cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Huge fail of an app spree; advice requested!

tag
Anonymous
Not applicable

Huge fail of an app spree; advice requested!

First off, just want to say how resourceful and excellent these forums are. 

 

Background: I've been obsessed with accruing miles for travel, but to get a good card  you need decent credit. Ever since I was 17 I've had an Amex Gold through my family small business, so I never bothered to actually get a credit card; why should i, I have an Amex?! Little did I know that even though I charged thousands of dollars a month and paid the bill every month in full (from working, not like a trust fund or anything, I don't want the wrong impression),  that it would do absolutely nothing to my personal credit history. Now that I'm 27, graduated and making 100k/year, and agressively paying off loans, I finally realized that I need to start repairing/building credit so that I can a.) take advantage of rewards and b.) build credit for auto/house loans in the future. I don't carry a balance and charge about 1500-2000/month as a baseline; a lot of people on other forums I post on were like "people making that much shouldn't need credit", but they are obviously have Suze Orman/Dave Ramsey blinders on.

 

So far, on my credit report, for positives I have a $150 express card (WFNNB) that has been inactive since 2008, 50k in student loan debt being paid aggressively with 1-2 lates from 2008 (which i disputed and fixed); for negatives I have a $140 collection from 2008 (never paid a bill according to them, currently DVing and disputing, trying to see if they will PFD since it's such a small sum). I joined Credit Karma in June and started with a baselineFAKO of 628.

 

After reading these forums as well as other resources online, I decided to go on an App Spree. Unfortunately I didn't actually read as much as I should have...I applied for a bunch of cards I shouldn't have over a period of 2 weeks instead of 1 day, AND didn't do it while my negatives were in dispute. Then my negatives were apparently RETIMED from 2008 to 2012...Doh. Here are the results.

 

Chase Freedom: Pulled Experian (no score in letter). Denied due to "few revolving accts/not enough other accounts opened long enough to establish credit history". Tried recon X 2, CSR wouldn't budge even when I offered low limit, send bank statments/pay stubs, etc. So much for Credit Karma saying I had a "good" chance of getting a card.

 

Amex Zync: Pulled Experian, FICO 599. Denied due to collection, lack of revolving credit, proportion of loan balances to loan amounts too high, lack of recent bank/national revolving info, too many inquiries in past 12 months. , Recon X 1, got a CSR who instead of offering $500 autodebit was basically like "...ummm yeah the letter we sent you tells you why you didn't make it, read that, kbye". Totally unhelpful and atypical of normal Amex customer service.

 

At this point I got frustrated so I just applied for the Capital One Platinum starter card since I knew I would most likely get it...which I did, with a $300 credit limit! I mean you gotta start somewhere, but $300? That's like my cable and phone bill plus some Starbucks every month, that's nothing! And then I started reading this board and how Cap One is super hard to CLI and terrible, so then I found stuff on Barclays, leading to...

 

Barclay's Apple ITunes Visa: Pulled TU (613), initially denied due to "too few accts with sufficient satisfactory performance". Called for recon, all they asked for was my income (i offered, but no verification needed), and was approved for $1500; I was gonna ask for more but it was Friday and I knew they were about to close so I felt bad. 

 

Gap card (thru GE capital): Pulled Experian (379!!!!!), Denied due to "# of inquiries, lack of revolving credit, number of months since collection is too low". OK, I know my credit is bad, but 379? Ridiculous, but in the setting of 3 HPs (Chase, Amex, Cap One) within a week that probably explains it.

 

 

So with 5 HPs and only 2 cards with a combined $1800 CL, what should I do now? I assume I should thank heavens for Barclays and just garden for 6 months while showing low utilization but frequent use of Cap One/Barclays (I still have my business amex to cover expenses too), and then ask for CLI or apply for better cards. But I would appreciate any advice regarding my situation (such as other cards to consider, how stupid I am for spreading out hard pulls, etc). Thanks in advance!

 

Message 1 of 10
9 REPLIES 9
webhopper
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Huge fail of an app spree; advice requested!


@Anonymous wrote:

First off, just want to say how resourceful and excellent these forums are. 

 

Background: I've been obsessed with accruing miles for travel, but to get a good card  you need decent credit. Ever since I was 17 I've had an Amex Gold through my family small business, so I never bothered to actually get a credit card; why should i, I have an Amex?! Little did I know that even though I charged thousands of dollars a month and paid the bill every month in full (from working, not like a trust fund or anything, I don't want the wrong impression),  that it would do absolutely nothing to my personal credit history. Now that I'm 27, graduated and making 100k/year, and agressively paying off loans, I finally realized that I need to start repairing/building credit so that I can a.) take advantage of rewards and b.) build credit for auto/house loans in the future. I don't carry a balance and charge about 1500-2000/month as a baseline; a lot of people on other forums I post on were like "people making that much shouldn't need credit", but they are obviously have Suze Orman/Dave Ramsey blinders on.

