[Sonsowey]

Hey,

So I am recently out of college. First credit card was a hassle to get, but I got it like a year and a half ago and have always paid it off 100%. Its a basic Citi card with a points system. Its not too generous really, I definitely am not flying around the world or getting free hotels with my points.

Recently at chase, I was informed that I was pre-approved for a credit card, when Chase had denied me previously. So now I am thinking about what kind of card to get to maximize benefits. I love to travel so airfare and hotels would be great, tho cash back is always appreciated as well.

My yearly income is 45K, should slowly go up, but not by much at this job. Any tips to get the most out of this?

[B00G3r]

Continue building up your credit score and then get the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
Frequent travel blogs/websites like TheFlightDeal and/or follower their twitters for flight deals, travel advice, etc.

[Flavius Aetius]

First, if you want to get a good card you need a good credit score (FICO is the main one). Here are a few easy ways to do it.

1) Get added as an authorized user to your parent's cards (make sure they ask for your SSN). These will report on your credit score and increase your amount of available credit outstanding, thus lowering your overall credit utilization (30% of score). This only makes sense if your parents have never been late on the card and keep utilization low (under 10%).

2) Check your credit report with the 3 credit bureaus for free at annualcreditreport.com-- you are allowed to access your report once every 12 months. You will not see your FICO score, but it is always valuable to check for mistakes or errors on your report.

3) Regarding the income question you get asked. The amount of credit you get approved for initially is mainly a function of FICO score + stated income. Notice stated income. The credit card companies do not verify your income. Sometimes they will ask to access your tax returns (very rare) and you do not have to provide it to them (app will be declined). Every time you request new credit--they will Hard pull you (negatively effects your score). Sometimes they ask for Household Income--when I was in college I just included my parent's income. Never had a problem.

4) Chase is notorious for Hard Pulls every time you ask for a credit line increase which is why I don't like them. American express however will SP credit line increases. Blue cash everyday 3% on supermarkets, 2% gas, 1% on eveything else. Furthermore, AMEX has a special 61 day 3X credit limit hack available. Once you open your new account (HP)--you are eligible for a 3X increase to your credit limit after 61 days--best of all Soft Pull (does not impact credit score) guaranteed. This makes it much easier to increase the amount of credit available--which helps increase your score. Just dont go over 25K or you risk a Financial Review (they temporarily suspend you card and make your prove income, assets, etc).

Another benefit of AMEX is backdating your card. I got my first AMEX 8 yrs ago. Got another one last year. They back date your new card so that it looks like it too has been open 8 yrs. This increases my average age of credit (about 15% of FICO score).

5) Dont forget Discover. They have a new product with their Discover IT card which allows you free access to your real FICO score once a month. They have rotating 5% cash back categories which change quarterly, along with 1% back on everything. Also they will SP credit line increase requests after 3 months. I have this card purely for the free FICO.

6) Hit up the MyFico forums--they are the best when it comes to all things credit cards and improving your FICO score.

7) Never pay an annual fee for a credit card.

[monster]

amex is the best!

not only are there massive points, but you can dispute anything.

Plus, they do surprise upgrades on you! My flight to las vegas was upgraded to premier for free!

[Macklin]

I'm around the same age as you and over the past year and a half I've applied and received a few solid cards and generated enough points for a few free flights/vacations.

I agree with the earlier poster who recommended the Chase Sapphire Preferred. I applied for this card a year ago and it's great. A few of my friends who have low income also were approved for this card so I'd reccomend applying. They had a 40K point bonus for signing up with a minimal spend and I'm using those points for a flight this month. Another big benefit is no foreign transacation fees so it was great when I went traveled abroad last summer.

The other card I'd recommend is the AMEX Starwoods card, although this is tougher to be approved for. I applied for this right when I started working after college and was denied. I was approved a year later after building up my credit.

Both of these cards have annual fees that are waived in the first year.

[Seaver]

I had a Chase Sapphire Preferred and loved it, but it had an annual fee, so I cashed out my points and closed the card before it renewed.

Make sure you know if the card you get has an annual fee so you don't get stuck with a fee the following year, some of them can be pretty pricey.

Also make sure to read through all teh other perks that come with whatever card you get, you will find other things that may be useful and create additional value.

[speakeasy]

(03-07-2014 04:21 PM)Flavius Aetius Wrote:  

7) Never pay an annual fee for a credit card.

How do you get out of paying annual fees? Are you talking about just canceling or are there ways of getting them waived even if you want to keep the card? I just got the Chase Sapphire and I think I'm about to apply for the Barclay's Arrival card and Starwood too because of the good benefits. There are annual fees but these seem like good cards to keep. Is there a way to get out of fees even if you want to keep it?

[YossariansRight]

(03-07-2014 08:49 PM)speakeasy Wrote:  

(03-07-2014 04:21 PM)Flavius Aetius Wrote:  

7) Never pay an annual fee for a credit card.

