backup for groceries (matches the 3% I get from Savor.)

 

Given my current card mix, can you suggest anything else that you think might be better for me?

 

Also I have 4x hard pulls on experian that will be 2 years old in a couple months, should I wait until those fall off or is it true that those don't really matter after a year?

[Sidewinder]

First of all; DEFINITELY wait for the hard pulls to fall off, especially since it's only a couple months.  They "don't really matter" to the FICO algorithm after 6-12 months; but how individual issuers view their significance varies.

 

Second of all, I wouldn't put any stock in AmEx's "recommendations" partly because I notice all of their recs are for cards with annual fees.

 

BCE is a good card - I've had it for nearly 10 years and they will not stop pestering me to upgrade it to BCP, but I am simply that fee-averse.

 

I also have the Cash Magnet card, 1.5% cash back on everything is nice and so is no annual fee.  The only other no-fee card of theirs I can think of is the Everyday card but I'm not sure its benefits rival the cashback bennies of the other two cards.

 

Of course, if you are not fee-adverse, then my advice is useless.  With BCP's generous 6% back on groceries you can come out ahead but only by a couple hundred per year and only if you spend enough.  : /

 

[supern8ural]

I found out about the Disney+ credit and between that and the 3% online I went ahead and apped it because even though neither my hard pulls nor my per-card utilization are totally polished I think my FICO 8s are all in the 780 range right now.  $10K out of the gate, I'm cool with that.  So I guess the whole rebuild thing is working out OK.

[shifter]

7 hours ago, Sidewinder said:

First of all; DEFINITELY wait for the hard pulls to fall off, especially since it's only a couple months.  They "don't really matter" to the FICO algorithm after 6-12 months; but how individual issuers view their significance varies.

Inquiries don't matter, especially ones almost 2 years old. I wouldn't make any decisions solely based on the status of these inquiries.

[hdporter]

So, I favor growing your card portfolio "organically".  Add a card because it has distinct appeal in terms of rewards and/or sign up bonus.

 

This best ensures that you'll actually use the card actively which, in turn, is the best means to future CLI's.

 

Re Amex, Blue Cash Everyday is just okay.  If you're reasonably confident you'll do at least $4k in grocery spend, BC Preferred is the way to go.  You might pick up a couple of streaming bonuses with it.

 

On the note of inquiries, I would never shy away from a credit app out of the concern of the related inquiry.  and if excessive recent credit inquiries on a single CRA is a reasonable concern, take it as a sign that you're simply applying for too much crap.

 

The card I think everyone should seriously consider is a BA Customized Rewards, with online shopping as the category opted for 3% cb.

 

I suppose we just buy too much crap through the mail but; whatever the case, nothing is changing that anytime soon.

 

I'm not sure if BA permits holding a second Customized Rewards (I suppose not.)  Bev and I each have one set to online shipping, getting us 3% on up to $5000/qtr.

 

 

[supern8ural]

Appreciate your thoughts but the card you recommend is actually my oldest card I have category set to home improvement stores however as that is one that nothing else in my pocket covers.

[hdporter]

3 hours ago, supern8ural said:

Appreciate your thoughts but the card you recommend is actually my oldest card  

 

Understood, which is why I raised the prospect of applying for a second card to take advantage of 3% on online purchases.

 

Stab in the dark, of course:  I don't know if BA would issue a second account on the same card product.  And, I don't know how much you spend on online purchases.

 

But the crux of my reply is, foremost, let your spend, available premium cashback rates, and one time SUB's drive your search for credit.

 

I'm not clear on your juxtaposition of "Disney +" and "3% online", but thar wouldn't have struck me as a prime candidate for you next card acquisition.  Still, if it works for you, great.

[supern8ural]

Supposedly BCE gives me 3% for online purchases while my BoA CCR gives me 3% on hardware/home improvement which is something no other card does AFAIK (or at least no other card I have does) I'm covered on streaming with Savor at 3% there, although I have noticed that occasionally some will code as 1% inexplicably.  I actually need to figure out the AmEx Disney+ deal because on the face of it I could get Disney+, Hulu, and Max for only a little more than I'm paying for only Max right now - but if I'm reading the fine print correctly it only counts if you are paying through Disney+, Hulu, or ESPN+ websites and I already have a Max subscription, so I suspect I will have to cancel that and re-sign up through Disney+.  (I have no interest in ESPN+ so I'm not going for that bundle, and I have a subscription to a different sports streaming service)  So I'll lose my watched history etc. but not a super huge deal I guess.  I don't even watch Max that much anyway, although they had some great shows a few years ago when I signed up.

 

Now what would be useful would be 3%+ for non-gasoline automotive purchases, but I buy a lot of that stuff online (e.g. RockAuto, FCP Euro, etc.) so I'll be covered.

 

To get minimum 2% on everything what I really need to do now is get Citi to give me a better limit on my Double Cash.  I had to make a $1400 charge last month (basically my housemate had some major car repairs done and for various reasons she venmo'd me the money and I put it on my card) and my DC CL was only 1K at the time... now 2K but still.  And I'm 6 months from being able to request another one 😕  So I only got 1% cash back on that big charge.  So I lost $14... but still, that's $14.

