I noticed after applying for this card online last night that there were posts with people saying that no one had been approved. E.g., creditaddict's post here.
I just spoke with a credit analyst and was approved so I wanted to share my experience in case it's helpful to anyone else considering the Chase Ink Bold card. After applying online last night I called the regular number on the Web site to ask if I had answered a question about sales on the application correctly since I was applying as a professional with business expenses, not a small business owner. I got transferred to a specialist who asked a few questions and then told me I was approved. My notes from the call with the analyst:
- Line of business/income. The analyst started by asking what kind of work I do, and then how much my income is from my employer.
- Home ownership. He asked if I owned or rented my home (this is not a question on the online application).
- Assets. I have accounts with JP Morgan through a deal that my employer has. The analyst hadn't looked at these and didn't seem to care when I mentioned it. He just asked how much I have in investment and bank accounts.
- Credit report, utilization. I have six personal revolving cards, with limits of about $15k each, and one personal AmEx charge. At the time of application I had balances of $10k reporting, but I pay in full every month (these were all charges from the previous month). My highest "utilization" on any individual card was more than 1/3, with a more than $5k balance reporting on a $15k line. My scores are normally about 760 but this month they're probably more like 735 due to the higher than normal utilization on that one card. The analyst didn't seem to care about any of this and after asking about my income said, "I'm sure your credit's good -- let's just take a look -- OK, credit report looks great." I don't think he had time to do anything except look at the score.
- Credit report, inquiries. At the time I applied, I had three inquiries within the past month on Experian (the report they pulled), a total of four in the past year, and a total of seven in the past two years. Again, analyst didn't seem to care and didn't ask about it.
I had two existing Chase personal cards, a United with $15k limit and a Freedom with a $15.5k credit access line. He asked if it was OK to reduce one of those a bit because, he said, they were concerned about total exposure when approving new cards. We ended reducing the United to $5k since I never used it, leaving Freedom at $15.5k. He said I would get the Ink Bold card in the mail in a few days.
