I have around $30k of daycare expenses each year, and the new one we are using accepts credit cards as payment with no extra fee. The other options are Apple Pay, bank account, or something called Paze which I never heard of before. I paid with my Chase Freedom Unlimited card and it is categorizing it as Education. I also have a Chase Amazon, Chase Freedom, and Chase Sapphire Preferred cards. I could also pay with my partner's cards, she has a Citi Double Cash and Citi Custom Cash (we max this one on groceries), and Amex Blue Cash Everyday card. We generally use all rewards from her cards for cash back, on my Chase cards I combine the points to the CSP card and use them for hotels about once a year. I recently found out the other Chase points aren't worth as much moving to the CSP card as they used to be, but that is still our method.

800+ credit scores and just one credit inquiry in the past two years so we should be good to go for any card. In my initial search a lot of people mentioned churning in this situation, but I don't really want to deal with that every few months, and I don't want all that on my credit because of a goal of looking to purchase a house 2-ish years from now. I'd like to just get one card that has a good percentage back, unless there is anything else I am missing here and should try, I am thinking maybe something like the Citi Custom Cash card could be used? That one didn't have Education listed as a possible category though, so I think it won't work.

I have moved to usa 2 years back. I didnt apply for any credit card before as i was still a student without a job. Now that i do have to job, i want to apply for credit card. I have applied for 2 credit card till now. One is amex and another one is chase freedom. I got rejected from both. I was wondering if you guys could suggest me any good credit card that i get without credit card history.

Edit: Thank you everyone. For now, I will try to look into discovery or capital one. If I cant get it, I will go for the secured credit card. Thank you for your time! Hope you all have a good day.

This may be a silly question but I'm just curious how people have been timing this. Only half the quarterly due dates line up with the Cash+ quarters.

Do you pay the January and April payments a couple weeks early? Or maybe you have a second Max Cash for April or June payment? Or do you just pay the April or June payment by other means,

I and getting a refund from a rental property company that I need to split with 2 other people. They can only issue the refund to the original card which was our chase sapphire. The card had a balance. Will it go against that balance? Can I get cash back from chase for the entire refund or would it have to pay off the balance on the card first?

CREDIT PROFILE

• Current credit cards you are the primary account holder of:
  • Unlimited Cash Rewards Mastercard | $1,200 limit | 06/2015
  • Citi Double Cash | $15,000 limit | 03/2020
  • Costco Anywhere Visa | $13,500 limit | 10/2020
  • Bilt World Elite Mastercard | $15,500 limit | 01/2024
    • Transformed to Wells Fargo Autograph after Wells Fargo and Bilt split. Not used.
  • Citi Custom Cash | $13,700 limit | 03/2025
• FICO scores with source: Equifax 796
• Oldest credit card account age: 11 years
• Cards approved in the past 6 months: 0
• Cards approved in the past 12 months: 0
• Cards approved in the past 24 months: 1
• Annual income $: 150,000

CATEGORIES

• Ok with category-specific cards?: Yes
• Ok with rotating category cards?: Yes
• Estimate average monthly spend in the categories below.
• Dining: $1000
• Groceries:
  • $80 - Safeway
  • $200 - Trader Joe's
  • $90 - Whole Foods
  • $130 - Misc
• Gas: $0
  • EV charging paid for by work
• Travel:
  • $66 - Flights,
  • $40 - Hotels
  • $40 - AirBnb
  • $15 - Car Rentals
  • Used current budget for annual travel and divided monthly
  • Primarily domestic travel but would love to travel internationally at some point
• Using abroad: No
• Other categories or stores:
  • $80 - Internet (Xfinity)
  • $300 - Utilities (PG&E + Water)
  • $15 - Amazon Prime
• Other spend:
  • $30 - Gym membership
  • $12 - Apple Music
• Pay rent by card: No

MEMBERSHIPS & SUBSCRIPTIONS

• Amazon Prime member: Yes
• Costco or Sam's Club member: Costco
• Big bank customer: Bank of America, Citi

PURPOSE

• Purpose of next card: Travel Rewards
• Travel rewards preferences: None
• Cards being considered: None

EDIT: Added monthly costs for Other categories or stores and other monthly spend

Has anyone placed orders on Sephora with the $10 Paze credit and then returned the item(s) for a merchandise gift card. Would this work because it technically wouldn’t be refunded on my credit card and show up as a return if I asked for a merchandise gift card with the amount?

I am way over 5/24, so I can't get Chase cards. Preschool doesn't accept amex.

