Recently I applied for a Citi AAdvantage card and I was denied on the grounds of "Too few satisfactory credit references were recorded on your credit bureau report". I am 24 and have an income of $95k, I also have 5 cards that I do not carry a balance on (AMEX Blue Cash: 24k, Citi Drivers Edge: 10k, Citi Forward: $8k, CapitalOne: $5k, Macys: $2k) and a credit score around 770. The first question that came to mind is how many lines of credit would be sufficient to have? People always say you need 0, 1, or X number of credit cards, whats your opinion/experience?
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posted: Nov. 17, 2009 @ 12:28a
Treffen
Senior Member
posted: Nov. 17, 2009 @ 2:06a
Chiwawa626 said: Recently I applied for a Citi AAdvantage card and I was denied on the grounds of "Too few satisfactory credit references were recorded on your credit bureau report". I am 24 and have an income of $95k, I also have 5 cards that I do not carry a balance on (AMEX Blue Cash: 24k, Citi Drivers Edge: 10k, Citi Forward: $8k, CapitalOne: $5k, Macys: $2k) and a credit score around 770. The first question that came to mind is how many lines of credit would be sufficient to have? People always say you need 0, 1, or X number of credit cards, whats your opinion/experience?
You're doing fine and Citi AAdvantage is fulla crap. It happens, don't sweat it.
Chiwawa626 said: "Too few satisfactory credit references were recorded on your credit bureau report". I also have 5 cards that I do not carry a balance onJust speculating here, but maybe charge a little on each card then wait to pay it off until after the statement prints. Try that for a few months.
Congrats on the excellent salary for your age. IMO, you have too many cards already. The credit limits are fine for your income level. They would be excessive at mine. You are at the national average now. I understand and applaude that you are not abusing them. Glitch99 makes a valid point. Whatever you do, do not get more than 1 or 2 from the same card issuer.
The Citi Forward card is for people who carry a balance. It is a sucker card for those people. I would calculate the next reward point; collect the reward and stop using that card. Since you do not carry a balance, you may want to ask Citi to change that card to a different one if you have a reason valid to you for having a different Citi card. Now is a good time to review those cards that you now have and why you have those particular cards. That does not mean change them if you are satified with the reason(s) you have them. Consider your spending life style. Do you drive or fly a lot? Does your company provide you an expense account credit card? Can you keep the miles you earn from employer reimbursed trips? Is American Airlines the primary airline at your airport? Why do you want the American Airlines card? These are questions for you to think about. You are NOT expected to answer them here. From a rewards standpoint, there are better cards out there, but that is another thread.
Part of the response you received from Citi may mean the cards you have do not reflect the full two years of activity most credit reports reflect. Given your age and a salary which suggests you went to college, time will take care of that by itself.
JW said: The Citi Forward card is for people who carry a balance. It is a sucker card for those people.
Please elaborate on your point here. I get 5% back on restaurants and Amazon.com with this card. And I don't carry a balance. Sure, it's wasteful for other stuff because it's only 1% back. But it does have a purpose.
I was referring to the 0.25% APR reduction is a sucker play. If you're paying month to month the 0.25% fee reduction makes little difference in real money. Chase promotes the heck out of that "benefit". Chase's track record on rewards is not the best. There are several treads on FW saying so. Chances are they have factored in the bonus points so the net result is less than 1% for most people in real cash value. You are better off with rewards program that you can understand and depend on the true benefit. If it it not at least 1.5% rebate on everything, it is IMO substandard.
JW said: I was referring to the 0.25% APR reduction is a sucker play. If you're paying month to month the 0.25% fee reduction makes little difference in real money. Chase promotes the heck out of that "benefit". Chase's track record on rewards is not the best. There are several treads on FW saying so. Chances are they have factored in the bonus points so the net result is less than 1% for most people in real cash value. You are better off with rewards program that you can understand and depend on the true benefit. If it it not at least 1.5% rebate on everything, it is IMO substandard.1st, the card is issued by Citi, not Chase.
2nd, if you dont carry a balance, who cares about any reduction of the rate or the rate itself? You're using the card to gain the 5 points/$, not to save .25%.
The benefit of thsi card is a higher rewards rate on categories that are typically lumped into the 'standard rate' rewards level. It is virtually identical to the mtvU card, which for years was refered to as one of the best non-promo cards on the market.
JW said: Congrats on the excellent salary for your age. IMO, you have too many cards already. The credit limits are fine for your income level. They would be excessive at mine. You are at the national average now. I understand and applaude that you are not abusing them. Glitch99 makes a valid point. Whatever you do, do not get more than 1 or 2 from the same card issuer.
The Citi Forward card is for people who carry a balance. It is a sucker card for those people. I would calculate the next reward point; collect the reward and stop using that card. Since you do not carry a balance, you may want to ask Citi to change that card to a different one if you have a reason valid to you for having a different Citi card. Now is a good time to review those cards that you now have and why you have those particular cards. That does not mean change them if you are satified with the reason(s) you have them. Consider your spending life style. Do you drive or fly a lot? Does your company provide you an expense account credit card? Can you keep the miles you earn from employer reimbursed trips? Is American Airlines the primary airline at your airport? Why do you want the American Airlines card? These are questions for you to think about. You are NOT expected to answer them here. From a rewards standpoint, there are better cards out there, but that is another thread.
Part of the response you received from Citi may mean the cards you have do not reflect the full two years of activity most credit reports reflect. Given your age and a salary which suggests you went to college, time will take care of that by itself.
Why do you say that? I don't think 5 CCs is anywhere close to excessive. Each one that he has conceivably has a specific purpose (Gas / Grocery / Pharmacy, Car repairs, Restaurants / Movies, Forex needs, first card he opened for credit history as a youngster).
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