Friday, May 26, 2006

Credit cards meme

I was planning on just linking to Claire's meme about credit cards, since I'm getting ready for our road trip, but then I realized how quick and easy it would be to just answer the question. I only have two credit cards:

  • MBNA America Mastercard. This used to be the MBNA Barnes & Noble Mastercard, and it was my first and only credit card in college. No annual fees, and I got a $10 Barnes & Noble gift certificate for every $1000 I spent. Then about a year ago they ended their affiliation with Barnes & Noble and switched over to Worldpoints. I don't really like that rewards program, and it annoyed me at the time, but in retrospect it was great because it prompted me to search for a better card, namely...
  • Citi Dividend Platinum Select. 5% cashback on groceries and gas, 1% on everything else, and no annual fee. Now I use this card exclusively, except for putting something on the MBNA card every once in a while to make sure it stays active (for the sake of my credit history).

I've always been pretty hesitant about signing up for cards for the sake of various promotions, out of concern for my credit score. That said, I wouldn't rule it out. I'd like to do some balance transfer arbitrage at some point, and I think the best deals for that are for new cards. But I'm worried at this point that my beginning credit limit would be too low to make it worthwhile. (My limit on my MBNA card is $15,000; my starting limit on the Citi card was $3,000, although I've now nudged it up to $8,200.)

So, that's mine. Go post your own and let Claire know!

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