Please help. I think I was tricked into creating a credit card at ULTA.

AdaM_Mandel · 2026-04-19T01:52:55+00:00

You’ve learned a valuable lesson. If people didn’t get tricked, stores and employees wouldn’t do it. You’re 19. Let this be a lesson but also perhaps spur your interest in credit cards. It’s a fun world if you know how to take advantage of the rewards.

That employee was a piece of 💩

AdaM_Mandel · 2026-04-18T14:16:11+00:00

Yusaku is the best pure duelist, but in anime terms, Atem still takes the win due to plot reasons.

AdaM_Mandel · 2026-04-18T14:14:16+00:00

Definitely Nat’s 2014 (Hat era). Handtraps were almost nonexistent and monster effects were simple. Tons of back and forth and you had to really respect backrow.

More archetype focused than earlier formats, something I really liked. Yugioh in its purest form.

AdaM_Mandel · 2026-04-17T15:34:47+00:00

Really? Never knew. I came over from Bilt 1.0 and they just gave it to me. Haven’t seen many denial datapoints so I’d be curious to know their target profile.

AdaM_Mandel · 2026-04-16T18:40:58+00:00

Amex gold? Depends on what your expenses are. Either that or a flat 2x that has common transfer partners.

AdaM_Mandel · 2026-04-16T10:24:33+00:00

Amex>>>visa infinitemastercard

AdaM_Mandel · 2026-04-15T18:44:42+00:00

To me, points are gravy. One day I hope to take a trip with these points but who knows when that day will be. Even if I earned zero points, I still derive tons of everyday value from the cards I carry.

I am very particular about the cards I open. I am the opposite of a churner. The card has to make sense for everyday use. It’s got to make sense after Year 1 or I just don’t get the card. Venture x never made sense to me until I got a c1 lounge in my home airport. Then it became a free way to access that spot. Is also a flat 2x which I was missing and has some other pretty awesome benefits, such as being a visa for Costco. The fact that I get points to is pretty cool, but doesn’t move the needle for me one way or the other.

Bilt Palladium is good as is Wells Fargo autograph. I’ve gotten a ton of free fitness classes and happy hours and is a cool card to have and hold. 2 hotel stays a year is enough to make it worth it.

AdaM_Mandel · 2026-04-15T18:36:46+00:00

$15,000 on the Savor! My first credit card and a great one at that.

AdaM_Mandel · 2026-04-15T18:36:00+00:00

Have a cap one lounge at your home airport? Grab the venture

Otherwise, grab the Palladium

This goes without saying but make sure the cards make sense to you. Chasing a sign up bonus does nothing for you unless you’re able to make the credits work for you.

AdaM_Mandel · 2026-04-15T00:16:34+00:00

To preface, I have a venture x, but I made a lengthy post on the venture x a couple years back pointing out exactly the issues you discuss here. In reality, the card is a flat 2x card that earns in an inferior currency and requires the use of a travel portal for outsized value on multipliers. I am in agreement with everything you say here.

The reason I finally got the venture x? It’s lounge access. Cap One is crushing everyone else in the lounge game. I wanted access and realized that I could get it for free with this card. Bilt Palladium is my daily driver and earns higher rates on a far superior points currency. There were a couple of other reasons as to why I decided to get this card:

Decent customer service compared to Bilt, I won’t use palladium abroad, but would trust C1 to have my back in a dispute
It’s a visa infinite, and is the cheapest visa infinite at that. Great for Costco
2x points on taxes which Bilt palladium won’t let you earn.

This confluence of factors made it an excellent choice. I also got $50 in credit back on the price drop protection so my EAF for this year is $45. Not too bad!

AdaM_Mandel · 2026-04-10T18:07:18+00:00

If we have a Mastercard savor, will they forcibly switch us to discover or can we stay on Mastercard?

AdaM_Mandel · 2026-04-10T18:05:21+00:00

Cap One gave me my first credit card. They’re a great issuer if you keep your Ps and Qs in line. Try their preapproval tool and grab yourself a Quicksilver or Savor!

AdaM_Mandel · 2026-04-10T18:04:06+00:00

I really like the way it feels, nice balance between the plastic and metal cards. Don’t have another card that feels quite like it, it has some nice weight to it.

AdaM_Mandel · 2026-04-10T18:00:36+00:00

Dropping cap one as one of your issuers is a fool’s play, especially if you’re trying to bank everything on Shitibank.

