Current credit card rotation:
Discover IT: Rotating 5%, 1% All purchases

Bank of America Cash Rewards: 3% Gas, 2% Groceries, 1% All Purchases

Chase Freedom: Rotating 5%, 1% All Purchases

My credit score is high 700s. Will be purchasing a car in six months. House in 2ish years.

I got an Amex card offer. 250 dollars back after 1000 dollars in first three months. That will be no problem. 3% Groceries, 2% Gas, 2% Certain Department Stores, 1% All Purchases.

Is this a good card and offer? Will mainly be getting this card for the 250 cash back and for groceries.

90k UR points, sorry. I'm also in the process of trying to get my Ink Bold Plus downgraded or canceled so I can dodge the $95 fee (I opened it for spending bonus offer), will post my results here.

im using a few of those as well. its nice that they are all no annual fee. i use amex blue cash pretty frequently to, 6% at super markets, 3% gas, and 3% at some department stores, not sure which dept stores though

amex to me seems like the boss of cards, they offer pretty sick deals just for owning one. they also keep me well informed via email about transactions. like, i bought some stuff on the internets and was notified via email promptly, just as a security measure, im sure most cards are capable of these alerts. but since ive been doing this cc stuff, amex to me seems like the king pin

Yes, it's a decent offer. I think the highest its been is $300, but $250 is good.

So do you know if I can purchase a flight without the full amount of points? If a flight is 125k points and I have 60k can I get half off? Also any suggestions on how to get the cheapest flights to asia?

AFAIK you need to buy the remaining points, you don't get partial credit on the cost of the ticket.

No, you can't partially pay with points, unless it's British Airways which is the only airline I can think of that allows cash+points. If you have half the amount you should look to get a one way award for half the cost and pay out of pocket for the return trip, but not all airlines allow one way awards.

I also have BOA cash rewards...is that 3% gas standard? I never use it and use chase freedom all the time...

Boa cash rewards is 3%

thanks

penfed has a 5% gas card. To join you just have to place a small donation to a military charity.

And make a $5 deposit i think. Total outlay is $10 or $15

so, i should look into penfed?? what does outlay mean JL??

thanks for the HU guys, got penfed on my radar

Ok cool thanks for the response. I do not spend enough on groceries to make up for the annual fee on the Blue Cash card.

I went ahead and signed up for it. I don't know when/if they'll offer $300. Also, Amex always has credits and deals going on on Slickdeals.net all the time.

Anyone have a good source to get discounted tickets to Disney World? Just looking for 1 day magic Kingdom tickets for 4

Please do your own research about mortgages and auto loans before opening any more credit cards. Any card you open will temporarily hurt your credit score a little bit. You want to get the absolute best interest rate possible. Over a 5+year auto loan, or a 30year mortgage, that extra .25% will destroy any profits you get from opening a new CC. If you can wait until after your car loan and mortgage, you could open new CC's with only a tiny amount of regard for your credit score/future loans.

I'm not saying to not open any new credit cards right now (you're probably fine with 1 or 2), but do your own research first.

There is also a threshold where credit score does not matter above a certain point.

I have family members that live in FL, and unless you're a FL resident, there is no legitimate way to get discounted 1-day tickets. Sorry to be the bearer or bad news.

Os,

I'm aware that opening new cards can temporarily hurt your credit score. That's why I put in my time frame for car purchase and home. The only credit card I've opened in the past two years was the Chase Card which I opened earlier this year. My score actually increased after opening it up and never took a dip.

I went ahead and got the Amex card. The only card I may get in the near future is the Chase travel card with the 40,000 sign up bonus for a trip I am doing next summer. After that no more credit cards till I purchase a home which is two years away at a minimum.

As far as an auto loan, I already have a high 700s credit score. I think my last Fico was 784 on my Discover Statement and Credit Karma has me in the 760s. I am going to be getting a Mazda or Honda late this year or early next year. I should qualify for the lowest manufacturer loan rate and hope to get a 0% for a 14 model in 15. Thanks for your input.

yeah, found this out from a few sources now. oh well, my daughter doesn't turn 3 until a few days after we go, so that saved us 1 ticket at least.

Good. It sounds like you know what you're getting into. I just know that some people get blinded by the instant money from signup bonuses and forget to factor in that 5-30 year loan's interest rate change.

mindless chatter?

made a settlement with LVNV for $250 for them to mark the account as paid to a zero balance, so I have not received an IRS statement from them yet, but I do think that they will report this to the IRS as forgiven debt income.

But it severly jacked with my credit score. My credit score was 681, and as soon as the account was settled and reported to the credit bureaus, it lowered it to 639?!?

Nothing else about my credit profile has changed. Two open CCs swith zero balances and not one other open credit account anywhere.

Would someone please explain the reason why this would happen.

My plan is to still finance the vehichle and then pay it off in two or three months with cash, but this has lowered my financing options and raised my rate a wee bit. The difference is negligable since I am going to pay the balance off in cash shortly, but now I am concerned about my ability to borrow for a house or a second car.

Sounds kind of fishy, and that they ****ed you over because you only paid < 10% of the debt. Did you pull all three credit reports? What do the original account and the collection account show? You can write letters to the credit reporting agencies if the collection agent won't fix it.

Since you are going to pay off the car with cash in a couple months, why not just get the cash for the car first, and pay cash? Is your current car broken?

Seems like you need to open a few accounts, and then wait for a couple of years before applying for a mortgage.

so you think that because we negotiated such a lowball number that they did not bother reporting to all three bureaus? Does that then leave it up to me to make sure that the settlement gets reported? That number is my trans Union number. Sounds like I should check on the other two.

The original account and the collection account both refer back to the same Visa number.

My current car is fine. Just old. I have been saving for a new one. My plan is to finance the new car and then boost my credit rating by paying it off after a couple months.

Is it possible that my credit score went down because the account that was in collections is now closed and it has reduced the total number of credit accounts that I have?