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I just switched banks and as a result, am looking for a new credit card company.
(I didn't have to cancel my CC when I closed out my accounts, but they pissed me off so bad durring the aftermath of Katrina that I don't want anything to do with their services at all)

I was considering getting an American Express Blue Card - seems to be a farily attractive but was wondering if theres something sinister and evil I should know (other than AMerican Express not being accepted at some places) so anybody who has/had one please let me kmnow what you think of it :D
 
I've got one. Nothing too spectacular one way or another with it. Apparently there's a Blue Rewards program that lets you get stuff if you charge up lots and lots of stuff with it, but I didn't sign up with it for fear of being spammed.

I use it here and there, it's fine. Just a good, average CC.
 
[quote name='orphicblue']

I use it here and there, it's fine. Just a good, average CC.[/QUOTE]

Thanks, thats basically what I was hoping to hear - although if somebody knows of an amazing CC let me know before I send in this paperwork :D
 
orphicblue pretty much sums up what the card does and does not do. apparently you need excellent credit to get one but i am not sure. i have one just for the look of it (it's a clear card and think it looks cool) but i rarely use it
 
I have an Exxon/Mobil MasterCard that gets me 3% rebate on all Exxon Mobil purchases and 1% rebate on all other purchases w/ no annual fee. (Rebate is redeemed via spending money at an Exxon Mobil station.)

Personally I'd look at getting whatever card will give you the best rewards coupled with no annual fee. If you tend to carry a balance I guess the rate will be important to you, but I never do that.

You can apply here I think (found the page via Google) http://www.exxon.com/USA-English/GFM/How_to_Buy/ExxonMobil_Mastercard.asp

If anybody knows of a card that has a better reward system, let me know!
 
If its your only credit card, don't get an American Express.. just given the fact that they're accepted at ~75% of the places Visa/Mastercard are accepted. I imagine it would be a pain to find out you can't use your credit card at random places.

Discover tends to give the best bang for your buck as far as rewards go in my experience.
 
The best I've seen are the CitiBank Diamond Preferred/Dividend Platinum Cards. They have a 5% back at gas stations and grocery stores and 1% back everywhere. The Dividend Platinum is cash back and the Diamond Preferred is in gift certificates/points. The Diamond Preferred also has a price protection program where if you find something you bought in a paper ad cheaper within 60 days, they'll refund you the difference.

If you don't qualify for them right out, they have college version of them as well.

https://www.accountonline.com/ACQ/C...597E38C23&siteId=cb&SEARCH_CRITERIA_1=REWARDS

There's probably better sign up promotions as well if you look around. I have the Diamond Preferred and am very happy with it.
 
My favorite reward for buying new gadgets and gizmos is the extended warranty benefit. From what I understand about it, if you buy a new toy with the credit card, you can get the warranty provided by the manufacturer doubled for no extra cost up to 1 year. I believe the Visa Platinum has this.

Otherwise, I think the Discover 1% cash back is probably the most intriguing for normal purchases (gas and groceries).
 
depends on what you are looking for. If you carry a fair size balance on a month to month basis, you would want a lower rate card. Citibank, at least from the flood of cc offers I get, has some of the best fixed/variable rate regular apr's, with good intro apr's . If you are looking for point programs, usually your rates will go up a little, and it would depend on what your point to accumulate for. Customer Service wise, it was MBNA, but they were bought by bank of america, and there call centers are mediocre at best.
 
[quote name='jeffblack12']I have the Diamond Preferred and am very happy with it.[/QUOTE]I have the exact same card, so I second this statement. In college, I had an Amazon card, which gives you triple points for Amazon purchases... and that was handy for me at the time since I bought lots of textbooks. After entering the "real world", I got the Diamond Preferred since its signup deal at the time was an instant $50 gift certificate (I've seen $100 gift certificate signup offers as well), plus I spend more at gas stations, supermarkets, and drug stores now.

I had excellent customer service experiences when my Amazon card was under Bank One. They're under Chase now, and I have yet to need to deal with customer service at either Chase or Citibank.
 
Ah, yea I should have laid that out in the OP - I never carry a balance and mostly use it for large online purchases when I want protection, grocery runs, and just times when I don't feel like rushing home to transfer money from checking to savings. So the rates, for the most part don't worry me as long as there's no annual fee.

I hear good things about AmEx being good to deal with as far as customer service is concerned which is why I'm leaning towards them. The reward system is just a bonus as I doubt I'd spend enough to earn anything.

wubb - thats a pretty sweet deal but I'm already on a gas account with BP at work that cuts my gas price by about 10% since the driving school buys so much ($2K a month :shock: )
 
[quote name='judyjudyjudy']I have the exact same card, so I second this statement. In college, I had an Amazon card, which gives you triple points for Amazon purchases... and that was handy for me at the time since I bought lots of textbooks. After entering the "real world", I got the Diamond Preferred since its signup deal at the time was an instant $50 gift certificate (I've seen $100 gift certificate signup offers as well), plus I spend more at gas stations, supermarkets, and drug stores now.

