Hey All,
4th year medical student about to graduate this May and head off to residency. I have been listed on the account for my parents CC since I was ~20 (For emergency use), in an attempt to build up some credit through them, but have never had my own credit card. In hind-sight, I should have gotten one through medical school and put a lot of my purchases on that, since I knew I would have the student loan funds to pay for me (Books, food, gas, etc...), but that's in in past now.
I am looking at signing up for my first credit card at the start of residency, and I've been looking at various CC deals. While my GF and I like to travel, I'm hesitant to sign up for a points/miles reward card given that I'm going into Orthopedics, and likely will not have a ton of time over the next 6 years for extravagant international travel -- I'd rather get cash back rewards. The two cards I'm between right now is the Citi Double Cash card, or the AMEX Blue Cash Preferred. I am leaning towards the AMEX, given that most of my expenses are groceries and gas, and the AMEX rewards you more for those. I also do a lot of my shopping through Amazon and believe that I could buy Amazon gift cards at grocery stores for the 6% return, and then use the gift cards for Amazon purchases. The only reason I am not pulling the trigger is because I have heard that AMEX is not as widely accepted as other CC's because they charge a higher % fee to retailers for their use. I am curious if anyone here has an AMEX and can comment on how often they find themselves having to use another CC, or debit card, because a place would not take their AMEX?
Thanks for the advice!
4th year medical student about to graduate this May and head off to residency. I have been listed on the account for my parents CC since I was ~20 (For emergency use), in an attempt to build up some credit through them, but have never had my own credit card. In hind-sight, I should have gotten one through medical school and put a lot of my purchases on that, since I knew I would have the student loan funds to pay for me (Books, food, gas, etc...), but that's in in past now.
I am looking at signing up for my first credit card at the start of residency, and I've been looking at various CC deals. While my GF and I like to travel, I'm hesitant to sign up for a points/miles reward card given that I'm going into Orthopedics, and likely will not have a ton of time over the next 6 years for extravagant international travel -- I'd rather get cash back rewards. The two cards I'm between right now is the Citi Double Cash card, or the AMEX Blue Cash Preferred. I am leaning towards the AMEX, given that most of my expenses are groceries and gas, and the AMEX rewards you more for those. I also do a lot of my shopping through Amazon and believe that I could buy Amazon gift cards at grocery stores for the 6% return, and then use the gift cards for Amazon purchases. The only reason I am not pulling the trigger is because I have heard that AMEX is not as widely accepted as other CC's because they charge a higher % fee to retailers for their use. I am curious if anyone here has an AMEX and can comment on how often they find themselves having to use another CC, or debit card, because a place would not take their AMEX?
Thanks for the advice!
Comment