 

I guess I can't complain too much though.  I dug myself out of a debt hole, started saving, and it was a little less than 2 years ago that I started aggressively working on my credit - and now I *know* that I can be over 800 if I optimize because I did it in February, and I have an insane amount of credit compared to what I did then.

 

Actually now that I think about it, I'm pretty close to my TCL being my annual gross salary.  I don't know if that gets me anywhere but if I get the CLIs I want on my two Citi cards I'll be there in another six months.

 

Edit: two appeals of the BCE to me were due to my paranoia.  1) I didn't previously have a card issued by AmEx so wanted to start a relationship with another issuer.  Although they say I'm a "member since 2017" so they must count my corporate card from my last job.  I wonder if when it reports it'll report as 8 years old not shiny new?  that would be nice, although I doubt they'd be so kind - Citi wasn't.  2) the only card I previously had on the AmEx payment network was my Macy's card, which I could use in a pinch but that is definitely a card of last resort as it has an astronomical APR and no benefits whatsoever outside of Macy's.

Edited June 6, 2025 by supern8ural

[hdporter]

Two comments ...

 

-- It totally escaped me that BCP rewarded up to $6k of online merchant transactions with 3% cb.  I'm flummoxed!

 

(Anyone know if this was added at some point, or if it was intact from card creation and I was just oblivious?)

 

-- CRA open date will reflect actual open, not "Member Since" date.

 

The ship on automatic Amex age sailed quite awhile ago.  I'm sitting with two non-fee Amex cards, both of little use and not eligible for conversion to a useful card type, both of which benefitted from Amex backdating when opened:  CRA history reflects 1982!

[supern8ural]

13 minutes ago, hdporter said:

Two comments ...

 

-- It totally escaped me that BCP rewarded up to $6k of online merchant transactions with 3% cb.  I'm flummoxed!

 

(Anyone know if this was added at some point, or if it was intact from card creation and I was just oblivious?)

 

I have no idea, they weren't really on my radar until I started thinking about the implications of Cap1 acquiring Discover, if I got in bad with them I'd lose not only my Savor but my Discover It as well.

 

13 minutes ago, hdporter said:

-- CRA open date will reflect actual open, not "Member Since" date.

 

The ship on automatic Amex age sailed quite awhile ago.  I'm sitting with two non-fee Amex cards, both of little use and not eligible for conversion to a useful card type, both of which benefitted from Amex backdating when opened:  CRA history reflects 1982!

 

I figured that was the case, but that nugget stayed in my head - although until I saw the "Member Since" date I'd completely forgotten that I'd carried an AmEx corporate card for a few years (I think I literally only used it for professional certifications and maybe two business lunches, as designers aren't typically gladhanding customers on a regular basis.  That's also why I didn't get it until only a couple years before I left that job, but I had to get the card to get reimbursed for the certifications).

[greendeh]

3 hours ago, supern8ural said:

Now what would be useful would be 3%+ for non-gasoline automotive purchases, but I buy a lot of that stuff online (e.g. RockAuto, FCP Euro, etc.) so I'll be covered.

 

Not an Amex post, just a "non-gasoline automotive purchases" post.

 

My go-to card for online purchases is the Paypal MC for "3% through paypal". I just use a 1.5% Quicksilver virtual CC on any site that doesn't have a Paypal payment option or doesn't have gift card payment option where I can pick up gift cards locally from a grocery store at 5-25% off.

 

rockauto, fcpeuro, Etc

 

advanceautoparts & napaonline  - Order online for 15% - 20% off order and pickup in store.

There is also autozone, but I rarely buy their garbage, their "order online for 15% - 20% off" is "ship to home" only, and if needed can get autozone gift-cards consistently at 5% or 15%

 

Online OEM parts such as: gmwarehousedirect, moparpartsgiant, hyundaipartsdeal, hondapartsnow, nissan.oempartsonline, etc

 

Works great through eBay but I get gift-cards consistently at 5% or 15%

 

What I like about the "3% Paypal MC online through paypal", besides that it has always been flawless for me, is I don't have to give out my card info to strangers and I never have to worry about card info being entered manually and losing the "online category"

 

Just have to remember the FTF. I did once get smacked on FTF when I made a huge order of Knipex tools from a german company. First and last time I forgot about the FTF and Paypal's atrocious currency conversion rates.

[supern8ural]

38 minutes ago, greendeh said:

Just have to remember the FTF. I did once get smacked on FTF when I made a huge order of Knipex tools from a german company. First and last time I forgot about the FTF and Paypal's atrocious currency conversion rates.

 

I didn't think about that myself twice... once I bought a watch from British Columbia and another time oddly I sent a different watch to a guy in Canada (I forget exactly where, I want to say somewhere in Ontario) who's supposedly the expert on that particular brand and both times I used the wrong card.  Won't happen a third time!  (and why is everything watch related in Canada?  I had to send my Marathon GSAR there as well, but I made sure to pay with the correct card this time!)

 

So far I have a Capital One Savor, Discover It, and oddly the Citi Costco Visa without FTFs so I have options there.