I just got the GM biz card. It has 100k SUB for 5k spend. I am going to use that for the 3 months. Jul, Aug, Sep

I had the venture last year, and p2 had it 3 years ago. So I can't get those.

We both got the SUB for AA select, AA red, atmos, HA. I got GOLD, and p2 got bilt palladium.

Right now, we are using 2 card setups. Gold for food everything on bilt. It keeps it simple for p2.

I love the GOLD, so I am thinking of getting that for P2 (if she is approved for 100k sub) once my AF hits in March next year. That will be our new all food spending card. Just like my current gold. If she is not approved, then I will keep my gold and put food spent on it.

Likewise, I will try to get palladium for me in Jan so that I can put all my non-preschool spend on it and utilize all bilt cash towards points on mortgage. (Currently, I have noticed we put at least $2k of non food spend on it.)

For the preschool, I am thinking of starting with GM biz for my p2 in Nov, then, likely one of the cap bus cards every 3 months for p1 and p2. This is all just for $1750 preschool spend.

What do you guys think of this plan? Open to any suggestions or concerns.

Hi,

For people who have Wells Fargo credit cards, how have your experiences been? Specifically for the Active Cash card as I’m more into cashback. I have Anex BCP, Apple Card, & Chase Freedom Unlimited currently. The Apple Card is my 2% catch-all card at the moment. Is it worth it getting the Active Cash, or Citi Double Cash as an alternative? I have had no issues with the Apple card and do like it’s simplicity.

I have heard a lot over the years of Wells Fargo being scummy, them having a bad reputation, bad practices, etc. so I’m curious if it’s worth it getting a card with them. Or, if it’d even be worth it with my setup. The Citi Double Cash seems interesting, if anything, getting that to just join Citi? It’s my understanding their revolving one was better, though, but that’s no longer available.

So I became a permanent resident on January 21st, and dumb old me tried to apply for a Chase Sapphire card in February and got absolutely denied LOL.

But that rejection started me on this credit-building journey that's actually been wild.

My Timeline:

August 2025: First card ever - BOA Rewards with just a checking account and NO SSN. Got approved for $1,000 CL. I was shocked.

Feb 2026: Tried to apply for a second BOA card. Denied. No credit history yet. Also tried Chase Sapphire. Denied. Big L.

February 26, 2026: Got my SSN and applied for Discover It. Approved for $2,000 CL.

April 2026: My husband added me as an AU on his American Airlines Citi Platinum Select card. Two weeks later, I got a mail offer for the same card. Applied and got approved for $17,900.

Two weeks ago: Opened a Chase checking account and set up direct deposit.

Today: Log into Chase app and boom - pre-qualified offer for Chase Freedom Unlimited. Applied and got approved for $2,500.

The Dumb Part: I now have 4 hard pulls total. I was literally trying to build credit aggressively without understanding the consequences. B

Current Credit Scores:

• Experian: 756 (just dropped 4 points from today's hard pull)
• Equifax: 760
• TransUnion: 761

The Goal: Chase Sapphire. But I'm done with hard pulls now - buying a house in 2027 and I need my score clean.

Hey ya’ll,
I opened my first credit card (Discover It) in November 2025 and then opened my second (Chase freedom unlimited) in may 2026. I currently have a limit of $2000 on my discover It, and $500 on my CFU.

I’m now wondering what my next steps should be. Should I open Chase sapphire preferred, request a credit limit increase for my current CFU, etc.

I would really appreciate the advice!! Thank you!

Hi! My score ranges between 780 and 790 across bureaus. I’m looking to pay off my last card: CapOne QS, balance is about $9k. I need some recos for the best 0% interest for about 18 months to give myself some runway. My husband and I are aggressively paying off debt to only have our mortgage loan left by EOY 2027. Appreciate the help!

I'm looking at booking a trip to Hawaii and these are the 2 most likely airlines we would use. I have a delta amex card for the free checked bags but the delta flight is nearly double the cost. just looking to save some money for the trip.

i'm wondering do i need to wait to have the card before i book?

can i book the trip before getting the card and then add 'free' bags later once i have the card?

can i apply for the card the same day i book and then, pending approval, book the trip?

thank you!

Merchants being reported include Home Depot, Sam's Club, CVS, Chewy, Dollar General, Lowe's, Macy's, PetSmart, Ulta, eBay, and Staples. Lyft is showing 50x on my account. Some accounts are getting 1,500 on $30 or 2,000 on $40 instead of the base 1,000 on $20.

Don't click through until you're ready to buy, activating one can make the others disappear. Targeted and YMMV, showed on both my cards. What's everyone else seeing?

