My wife is looking to get a credit card for the first time and I need help determining which card to go with. We obviously want to accrue miles for the same airline accounts, so that will be a major factor in our decision.

As of now, she has never had a credit card. She has been on her parent's account for AMEX. She's never had any sort of loan (auto nor home), so essentially she hasn't really begun to establish her credit.

As of now, I have the Alaska Visa, Continental MC and United Visa. I have over 350K Alaska miles, and over 50K in each United and Continental. She has over 40K Alaska miles and around 5K United miles.

For her first credit card I would like to maximize the sign-up bonus for her, while either depositing miles in an Alaska or United account.

I have thought about the 30K sign-up bonuses for either Continental or United. These are decent sign-up bonuses, but not the best.

I'm not sure if she would even qualify for the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature, which is a 25K sign-up bonus.

The other thought is to capitalize on the new 50K sign-up bonus with Chase for their Sapphire card, transfer those miles to Continental and then six months down the road see if they can switch the card to the United Visa...

What are your thoughts? Anything is greatly appreciated. Thanks a ton!

When I applied for the AS Visa card in August 2008, it was my first (and so far only) credit card. I was approved for the Platinum Plus card, not the Signature. The Platinum Plus has a lower sign up bonus, I think it's 5K. If your wife has never had a credit card of her own before, I'd expect something similar.

I've had my card for almost three years, have paid on time & in full every month (even paid early a couple of times), and have a credit score of 781. I'm hopeful that when I next apply for a credit card, I'll get the full/premium version of whatever I apply for.

That's great info to know. So with Alaska I'm assuming she will only be approved for the Platinum Plus card, in which the sign-up bonus is fairly small.

After reviewing the United and Continental cards, the lowest mileage up front bonus would be 25,000. Assuming she gets approved, I'd much rather take the 25K with these airlines over 5K w/ Alaska.

What about the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, or the Amex Premier Rewards cards???

The information you were given is based on another human being's credit history and score and has no bearing whatsoever on what will happen with your wife.

I strongly recommend you find out what your wife's credit score is and then act accordingly with her applications. She may well qualify for more lucrative offers.

i had a similiar issue with my wife. she had a card with a like 300 dollar limit for a year and they would not approve her. DO NOT APPLY TO CHASE. they do not count accounts that u r an AU on as ur credit. they will deny her. I applied for my wife for those cards and no matter how hard i tried they would not approve her as they said she never had a credit card with a 1k+ credit so they could not approve her for those cards.

Don't apply with Barclay's. (US Airways, LH, Spirit, etc). They have 2 tier signup bonuses, one much lower than the other.

I have no problem with many banks (Citi, Chase, credit unions, etc) getting decent limits (10-20K) but I only got 3.2K limit w/US Airways Plat with 10K signup instead of 35K. Waste of my time. I don't mind a lower limit if I got my full 35K signup bonus.

No more Barclay's for me.

The trick is to call up some of your creditors and have her added to your accounts as a joint account member rather than just an authorized user. Then the credit history transfers over to her 100%. If she is just an AU and it is not a joint account, it doesn't count for much these days.