First Credit Card Recommendation (focus on cashback for groceries)
CREDIT PROFILE * Current credit cards you are the primary account holder of: * None - looking for first card * FICO scores with source: N/A * Oldest credit card account age: N/A * Cards approved in the past 6 months: N/A * Cards approved in the past 12…
CREDIT PROFILE * Current credit cards you are the primary account holder of: * None - looking for first card * FICO scores with source: N/A * Oldest credit card account age: N/A * Cards approved in the past 6 months: N/A * Cards approved in the past 12 months: N/A * Cards approved in the past 24 months: N/A * Annual income $: 55000 CATEGORIES * Ok with category-specific cards?: Yes * Ok with rotating category cards?: No * Estimate average monthly spend in the categories below. * Dining $: 100 * Groceries $: Depends on living location: NY/NJ 500 (local grocery stores) 2) Texas 400 (Costco) 100 (HEB, Kroger) Spend significant time in each location throughout the year * Gas $: 0 * Travel $: 600 (taxi and public transportation) * Using abroad?: No, do not travel abroad * Other categories or stores: Will be buying a car, so gas will become a regular expense; transportation (taxi and public transportation); Restaurant; * Other spend: Warehouse/Wholesale clubs * Pay rent by card? No MEMBERSHIPS & SUBSCRIPTIONS * Big bank customer: Chase PURPOSE * Purpose of next card: First Credit Card * Authorized user on any other card(s)?: No * Cards being considered: Wells Fargo Autograph Discover It Cash Back AAA Daily Visa Chase Freedom Flex ADDITIONAL INFO Since this is a first credit card, I would like to focus on building credit and earning cash back. I am a recent graduate, so no longer a student. These are my criteria: 0$ annual fee Cash back (Groceries, Gas, Public transportation) Accepted at wholesale stores (walmart, HEB, costco) Cash back redeemable as straight cash
Collected discussion
You don't get to be picky with your first credit card; the better rewards cards aren't available to you yet. Usually the only way you'll be able to start with a non-beginner card is if it's from a bank you already have a good banking relationship with. Who do you bank with? If you don't bank with a good credit card issuer (or if you do but they won't issue you a card), then your goal is to get a beginner card from a reputable bank that's beginner-friendly. Discover and Capital One are good options, I recommend going to their websites and trying their preapproval tools. Also your local bank or credit union might have good beginner options. If they want you to start with a secured card, that's fine. You'll get your deposit back after showing a history of responsible usage. With credit cards, responsible usage means you always pay your statement balances each month by the due date, just like a utility bill. Follow this flow chart and you can't go wrong: https://imgur.com/a/pLPHTYL
Probably wouldn’t get approved for Chase freedom flex. You could apply for Freedom Rise to get the ball rolling though. Flat 1.5% really isn’t all that bad
You probably only qualify for the discover it but its a great starter card.
If you've had chase checking for a long time, I'd prolly try them for your first card. Most banks won't really offer any decent cards as first timers. Capital one will give you cards with no signup bonus, which sucks. Discover it with the cashback match sub can be okay but doesn't seem like a great fit. Because the double cashback gives you a 2% base it's not bad though. Personally, I would go in branch and apply for the freedom unlimited. Because you have a relationship with chase there's a good chance they'll give it to you. I like the flex better, but with your costco spend (requiring visa,) lack of gas spend, and it being your first card, I think it might be the way to go. In branch you can often get 5% gas and grocery for a year + 200$ as a signup bonus. You can immediately pair the CFU for 3% dining and 1.5% catchall with the paypal debit for 5% groceries including costco. Redemption options just got nerfed to select paypal checkout and gift cards, we'll have to see how much of a nerf it is, but it's a debit card, so you can get it immediately with no credit impact. Just set it to autoreload from your regular debit card. Depending on how that goes, you can swap it out for an AAA Daily Advantage later once your approval liklihood goes up (prolly after a year of credit history.) The autograph is great for travel expenses and works at costco gas, you could consider that or a CSP later on as well.
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If you can get it try the AAA Daily advantage. 5% groceries 3% gas and wholesale clubs. Might be hard for 1st card but give it a shot. But may have to go with what was said above, Freedom Rise. Not a bad 1st card either
If you're a student you can get the capital one savor rewards for students: https://www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/savor-student/ 3% cashback on groceries is pretty good for a starting credit card If you pay a lot in utility bills and transportation you can also consider the us bank cash+ secured: https://www.usbank.com/credit-cards/cash-plus-secured-visa-credit-card.html Choose 2 5% cashback and one 2% cash back. In your case maybe utilities and ground transportation, 2% back on gas. Ground transportation may not include taxis or ridesharing though. Also minimum redemption without losing value is $25. Otherwise you can opt in to redeem for any amount at the time of purchase (so if you have $3 in cashback available and you buy a $5 item, you can get a $3 credit). If you do that however the value drops from 1 cent per point to 0.8 cents per point, so you'll only get 4% cash back.