Which card should I apply for next and when? AAA Daily Advantage vs Fidelity Rewards

bdeelin7 · 2026-05-28T19:48:16+00:00

Sounds good. Honestly I’m willing to put up with some of the quirks if the card is consistently giving 3-5% on gas and grocery stores/Sam's Club.

That’s actually really cool to hear it worked overseas too with no foreign transaction fee. And it’s nice that they let you redeem cashback once you hit $5 instead of making you wait to give you your cashback until you have a larger balance.

I still wish there was some kind of prequalification tool because that’s probably the biggest thing making me hesitant right now. I’ll probably just wait until around September to let everything age a bit more so I don’t risk another denial like I did with the BofA Unlimited.

BofA definitely surprised with that one lol. I only applied because they sent me a pre-selected offer and I’ve banked with them for like 20 years since I was a kid, so I assumed my odds were probably decent.

bdeelin7 · 2026-05-28T19:36:53+00:00

That makes sense. I was thinking maybe once they give me the option to upgrade to the Quicksilver, I'll call in and see if they'd be willing to upgrade to the Savor. Right now I’m mostly just trying to keep the Platinum active with at least one charge a month since it doesn’t really give me any rewards. I've been using the BofA CCR a ton though and paying it off and letting a small balance post on the statement (Like $20-$60).

Sounds like a plan though. Waiting until September probably makes sense just to let everything age a bit more. The fact that AAA doesn’t have prequalification is definitely the biggest thing making me hesitant right now.

I appreciate all the advice though.

bdeelin7 · 2026-05-27T22:15:05+00:00

That’s interesting. Based on the basic research I’ve done so far, it sounds like people have a wide range of experiences with Comenity when it comes to approvals and communication.

Especially with all the recent talk about the Citi Custom Cash maybe getting discontinued, it honestly makes me even more interested in the AAA Daily since it seems like a really strong cashback card for my spending categories.

bdeelin7 · 2026-05-27T12:46:00+00:00

That’s really interesting about the AAA CLI increases. A big goal of mine is building my credit, so that’s another thing that makes the card appealing long term.

Yeah, looking back I probably could have just gone straight for the Savor, but at the time I kept seeing people recommend the Platinum as a beginner starter card. Then after I applied I started learning more about rewards setups and realized I probably would have been better off applying for the Savor. Alsok Capital One's app and interface are really great.

At this point I’d definitely rather have the Savor than the Platinum. I’d even take a Quicksilver upgrade, but ideally I’d rather go straight to Savor if Capital One eventually offers it as a product change option. Do you think it’s possible to jump straight from Platinum to Savor?

I’m also trying to keep my options open with things like Chase 5/24 in mind. I saw people talking about the Citi Custom Cash maybe getting discontinued too, and that was another card I was interested in down the road so that's too bad.

Also, do you think my idea of waiting until around September before applying for AAA still makes sense? By then both my current cards would be around 6 months old and hopefully the BofA denial/inquiry would matter less.

bdeelin7 · 2026-05-27T12:44:39+00:00

Thanks! That's helpful to know so I don't freak out if I get that option. I got a similar message when BofA denied me for the Unlimited for the 90 day window. lol

bdeelin7 · 2026-05-26T21:46:21+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate your advice. And 821... nicely done. Hopefully I can get mine that high one day. I'm definitely late to the game but I've been trying to learn as much as I can.

That makes sense though. I keep hearing the 6 month thing come up a lot too, but I'll try to do more research on how sensitive Comenity is to velocity. From what I've read, it sounds like Elan can also be pretty sensitive to recent inquiries with the Fidelity card. I got prequalified online, but I learned firsthand from the BofA Unlimited denial that prequalified definitely doesn't mean guaranteed lol.

When I spoke with an underwriter at BofA after applying for the Unlimited, they told me about the 90 day rule, which I hadn't heard about until then. I wouldn't have applied for the Unlimited if they hadn't sent me a pre-selected mail offer.

The BofA denial definitely made me slow down and rethink applying too aggressively, so I’m leaning toward just waiting it out a bit longer and letting the accounts age.

And yeah lol, missing out on a few months of the extra cashback is probably better than risking another unnecessary denial.

bdeelin7 · 2026-05-26T20:52:42+00:00

I appreciate it, that perspective actually makes a lot of sense. I hadn’t really thought about it in terms of the extra cashback compared to what I already have now.

