Chase "told me" to stop apping for cards (sort of)

gibeon · ‎07-03-2016

Just thought I would share.

Recently app'd and approved for their IHG card (5th Chase card since January 2016 - Amazon 1.5k 1/19, BA 5k 1/19, United Plus 5k 3/3, AARP 5/23 2k, IHG 2k 6/28).

Anywho, still waiting on card to show up, but got a letter yesterday that said something along the lines of:

"We know the limit might not be what you were expecting, but feel free to call in and shift your limits around or even transfer the whole limit from another card to the IHG and we'll be happy to help." etc, etc....

Pretty sure the subtext here is that I should put my butt in the garden and stop apping for Chase cards - which was my plan anyway.

23 Open Bank Cards / 7 Open Store Cards / TOO many inquires / Mid/High 600's

Anonymous · ‎07-03-2016

Well that was blunt!

Congrats on the IHG card, I love mine and can't wait for my free night to post!

gibeon · ‎07-03-2016

I'm definitely looking forward to the free nights, and to their credit I do have a TON of inquiries and they've been pretty generous to me this year. I actually chuckled when I got the letter.

I'm going to try to wait until Jan/Feb to consolidate some cards as I should have used my bonus miles from BA and United by then.

23 Open Bank Cards / 7 Open Store Cards / TOO many inquires / Mid/High 600's

Anonymous · ‎07-03-2016

Curious as to why you got the Chase Amazon AND the Amazon store card?

gibeon · ‎07-03-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
Curious as to why you got the Chase Amazon AND the Amazon store card?

Excellent question!

I know it doesn't get 5% or deferred interest deals like the store card. I also have better cards for gas and dining, but there are several somewhat-good reasons I applied for this card!

1) Instant $80 in Amazon credit with $0 minimum spend, no muss/no fuss has to be the best reason. (Had a special offer when I app'd. I've seen it anywhere from $40 to $80.)

2) No annual fee (so a truly free $80), and I'll keep no AF cards open forever, or at least until my credit moves into "excellent" territory and I can cull my low-limit/high-interest cards but keep a large overall total CL.

3) I thought it might be an "in" with Chase (and I'm pretty sure it was, but who really knows)

4) I had already gone well past any semblance of a reasonable number of inquiries many months earlier. (So one more hard pull wasn't gonig to make much difference.) This card was my 101st inquiry across all three reports (Chase only pulled Experian on this one.)

5) It was the card I used to try to get once or twice a year before I started "fixing" my credit. It was a bit of a "grail" card and being approved was an indication that I was doing better than I had been before.

23 Open Bank Cards / 7 Open Store Cards / TOO many inquires / Mid/High 600's

Anonymous · ‎07-03-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
Curious as to why you got the Chase Amazon AND the Amazon store card?

As someone who has the Chase card and is considering the store card, this is my thinking.

I've had the Chase card for nearly two years. It was before I started researching credit online (and found this great resource). It was a major, and I shopped at Amazon a LOT (still do). 3% is not as attractive as it was, and the 0% BTs are proving more valuable (esp with Discover giving 5% now)

Ironically, I didn't know to avoid store brand cards then, but went with the Chase card. I have since learned that MOST store brand cards are not the best deal, but Synch has been good to me, and the Amazon store card has some worthwhile benefits. So, the store card is now on my short list.

dragontears · ‎07-03-2016

Just to add in my 2 cents
The store card only gives 5% IF you have prime and despite the common assumption here that everyone has prime this is not always the case (I don't have prime because most of the time I can find what I want to buy for cheaper than amazon has it therefore only buy from amazon 2-3 times a year) so for some people the visa might make more sense than the store card (I have SM so no interest in getting any of the Amazon cards)

Anonymous · ‎07-03-2016

Congrats! Looks like you hit the internal limit with chase for the time being. Use the cards well, don't app anything new. Then your internal score will improve with them. Chase is a good bank, if you treat them well, they will treat you best. I can tell you this from my personal experience with them.

Anonymous · ‎07-04-2016

@gibeon wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Curious as to why you got the Chase Amazon AND the Amazon store card?
Excellent question!

I know it doesn't get 5% or deferred interest deals like the store card. I also have better cards for gas and dining, but there are several somewhat-good reasons I applied for this card!

1) Instant $80 in Amazon credit with $0 minimum spend, no muss/no fuss has to be the best reason. (Had a special offer when I app'd. I've seen it anywhere from $40 to $80.)

2) No annual fee (so a truly free $80), and I'll keep no AF cards open forever, or at least until my credit moves into "excellent" territory and I can cull my low-limit/high-interest cards but keep a large overall total CL.

3) I thought it might be an "in" with Chase (and I'm pretty sure it was, but who really knows)

4) I had already gone well past any semblance of a reasonable number of inquiries many months earlier. (So one more hard pull wasn't gonig to make much difference.) This card was my 101st inquiry across all three reports (Chase only pulled Experian on this one.)

5) It was the card I used to try to get once or twice a year before I started "fixing" my credit. It was a bit of a "grail" card and being approved was an indication that I was doing better than I had been before.

101 Inquiries? Holy $%^&!!!!

I'm curious about this, everywhere I read and see, people say to keep that number down and you get another card with that many inquiries? How do you manage that?

jeffm4688 · ‎07-04-2016

over 150 combined across all three and I still get approvals. In fact some of my most recent ones were my highest but YMMV. It just goes to show it is possible.