topic Re: Please recommend a card for me in Credit Card Applications

Please recommend a card to a rebuilder

eastsea — Fri, 27 Sep 2019 15:17:43 GMT

I am currently an AU on 3 cards but do not have a card under my own name.

My data points are:

EX 700, EQ 680, TU 710

Utilization 5% on one card, 2% of TCL, AZEO

One collection (which I do not recognize and am disputing) and it should fall off by March 2020

No new inqs in years

Retired with decent income and good savings, no debt

Am interested in a card with no annual fee and preferably some cash back.

I have narrowed down to the following:

Amex Blue Cash Everyday

Discover Cashback or Balance Transfer

Capital One QuickSilver

Bank of America Cashback

Based on my data points, do I have a chance with any of them? If not, any other recommendations?

Re: Please recommend a card for me

dragontears — Sat, 21 Sep 2019 01:26:02 GMT

Amex, discover and cap1 all have prequal pages you can check to help gauge your chances. BofA prequal page is garbage, my dog can get a "prequal" recommendation.

Re: Please recommend a card for me

SouthJamaica — Sat, 21 Sep 2019 01:44:34 GMT

@eastsea wrote:
I am currently an AU on 3 cards but do not have a card under my own name.

My data points are:

EX 700, EQ 680, TU 710
Utilization 5% on one card, 2% of TCL, AZEO
One collection (which I do not recognize and am disputing) and it should fall off around March 2020
Retired with decent income and good savings, no debts

Am interested in a card with no annual fee and preferably some cash back.

I have narrowed down to the following:

Amex Blue Cash Everyday
Discover Cashback or Balance Transfer
Capital One QuickSilver
Bank of America Cashback

Based on my data points, do I have a chance with any of them? If not, any other recommendations?

IMHO you have a chance with any of them.

Re: Please recommend a card for me

eastsea — Sat, 21 Sep 2019 01:52:04 GMT

Amex gave me 3 "Featured Cards" (is that the same as pre-qualification?) Blue Cash Prefered, Gold, Marriot Bonvoy.

Capital One gave me QuickSilver One with an annual fee and Platinum which has no cash back.

Discover did say I am pre-approved for the Discover It Cash Back card.

Re: Please recommend a card for me

BronzeTrader — Sat, 21 Sep 2019 01:57:36 GMT

@eastsea wrote:

Am interested in a card with no annual fee and preferably some cash back.

I have narrowed down to the following:

Amex Blue Cash Everyday
Discover Cashback or Balance Transfer
Capital One QuickSilver
Bank of America Cashback

Based on my data points, do I have a chance with any of them? If not, any other recommendations?

BA cash reward is one of the best CCs out there. It is a starter card, not hard to get approved.

Re: Please recommend a card for me

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Sep 2019 02:15:09 GMT

Given your stats and no cards of your own, I’d jump on Disco. You have a great profile for their liking and could get in nicely.

Re: Please recommend a card for me

SouthJamaica — Sat, 21 Sep 2019 02:25:42 GMT

@eastsea wrote:
Amex gave me 3 "Featured Cards" (is that the same as pre-qualification?) Blue Cash Prefered, Gold, Marriot Bonvoy.

Capital One gave me QuickSilver One with an annual fee and Platinum which has no cash back.

Discover did say I am pre-approved for the Discover It Cash Back card.

1. "Featured cards" doesn't mean anything. It is not a prequalification or preapproval.

2. You don't want the platinum card, and you don't want an annual fee.

3. Discover's preapprovals used to be meaningless, but nowadays are usually OK.

4. I would go for the Amex Blue Cash Everyday or the BOA Cash card.

Re: Please recommend a card for me

randomguy1 — Sat, 21 Sep 2019 02:27:38 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Given your stats and no cards of your own, I’d jump on Disco. You have a great profile for their liking and could get in nicely.

I agree with Disco. I would sign up for that and another card. Have them age at the same time. AMEX ED would be a decent candidate.

Re: Please recommend a card for me

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Sep 2019 03:53:09 GMT

OP stated interest in cash back so in light of that, for an Amex, the BCE would be a better fit.

Re: Please recommend a card for me

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Sep 2019 03:59:16 GMT

As an AU the sway depends on the creditor, and their association between the vendor for credit lines usually starting out closed store loop cards are a bit easier to work out, but major cards open loop cards, can be exhausting to understand why they wont issue one credit.
Comenity Bank as an example often is the most strictest and thus most likely will not extend you credit for an individual account.
Synchrony Bank on the other hand do look at AU's, but keep in mind that they most likely will determine if you made a purchase under your own vendor account.
Example let's say your partnerfamily member has an online vendor account at Walmart.com, they also were issued a credit line of let's say $1k via Synchrony Bank.
And they add you as an AU.
Two things need to be done, first you should have your own Walmart.com account, and secondly the potential debtor must have an account in good standing.

