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I jockey back and forth between here and Credit Pulls Database and see how people get approved for Discover Cards. This is what I've ascertained:
*Semi-recent baddies are ok
*Older 30 Day lates are ok
*Limited history is doable
*Scores can dip as low as 620's (FICO)
...but
High utilization, no baddies, no lates and 2 years AAoA gets no love. Maybe I'm lost somewhere, but wouldn't baddies throw higher red flags than someone aggressively using credit (yet paying down frequently)?
Help me to understand Discover logic and if applying with above (higher utilization yet nothing bad) would fly or not.
How high is high utilization do you think?
Pretty high. We'll just leave it there. Lower than 1 month ago.
FYI, Chase nearly doubled my line with Util. at 90%. Now we're lower than that, however.
Did you have a banking relationship or a long credit history with Chase?
Nope to both. Just explained my high util. and they appreciated the honesty and raised me.
(most of it revolves around Sandy expenses, $2100 of unrecoverable losses BofA refuses to give back because I exceeded SOL on charging back).
BofA reporting a hefty balances with no CL hurts, too.
Most credit card companies won't approve with high utilization because that tells them that the consumer uses the credit and doesn't pay it back in a prompt manner, which means that the credit card is running a serious risk of losing money on the account. If you pay down your util, Discover will probably approve you. They approved me for a More card when I had lots and lots of old baddies and only a 650 FICO score.
I had 89% utilization over two cards. AAoA was around 5 years, no baddies. Discover had sent me preapproval offers twice a month, so I decided to go for it. I received a starting CL of 5.5k, which I used for 18 months 0% apr balance transfer (3% fee). I have made 3 payments, each higher than minimum, and just received an auto CLI of $750.
If you have not pulled your free annualcreditreport, I would recommend doing so and seeing if Discover is soft pulling (unless you have opted out).
I will be at 87% when 1-1-13 hits...Oldest account is 9.6 years, AAoA is at 2.
EQ is showing only Cap1 AR softs, Chase soft and some irrelevant product softs (Triple Advantage, myFico, etc.)...
Wonder if an explanation of my high UTIL to recon dept. would render anything...FICO showing 571 on here...I saw on Credit Pulls database someone get a Discover More with -620.
At 89% will raise a red flag with virtually any creditor ...
@daveg38 wrote:I will be at 87% when 1-1-13 hits...Oldest account is 9.6 years, AAoA is at 2.
EQ is showing only Cap1 AR softs, Chase soft and some irrelevant product softs (Triple Advantage, myFico, etc.)...
Wonder if an explanation of my high UTIL to recon dept. would render anything...FICO showing 571 on here...I saw on Credit Pulls database someone get a Discover More with -620.
The bolded is exactly why you were declined. Fix the util. and your FICO will go up, knock 2 birds out with 1 stone.