 

So far, on my credit report, for positives I have a $150 express card (WFNNB) that has been inactive since 2008, 50k in student loan debt being paid aggressively with 1-2 lates from 2008 (which i disputed and fixed); for negatives I have a $140 collection from 2008 (never paid a bill according to them, currently DVing and disputing, trying to see if they will PFD since it's such a small sum). I joined Credit Karma in June and started with a baselineFAKO of 628.

 

After reading these forums as well as other resources online, I decided to go on an App Spree. Unfortunately I didn't actually read as much as I should have...I applied for a bunch of cards I shouldn't have over a period of 2 weeks instead of 1 day, AND didn't do it while my negatives were in dispute. Then my negatives were apparently RETIMED from 2008 to 2012...Doh. Here are the results.

 

Chase Freedom: Pulled Experian (no score in letter). Denied due to "few revolving accts/not enough other accounts opened long enough to establish credit history". Tried recon X 2, CSR wouldn't budge even when I offered low limit, send bank statments/pay stubs, etc. So much for Credit Karma saying I had a "good" chance of getting a card.

 

Amex Zync: Pulled Experian, FICO 599. Denied due to collection, lack of revolving credit, proportion of loan balances to loan amounts too high, lack of recent bank/national revolving info, too many inquiries in past 12 months. , Recon X 1, got a CSR who instead of offering $500 autodebit was basically like "...ummm yeah the letter we sent you tells you why you didn't make it, read that, kbye". Totally unhelpful and atypical of normal Amex customer service.

 

At this point I got frustrated so I just applied for the Capital One Platinum starter card since I knew I would most likely get it...which I did, with a $300 credit limit! I mean you gotta start somewhere, but $300? That's like my cable and phone bill plus some Starbucks every month, that's nothing! And then I started reading this board and how Cap One is super hard to CLI and terrible, so then I found stuff on Barclays, leading to...

 

Barclay's Apple ITunes Visa: Pulled TU (613), initially denied due to "too few accts with sufficient satisfactory performance". Called for recon, all they asked for was my income (i offered, but no verification needed), and was approved for $1500; I was gonna ask for more but it was Friday and I knew they were about to close so I felt bad. 

 

Gap card (thru GE capital): Pulled Experian (379!!!!!), Denied due to "# of inquiries, lack of revolving credit, number of months since collection is too low". OK, I know my credit is bad, but 379? Ridiculous, but in the setting of 3 HPs (Chase, Amex, Cap One) within a week that probably explains it.

 

 

So with 5 HPs and only 2 cards with a combined $1800 CL, what should I do now? I assume I should thank heavens for Barclays and just garden for 6 months while showing low utilization but frequent use of Cap One/Barclays (I still have my business amex to cover expenses too), and then ask for CLI or apply for better cards. But I would appreciate any advice regarding my situation (such as other cards to consider, how stupid I am for spreading out hard pulls, etc). Thanks in advance!

 


Pull your reports, check in with the rebuilding forum and try to take care of things... You apparently have several baddies on there, and you won't be able to get any really good cards until you take care of the baddies and put some time in with good history. 

FICO 9:
Filed Chapter 13 on 6/1/2017 after job loss. Discharged 6/1/2022.

Goal: Gardening!


Message 2 of 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Huge fail of an app spree; advice requested!

Ok first thing you have to do is no more apps. Go 6 months from now without apping at a minimum.

 

Work on cleaning up your lates and collections as much as you can, particularly negotiate a pay for deletion with the collection.

 

The Zync is a good goal to have if you want to get your own personal Amex gold or platinum card down the line but definitely the baddies are keeping you from getting good cards. I am also a recent college grad, late 20's, and I have a relatively young credit profile. Average account age was about 3 1/2 years last I checked and I am able to app and get approved for good travel cards because most important of all I have no baddies.

Message 3 of 10
jamesdwi
Valued Contributor

Re: Huge fail of an app spree; advice requested!

deffinetely get reports, verify that all the bad things are yours if not dispute them, if they are try PFD (pay for delete). Dont just pay them its harder to get them off if they are paid.

 

Your new cards will help with your credit score. Wait at least 6 months before you app again for anything AMEX. But after 6 months and some work on your reports you should be good for Zync, For Zync the consesious is that you need  640+ FICO and 6 months experience with 2+ credit cards. 

 

Use the cards lightly, but use them. Let 1 of them show a balance of 1-2% show and let reported balances be less than 9%. 