While you won't have access to making sure payments on purchases you made using the account, are being made, it can be damaging to you.
This is where it's important to make sure the person that allows you to be an authorized user, is a stand up p[erson in paying their bills on time, and keeping balances within a reasonable threshold.
Comenity Bank is the worse in not considering AU for future credit lines from my own experience, however Synchrony does appear to be reasonable.
Of course this is also dependent upon the original vendor and the agreement between the creditor and vendor.
As some vendors (Aka Walmart as an example) may carry some underwriting risk in the creditor/vendor agreement.
That means it depeends on how much risk a vendor is willing to take on behalf of issuing credit to a potential debtor with a creditor.
To show as an example of just how much authority a vendor has in regards to risk assessment, let's consider the following, I'm an AU for my partners JCPenney account, they have $1,200.00 credit line (use it maybe twice a year between both of us, and both times was me).
Yet when I apply for my own credit line, I'm told I am already a member within their program.
So in essence it means the vendor JCPenney, is not willing to underwrite risk at this time.
Although from the same creditor Synchrony I have a Walmart (soon to transfer to Capital One sadly )with $3,500.00 credit line, and my partner has been stuck at $900.00.
My Lowes wen't from $600.00 to $5k, partners wen't from $500.00 to $2,500.00.
The same in regards to Victoria's Secret, I'm an authorized user, they have $1,200.00 credit line, no limit increases, I used it almost exclusively but have been denied from Comenity at least 15 times in the last year.

Capital One was the first creditor that gave me credit with zero credit history, it was a $250.00 credit line that graduated to $500.00 but denied credit increases since, as I understand these types of accounts aren't really designed to increase or be long standing keepers.
Although it was unsecured, which was/is a plus.
Creditors have policies that are rather goofy all over the place.
Example when I first applied about a year ago for a Discover Card, I was offered a secured card, I delcined, as I already have a couple of those cards, which I figure was plenty enough.
About a year later I went thru their pre-qual page and was given two unsecured card options for their it card, one for cash back the other for milage, I seldom travel so the cash back made the best sense, I finished the application and was approved, then they started in wanting all sorts of extra information, which I felt was arbitrary and decided not to give them the information, so they closed the access of the credit line, and reported it as an account closed by vendor, although I had told them I wasn't interested, they stated "No we value you as a customer", in the end they just wanted the prestige to report account closed by Discover.
So they can be misleading and downright dirty to a consumer at times.

Because I have been gathering information for an in depth book, I have been doing real world experiments, thus I opened a Belk account was granted $500.00 credit line, I also opened up a Gap account both from Synchrony Bank and was given $250.00, in 8 month's my Belk went to $1k, as well as my Gap.
I then cancelled both accounts, and after they were reported as closed in proper by debtor (account holder) I applied again to each, this time I was approved for the Belk card for $300.00 and Gap at $500.00.

Again giving evidence as to how much risk a vendor is willing to offer a creditor.

The notion that all credit offered is given strictly by a perceived lender is not accurate, it's a shared connection between vendor, creditor, and potential debtor.
So many closed loop cards are easier to obtain from reasonable creditor/vendors, it depends on the underwriting and the financial condition a vendor may be in at any particular point in time.

However open loop cards such as VISA/MASTERCARD will be a bit more difficult to obtain for the most part, and is even more difficult if they are branded open loop cards with a vendor name, unless the vendor is doing extremly well, or entered into a better economical contract with a creditor.

Just my point of view, in the end I would say Synchrony Bank is one of the best, as they appear to use data in house as well as FICO, and other coring models.
In the end their house score is what they decide to follow. Real world information.

Re: Please recommend a card for me

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Sep 2019 04:08:02 GMT

Btw, I apologize for the improper grammar. My KB not doing so well, I really miss the old IBM days when keyboards would last more thsan 5 months.
Remember when the imprints were embedded in the plastic board, thus never wore out? Now everything is printed/inked on the keys and go poof a few months later.
The same in regards to the feeling of the keys.
And the sizing of the keys have grown smaller, so many times when pressing one key it pushes it's neighbor.
Horrible hardeware these days.

Re: Please recommend a card for me

jpro — Sat, 21 Sep 2019 08:41:32 GMT

I’d apply for capital one’s quicksilver as this card was easy for my to get after having just 1 student card. I was not prequalified for it either.

Re: Please recommend a card for me

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Sep 2019 14:25:34 GMT

Disco - 1 HP, good SL possible, growth potential excellent even with almost no spend, loves thin files
Amex - 1 HP, good SL possible, growth potential excellent with little to moderate spend, friendly to thin files
CapOne - triple HP, good SL maybe, growth usually stingy, rewards meh for the spend patterns they want, thin files seem to be seen equal to thick

Re: Please recommend a card for me

eastsea — Sat, 21 Sep 2019 14:33:35 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
OP stated interest in cash back so in light of that, for an Amex, the BCE would be a better fit.

Very true. BCE or the Cash Magnet

Does anyone know if BCE is harder to obtain than Cash Magnet?

Also between Discover IT Cash Back and Discover IT Miles, is one harder to get than the other?

Re: Please recommend a card for me

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Sep 2019 14:38:39 GMT

For Amex, preapproval for one core revolver usually equates to preapprovals for the rest. If BCE is preapproved, you’d likely be approved for CM also. Look at the earning patterns though - CM is straight 1.5% cash back. BCE has boosted earnings for some categories and 1% for all else, so decide which would work better for your lifestyle.

