Approved for Chase Freedom- What now?

[heygirlhey]

Hi everyone,

I am still super new to this credit stuff and still overwhelmed so please bare with me. While I haven't been able to get any collections removed from my credit report my credit is going up I guess. Yesterday, I received two offers in the mail. One for Chase Freedom and one for Chase Slate. I opted to go with Freedom and to my surprise I was approved.  (I've received these pre-approved letters before and was declined)

I'm guessing this is from having a Creditone card for almost a year, and never being late on my payments.  The Chase Freedom only gave me a $600 limit which matches the creditone limit. 

My question today is what now? Do I go on an app spree? Do I wait another year and then try to get another card? Do I do something else??

Also, the Freedom card has an offer where if you spend $500 in the first 3 months you get $100 back. I am going on a short cruise that will cost a little over $500. Will it be okay if I charge it to this card to get the $100 bonus? I was going to pay using a debit card before so I WILL have the money and will pay the bill in full when the statement comes out. I just want to know if this is a bad thing, something about utilization that I read on these boards. Its supposed to be under 30%, maybe someone out there will know what Im referring to.  

Thanks in advance for any and all help!

[titanofold]

Congratulations!

Yes, go ahead and pay for the cruise with your shiny, new CC. Just pay it down to 1% - 9% of its CL.

Which, by the way, is what you want to aim for: All CCs reporting at $0 except one. That last CC you want to have report between 1% and 9% of its CL.

This is only really important when you're getting ready to apply for something. Credit scores don't have a memory for utilization. What's really important is maintiaining a good payment record.

And, I would go on a little app spree. Another CC or 2 would be good. Once you have another CC, I would close the CreditOne.

[heygirlhey]

Thank you very much for your reply titanofold.

I just signed up for credit karma and my report is FAIR 687.  Keeping that in mind, can you recommend what cards I should apply for next? Should I / can I apply for the slate even though its from the same company or should I go somewhere else? 

[titanofold]

I'd try for a store CC at a store I frequent, and any AF-free Capital One CC.

I wouldn't go for the Slate. It has it's use, but not as a CC to use for purchases.

You probably won't be able to get any of the more prime cards, but if you can check for pre-approvals with Discover, Amex, and Barclaycard. They all have fantastic offers. You might want to look at what your bank/CU has to offer as well.

[heygirlhey]

Hey! So I took your advice and I got a Discover IT 4k, and was denied a barclays. 

I mean its never good to be denied, but all things considered I'm happy. 

I'm considering the results of this mini app spree 2 out of 3 approved a success, but is it?

I think now I will just lay low 6-months to a year before applying for anything else.

[heygirlhey]

PS~ I was afraid of the Capital One because the boards said they pull all 3 credit reports. YIKES!

[gdale6]

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@heygirlhey wrote:

Hi everyone,

I am still super new to this credit stuff and still overwhelmed so please bare with me. While I haven't been able to get any collections removed from my credit report my credit is going up I guess. Yesterday, I received two offers in the mail. One for Chase Freedom and one for Chase Slate. I opted to go with Freedom and to my surprise I was approved.  (I've received these pre-approved letters before and was declined)

I'm guessing this is from having a Creditone card for almost a year, and never being late on my payments.  The Chase Freedom only gave me a $600 limit which matches the creditone limit. 

My question today is what now? Do I go on an app spree? Do I wait another year and then try to get another card? Do I do something else??

Also, the Freedom card has an offer where if you spend $500 in the first 3 months you get $100 back. I am going on a short cruise that will cost a little over $500. Will it be okay if I charge it to this card to get the $100 bonus? I was going to pay using a debit card before so I WILL have the money and will pay the bill in full when the statement comes out. I just want to know if this is a bad thing, something about utilization that I read on these boards. Its supposed to be under 30%, maybe someone out there will know what Im referring to.  

Thanks in advance for any and all help!

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Congrats on your new Freedom card Use it like you would any other card just be sure to PIF every month and preferrably prior to statement cut so you can control your utilization as well. Ideally you only want 1 card to report to the CRA with 1-9% of its CL. Good luck and have a good cruise

[duckfan4life]

Congrats on the approvals. I think 2/3 should be considered a success Discover IT is a good card also.

[heygirlhey]

2/25/14-UPDATE!

So I did a recon on the Barclay denial and I was approved! WHOO HOO!  I learned so much from the message board in just a short time. Never knew about reconning but glad I read about it. Just wish I knew about product change BEFORE u recon, ugh! So Im stuck with the original NFL card I applied for, but I really want a travel card. Darn u creditkarma for suggesting this card, lol.

[titanofold]

Wahoo!

Now if only I had one of those dancing GIF handy....