 

With luck your CapOne card will get 1 or 2 autoCLI's at 6months. 

 

 

Cards: Chase Southwest 20k & CSR 17k & CSP 10k & FNBO 30k Oregon Duck 5k, & AMEX BCP 32.5k & Amex Magnet 15k&amg; Hilton Surpass 7.5k & Delta Gold 12k & Zync NPSL, Fidelity AMEX 17k Commerce5.9k & Cash Forward 7.5k & Sams Club MC 20k, Paypal Extras MC 10k, Paypal Credit 7.25k CapOne Venture 15k, QS 2.5k, QS 750, Amazon 10k, Walmart 10k, Citi Simplicity 18k, Discover IT 23k and a nice stack of store cards.
Landmarkcu Personal Loan 10k
Message 4 of 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Huge fail of an app spree; advice requested!

Besides the above, something that I would suggest is this - You make good money, get a secured card with a decent size deposit (maybe $3-4k).  That will show you experience with that credit level and should help you be approved for unsecured higher limit cards in the future. Just think of it as a savings account that you won't touch for a year or two. 

Message 5 of 10
jsucool76
Super Contributor

Re: Huge fail of an app spree; advice requested!

I would agree with checking your reports and taking care of any baddies you have, or disputing those which you have taken care of but are reporting innacurately. Definitely check in with the rebuilders forum, the people in there really are experts when it comes to derogs. 

Message 6 of 10
Revelate
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Huge fail of an app spree; advice requested!

+1 to the secured card route.  That's what they're there for honestly.

 

Chase w/o history = non starter, get at least six months and better yet a year of personal credit.

Amex w/o history = non starter, get six months

C1 = $300 is their typical offering, it doesn't matter what your income is.

GE anything = internal score, ignore it as far as scores go.

 

Anyway you have a C1 unsecured, go fund a decent secured card and go on with life and revisit the Amex personal app in six months potentially.

 

Edit: slightly different advice than above; however, I recommend running your entire financial life through your credit cards.  Demonstrate to both current and future lenders why they want your business, it's not just about one's FICO score in terms of future credit approvals.  Just research paying before your statement date in the two months leading up to a potential application of any sort, revolving utilization is instant-in-time anyway so balances month-to-month don't matter as far as FICO goes if you clear them pre-pull.




        
Message 7 of 10
webhopper
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Huge fail of an app spree; advice requested!

+1 on getting a secured card.
FICO 9:
Filed Chapter 13 on 6/1/2017 after job loss. Discharged 6/1/2022.

Goal: Gardening!


Message 8 of 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Huge fail of an app spree; advice requested!

Thanks all for the advice...very helpful.

 

  • Collections account - currently in the process of validating and getting ready to PFD. will definitely check in with credit repair forums.
  • Pulled my free annual credit report and eliminated most but not all late payments (only 3 from a couple years back, deleted from 2/3 CRs)
  • Gardening...will do! 
  • In the future...also read about choosing who to apply for based on most likely credit pull. Will definitely consider when my credit is much better.

Re: secured cards, I totally forgot about that. I was looking into the BoA one but it didn't seem very good at building credit. I'll have to look into that further. TBH I'm averse to paying annual fees for a non benefits card, but hell if $40/year to increase credit lines...probably worth it for now.

 

Also re: Amex, I have a prepaid card from a deal; I'm also trying to use that to see if Amex will offer anything thru Make Your Move; I have little faith that MYM will actually work   but I might as well try; credit repair and patience with my existing cards should be much more of a help.

 


@Revelate wrote:

 

Edit: slightly different advice than above; however, I recommend running your entire financial life through your credit cards.  Demonstrate to both current and future lenders why they want your business, it's not just about one's FICO score in terms of future credit approvals.  Just research paying before your statement date in the two months leading up to a potential application of any sort, revolving utilization is instant-in-time anyway so balances month-to-month don't matter as far as FICO goes if you clear them pre-pull.


I run as much of my spend as i can (except at small biz) thru my Amex business card for the rewards; should I do this with my personal cards and just pay before the statement even posts to prevent high utilization from showing? Not sure what you mean.

Message 9 of 10
Crashem
Valued Contributor

Re: Huge fail of an app spree; advice requested!

Don't bother with Amex prepaid.  Doesn't build credit. Get secured from credit union.  Might want to put quite a bit of money which will help you get decent cl when you go unsecured.  I would recommend apping for unsecured in 6 months.  Cu visa such as sdfcu is good but lots of no af secured cards that even pay interest.

               LIMITS IN CARD DESCRIPTIONS
Message 10 of 10
Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site are from third party advertisers from whom FICO receives compensation.