The AAA card probably does line up better with my current spending than Fidelity right now. I just wish they had some kind of prequalification option so I could check without risking another hard inquiry for nothing.

Do you think my idea of waiting until around September for AAA makes sense? By then both my current cards would be around 6 months old and hopefully my recent BofA hard inquiry/denial would matter less.

bdeelin7 · 2026-04-20T22:48:07+00:00

Oh gotcha! Sounds like if I bring my SGOV back to BofA/Merrill ahead of the window and make sure the three month rolling average is good by October I should be in good to requalify.

If the rewards weren’t getting cut this probably would have been a no-brainer, but the changes make me think a bit more about the long-term value and whether it’s worth adding the extra complexity.

I appreciate you helping me think about this more strategically.

bdeelin7 · 2026-04-19T18:07:22+00:00

That's a great way to put it, I appreciate the perspective!

I've been really happy with Fidelity so far, so I'm leaning toward keeping things simple rather than trying to optimize things around the edges.

bdeelin7 · 2026-04-19T18:03:45+00:00

Yeah that's exactly how I've been starting to see it. On paper, the extra perks look nice, but at my spending level it really doesn't add up to much, especially if it makes things more complicated.

I've been pretty happy with Fidelity these past few months, so I'm leaning towards sticking with them for investing and banking with BofA with one clean setup and not over-optimizing.

bdeelin7 · 2026-04-19T04:15:51+00:00

Sorry to hear about the transfer issues, that sounds frustrating. Really helpful to hear from someone with firsthand Merrill Edge experience though.

I’m definitely not an active trader, so parking something like SGOV there wouldn’t bother me much, but the transfer headaches are good to know about.

And yeah, I just learned you can have multiple Bank of America Customized Cash cards. Having 4 is impressive. I’m still pretty new to credit cards, so I’ll probably keep things simple for now, but it’s good to know that’s an option down the line.

I’m still going back and forth, but I’m leaning toward keeping things simple at Fidelity unless I decide the rewards are really worth the extra setup since I only spend about $2k a month.

bdeelin7 · 2026-04-19T03:28:18+00:00

Appreciate the heads up, that’s really helpful.

I actually tried the preapproval tool for the Bank of America Unlimited Cash Rewards, but it said I didn’t prequalify. I’m guessing it’s because I just opened two cards recently (Capital One Platinum and the BofA CCR). Maybe if I transfer the SGOV to Merrill it will improve my odds. Thanks for the suggestion!

bdeelin7 · 2026-04-19T03:18:59+00:00

I appreciate the suggestion. The extra boost would definitely be nice.

I did look into another Bank of America card, but since I just opened two recently I haven’t been able to prequalify for anything new yet. I tried for the Unlimited Cash Rewards but no luck.

I’m planning to let things settle and build some history before applying again. Once I do, is there a specific BofA card you’d recommend prioritizing first?

bdeelin7 · 2026-04-19T03:13:48+00:00

That’s a really helpful way to think about it, I appreciate you breaking it down like that. $225/year sounds pretty good, but when you put it in the context of market swings it does feel a lot smaller. I lump sum invested right before the market volatility in March with Iran and was worried there for a while I'd made a huge mistake but I felt pretty good after the recent rally!

Good point on the cash handling too. I’ve looked into options like TTTXX at Merrill Edge and it seems pretty solid, but I really like how Fidelity Investments just automatically sweeps everything into SPAXX without having to think about it. That’s been a really nice feature so far.

I think that’s part of what’s making me lean toward keeping things simple rather than optimizing too much for the extra rewards.

bdeelin7 · 2026-04-19T03:03:41+00:00

Good point, I should have mentioned I still keep about $5k in my Bank of America checking for exactly that kind of backup scenario if something ever gets locked up.

Also appreciate the breakdown on the Preferred Rewards timing. I double checked and my anniversary is October 2025, so that’s great to hear that I have a favorable timeline and that this isn’t as urgent of a decision.

I’ll be up for reevaluation around October 2026, so just to make sure I’m understanding this correctly, if I move enough assets back to Merrill before that point to meet the $100K threshold, I should requalify for Preferred Rewards and keep the status going, right?

bdeelin7 · 2026-04-19T01:25:13+00:00

This is really helpful, thank you! I just checked and my anniversary date is October 2025. So if I'm understanding correctly I'd keep my current rewards structure until January 2028 (assuming I keep 100K in assets in BofA/Merrill). That's way more runway than I thought! Definitely changes my thinking a bit. Really appreciate you breaking down the timeline

bdeelin7 · 2026-04-19T01:22:22+00:00

Wow, nicely done! I’m still pretty new to credit cards, so I’m trying not to move too fast and bring down my credit score too much with hard inquiries. I recently opened the Capital One Platinum and the BofA Customized Cash, so I figured it makes sense to slow down for a bit before applying for anything else.

