USAA Amex

[Anonymous]

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@drsmith wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

The good thing about USAA is they usually do not do hard pulls for CLIs.

The only difference that I have seen between the USAA MasterCard and AmEx is that, in general, AmEx is accepted by fewer merchants.  Still, if you get a USAA AmEx and later want to apply for a USAA MasterCard, you should be ok if you have used the first card responsibly.

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I think it may be difficult to get a USAA card and I don't want too many inquiries on my report. After looking around, I'm not quite I would qualify for there cards with a 709 and a short credit history

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If they do not offer you a USAA World MasterCard, usually they will counter with a normal platinum. 

I have seen people with short histories get approved -- especially if they are full members of USAA.

[drsmith]

Well I logged into USAA and was preapproved for the World Mastercard

Submitted my application and was instantly approved with a CL of $7000

Not bad considering capital one wouldn't raise my CL from $750 today

[Anonymous]

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@drsmith wrote:

Well I logged into USAA and was preapproved for the World Mastercard

Submitted my application and was instantly approved with a CL of $7000

Not bad considering capital one wouldn't raise my CL from $750 today

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Congratulations!

USAA is one of the only banks I know of where pre-approvals are pretty much etched in stone.

[drsmith]

So I also am planning on taking out a car loan in the next year or so. Is $7,000 perhaps too large of a credit limit? Could I get it lowered because I won't use much of that really

[Anonymous]

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@drsmith wrote:

So I also am planning on taking out a car loan in the next year or so. Is $7,000 perhaps too large of a credit limit? Could I get it lowered because I won't use much of that really

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I know what you mean; no sense in tempting fate with an amount you'd have to be crazy to spend.  Still, I would not request a credit limit reduction.

First of all, you never know when something pops up and you will need a higher limit.  More importantly, however, is that a significant portion of your credit score depends on the percentage of unused credit you have.  For example, if you have a $7,000 limit and only spend $700 per month, you are using 10% of your available credit.  This 10% is what is called credit utilization (UTIL) and the lower the number the better.  On the other hand, using the same $700 on a $1,000 limit means your UTIL is at 70% -- a serious blow to your credit profile. 

If USAA offers you a credit limit of $10,000,000,000, take it.  Just cut your hands off about 6 inches above the wrist so you never use it. 

[drsmith]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@drsmith wrote:

So I also am planning on taking out a car loan in the next year or so. Is $7,000 perhaps too large of a credit limit? Could I get it lowered because I won't use much of that really

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I know what you mean; no sense in tempting fate with an amount you'd have to be crazy to spend.  Still, I would not request a credit limit reduction.

First of all, you never know when something pops up and you will need a higher limit.  More importantly, however, is that a significant portion of your credit score depends on the percentage of unused credit you have.  For example, if you have a $7,000 limit and only spend $700 per month, you are using 10% of your available credit.  This 10% is what is called credit utilization (UTIL) and the lower the number the better.  On the other hand, using the same $700 on a $1,000 limit means your UTIL is at 70% -- a serious blow to your credit profile. 

If USAA offers you a credit limit of $10,000,000,000, take it.  Just cut your hands off about 6 inches above the wrist so you never use it. 

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that's why I was determined to get a new card, especially afet Capital one refused to raise my CL. I probably spend $500 a month and it will probably increase now but I hated doing it because my available credit dwindled so fast.

I've just read that too much available credit can hurt you, although with less than $8,000 perhaps I'm not there yet

[Anonymous]

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@drsmith wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@drsmith wrote:

So I also am planning on taking out a car loan in the next year or so. Is $7,000 perhaps too large of a credit limit? Could I get it lowered because I won't use much of that really

---

I know what you mean; no sense in tempting fate with an amount you'd have to be crazy to spend.  Still, I would not request a credit limit reduction.

First of all, you never know when something pops up and you will need a higher limit.  More importantly, however, is that a significant portion of your credit score depends on the percentage of unused credit you have.  For example, if you have a $7,000 limit and only spend $700 per month, you are using 10% of your available credit.  This 10% is what is called credit utilization (UTIL) and the lower the number the better.  On the other hand, using the same $700 on a $1,000 limit means your UTIL is at 70% -- a serious blow to your credit profile. 

If USAA offers you a credit limit of $10,000,000,000, take it.  Just cut your hands off about 6 inches above the wrist so you never use it. 

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that's why I was determined to get a new card, especially afet Capital one refused to raise my CL. I probably spend $500 a month and it will probably increase now but I hated doing it because my available credit dwindled so fast.

I've just read that too much available credit can hurt you, although with less than $8,000 perhaps I'm not there yet

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I never heard that too much is bad, but who knows.

[Anonymous]

I just want a high enough CL, that if I need a new transmission or engine. I can swipe my card if push comes to shove... $1,500 will not do it, but $3,000-4,000 probably will... Ford Racing has some nice engines that will fit in my old Ford...

[MarineVietVet]

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@drsmith wrote:

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that's why I was determined to get a new card, especially afet Capital one refused to raise my CL. I probably spend $500 a month and it will probably increase now but I hated doing it because my available credit dwindled so fast.

I've just read that too much available credit can hurt you, although with less than $8,000 perhaps I'm not there yet

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I don't know where you read that but I have to disagree. Don't worry about having too much available credit. The only way having very high CL's can hurt you is if you actually use all that credit and then you have high utilization which hurts your score and you also have to pay all that debt off which probably will include a lot of interest.

Just my 2 cents.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 9/09 pulled by lender 802, EQ - 10/10-813, TU - 10/10-774

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

[score_building]

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@MarineVietVet wrote:

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@drsmith wrote:

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that's why I was determined to get a new card, especially afet Capital one refused to raise my CL. I probably spend $500 a month and it will probably increase now but I hated doing it because my available credit dwindled so fast.

I've just read that too much available credit can hurt you, although with less than $8,000 perhaps I'm not there yet

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I don't know where you read that but I have to disagree. Don't worry about having too much available credit. The only way having very high CL's can hurt you is if you actually use all that credit and then you have high utilization which hurts your score and you also have to pay all that debt off which probably will include a lot of interest.

Just my 2 cents.

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+1

one exception may be the following:

when applying for a fav credit product... after reaching the point where you have a lot of available... lender may respond with "sufficient available credit" as a denial reason...being denied for 'sufficient available credit' is one snafu that can occur if card holder has 'too much available' the definition of which will vary by lender.