love making videos that showcase the “beautiful and feel good” side of credit cards. That’s because it feels great, it gets the emotions running, and it’s also a little bit inspiring. And all of that is great, but, we also need to talk about the things that are not so great, and maybe this will help to ease some of the pressure off of some of you who are watching these videos and feel like you need to match the velocity of some of your favorite credit card content creators or get the exact same credit cards that we have. I know this because I have even felt this pressure myself. So in this video, I may be pretty brutal, but that’s sometimes necessary to give practical tips that can save you from screwing up your sh**.
0:00 – 0:41 – Intro
0:41 – 3:05 – Act Your Age
3:05 – 4:29 – Develop Good Habits
4:29 – 6:39 – Leverage Your Credit
6:39 – 12:35 – Don’t Keep Cards That Don’t Fit Your Lifestyle
12:35 – 15:35 – Don’t Base Your Decisions Solely On What’s Trending In The Credit Card Space
15:35 – 17:46 – Beware of the Overlap Trap
17:46 – 20:39 – Strategically Apply for New Credit Cards
Act Your Age
The first thing you need to know about the credit card game is to ACT YOUR AGE. Now I’m not talking about your age based upon your birth date, but your age based upon your credit history. If you are new to credit, then, you shouldn’t really be looking to open up an Amex Platinum card, or the Chase Sapphire Reserve because both of those credit cards come with a pretty hefty annual fee – with the Amex Platinum at six hundred ninety five dollars and the Chase Sapphire Reserve at five hundred fifty dollars. Now to be honest, if you’re new to credit, not just credit cards, but credit on the whole, then you most likely won’t be approved for any of these credit cards, so that may not be a huge deal. But if you are somehow approved, you’re immediately going to have a charge to your credit card that’s several hundred dollars, and its pretty common for those at the beginning stage to not want to shell out that amount of cash immediately, especially if you’re young, and especially if you’re working an entry level job that doesn’t pay very well.
Develop Good Habits
Early on in the credit card game, your focus should be on developing good habits with using credit cards – Let’s just say that somehow you slip through the cracks and now you’re approved for the Amex Platinum, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Capital One Venture X, in short, the really expensive credit cards, then, these tools that can be used to bring a positive experience to you, may just be a negative at first, especially if you don’t understand how to extract value from those expensive credit cards. Trying to understand how to extract value, while you’re trying to understand how to use a credit card responsibly in the first place, may be too much too soon for a lot of people at the beginner level. This is why we see credit cards like the Chase Freedom Rise, Capital One Quicksilver, Capital One Platinum Secured Credit Card, and dare I say, I’ll even throw in the Apple Card into this mix
Leverage Your Credit
If you’ve had credit cards for several years, and you’ve mastered the ability to be responsible with credit cards, by not carrying a statement balance from month to month, and you built up a great credit score, if your only credit card is some sort of retail store credit card, or you still have that one first pretty good credit card that you’ve opened, then, I’m sorry, you’re probably not following this first tip I gave which is to act your age because there are a lot of credit cards out there that do not have an annual fee, that can bring you a little bit of extra cash through obtaining the welcome offers that are available. Some examples include the Chase Freedom Unlimited, Freedom Flex, Capital One Savor One, Wells Fargo Active Cash, Citi Custom Cash, and Citi Double Cash
Don’t Keep Cards That Don’t Fit Your Lifestyle
Don’t keep cards that don’t fit your lifestyle….if they have an annual fee. I really want to say don’t get cards that don’t fit your lifestyle, but I understand that there’s a strong argument, and its a valid one, that the welcome offer may be worth the sacrifice of getting a card that doesn’t suit you. But what I’m really talking about, once again, are those luxury travel cards and I’m going to pick on the Amex Platinum card once again.
Don’t Base Your Decisions Solely On What’s Trending In The Credit Card Space
Do not base your decisions solely on what’s trending in the credit card YouTube space. Take it from me, don’t make excuses to follow trends in the credit card community just to apply for a new credit card. I try to create videos that match my personality and my strategy, and its hard sometimes to stay true to that because I can see videos topics that work and are trending, and I’d like to jump in on those, but it doesn’t necessarily fit with my personality.