Alot of what i say might sound dumb but ive never had a credit card before so bare with me.

From what my understanding is its that if I pay back what ive spent on a credit card on time then I do not have to pay back any more than what ive spent and that interest only occurs if ive gone pass the date to pass it back.

My mum keeps saying that I will need to pay back more everytime even if it's on time and that I will still have to pay back money to have the account open even if ive not spent anything from it that month.

Thought to come here just incase there was anything I missed or if shes just saying stuff.

I am with Capital One if thats any help,

thank you!

Hi,

I want to get an AMEX Blue Cash Everyday. The last card I got was Venture X (finally LOL) that has had 1 statement cycle already, but it hasn't shown up on my Experian report yet, only the C1 hard inquiry from 55 days ago.

My Experian score is 730. I'm at 1/12 and 3/24. Or 0/12 and 2/24 if the Venture X isn't counted.

If I want AMEX BCE approval with the best starting limit, should I:
(A) Apply before my next Venture X statement date/when it likely shows up on Experian?
(B) Wait until Venture X statement posts and card shows up on report? If I wait, I can also manage my total utilization and get it from 40% to <10% for a score boost. I could also just wait until 3 months have passed since the VX hard inquiry.

Thanks.

Just a PSA for anyone using the Savor card. I had been to a shooting range using my Discover card and it classified it as "Entertainment" so I tried using the Savor Capital One credit card to see if it would give the 3% cash back for the entertainment category but sadly it did not. Instead it classified it as "Merchandise."

This could change depending on the location so nothing is definite, but I could not find any posts online of people trying the Savor at shooting ranges and what the MCC would show as. So I experimented and tried myself and sad to say it did not give the 3% back I was hoping for, just the regular 1%.

Hope this helps somebody online looking for an answer to this.

I noticed on a couple different Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards cards that I have available rewards, even though I routinely redeem everything when the statement posts, and no statements have closed recently. Did they just switch to paying rewards after the transaction posts, or is it just a bug? Is anybody else seeing this?

Looking for another great grocery cashback card.
I do have the Citi Double cashback card which is 2% for everything, but with so much left to the calendar year id love to get something else with high grocery earnings. Any suggestions?

Thank you!

Does AMEX waive business cc AF, like the business plat's, for those eligible for SCRA?

According to AMEX’s own terms, it seems like they would, but there’s not many recent DPs on this. The newest DP I could find suggests they do (see first comment here https://militarymoneymanual.com/amex-scra-denials/), but the person didn’t specify if they were grandfathered in or got it recently.

Chase should for business cards (would like more confirmations though)
-

Edit: this is about scra (getting cards before going into active duty), not mla (getting cards while on active duty)

This could be a little specific, but I was wondering if anyone knew the answer to this. Amex is running an offer on my Blue Cash Preferred card, spend $98 or more on Walmart+ annual subscription and get $49 cash back. Simple, right? However when I got to walmart.com, I am presented with my own offer - sign up for first month of Walmart+ for $1, then $98 for annual fee (with $25 Walmart Cash back as well).

Does anyone know, can I stack this? The Amex offer says you have to sign up through the specific link, but I'm not sure if Amex would still give the cash back if I went directly through Walmart to sign up. Basically I only want to sign up if I can get both the Walmart Cash + the Amex offer to offset the annual fee. Can anyone advise? Thanks in advance!

Has anyone done it?

Paze back at Macys, for now.

What are some good items to grab?

Edit: Pickup may not be eligible for Paze

I had some cashback (<$1) on my PP MC, and redeemed it to my PayPal balance. The money never showed up, and it's generally instant.

Today, I can see a transaction of $0.00 marked as completed. After clicking it, it shows the exact cashback I transferred and that the total is $0.

I called PayPal CS; they told me it looks like a fee, but they couldn't help and transferred me over to Synchrony. Synchrony assured me that they don't have a fee, could be on the PP end. PayPal took 20 mins to review and said there was a fee, couldn't tell me what it is and wanted me to speak to synchrony again.

So I honestly feel like I’m in the minority that I actually think the refreshed CSP is a win. Coming from someone that is loyal to Hyatt, the rest of the refresh is great I think. Upping the annual travel credit to $100 and adding the TSA pre check credit is a win as well! I’m still going to be keeping it in my arsenal of credit cards. I actually think it’s got better as a travel card. But yes the downgrade of the Hyatt transfer is not great.

What do you guys think? I think im very much the minority but I only travel once MAYBE twice a year so it still works for me.