On Disco, I don’t think there’s a distinction between their cards - I’ve never seen them in tiers before. If they’ll OK one, likely they’ll OK any.

Re: Please recommend a card for me

eastsea — Sat, 21 Sep 2019 14:48:22 GMT

@Inkco,

Appreciate the information, especially regarding Discover. What type of extra information did Discover request after their initial approval? Did they call you directly?

The 3 AU accounts are with Amex, Discover and Bank of America. All have perfect history and credit limits range from $10K to $22K. Two are in fact sock drawer cards with long history. One (the Amex) is young but in regular use and I have made a few small purchases using my own card and have also created my own Amex account.

Re: Please recommend a card for me

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Sep 2019 04:45:50 GMT

Best advcice is to keep any major card balance low, or paid off.
Also take into consideration of how much of a monthly charge balance you are comfortable in handling.
Example if you have $5k open loop card and charge $1,500.00 in one month, it probably would be best to pay the entire balance, or a very higher portion.
They will most likely consider that your capable of handling that amount f debt after a few months, and most likely (never guaranteed) but most likely will increase your available credit until it reaches margin in which they start to see adecline in payment history.
Anyone can apply and post extraordinary amounts of income, but the data never lies.
If someone doesn't actually make those earnings the payment history will reflect upobn their ability, across all debts and payments received from all creditors.
You can keep low balances on store (closed loop cards) and a high balance on open loop cards, (Visa/Mastercard etc.) having high balances on open loop cards will prevent you from inbcreasing your available credit on store cards, as well as open loop cards.
That is they weigh major credit card history with triple weight over closed loop cards during evaluations.

On a rare occasion a closed loop card issued under a vendor name may be meticulous and look carefully over an application and credit history via an actual human, may approve a credit line despite a high credit usage of major cards, especially when the closed loop cards shows a great credit history.

I myself prefer store loop potential creditors to view my application in real world, and not some algorithim.
As such data sets aren't all that accurate yet.

Re: Please recommend a card for me

SouthJamaica — Fri, 27 Sep 2019 11:29:38 GMT

@eastsea wrote:
I am currently an AU on 3 cards but do not have a card under my own name.

My data points are:

EX 700, EQ 680, TU 710
Utilization 5% on one card, 2% of TCL, AZEO
One collection (which I do not recognize and am disputing) and it should fall off around March 2020
Retired with decent income and good savings, no debts

Am interested in a card with no annual fee and preferably some cash back.

I have narrowed down to the following:

Amex Blue Cash Everyday
Discover Cashback or Balance Transfer
Capital One QuickSilver
Bank of America Cashback

Based on my data points, do I have a chance with any of them? If not, any other recommendations?

IMHO yes you have a good chance with any of them.

The Quicksilver and the BOA card are a bit more useful, since they are MC or Visa.

But I would go for Amex BCE.

Re: Please recommend a card for me

eastsea — Fri, 27 Sep 2019 19:05:57 GMT

Thank you everyone, really appreciate the help.

@SouthJamaica wrote:
@eastsea wrote:
I am currently an AU on 3 cards but do not have a card under my own name.

My data points are:

EX 700, EQ 680, TU 710
Utilization 5% on one card, 2% of TCL, AZEO
One collection (which I do not recognize and am disputing) and it should fall off around March 2020
Retired with decent income and good savings, no debts

Am interested in a card with no annual fee and preferably some cash back.

I have narrowed down to the following:

Amex Blue Cash Everyday
Discover Cashback or Balance Transfer
Capital One QuickSilver
Bank of America Cashback

Based on my data points, do I have a chance with any of them? If not, any other recommendations?
IMHO yes you have a good chance with any of them.

The Quicksilver and the BOA card are a bit more useful, since they are MC or Visa.

But I would go for Amex BCE.

Thank you. I have also decided to save QuickSilver for later as I do not want 3 pulls right off the bat.

BOA would be ideal as I have other accounts with BOA/Merrill and would qualify for higher rewards, but there are conflicting reports as to how lenient BOA is and I want to maximize the chance that my first app will be an approval.

Discover is known to be kind to thin files and new comers. But I just read about Discover beginning to request 4506t forms. I do not mind sending a 4506t form since my income is fixed and easy to verify but I wonder if they are tightening up in general?

That leaves Amex, which is also known to be quite generous to anyone who hasn't burned them. At this point I plan to apply for an Amex card next month letting my AU account age for one more month. The only decision now is Cash Magnet or BCE. I am leaning toward Cash Magnet for its simplicity.

A little additional information: my file is not necessarily thin. Up till a few years ago I had credit cards under my own name, for decades, bought a house, bought cars, and never had a derog of any type. Only after becoming a widower I decided to simplify my life and canceled all my credit cards. The canceled accounts (1 Amex, 1 Amex/Macy's, 1 THD/Citibank, and 1 Kohl's/Cap One) are still showing on my credit reports as closed at the request of the consumer and all have perfect history. I still do not know the cause of that one collection on my file except it was from Citibank but it was not from the canceled Citi card. I am hoping my good past history will win me a little favor from Amex.