Cards for next year
 

Is this the right spot for this? Sorry if not.

I started my rebuild in july of this year and got a secured cap one for $400, a qs1 for $300 (cli to $750 earlier this month), barclays for $1k, dcu visa for $500. I want some "prime" cards next year, after my history gets older. I was looking at a csp for dining and entertainment. That would be movies and whatnot. I quit drinking this month, so spending at bars would be out. Is a csp worth it? A metal card would be cool, but at what expense? The af is waived the first year so there's that...

I don't know what my spending will be like yet, as I am going to get a new job, new car, new place all sometime in the near future. As far as groceries go, bce/bcp would be my first candidate. Gas would go on that card also, or my discover I plan on getting as well, if the 5% category has gas as one bonus that month.

My qs1 will hopefully grow significantly by next year and I will pc to qs after 6 months of qs1. I suppose I'll keep that card opened since there is no af.

I will have no need for any other of my current cards if I get prime cards. I was also considering going for a prg at the same time as bce/bcp since the af is also waived in year one.

I really never travel, whatsoever. Last trip was 4 years ago and before that was 2006. I know csp is catered toward travelers and the citi ty premier card which I thought about as well. Freedom seems pointless too since I never travel.

Should I just forget the metal card and stick to cards that will actually be at least of SOME use to me? An amex bce/bce and prg would be just fine in terms of prime cards for me.

Cards for next year
 

I'd love to help but I have no idea what all your acronyms mean. Good luck with the refurbishment.

Welcome to FlyerTalk, scar1.

But too much decoding needed, I agree:
Capital One.
I presume that QuickSilver, but also from from Capital One! So what was the other card from Capital One? :confused:
Credit Limit increase.
Barlcays is a bank with lots of cards. Your post is confusing because in cases you just name the bank while in other cases you name a specific card.
I give up. What in the world is DCU????

Ok, that one most people understand (though write in solid caps as CSP) as Chase Sapphire Preferred.

Is BCA Barclay Arrival or something else? And what is BCP? Anyway, since you didn't explain which Barclay card you already have, none of this makes sense to me.

I'm sorry, I'm tired of all this decoding, so this is as far as I can go in this post.

Qs1 = quicksilver 1
Bcp = blue cash preferred
Bce = blue cash everyday
Csp = chase sapphire preferred
Dcu = digital credit union
Barclays = barclay rewards
Cli = credit limit increase

Sorry about that.

Most ironic FlyerTalk quote ever.

As an aside, even with the "glossary", I have no idea what the actual question is.:rolleyes:

I'm trying to figure out what cards to get in the future. But my scenario is specific and not just a generic question of what card best suites me. I am looking for opinions on whether I should avoid getting the sapphire preferred even though I'd enjoy having it considering I had no credit from ages 18-27.

Keep in mind that even if you never travel, most (if not all) of the transferable points currencies can be used for cash back as well, sacrilege as it may be on this board to do that.

If you're really sure you don't want to turn your points into miles, maybe consider the Citi Double Cash? It's (as the name says) 2% cash back, and it has no annual fee.

The Chase Freedom also has no annual fee with 5x cash back on one category per quarter, and its points can be transferred to the Sapphire Preferred and then to airlines if you change your mind and get that card later on.

you can get pretty creative with cash back cards to get 2% or better on everything. combining chase freedom, discover it, citi double cash, and maybe one of the amex blues should get you quite a bit of cash back for little to no annual fee. plus, they're generally easier to get than premium cards.

if you don't travel, i don't really see the point in getting a card that earns flexible points. it's nice that they offer sign-up bonuses which can be converted to cash, but you'll have to be diligent about picking ones with waived 1st-year fees and canceling them in time to avoid the 2nd year fee. given the cash redemption rates for flexible points, annual fees are going to wipe out way too much of your return to be worth keeping open.

just curious - do you not like traveling? i didn't used to travel much until "the hobby" (ugh that term) unlocked a lot of opportunities for me.

I honestly dont dislike travelling, I just never do. I wonder if having a card that could be used for travel would be good for me. After having no credit at all for years likely influenced me never traveling. Getting a csp could be ideal if I decide to use the points for a flight or a hotel (is that even possible with that card?) or if not, I could always redeem for lowly statement credit and cancel the card before the annual fee.

My advice would be to get a job first (and new apartment, but why the new car at the same time?) and then consider credit cards. Assuming that the dollar amounts in the OP are either credit limits or annual fees, I don't see the point of someone without a job having more than a half dozen credit cards. Either the OP is getting some very low credit limits on the cards that are approved or the OP is paying a ton on money in annual fees for no obvious reason.

I fully agree. Just fixed a few things for you!

I'm really in between jobs. Had a job when I got the low limit cards and will have one soon so it would justify having credit cards. Just figured I'd do some planning as far as what goals I have for getting which cards and what not.

You haven't provided the most important information: your spending patterns. My guess is a 2% card like Fidelity Amex or Citi Double Cash is going to be your best bet. You can mix in other cards like BCE/BCP if you want to juggle cards for an extra few percentage points in certain categories.

CSP is, firstly, overrated. And for someone who doesn't travel (but might), I just don't see the value. For economy flights, you're likely better off with a 2% everywhere card vs a CSP anyway. And even then, you have to put a lot of spend on the CSP to get much "free travel" beyond the sign-up bonus. At least with a cash card you can always redeem for cash (usually when you accrue $25 in rewards) and then use it towards travel or whatever you want, so it's not an all-or-nothing proposal like miles/points often are. If you just want a metal credit card, then have one made: https://metal-creditcard.com/. I don't think the CSP is your answer.

For a cash back approach, this would be my general advice (start at the top and add as many cards down the list as you like for specialized category bonuses):

Citi Double Cash
Amex Blue Cash Preferred (if you spend > $2500/year at grocery; Blue Cash Everyday otherwise)
Discover It
Chase Freedom

Thank you! I was considering double cash but already have the quick silver and .5% isn't worth another hard pull, in my opinion. If my limit doesn't grow on it, maybe applying for double cash in the future would be good.

As far as the amex blue cash, I will see what my spending is like before I decide on that. I plan on going for a discover it as well.

Thank you. This is excellent information. I'm not sure what my spending will be like exactly but the blue cash, whether it be everyday or prefered for geoceries will definitely be best.

I do want a discover it card also.

I already have a quick silver so a double cash would likely not be worth the harc pull considering it's only .5%.

I wanted an explanation about the CSP and points like that, thanks. Will stick to cash back since traveling is very rare for me.