How do you get out of paying annual fees? Are you talking about just canceling or are there ways of getting them waived even if you want to keep the card? I just got the Chase Sapphire and I think I'm about to apply for the Barclay's Arrival card and Starwood too because of the good benefits. There are annual fees but these seem like good cards to keep. Is there a way to get out of fees even if you want to keep it?

Love that card; it's my everyday card. Used the travel eraser to get almost $800 off my last trip to Europe.

The customer service is top notch too; on par with AMEX's customer service.

It has an $89 annual fee after the first year. Normally, I don't go for annual fee cards, but, again, the easy, no BS rewards are worth it IMO. You can switch to the 1X mile per dollar version of the card before the annual fee kicks in, but I think it's worth it for the 2X miles on all purchases. Plus, it's a MasterCard, which I find to be vastly superior overall to Visa.

[Flavius Aetius]

(03-07-2014 08:49 PM)speakeasy Wrote:  

How do you get out of paying annual fees? Are you talking about just canceling or are there ways of getting them waived even if you want to keep the card? I just got the Chase Sapphire and I think I'm about to apply for the Barclay's Arrival card and Starwood too because of the good benefits. There are annual fees but these seem like good cards to keep. Is there a way to get out of fees even if you want to keep it?

I don't get out of paying annual fees--I just choose cards with no annual fees. My primary goal is cash back on everyday purchases.

Generally, most people do not spend enough on one card to justify the annual fee over the longer term.

I have never found it worthwhile to pay for a credit card since I only charge 2.5-3.5k per month. You can get plenty of great cashback cards that do not have annual fees. Like Amex Blue Cash Everyday, BofA Americard 3% on gas, 2% on groceries, 1% on everything else, Capital One Quicksilver 1.5% on everything.

Most of these cards (if you wait for the right time of the year) have seasonal offers which give you between $100-200 cash back if you spend $500-1000 in the first 3 months. So I wait to for these types of deals to apply for new credit cards. I get paid cash to open a new card with no annual fee--free money--just by purchasing things I already do. I prefer that to annual fee cards, despite their higher short term rewards packages.

Churning cards (canceling them before you have to pay the fee) will hurt your credit score and some credit card issuers will blacklist you from applying for new cards in the future.

Regarding your question Speakeasy. I have read of people successfully product changing from Chase Sapphire Preferred(with the fee) to the average no fee Chase Sapphire or chase freedom. The catch is that they can usually only product change after paying the first annual fee. You might be able to do that with the Barclay's Arrival as well.

[wi30]

(03-07-2014 08:49 PM)speakeasy Wrote:  

(03-07-2014 04:21 PM)Flavius Aetius Wrote:  

7) Never pay an annual fee for a credit card.

How do you get out of paying annual fees? Are you talking about just canceling or are there ways of getting them waived even if you want to keep the card? I just got the Chase Sapphire and I think I'm about to apply for the Barclay's Arrival card and Starwood too because of the good benefits. There are annual fees but these seem like good cards to keep. Is there a way to get out of fees even if you want to keep it?

I have a Visa card from some random bank I got right out of high school. They tried to add a $70 annual fee a couple years in.

I just told them I wasn't paying it and they waived it without question.

I don't know if other cards would waive it that easily but you could always ask.

For the record, I never carry a balance and put everything on my card. Most banks aren't going to want to lose your business if you use your card frequently.

[samsamsam]

(03-08-2014 06:30 PM)wi30 Wrote:  

(03-07-2014 08:49 PM)speakeasy Wrote:  

(03-07-2014 04:21 PM)Flavius Aetius Wrote:  

7) Never pay an annual fee for a credit card.

How do you get out of paying annual fees? Are you talking about just canceling or are there ways of getting them waived even if you want to keep the card? I just got the Chase Sapphire and I think I'm about to apply for the Barclay's Arrival card and Starwood too because of the good benefits. There are annual fees but these seem like good cards to keep. Is there a way to get out of fees even if you want to keep it?

I have a Visa card from some random bank I got right out of high school. They tried to add a $70 annual fee a couple years in.

I just told them I wasn't paying it and they waived it without question.

I don't know if other cards would waive it that easily but you could always ask.

For the record, I never carry a balance and put everything on my card. Most banks aren't going to want to lose your business if you use your card frequently.

Other times, they will ask you to pay the fee but give you some bonus points.

You just have to ask, and if you are positive and upbeat they can help you out. Not every year. Also depends on what you spend.

Also, if you don't like the answer, don't be rude. And just call back again and get someone else.

So many times, in general, a customer service issue is easily resolved by calling back. Don't get aggressive unless you have to - they make notes in your accounts.

