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BCE, BOA, or Chase Freedom. Time for new advice for me!

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Bluedog23
Regular Contributor

BCE, BOA, or Chase Freedom. Time for new advice for me!

A few months ago I posted and asked for advice re Apping for new cc. Even though credit scores were ok was advised to wait at least 6 months and let two new cc's age. Hard as it was, I listened and gardened." Fast forward to now. Here are the facts:
Exp. Fico 761. 6/17/13
EQ . Fico 733. 6/10/13
TU. ??? But last time I purchased on this site it was 740 (2/13)

Inqs. Exp- 3. TU. 2. EQ. 2. All six months old except for a 5/12 cell phone inquiry.
AAoA. Exp 8.6 yrs. EQ. 5.4 yrs. TU ??
Income. 56,000
The waiting that I was advised to do was for the new cc's after having been out of the credit game for a few years. Trying to be so very careful this time.

No pub records or baddies., No lates or anything negative.

Current cards- Discover 2500.00. CU 2500.00. Cap One 2000.00 Sam's. 2000.00. 5% Util total

Now for the advice please. I would like to add just ONE more line. Here's what I'm considering:
Chase site- preselected for Freedom; Preselected letter from BOA; BCE "exclusive offer" creditcards.com

What I WANT is ONE prime line considering best odds of approval AND hopefully a larger CL than I currently have. I have a huge fear of inquiries so I want to make one count.

Which of the three should I try for? Or maybe you guys have another suggestion.
Hope some of the gurus here have some advice on the best and most likely successful course of action. Don't wanna make a silly mistake. Any input would be appreciated.
EX 805 FICO, EQ Fico 762; TU. 768Discover)
Message 1 of 12
11 REPLIES 11
enharu
Super Contributor

Re: BCE, BOA, or Chase Freedom. Time for new advice for me!

There's no right or wrong answer. Which card do you see benefitting you most? For example if you spend quite a bit on groceries, BCE will help most. Chase freedom is good if those rotating categories happen to meet your spending patterns.

The cards you listed are good cards.
JPMorgan Palladium (100k), AmEx Platinum (NPSL), AmEx SPG (46k), AmEx BCP (42k), Chase Sapphire Preferred (47k), Citi Prestige (31k), Citi Thank You Preferred (27k), Citi Executive AAdvantage (25k), JPMorgan Ritz-Carlton (21k), Merrill+ (15k), US Bank Cash+ (22.5k), Wells Fargo (12k), Bloomingdale’s (12.4k), Chase Freedom (5k), Discover IT (5k).
Message 2 of 12
drinkthekoolaid
Valued Member

Re: BCE, BOA, or Chase Freedom. Time for new advice for me!

If your wanting a good Prime card with great rewards and a good sign-on bonus the Chase Sapphire Preferred seems like a good pick. People typically say that you have to have at least one $5,000 limit cc bc the Chase Sapphire Preferred is a Visa Siggy. But with your profile I could see them granting you the credit! Or maybe the freedom if your not wanting the Annual Fee? AMex is a good choice bc of the gerneous limits they give and the 61day CLI..... Both good choices I would have to say!! Have you ever applied for a chase or amex card before? 

AMEX BCE - $27,000 ~ Chase Sapphire Preferred VISA SIGNATURE- $24,000~ AMEX Platinum -$NPSL ~ Citi Diamond Preferred $10,000
USAA MASTERCARD - $10,000 Commerce Bank Visa $8,000~
USAA Student VISA - $1,000 ~ Chase Freedom - $500
Message 3 of 12
Bluedog23
Regular Contributor

Re: BCE, BOA, or Chase Freedom. Time for new advice for me!

Drinkthekoolaid, I have not applied for any of these cards before. Rewards are great, but I don't see one of these cards being significantly better for me in that regard. Just trying to make the best choice as for as approval odds and higher CL or potential for higher CL. Just trying to make my one app count.

I think when some us get to a better place credit wise, we have a fear of being turned down. It's hard for me to see myself as even having a "sort of good profile." And while I want higher CL 's, I don't think I'll ever be one who has more than 5 or so cards. That can be complicated.

This site is great for those of us who are still gun shy when it comes to credit. Thanks for the responses so far.
EX 805 FICO, EQ Fico 762; TU. 768Discover)
Message 4 of 12
flyingpenguin
New Contributor

Re: BCE, BOA, or Chase Freedom. Time for new advice for me!


@Bluedog23 wrote:
A few months ago I posted and asked for advice re Apping for new cc. Even though credit scores were ok was advised to wait at least 6 months and let two new cc's age. Hard as it was, I listened and gardened." Fast forward to now. Here are the facts:
Exp. Fico 761. 6/17/13
EQ . Fico 733. 6/10/13
TU. ??? But last time I purchased on this site it was 740 (2/13)

Inqs. Exp- 3. TU. 2. EQ. 2. All six months old except for a 5/12 cell phone inquiry.
AAoA. Exp 8.6 yrs. EQ. 5.4 yrs. TU ??
Income. 56,000
The waiting that I was advised to do was for the new cc's after having been out of the credit game for a few years. Trying to be so very careful this time.

No pub records or baddies., No lates or anything negative.

Current cards- Discover 2500.00. CU 2500.00. Cap One 2000.00 Sam's. 2000.00. 5% Util total

Now for the advice please. I would like to add just ONE more line. Here's what I'm considering:
Chase site- preselected for Freedom; Preselected letter from BOA; BCE "exclusive offer" creditcards.com

What I WANT is ONE prime line considering best odds of approval AND hopefully a larger CL than I currently have. I have a huge fear of inquiries so I want to make one count.

Which of the three should I try for? Or maybe you guys have another suggestion.
Hope some of the gurus here have some advice on the best and most likely successful course of action. Don't wanna make a silly mistake. Any input would be appreciated.

