Credit Card Pre-Approvals

[bitingthebullet]

Hello,

I recently applied for an auto loan but was denied due to insufficient credit history (and the little history I have reflects poor payment during a period of time). I was eventually able to get approved for a small personal loan with a co-applicant. My credit score is in the high 600’s, almost 700, and I am looking to build credit history and strengthen my credit score. I have noticed that I have been receiving a lot of credit card pre-approval offers lately, and especially after applying for the loan. This might not be significant but in the past few years I have not been receiving any of these unsolicited offers. Would it be a good idea to accept at least one of these? Do they require hard pulls? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you! 

[Shogun]

Yes, they require HPs more than likely.  Post on our Credit Card boards the offers your getting and your situation, they will give you an idea of which ones to try for.  Good Luck!

[ACG23]

Full applications always require hard-pulls. Pre-qualified offers are generally garnered from soft-pulls, and strongly indicate but do not guarantee application success. It's the rare pre-qual that doesn't end in approval -- Chase is thought to be especially reliable -- but it does happen. Generally, I would think, you're likely to get approved if you have a clean file. Like, unless their hard-algorithm would, on a closer look, pick up something the soft-algorithm might miss (derogatory, collection, etc.), don't worry. If your only concern is short history you're probably ok. 

I would check on these boards to see what kind of history the lenders you're looking at prefer. Then, once you've done your research, go ahead and take a shot .