[wi30]

(03-08-2014 06:43 PM)samsamsam Wrote:  

(03-08-2014 06:30 PM)wi30 Wrote:  

(03-07-2014 08:49 PM)speakeasy Wrote:  

(03-07-2014 04:21 PM)Flavius Aetius Wrote:  

7) Never pay an annual fee for a credit card.

How do you get out of paying annual fees? Are you talking about just canceling or are there ways of getting them waived even if you want to keep the card? I just got the Chase Sapphire and I think I'm about to apply for the Barclay's Arrival card and Starwood too because of the good benefits. There are annual fees but these seem like good cards to keep. Is there a way to get out of fees even if you want to keep it?

I have a Visa card from some random bank I got right out of high school. They tried to add a $70 annual fee a couple years in.

I just told them I wasn't paying it and they waived it without question.

I don't know if other cards would waive it that easily but you could always ask.

For the record, I never carry a balance and put everything on my card. Most banks aren't going to want to lose your business if you use your card frequently.

Other times, they will ask you to pay the fee but give you some bonus points.

You just have to ask, and if you are positive and upbeat they can help you out. Not every year. Also depends on what you spend.

Also, if you don't like the answer, don't be rude. And just call back again and get someone else.

So many times, in general, a customer service issue is easily resolved by calling back. Don't get aggressive unless you have to - they make notes in your accounts.

I can see where it sounded as though I was being rude (see bold above). I was trying to fit too much into one sentence. Being friendly is crucial when dealing with customer service.

All I did was send an email that said, "Can you waive the annual fee?"

I never heard anything back so I called about a week later. Once I got through I asked them about it and they said it was already taken off. Checked my account and sure enough they dropped it.

[capitalmadness]

I got my first card at 18, on a tiny income, they gave me a card with an amex and mastercard with a $1000 limit, tiny but. I've paid about 17c interest from cash advances overseas.
I found a card with significant signup points which in itself made the first fee worth it and last year was able to get the fee waived which is pretty easy as long as they know you're serious, made sure it was completely paid off and called on the last day before it would be charged. Told them how I couldn't justify the fee when they inevitably asked why I wanted to cancel.

Also, if you're not buying everything you can on amex, you're paying extra so the retailer can afford the fees to give someone else points. If they charge extra, it's important to know how much your points are worth (Qantas Frequent Flier points equate to roughly 2-4c per point). Now as a 21 year old I have enough points for a fuck you flight to anywhere in the world.

[samsamsam]

wi30, I wasn't commenting on that at all. I actually, didn't even catch that comment. I guess I was reading too quickly.

It was just a general comment. Passing along my experiences.

On Flyertalk (when I was much more active on it) - the theme was - "if you don't like your answer, politely hang up and call back."

[warder]

I'm all about building up credit card points.

This guy has one of the best blogs for that out there.

Check it out.

http://thepointsguy.com

I've had the Chase Sapphire, Starwood Amex, Delta Amex, and a few others...and I have to say the Chase Sapphire definitely builds up points the fastest. Can't beat 2x on Travel and Dining/Drinking out. My two biggest expenses. Plus no foreign transaction fees and best signup bonus out there.

Starwood has some nice perks and the points are pretty valuable when you use them to book hotel rooms at Starwood hotels, but it builds points to slow. Plus I prefer AirBnB in most cases now anyways.

[Seaver]

(03-07-2014 08:49 PM)speakeasy Wrote:  

(03-07-2014 04:21 PM)Flavius Aetius Wrote:  

7) Never pay an annual fee for a credit card.

How do you get out of paying annual fees? Are you talking about just canceling or are there ways of getting them waived even if you want to keep the card? I just got the Chase Sapphire and I think I'm about to apply for the Barclay's Arrival card and Starwood too because of the good benefits. There are annual fees but these seem like good cards to keep. Is there a way to get out of fees even if you want to keep it?

you call and ask them to waive it. If they won't, call back again later and try again with a different person. If they can't do it for policy reasons, cash out the points, cancel the card, apply for it again in a week or two (and often you will get another "sign up" bonus).

[scubadude]

Here's something easy for the low budget but good credit guys that I do myself. Buy gold from one of the big dealers, kitco, gainesville etc. You pay a little extra for CC instead of bank transfer but if you live in most areas you can resell them immediately on craigslist, armslist or a local gun show and about break even, pay off the card and get big points. With how narrow gold is ranging lately no real worries about losing real money on a few ounces. Example: I just got the sapphire, bought 3 oz from Gainesville, sold some other gold I have that will be replaced with the new shipment and will have a decent flight for about free this summer.

[lurker]

If you don't travel a lot but spend money in certain categories, get a Chase Freedom. No annual fee, points transfer to Sapphire if you ever want to switch, and 5% cashback categories that rotate every 3 months but always contain something I spend a lot of money on (restaurants, gas, Amazon, etc).