Thank you love2ft, I'll definitely keep that in mind. I'm not looking for a permanent place, just a condo for a few years. Also 740 is my CreditKarma score, where I have a "D" in average age of open credit lines, an "F" in total accounts, and an "A" in everything else. I'm unsure of this , but I think creating a new account will help offset the pull?

My AAoA is 3 years, not 2.5 like I said originally. If I get SPG and another card, my AAoA will be 3.25 years next year. If I don't get any cards at all, it would be 3.3 years.

I don't think the 10k miles/anniversary is a feature anymore for the Barclays card though. So hold onto your card longhorn11!!

It will hurt. I would recommend not churning for at least a year ahead of applying for a mortgage; start that year with the maximum credit available. With a 740 credit score and only a few years on your credit report (why didn't you start as an authorized user at 18?), you really don't have much leeway.

Underwriting standards are incredibly tough right now: the typical person denied for a mortgage these days has a ~730 FICO. Typical approvals are above 760.

What you're looking at (credit karma) is a fake credit score, it's for "educational" purposes. You need to look at your actual FICO score from myfico.com. It could be 50 points lower or higher, there's no way to tell. Your AAoA gets rounded down, so 3.25 would be 3.

You can get the same offer I got with 10k miles every year if you use the link on FT.

Agreed, although he will get approved by someone but the rate will not be ideal.

AMEX Backdating
 

Hi,

I've seen a few mentions that Amex will backdate new accounts to your original membership year.

I only have a Personal SPG Amex which I have had since 2008. I was thinking about opening up a business account to take advantage of the new 30K points promotion. Does that mean that if I open the business SPG card, that the date that account was opened will be sometime in 2008 (the same date as my personal SPG Amex)?

Does anyone have any confirmation from AMEX about this or know of a place where I can read the policy?

Also, does that mean if I were to open up a Amex Blue Cash (no fee) that the open date for that account would be 2008. I wanted to open up a no fee card with Amex to keep forever just to increase the average age. Thoughts on this idea?

Does anyone have thoughts on which Amex no-fee card is the best?

A business card would not report on your personal credit file - (except the inquiry) from what I have read.

The personal card should reflect your 2008 date. The HHonors amex is the best no-fee card IMO. If your family buys more than $2500 in groceries in a year you should get the Blue Pref card. Scratch that - IIRC the fee is waived the first year, get the Blue Pref now if you want another card, and downgrade when the fee rolls around. I think there is even a $100 signing bonus.

But what if he uses his SSN as his tax ID number when applying for a business card? Or is it different just because that's how business cards work?

I would think long and hard about this, flexibility when you are young is very important to job growth, there are many benefits of renting until you decide where you want to be your perminant place. I think of a condo like temporarly marrying your girlfriend for jsut a few years.
as for the cards i would focus on some you can keep for a long time with zero annual fee to get you credti age up, the spg card is great but 65 is not zero and 65 after 10 years is 650 okay 585 with first year free, but zero after 10 years is zero. i would look at the chase freedom for spend, you can transfer the ur pts to your dads ink bold acount and then transfer to your choice of airline and your spend will add up quickly with the 5 pt bonus catigories.
also look at hilton amex and citi hilton visa, both fee free.

Thanks for the advice. You really like Hilton lol...but I'm not to keen on staying in hotels (yet?). The only reason I'd get it is for the backdating. Which is something I really care about right now haha.

You bring up a good point regarding the SPG and its fees. Until the Ink Bold "deal" is dead, I have no real desire to earn Starpoints. Or any points that aren't UR points. I'll want them in the future for sure, but probably not right now. A 30k Starpoints offer is tempting, but only because it's limited time. I've never been in one of their properties but I'm not big on staying in hotels so I can't really justify getting the card (I've wanted this card since I was 19 so I'm trying hard to justify getting it...)

Chase Freedom is definitely on my to-get list, but I'm waiting for a 35,000 (or even 30,000) point offer to transfer to my Sapphire Preferred.

But right now I'm definitely eyeing the Barclays US Airways card (a Grand Slam would be icing on the cake) with an AmEx for backdating (Hilton AmEx? SPG? other?)

Doesn't matter. SSN or EIN, the inquiry goes on your personal file anyway and it doesn't really do anything to your business credit.


What is your take on $5,000 spend in 6 months? If you're OK with it go with SPG, if not go with Hilton. If you're interested in Latin America, definitely go with SPG; 35K SPG (after spend) could get you 87.5K LAN kilometers. If you like flying down south you don't want to miss that. However, AMEX Hilton could get you started on a very good thing, too, because there are so many cards that could get you HHonors.

I would definitely think about your housing situation first and foremost. That being said I picked up the Chase Priority Club, AMEX PRG, and Delta Gold AMEX about three months before refinancing our home this year (3.75 fixed/30yr.) and had no issue. Although, I maintained a 720 FICO and do have a longer account history (5 year Discover acct.) My colleague refinanced with the same lender at the same time and just picking up the Chase PC card caused him big issues.

I'm not that young (29) but I am young at the points game (above being first app) so I can't provide the best advice like many others here on FT but, per my experience, I would think that you could acquire one-two cards now and be okay for the condo late next year. I would jump on the SPG 30k offer, I plan on getting this card myself to keep.