topic Re: Citi DoubleCash Approval Odds in Credit Card Applications

Citi DoubleCash Approval Odds

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Aug 2018 20:14:31 GMT

Hi everyone!

I'm new to this site and credit (graduated 2 years ago) and thinking about applying for my first unsecured card to begin my credit journey :-); I'd like some opinions on odds before I risk a HP. I am mainly worried about my short credit history with a single low CL secured card. No prequal available.

Score (from Credit Karma):

* 733 (TransUnion Vantage 3.0) - Rent payment account + 1 Wells Fargo CC

* 726 (Equifax Vantage 3.0) - only Wells Fargo CC account shows

* 725 (FICO 9 from Wells Fargo)

Credit History (average age 1 yr 7 months) :

* Only Wells Fargo secured CC ($300 limit) - 2% util

* Payment history 100% all paid in full

* No inquiries

* No derogatory remarks

Income / expenses:

* Low 6 figures

* Rent + utilities (21% gross income)

* No debt

Thanks!

Re: Citi DoubleCash Approval Odds

Jnbmom — Sun, 19 Aug 2018 20:26:47 GMT

Have you tried the pre qualify sites yet? Discover doesn't mind thin files, not sure about citi but both have pre qualify sites where you can check and no HP until you apply.

Do you know your FICO scores? Credit Karma scores are not used by any banks and your real scores can sometimes be very different.

Re: Citi DoubleCash Approval Odds

Jerry45 — Sun, 19 Aug 2018 20:28:39 GMT

@Jnbmom wrote:
Have you tried the pre qualify sites yet? Discover doesn't mind thin files, not sure about citi but both have pre qualify sites where you can check and no HP until you apply.

Do you know your FICO scores? Credit Karma scores are not used by any banks and your real scores can sometimes be very different.

+1 Good advice. Check the pre qual site at Citi, which is solid.

Re: Citi DoubleCash Approval Odds

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Aug 2018 23:36:25 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hi everyone!

Hi, w!

You might want to spend a dollar here to learn your FICO 08 scores so as to better inform your decision-making. Good luck.

Re: Citi DoubleCash Approval Odds

SweetCreditObsession — Mon, 20 Aug 2018 07:36:28 GMT

You are bound to get it with those stats...after all they let me in and I've got a "dirty" file...

Re: Citi DoubleCash Approval Odds

SomewhereIn505 — Mon, 20 Aug 2018 11:23:42 GMT

Citi never showed prequals for me. However, they do have a free score card for 90 days and it showed a few offers. This gave me the confidence to try to app even though no prequal showed up.

Good luck and definitely do some research here in the forums!

Re: Citi DoubleCash Approval Odds

xaximus — Mon, 20 Aug 2018 18:05:06 GMT

With your scores (vantage is not used, I would advise as the above posters stated to get your scores through the link provided). I would say you have a good chance of getting approved, but I would recommend possibly going with Disco/Amex first. Citi is known to start with low SL's at times.

Re: Citi DoubleCash Approval Odds

HeavenOhio — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 04:08:07 GMT

Welcome, @Anonymous.

I don't think scores are that important here because we've read the OP's entire credit report.

A year and seven months of history on a card is a good thing. And not having a bunch of newish accounts can work to your advantage too. I think you're in good shape for a lot of mainstream products from just about any bank. I'd check the pre-quals for Discover, Chase, AMEX, and Capital One, then report back here before pulling any trigger.

Re: Citi DoubleCash Approval Odds

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Aug 2018 03:50:00 GMT

Thanks to all who replied :-).

@HeavenOhio wrote:
Welcome, @Anonymous.

I don't think scores are that important here because we've read the OP's entire credit report.

A year and seven months of history on a card is a good thing. And not having a bunch of newish accounts can work to your advantage too. I think you're in good shape for a lot of mainstream products from just about any bank. I'd check the pre-quals for Discover, Chase, AMEX, and Capital One, then report back here before pulling any trigger.

@Anonymous @HeavenOhio for your suggestion. I checked the pre-quals and got these results:

Discover it® Cash Back
Discover it® Chrome Card
No Prequalified offers from Chase
American Express® Green Card
No Prequalify from Citi

With no negative marks/inquiries in my history I would hope my actual score to be very similar to the "estimates" I see now. I will order at least one free official from annualcreditreport.com which I hear is an official reporting site authorized by federal law. I don't get why it's so hard to get regular official reports; don't the free estimating sites get their data from the bureaus, but why are the scores not official? I heard Citi double pulls EX/EQ in CA.

My only other worry is that I nearly maxed out my $300 limit on my CC last month before I learned about utilization rates affecting score. I am waiting until that clears back to my usual utility rate of 2% (dropped me from 742 to 725 on Well's Fico 9).

Re: Citi DoubleCash Approval Odds

Caught750 — Sat, 25 Aug 2018 02:56:18 GMT

Credit Karma and other fako scores use a different algorithm. They don't take the same things into account. That's why they aren't a good benchmark for scores. I'd probably wait until a lower utilization reports and then check again.

Re: Citi DoubleCash Approval Odds

HeavenOhio — Sat, 25 Aug 2018 03:10:58 GMT

@Anonymous, you're going to get great reports at annualcreditreport.com, but you won't get scores. I don't recall for sure, but you may be presented with some options for buying them.

Applying for Discover It seems to be a great next step. While I agree with the advice above to report lower utilization when you apply, I don't think that it's a huge deal. Using most of a $300 limit just doesn't seem like much of a sin. And your FICO9 is still good despite it.