I had excellent customer service experiences when my Amazon card was under Bank One. They're under Chase now, and I have yet to need to deal with customer service at either Chase or Citibank.[/QUOTE]

Hm - looking into CitiBank - never even thought to check there - thanks :D (to jeff also)
 
[quote name='judyjudyjudy']I have the exact same card, so I second this statement. In college, I had an Amazon card, which gives you triple points for Amazon purchases... and that was handy for me at the time since I bought lots of textbooks. After entering the "real world", I got the Diamond Preferred since its signup deal at the time was an instant $50 gift certificate (I've seen $100 gift certificate signup offers as well), plus I spend more at gas stations, supermarkets, and drug stores now.

I had excellent customer service experiences when my Amazon card was under Bank One. They're under Chase now, and I have yet to need to deal with customer service at either Chase or Citibank.[/QUOTE]

I've got the Amazon card because I love books - and it's like a nice "free" reward coming at you. Again, ditto on the Great customer service.

Plus if you take the metro or fly, the gas cards aren't really worth it.
 
I also suggest you carry at least two credit cards (whether or not one of them is AMEX) as if you have a problem for some reason with one, you have that 2nd one to fall back on. Of course I put pretty much 100% of my purchases on the Mobil MC and have for a long time, but I don't know, seems to make sense to have that 2nd one. Now OTOH if you are someone that can't resist USING a card if you have it, then maybe that's not such a good idea ;)

It's also not a good idea to open up a bunch of cards at all kinds of dept/etc stores (Sears, Macys, etc. etc. etc.) as having a ton of cards does somewhat negatively impact your credit score.

That wasn't really directed at joevan, just general advice for anyone.

And I'm going to seriously look at getting one of those Dividend Platinum Cards. 5% on supermarket purchases is very nice. Looks like you have them mail a check once you amass $50 in rewards (So that'd be $1K in groceries.) I like how my Mobil MC is redeemed by simply buying gas (easy), but 1% vs 5% at a supermarket is a big difference. I'll probably not be motivated enough to switch (as I'd want to then cancel one of my other cards) but maybe.

And of course now that judyx3 says she's seen a $100 bonus sign up offer I wouldn't do it unless I got that, too :lol: Actually maybe they don't do any reward on the Dividend card, just on the Diamond Preferred one? I found a page (can't link as CAG blocks the URL apparently) and they list a $50 GC sign up bonus for the Diamond Preferred card, but nada for the Dividend version.
 
[quote name='wubb']I also suggest you carry at least two credit cards (whether or not one of them is AMEX) as if you have a problem for some reason with one, you have that 2nd one to fall back on. Of course I put pretty much 100% of my purchases on the Mobil MC and have for a long time, but I don't know, seems to make sense to have that 2nd one. Now OTOH if you are someone that can't resist USING a card if you have it, then maybe that's not such a good idea ;)

It's also not a good idea to open up a bunch of cards at all kinds of dept/etc stores (Sears, Macys, etc. etc. etc.) as having a ton of cards does somewhat negatively impact your credit score.

That wasn't really directed at joevan, just general advice for anyone.

And I'm going to seriously look at getting one of those Dividend Platinum Cards. 5% on supermarket purchases is very nice. Looks like you have them mail a check once you amass $50 in rewards (So that'd be $1K in groceries.) I like how my Mobil MC is redeemed by simply buying gas (easy), but 1% vs 5% at a supermarket is a big difference. I'll probably not be motivated enough to switch (as I'd want to then cancel one of my other cards) but maybe. And of course now that judyx3 says she's seen a $100 bonus sign up offer I wouldn't do it unless I got that, too :lol:[/QUOTE]


Haha - thats just good advice period for anybody - many of the guys I know could benefit from reading that paragraph :rofl:

I'm leaning towards CitiBank and an AmEx if I qualify - which I hopefully will, I've had a CC since I was 16 and had a job and was pretty good making payments on my first motorcycle, not a lot of money but at least I was on time :D

Agreed on those damn store cards, I swear every times I go shopping at one of these trendy places (AE/Hollister/GAP/BR) they try and sign me up and I'm just sitting there thinking "I make less than 10K a year and am a full time student, do you really want to give me a $1K line of credit?"
 
[quote name='joevan']Agreed on those damn store cards, I swear every times I go shopping at one of these trendy places (AE/Hollister/GAP/BR) they try and sign me up and I'm just sitting there thinking "I make less than 10K a year and am a full time student, do you really want to give me a $1K line of credit?"[/QUOTE]
I dunno, man. Your "I'm a student" argument is quite deflated if you're still shopping at trendy clothing stores. Solely because trendy clothes have to be the biggest waste of money around (I can get better clothes for much cheaper at Kohls, or even cheap clothes that have slightly better quality at Old Navy).
 
