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What should my plan be?

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paparoach429
Established Member

What should my plan be?

So now that I bought my new car I wont be too concerned with inquiries after I get a few more really good cards to round out my portfolio. Other than store cards I have the Citi Forward and a secured Capital One card that I want to close after I get another major card. Im thinking the Discover It, Chase Freedom and either the Csp (thanks for the tips on my other thread) or the BCE. How should I go about applying for these as far as time frame? Should I apply for all of them the same day and let them age together? In 2 months my oldest credit card would be 2 years and 3 months, 0-5% utilization, and less then 4 inquiries on my report not counting my auto loan inquiries.  On another note, I just realized that Im going to Boston in 2 weeks and am going to be spending more money that week that normal so it would be easier to spend the $500 and 2k or 3k for the startup bonuses. Should I apply for the cards now or wait for that last inquiry to fall off on May 9th?     

Message 1 of 13
12 REPLIES 12
enharu
Super Contributor

Re: What should my plan be?

how many inquiries are fall off on may 9th?

How many auto loan inquiries were made? A lot of times the banks / dealer does not classify them as auto, so the inquiries are all counted separately.

 

What are your scores approximately right now? Any baddies?

 

Has your auto loan reported yet?

 

How many inquiries with each bureau right now?

 

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 13
paparoach429
Established Member

Re: What should my plan be?

Theyve been falling off right along but the last to fall off soon will be the 9th. 4 others remain, plus the auto inquiries(on Transunion), but only 1 is from within the past 12 months. Yes my auto loan has already reported and my scores should be right around 700. They were just short of 700 before the car but I had higher balances on my credit cards then too (plus more inquiries from credit cards still on my report).  I believe theres like 15 auto loans on my reports. I think I might pull all my reports tonight and see whats what on them. If you guys think I shouldnt apply for all of them in one shot what exactly should I do? Like I said, I planned on waiting but with going out of town I can easily get my signup bonuses paid. (Chase Freedom or Discover just on the hotel alone).

Message 3 of 13
09Lexie
Moderator Emerita

Re: What should my plan be?

Chances are your CS has dropped with the new loan. Depending on the CB the inq's will not fall off on the exact day but may fall off at the end of the month. Not knowing what's really reporting its hard to advise but if your score is around 650+ then Discover. On the other hand, if your inq's are really low -4 and your scores are higher then I woud say Freedom. Chase has been inq sensitive but you could probably recon with them to explain the new loan. My only concern is whether or not it would be a toy limit.
Message 4 of 13
paparoach429
Established Member

Re: What should my plan be?

And thats exactly what I dont want is a toy limit. I have 4k on my Forward card and would like something around that. The auto inquiries are new and will be on there for a while. When I said I had 4 inquiries those are from credit cards. Like I said all but one are from within 12 months and ofcourse the auto loans are.

Message 5 of 13
09Lexie
Moderator Emerita

Re: What should my plan be?

I would go with a Discover. As enharu stated, its not clear if the inq's from the auto inqs are actually counted by the lender as 1 - rather than just for FICO scoring. YMMV but Chase may not give you the limit you want.

Good luck!
Message 6 of 13
enharu
Super Contributor

Re: What should my plan be?

ok, so by the time you apply, how many inquiries on each bureau?

When I applied for Amex BCP in march, I was declined because too many recent inquiries (5 in feb due to auto loan), age of newest account (brand new auto loan reporting), balance owed compared to original debt amount (100% owed since it's my 1st statement....the bill wasn't even due for another 30 days). So your situation is kinda similar to mine. I could have tried to recon my AMEX, but it was going to be another HP, so I didn't try to recon and instead decided to try again in 6-9 months.YMMV....I talked to a really nice analyst (took like 5-6 calls to get someone who's finally sensible) who explained that the main reason why I got declined was my inquiries and a brand new auto loan reporting at 100%. I explained I paid off 95% of the loan, and just needed it to report, so he adviced me to try again in 3 months when the account is older, and also after the new loan balances are updated. For Amex, I read on the other forums it's safer to keep balance to original amount owed below 70%. Hope this helps, but at the same time please dont assume you will be declined like me. Your situation might be different.

 

As for Chase, they're probably about the same for Amex. It was easy for me to get approved however because I have been banking with them for about 4 years now. I had to call recon for my CSP to verify identity. Freedom was instant approval. Later on I called EO and got my CLs increased. I think you have a good chance for chase freedom. Worst case scenario you got to call recon and you should get approved at the end. As for the CL, it's hard to predict. For the CSP I will recommend you wait until your auto loan account is older and also after you pay down more of what you owe first (try to pay 20-30% of amount borrowed if possible).

 

As for Discover, I think your chances are good as well. Worst case scenario it will be the same as Freedom, and you'll still get approved after some minor hassle. They are supposedly conservative but they gave me a decent CL. 

 

Hope this helps!

 

Oh to add: all my auto loan inquiries were counted as separated inquiries. Tried to explain it to a human being at Amex but it didn't help much, and I didn't want to really appeal and risk another HP.

 

 

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 7 of 13
paparoach429
Established Member

Re: What should my plan be?

So I applied last night for the Freedom and the CSP and got the "needs further review" screen. I called in earlier to have the rep check on that and he said that I was denied due to a large number of inquires on my report but then he said they look mostly likely from a car loan. He then asked me if there was a reason I applied for 2 cards at the same time. I gave him the story on how Id like to move alot of my spending over to Chase and how I like the Freedoms rotating categories and the CSP travel benefits etc etc.. He said let him try to go  back and see what they can do on the Freedom card to get me approved. He came back a few minutes later and said he was able to approve me for 3k! Not as much as my Forward but I"ll gladly take it! Why do you guys think he offered to recon the Freedom and not the CSP? Then I called back later in the day and spoke to a different guy and told him that I had just been appoved earlier for the Freedom but the guy told me to call back later and check the status of the CSP (wasnt true but couldnt think of another excuse). He put me on hold for a couple of minutes while he reviewed my credit report and came back and said that I was correct about a large amount of the inquiries being from a recent auto loan. He also told me that because I had no credit cards over 5k thats basically whats holding me back. I told him that my Citi card has 4k and Ive handled that responsibly and reminded him about how I heard that Chase was such a good bank and wanted to move most of my spending through them. He put me on hold one last time for one final review and came back and said he was able to approve me for the 5k! I must say Chase is pretty awesome so far! Its a little wierd that the first rep totally shot the idea of the CSP down though, but hey it was definitally worth the recons!

Message 8 of 13
enharu
Super Contributor

Re: What should my plan be?

grats!

 

you should try discover and amex too. hopefully you're not as unlucky as I am for amex.

 

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 9 of 13
MovingForward_2012
Valued Contributor

Re: What should my plan be?

Congrats!
Cards: Orchard Bank ($1100) | Cap1 Cash Rewards ($2500) | Chase Freedom ($1000) | Best Buy ($2500) | Discover It ($1000) | Barclay Rewards ($2500) | Current scores: EX FAKO: 684, CK TU: 649, FICO EQ: 680, FICO TU: 698, FICO EX: 658 Happy Homeowner Since 2/6/13! Smiley Happy Last App: 4/5/13 Gardening until July 2014
Message 10 of 13
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