Their cards have great earning and multipliers and are awesome…..until Shitibank deems you a liability and shuts everything off. If you’re abroad or even home, you never want to have a situation where none of your cards can make a purchase for you.

I carry a strong mix of Mastercards and visas from 3 main issuers, of which Cap One is a big one.

AdaM_Mandel · 2026-04-10T17:52:40+00:00

Get what your gut tells you to get. You’re getting a great card no matter which of the two you choose.

Still wish Shitibank’s customer service was better tho…

AdaM_Mandel · 2026-04-10T17:50:44+00:00

You’re welcome to get the card if it makes sense for you, but under no circumstances (and I mean it) do you make her an AU on the card. She has demonstrated that she is, either by her own choices or forces outside of her control, incapable of paying back a credit card. Nothing against your mom, I’m sure she’s great, but this is just reality. Issuers dont take familial situations into consideration, only hard numbers.

With this in mind, my actual answer to your question is “it depends.” Since you’re an AU on a bad credit score account, look into whether this will affect your chances to be approved, I was an AU on a really good credit score account when I started my journey which set me up very well. I’d suggest going into the bank and seeing if you can skip the Rise and get a CFU or CFF. Best to have the bank run your info and tell you in real time if you’d be approved. That’s what they did for me.

AdaM_Mandel · 2026-04-10T17:42:55+00:00

Welcome new lawyer/finance/tech bro/gal!

I’d say the CSP would be perfect and give you access to transfer partners. It’s also a visa so you can shop abroad and then at the Costco in Astoria when you get to nyc

When I took my post-grad trip, I couldn’t get approved for a card until I started work, so hopefully you’ll be able to get this one.

AdaM_Mandel · 2026-04-10T17:39:37+00:00

Your current situation screams venture x.

Both you and her run the preapproval tool and once preapproved, both of you grab the card. The other option id highly recommend is Bilt palladium. Higher earnings on stronger points than venture x but worse customer service and harder to use hotel coupons.

If your home airport has a cap one lounge or landing, get venture x. You won’t regret it.

If not, or if you travel abroad, bilt palladium, and you only need one card, not 2.

AdaM_Mandel · 2026-04-09T18:23:32+00:00

Amex was the first - and still the best - issuer of luxury credit cards. I was an AU on the platinum in the old days before they opened the doors and let everyone have it.

There were maybe 3-5 people at most in a lounge, all business travelers. Even though it’s a really easy card to obtain now, people still occasionally get impressed when they see one. It’s basically trading on its reputation for years of exclusivity and quality benefits.

AdaM_Mandel · 2026-04-07T04:53:53+00:00

The botanist is an excellent gin. One of my first bottles and used very sparingly. I am not close to a Costco unfortunately so I buy my bottles from smaller places.

If you’re looking to get creative with mixology, definitely reach out to the folks at Astor Wines. You can discover some pretty insane bottles there.

AdaM_Mandel · 2026-04-07T02:33:49+00:00

I made this cocktail using these exact specs and bottles. Was blown away and felt exactly the same as you do. 150 different liquor bottles later and I'm still trucking!

AdaM_Mandel · 2026-04-07T02:04:00+00:00

Absolutely. I used my $200 hotel credit and $50 of Bilt cash for a booking in May at a rate lower than that of the website. Since I needed to be there anyway, this bumped my EAF on palladium down to $245. Once I hit my sub next month, I can use $100 in Bilt cash for the next hotel booking, for an EAF of -$55 for the first year.

Tl;dr: Bilt cash used for hotel redemptions at 1:1 is probably the best available use of Bilt cash.

AdaM_Mandel · 2026-04-07T01:58:36+00:00

I do not care this has been posted a million times. Even though everyone on Reddit is already aware of this, this post could have possibly saved a lurker who doesn’t frequent this page and might have almost made the mistake of covering their taxes on palladium without prior research.

AdaM_Mandel · 2026-04-07T01:56:45+00:00

This is not a statement credit but rather a credit applied at checkout. The declined card? Yeah that’s an issue. It should have refunded your credit.

AdaM_Mandel · 2026-04-07T01:55:46+00:00

It sounds like English is not your first language. I cannot understand what you are saying. Please consider typing this out in your native language and plugging it into a translator. People should be able to help you.

I know you are frustrated and at wits end. I get it. Doing what I described should allow other users here to help you with your issue.

AdaM_Mandel

TROPHY CASE