[quote name='capitalist_mao']I dunno, man. Your "I'm a student" argument is quite deflated if you're still shopping at trendy clothing stores. Solely because trendy clothes have to be the biggest waste of money around (I can get better clothes for much cheaper at Kohls, or even cheap clothes that have slightly better quality at Old Navy).[/QUOTE]

What do you mean - I can't own a AE shirt that I got on sale for $10? :roll:
Theres a big difference between running in every week and buying $150 worth of clothes and occasionally slipping in to grab a sale or buy something with a gift card. Besides, my point was, other places that I shop (JC Penney's/Sears/Mens Warehouse etc.) tend not to hound on the store specific CC so much in my experience. I can tell you're upset b/c Members Only isn't cool anymore.
And what exactly is my 'I'm a student" argument? :whistle2:s
 
I have the Student version of the Amex Blue and it was easy to get for a person with no credit.

An Amex card pays for itself when they run the Wishlist promotions during December.
I dont know if they'll run it again but they have for the last two years, the deals they do are simply fantastic. (ex: Xbox 360 Premium for $150.)
 
[quote name='joevan']What do you mean - I can't own a AE shirt that I got on sale for $10? :roll:
Theres a big difference between running in every week and buying $150 worth of clothes and occasionally slipping in to grab a sale or buy something with a gift card. Besides, my point was, other places that I shop (JC Penney's/Sears/Mens Warehouse etc.) tend not to hound on the store specific CC so much in my experience. I can tell you're upset b/c Members Only isn't cool anymore.
And what exactly is my 'I'm a student" argument? :whistle2:s[/QUOTE]
The point is that you seem to make the conotation that you shop at trendy clothing stores frequently. The "I'm a student" argument is that you make very little money and therefore, it is risque to try and give credit to you. Of course, if you really do shop at them frequently, you really do have a lot of money to spend on clothing(I know plenty of gap things go on sale for $10, but I've yet to see many AE, AF or Hollister things go on sale for that low and most hover for only about 15% off...at the most). I'm just saying that if people shop at trendy clothing stores, they typically have a lot of money, and typically shop at them frequently, which is why it's less risque to offer a line of credit to them (since paying a 1000% markup on cheap clothing is quite expensive). The point is: If a store that sells expensive items is trying to give you a line of credit, being a student is a poor excuse, since you're already pissing away money on egregiously expensive clothing (even sale items are pretty fucking expensive).

[quote name='asnradeon8']I have the Student version of the Amex Blue and it was easy to get for a person with no credit.[/QUOTE]
Students are easy prey. They will hook you early, hope you're stupid with a large amount of credit and try to ensnare you into a lifetime of credit.
 
[quote name='wubb']And of course now that judyx3 says she's seen a $100 bonus sign up offer I wouldn't do it unless I got that, too :lol: Actually maybe they don't do any reward on the Dividend card, just on the Diamond Preferred one? I found a page (can't link as CAG blocks the URL apparently) and they list a $50 GC sign up bonus for the Diamond Preferred card, but nada for the Dividend version.[/QUOTE]Yeah, all the deals I saw were for the Diamond Preferred one, where they put 5000 points into your account (equivalent to a $50 GC). I think I saw the 10000 point deal on Fatwallet or some similar site after already applying for the card... so no idea if it's still around. Similar to camoor, I like the idea of "rewards" better than cashback, so I liked the point system better anyways. They have a decent selection of giftcards (I get ones from Best Buy and Circuit City, of course :) ). btw, if you for some reason like Chase better than Citibank, I believe they have similar cards now to compete with the Diamond/Dividend ones.

And I agree with wubb about having two different cards (as long as you're good with handling CCs). I use my Diamond Preferred MC primarily, but my old Amazon Visa has come in handy in times I couldn't use the first card.
 
Hmm the terms for the Diamond Preferred say this:
"Unless you are participating in a limited time promotional offer, you earn 5 ThankYou Points for every dollar spent on purchases at supermarkets, drugstores and gas stations for 12 months and 1 ThankYou Point thereafter. You earn 1 ThankYou Point for every dollar spent on all other purchases."

So only 5% on supermarket purchases for the first year? I don't see that limit in the Dividend Card's terms. (If you are past the 1 year limit, I'd bet you could call and ask them to extend your 5% bonus time indefinitely and they'd do it to keep you as a card holder.)
 
[quote name='Megamibeast']Whats everybody credit score?[/QUOTE]
that's private info. No way in hell are you getting mine.
 
[quote name='Megamibeast']Whats everybody credit score?[/QUOTE]

I think I made an 82 on the midterm and a 74 on the final.


Seriously - thanks to everybody that offered help, I'm still considering my options but I'm aware of a few more choices now :D

Go ahead and lock her up.
 
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