Re: Citi DoubleCash Approval Odds

Caught750 — Sat, 25 Aug 2018 03:12:36 GMT

+1, I think OP would be approved NOW, just a simple way to raise score and improve for the computer

Re: Citi DoubleCash Approval Odds

SBR249 — Sat, 25 Aug 2018 05:55:14 GMT

I think if the OP wants a 2% CB card and is willing to look at alternative, should probably also look at other options like the Paypal CB MC by Synchrony.

Sync is very generous with CLs and CLIs (Citi is a bit more flaky on that front) and I think the features of the card (no FTF, no redemption thresholds, etc.) is superior. Of course the soft $10K max CL policy is a bit of a bummer but I doubt that's a problem for most people.

Re: Citi DoubleCash Approval Odds

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Aug 2018 16:28:58 GMT

@HeavenOhio wrote:
@Anonymous, you're going to get great reports at annualcreditreport.com, but you won't get scores. I don't recall for sure, but you may be presented with some options for buying them.

Applying for Discover It seems to be a great next step. While I agree with the advice above to report lower utilization when you apply, I don't think that it's a huge deal. Using most of a $300 limit just doesn't seem like much of a sin. And your FICO9 is still good despite it.

On the wikipedia page it says you can buy scores when you order an official report from annualcreditreport.com. I am learning there are credit reports and then there are different models of scoring (seems Fico 8 is popular).

I considered the Discover, but didn't want to deal with the category rotation, and lower acceptance. I will eventually get an Amazon prime visa card since I have prime, but want get the doubleCash first because that will be my primary card for everyday purchases. Perhaps it a little easier getting the Amazon card first?

Is the number of cards (or different types of credit accounts), and the total credit limit (not just util) important for high-end cards? Besides that and short aaoA I don't think I have any red flags to lenders.

Perhaps it may be worth try and HP to find out what's holding me back if they do decide to reject? I also heard there is a reconsideration line.

Re: Citi DoubleCash Approval Odds

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Aug 2018 16:45:36 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@HeavenOhio wrote:
@Anonymous, you're going to get great reports at annualcreditreport.com, but you won't get scores. I don't recall for sure, but you may be presented with some options for buying them.

Applying for Discover It seems to be a great next step. While I agree with the advice above to report lower utilization when you apply, I don't think that it's a huge deal. Using most of a $300 limit just doesn't seem like much of a sin. And your FICO9 is still good despite it.
On the wikipedia page it says you can buy scores when you order an official report from annualcreditreport.com. I am learning there are credit reports and then there are different models of scoring (seems Fico 8 is popular).

I considered the Discover, but didn't want to deal with the category rotation, and lower acceptance. I will eventually get an Amazon prime visa card since I have prime, but want get the doubleCash first because that will be my primary card for everyday purchases. Perhaps it a little easier getting the Amazon card first?

Is the number of cards (or different types of credit accounts), and the total credit limit (not just util) important for high-end cards? Besides that and short aaoA I don't think I have any red flags to lenders.

Perhaps it may be worth try and HP to find out what's holding me back if they do decide to reject? I also heard there is a reconsideration line.

A week ago James_A provided a link where you could obtain your genuine FICO 8 scores from the three major bureaus for $1. It boggles my mind that you're still talking about buying scores from annualcreditreport.com.

Re: Citi DoubleCash Approval Odds

Caught750 — Sat, 25 Aug 2018 17:32:15 GMT

OP, I think it's time to pull the trigger or pay $1 for F8 scores. Keep us posted and best of luck!

Re: Citi DoubleCash Approval Odds

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:03:14 GMT

@Anonymous
A week ago James_A provided a link where you could obtain your genuine FICO 8 scores from the three major bureaus for $1. It boggles my mind that you're still talking about buying scores from annualcreditreport.com.

I'm new to the credit reporting thing; I read that annualcreditreport.com was the only federally mandated and authorized source of credit reports. So I'm wondering how accurate is the information that third parties obtain. CCT seems to be popular on this site; do they get their information from SPs? I assumed calculating a score from a full report is similar to what the bank looks at and thus more accurate.

I guess my confusion is do HPs look at more information in your actual credit report or are they just a mark saying there was an "official" look into the report?

Re: Citi DoubleCash Approval Odds

Jnbmom — Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:09:45 GMT

CCT are genuine FICO scores as was stated a few times.

Re: Citi DoubleCash Approval Odds

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:19:43 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous
A week ago James_A provided a link where you could obtain your genuine FICO 8 scores from the three major bureaus for $1. It boggles my mind that you're still talking about buying scores from annualcreditreport.com.
I'm new to the credit reporting thing; I read that annualcreditreport.com was the only federally mandated and authorized source of credit reports. So I'm wondering how accurate is the information that third parties obtain. CCT seems to be popular on this site; do they get their information from SPs? I assumed calculating a score from a full report is similar to what the bank looks at and thus more accurate.

I guess my confusion is do HPs look at more information in your actual credit report or are they just a mark saying there was an "official" look into the report?

As far as I'm aware, annualcreditreport.com does not provide FICO credit scores. It is federally mandated to provide reports so you can check for errors, omissions, identity theft, fraud, etc. It is not mandated to provide credit scores.

The CCT trial membership is popular on these forums because its the least costly way to get your FICO scores from all three bureaus.

CCT is not "third party;" it is owned by Experian which is one of the three credit bureaus that make up the annualcreditreport consortium.

Only entities that have licensed the FICO models from Fair Issac Corporation can use the "FICO" trademark and calculate FICO scores. You can get FICO scores here at MyFICO (expensive) and a few other sources including some credit cards, but the CCT trial membership is clearly the least costly.

Re: Citi DoubleCash Approval Odds

Caught750 — Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:19:00 GMT

MYFICO and CCT do not hard pull. They soft pull but charge for credit monitoring. That's the difference. Trust us, people here know what's up.