I can relate to fear of inquiries, haha! Looks like you want a prime card, and aren't primarily interested in rewards. Then I think AMEX would be the one to get: 3x CLI in 61 days, future SP CLI's, backdating for future cards, a bunch of benefits like extended warranty, etc... I don't have a good sense of approval odds in general though, hopefully someone else can chime in on that. I think you have a good shot though, you have high scores and a long AAoA.

 

I don't have Chase, so I can't comment on them, but I do have AMEX BCP and BofA Travel Rewards. I applied for the BCP offer on creditcards.com and got the $250 back after spending $1000 in 3 months offer. I would do that if you can meet the spend. I'm planning on PCing to BCE before the AF hits. They gave me my highest limit, $12.1k. One thing to note, on the application you can list the amount of savings you have, which I did. I think it might have helped me get a higher limit, although there's no way to know.

 

BofA was the first card I got (started with student card) when I started banking with them years ago. I don't think they're particularly known for giving generous limits or good customer service. They are generally HP CLI's too.

 

In case you don't already know - when you app, you should make sure only one of your cards is reporting a balance, and it should be <10% of that card's limit. (You can use more, just pay it down to <10% before the statement cuts). Good luck! Hope this helps.

Message 5 of 12
Bluedog23
Regular Contributor

Re: BCE, BOA, or Chase Freedom. Time for new advice for me!

Flyingpenguin, thanks for your detailed response. I was leaning toward AMEX on the cc.com site. I was going to try the BCE instead of the BCP because of the annual fee. I can easily meet the spend requirement, but do you remember if the AF is waived the first year or did you just decided to just pay the first year and then PC?

One other thing. I have somewhere around 5 percent util on two cards reporting. Is it a big enough deal with Amex that I should wait a few days? Your response has really helped me to get off the fence and pull the trigger NOW! But if the two cards reporting a balance is that big a deal I guess I could wait a few days. Just that I've been mulling this over for days over for days now. For better or worse, ready to get it done.
EX 805 FICO, EQ Fico 762; TU. 768Discover)
Message 6 of 12
09Lexie
Moderator Emerita

Re: BCE, BOA, or Chase Freedom. Time for new advice for me!

5% shouldn't be a problem at all. If you decide to app, good luck!
Message 7 of 12
Bluedog23
Regular Contributor

Re: BCE, BOA, or Chase Freedom. Time for new advice for me!

Thanks!
EX 805 FICO, EQ Fico 762; TU. 768Discover)
Message 8 of 12
HiLine
Blogger

Re: BCE, BOA, or Chase Freedom. Time for new advice for me!

Those are all fine cards. Of those, the BofA card will probably give you the highest credit limit - BofA is the most generous when it comes to credit limits and credit limit increases. You'll rarely hear about 5x and 10x CLI's on here that aren't from Bank of America. If it is a high credit limit that you are shooting for, BofA is the best, followed by American Express, and falling far behind is Chase. In terms of approval chances, BofA beats the other two hands down, unless you have burned them in the past.

If it is rewards that you're going after, BofA is a little weaker than the BCE if you don't drive much. The Freedom is a hit or miss on their bonus categories.

 

Message 9 of 12
flyingpenguin
New Contributor

Re: BCE, BOA, or Chase Freedom. Time for new advice for me!


@Bluedog23 wrote:
Flyingpenguin, thanks for your detailed response. I was leaning toward AMEX on the cc.com site. I was going to try the BCE instead of the BCP because of the annual fee. I can easily meet the spend requirement, but do you remember if the AF is waived the first year or did you just decided to just pay the first year and then PC?

One other thing. I have somewhere around 5 percent util on two cards reporting. Is it a big enough deal with Amex that I should wait a few days? Your response has really helped me to get off the fence and pull the trigger NOW! But if the two cards reporting a balance is that big a deal I guess I could wait a few days. Just that I've been mulling this over for days over for days now. For better or worse, ready to get it done.

 

I had forgotten, you're right, they didn't waive the AF the first year. AF is $75 but the BCP offer is $250 as opposed to the BCE's $150. So you're still +$25 by getting BCP. Plus, you get the higher rewards (6% vs 3% back on groceries, etc.) for a year before PC'ing to BCE.

 

Do you have any other tradelines on your report? If you only have to wait a few days, I would probably do that. If you only have 4 tradelines, it looks like you're using half of them, which might make your FICO score a bit lower. But I might be being overly conservative - it might not  have much of an impact. 

 


@HiLine wrote:

Those are all fine cards. Of those, the BofA card will probably give you the highest credit limit - BofA is the most generous when it comes to credit limits and credit limit increases. You'll rarely hear about 5x and 10x CLI's on here that aren't from Bank of America. If it is a high credit limit that you are shooting for, BofA is the best, followed by American Express, and falling far behind is Chase. In terms of approval chances, BofA beats the other two hands down, unless you have burned them in the past.

If it is rewards that you're going after, BofA is a little weaker than the BCE if you don't drive much. The Freedom is a hit or miss on their bonus categories.

 


 

I was one of those 5x CLI's. Smiley Happy $1.7k to $10k recently. But I think in all of those cases, the starting credit line was very low to begin with, like <$2000. Mine was a special case because all my other credit lines were way higher ($5.5k, $11k, $12.1k). Also, I had that $1.7k limit since 2008... Plus it was a hard pull. I had requested it online, checked for 3 days, still nothing, so finally called in, and got it after talking to a credit analyst. I haven't heard about BofA giving high starting credit limits (though I could be wrong). 

 

(This isn't to bash BofA - I bank with them and am pretty happy with them in general. I don't think they are highly sought after as a CC company the way others like AMEX are though.)

Message 10 of 12
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