Best Cards for a first time churner?
 

So I'm applying for a couple cards for my fiancee. She has great credit, 815 CS score and only a few open cards and a student loan. I was thinking about starting her off slow on a couple cards.

1. Citi Thank You Preferred - 30k points after 3k spend in 6 months. I like this card bc there's no AF so we could keep it around for a while to eventually help boost her AAOA.

2. Chase Sapphire Preferred - 40k points after 3k spend in 3 months. First year AF waived but I like that the points are very flexible and you can use them or transfer them. Is it easy to get the fee waived after the first year or should I just cancel?

Any other suggestions/tips? I'm looking for cards that can easily transfer pts or have very useful redemption options since she doesn't have status or any pts accumulated anywhere else. I was also thinking about amex bus. gold and/or chase ink bold but she doesn't have a business haha. What are the odds for success if you say you're starting a business but no income yet?

What cards does she already have?

If you are worried about AAoA, get an amex for future backdating benefits (google amex backdating if you don't know). I would go to creditcards.com and have her put in her info (don't need to do the ss#) and get the referral to the Amex BCP with the $250 sign on bonus (175 net the annual fee). Then she can get 6% on 6K of groceries each year and keep that for ever.

CSP is hard to get fee waivers. Another reason why Ink Bold is the superior card. Not that CSP is a bad card mind you. Freedom is the card you get if you want to a card to apply for and keep forever.

For Citi, 50K AA could be more valuable than 30K TYP, but only if you will use them. That is where I'd spend my first citi application. The AA card can be downgraded to the Bronze card (1 mile per $2) if you can't get a fee waiver and want to keep the line open.

US Bank: Club Carlson if you can use them (do this one first if so)
Barclays: Arrival
Chase: CSP, Ink Bold/Plus
Citi: AA if you can use them, otherwise TYP
Amex: Biz Gold, or one of the Hiltons if you use Hilton, SPG Amex, or wait for a special temporary offer

You can often get approved for biz cards even with very low revenue. I usually put 1K - 2K annual rev on my apps and have never been declined.

My suggestion is to always apply for limited time offers first. so I would suggest Citi AA card with 50000 bonus as the top pick. That is if you can use AA miles. My second choice would be Barclaycard Arrival with 40000 points bonus. If she is willing to get new cards in the future, those would be my picks.

Can you churn the barclaycard arrival?

@ Jaxxx I'm not sure on that, but I heard some were successful. Barclay's is a very odd bank, so YMMV

Look into Barclays and USBank offerings, and get any of those that you will want first while you can. They are much harder on anyone with lots of recent apps.

Yes, I forgot to mention that. Absolutely get Barclay's first, before any other apps. US bank is even worse IMO. The only good offer from them currently is Club Carlson card. But I would advise to focus on cash or flexible points, unless you can maximize Club Carlson 2 for 1 in a near future. I still think AA card with 50000 miles is the top offer currently, if you can use the miles at some point. But it does depend on your situation.

Agree with this. Go with the CSP or the Ink Bold/Plus, I wouldn't do both at the same time.

I'd scratch TYP. Not worth a pull, IMHO. You've got some good suggestions, but make sure she can meet the spend. I would certainly go for the following:

Barclays Arrival
Chase CSP
Amex Gold.

And then I'd stop. 3 cards are enough for a young person when your credit file isn't too thick, and she'll have laid a good foundation for the future.

Well, if she's adventurous, she could add a Citi AA or Hilton to the mix, but City may not like her short credit history (no matter what the score is) for a reward card.

+1 on most of this, but I have no idea why so many people recommend CSP (43K points which will likely become United miles for that first redemption, after 3K spend) over the United card (56K points after 1K spend) for your first Chase card. IMO, the United card is the best offer out there.

The CSP is more of a long-term card, as the 2 points back on travel and restaurants, plus multiple redemption options (United, Hyatt, etc.). I agree though, the United card is a good one for a new person to have.

Because of this:

.

Other than that and that the 50K bonus is not available to everyone, you're right.

Cool thanks for the replies, I think I'm going to do a card like citi preferred to solidify credit for the future(since it's no fee) and I'll go for chase ink/bold and maybe an amex bus gold or other amex card.

One question though, since I'll probably just apply for her do you think it's ok for me to call the recon line or speak with them about anything? I don't ever remember indicating male or female on an application and my fiancee has a name that could be male/female although she is indeed a female :)

Worth considering IMO is the Amex Blue Preferred. $75 a year fee. 6% cashback at supermarkets, up to $360 back a year.

You can generally buy gift cards at supermarket for Starbucks, Marriott, Shell, Amazon, etc. and they do get the cashback. Shop at Kroger if you can and also get great gas rewards (some get so many they sell them to others).

Though often overlooked (and you should have her get other cards as well), I think everyone should have this card for the grocery. Cash is cash.