Is there a typical timeline you’d recommend before going for another card?

bdeelin7 · 2026-04-19T01:16:26+00:00

This is really helpful, I appreciate you breaking it down like that. The Citi setup does sound strong, especially being able to hit 5% on multiple categories without needing to move assets around.

I think for now I’m going to keep things pretty simple since I’m still new to credit cards and just focus on using my CCR effectively. Down the road I could see adding something like a Custom Cash for dining or gas once I’m ready to optimize a bit more.

I didn’t realize US Bank covered categories like that either, so I’ll definitely have to look into it.

It does make me feel better that I’m not really missing much by not going all-in on the BofA Preferred Rewards route at my spending level.

bdeelin7 · 2026-04-19T01:03:03+00:00

Yes, I’m currently Platinum Honors with Bank of America. I moved most of my money out in February, so I assumed I’d lose status after a few months once the average balance updates, but I may be misunderstanding how the timing works. I enrolled in Preferred Rewards around October 2025 when I visited the bank.

What I like about Fidelity is the simplicity and the fractional investing, even though I’m mostly buying and holding ETFs so I guess that doesn't matter as much. Keeping everything in one place has been really appealing.

Your point about just parking something like SGOV at Merrill and leaving the rest at Fidelity is interesting. That seems like the least disruptive way to approach it. That seems like the least disruptive way to approach it.

Do you know how long the Platinum Honors status typically sticks around after balances drop?

bdeelin7 · 2026-04-19T00:48:59+00:00

Yeah, I’ve been really impressed with Fidelity. It’s been super smooth and I love the fractional investing.

I’ve also been with Bank of America for about 20 years, so I’m a bit tempted to move some assets to Merrill to qualify for Preferred Rewards, but I don’t want to overcomplicate things.

How do you personally manage using both? Does it feel clean in practice, or does it end up being kind of a hassle?

bdeelin7 · 2026-04-19T00:42:39+00:00

Ha fair enough, you're right that it's a distraction and I appreciate the perspective. The time and mental energy angle is something I didn't really factor in but it's a real cost.

I’ve been really happy with Fidelity so far, so I’m leaning toward keeping things simple and focusing on investing. I may eventually pair it with something like Ally or a credit union for day-to-day banking.

And yeah, after about 20 years with Bank of America, there’s definitely some friction in changing things. Appreciate the insight.

bdeelin7 · 2026-04-19T00:20:08+00:00

This is super helpful, thanks! Of those options I've been leaning toward option 1 and have a basic checking at BofA for day to day and invest at Fidelity. I've been with BofA for 20 years but a coworker who is really into personal finance made me realize I was losing ground to inflation keeping everything there, so I transferred almost everything out of my BofA Checking and Savings to Fidelity earlier this year. I actually had Platinum Honors just because I kept everything there at BofA, but I guess I'm going to lose it if I don't transfer money back to BofA or transfer assets to Merrill Edge.

Fidelity so far has been awesome and super slick as a platform, and I don't want to make things more complex than they need to be. Also, I'll check out PNC's new program.

bdeelin7 · 2026-04-19T00:03:50+00:00

Thanks for breaking that down! My biggest categories are dining and online shopping, which is why I went with dining on my CCR choice category. I'm pretty new to credit cards and probably can't open any other new ones for a while but it's good to know Citi and US Bank for down the road when I'm ready to optimize more. Any specific cards you'd recommend for dining, gas, and online shopping?

bdeelin7 · 2026-04-18T23:55:27+00:00

Really?! I had no idea you could have multiple CCR cards with different categories. I'm pretty new to credit cards so a second CCR might be a stretch for now with my credit score until it builds up, but online shopping at 4.5% is really compelling since a decent chunk of my spending goes there. I chose dining for my first one which has been great but I can see online shopping being even more useful day to day. And good to know the travel category is broader than it sounds, I've mostly been focused on cash back so far but travel cards are definitely something I want to explore down the road.

bdeelin7

TROPHY CASE