topic Re: how strict are BofA's new rules? in Credit Card Applications

how strict are BofA's new rules?

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Oct 2019 23:38:13 GMT

my amex 3x cli is coming up next month, i wanted to app for a BOA cash-rewards after that, but they've got new rules!

"If you have 3 new cards in the past 12 months, your application will be denied." new BOA rules

LUCKILY, my amex card hasn't hit my reports yet, it will show up on nov2.

strategy: if i app immediately they'll see an 8mo old mastercard, a 5mo old discover, and an inq for amex but not the actual open acct. will this give me a good chance to be approved? they'd pull EX: 715 (2 inqs).

i might press my luck and app for the uber card too, they'd pull TU: 739 (no inqs).

i know barclay can cancel your card if you app for cards after theirs, but they don't always do that and if the inqs are already there at approval time i think it's less risky?

Re: how strict are BofA's new rules?

CreditInspired — Sat, 12 Oct 2019 23:58:04 GMT

Your file is extremely thin. May I ask why you keep applying for CCs instead of letting the ones you have age? You already have an impressive lineup.

Re: how strict are BofA's new rules?

Meanmchine — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 01:31:25 GMT

With russian roulette, you only pull the trigger once, not twice.

IMHO, pick one

Re: how strict are BofA's new rules?

AllZero — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 01:27:16 GMT

From reading the link, if you have depository accounts, then 7/12.

I would recommend letting your account age a bit before applying again. Go for your CLI with AmEx. Let increased credit limit report.

You want to show potential lenders you can manage a sizeable credit line.

All they see right now is $1,000 and $1,500 and youngish accounts.

Re: how strict are BofA's new rules?

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 04:52:33 GMT

i still have a few apps i can do before i hit the garden, the card i know i must garden for is the usbank cash+.

i'm not worried about getting a small limit at BOA, i just want in the door. right now i might have a chance, if i wait then i'll be locked out for over a year. uber might not care if i'm 4/12 so i could app them after the amex reports.

Re: how strict are BofA's new rules?

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 04:58:41 GMT

You’ve been into credit for eight months and already have four cards. Now is the time to stop.

There is an incredible amount of knowledge on this forum that was gained through the trial and (sometimes significant) error of many people. That collective wisdom says that continuing to app now, with a very young file, is not wise. Heed the good advice above. It WILL pay off - give your reports some time to season and you likely won’t have to settle for just getting in with BoA, you can kick in the front door instead of sneaking in through the kitchen.

Even far older and thicker files end up getting declines at this point sometimes. You’re practically inviting it if you continue apping.

Re: how strict are BofA's new rules?

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 05:14:53 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
You’ve been into credit for eight months and already have four cards. Now is the time to stop.

i just have 3 cards, the 4th card is the one i want to app for. i was feeling confident that i'll be approved for it so i added it to my sig already.

Re: how strict are BofA's new rules?

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 05:21:43 GMT

Even three is pushing it on a brand new file. The proven pace to take in order to keep the credit-seeking reason codes out of your denials is a six month spread between your first three cards. Ideally you’d have the three you have after 13 months, not eight. You’ll see it repeated all over these boards that credit is a marathon. You’re trying to sprint. In the long run it greatly increases your chances of ending up with a pile of cards with toy limits and a stack of denials for higher-tier, higher-limit cards, and difficulty growing those cards because of their starter limits and the excess of apps and pulls. You’re in a great place to take your foot off the gas. Your Disco and Amex are great cards. Spend a year tending them, maintaining low reported utilization, and building a history of on-time payments, and working on CLIs when appropriate, and you WILL be posting approval threads for card X with an $8000 SL before long, instead of hauling $10k in limits around on 15 cards in your wallet. Gardening sucks, I know, but it does work and it absolutely is worth it.

Re: how strict are BofA's new rules?

ZackAttack — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 05:30:09 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
my amex 3x cli is coming up next month, i wanted to app for a BOA cash-rewards after that, but they've got new rules!
"If you have 3 new cards in the past 12 months, your application will be denied." new BOA rules

LUCKILY, my amex card hasn't hit my reports yet, it will show up on nov2.

strategy: if i app immediately they'll see an 8mo old mastercard, a 5mo old discover, and an inq for amex but not the actual open acct. will this give me a good chance to be approved? they'd pull EX: 715 (2 inqs).

i might press my luck and app for the uber card too, they'd pull TU: 739 (no inqs).

i know barclay can cancel your card if you app for cards after theirs, but they don't always do that and if the inqs are already there at approval time i think it's less risky?

Well, I glad I don't have any bank accounts with them or I would have seen that rule of my denial letter that just came in a couple of days ago.

I haven't heard of BoA been a relationship company for loans or any favor it bring vs a credit union. I know Chase is another story.

Re: how strict are BofA's new rules?

Medic981 — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 05:33:41 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
You’ve been into credit for eight months and already have four cards. Now is the time to stop.
i just have 3 cards, the 4th card is the one i want to app for. i was feeling confident that i'll be approved for it so i added it to my sig already.

Information in your signature line is so forum members can see your info without having to ask you for it. I have goal cards and dream cards listed. I do not put cards in my tradelines until I have them.

As ImTheDevil has stated, you have an awesome resource in the collective knowledge of this forum. Heed their advice or do what you want, however, why ask for advice if you are not going to heed it?

Re: how strict are BofA's new rules?

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 08:20:44 GMT

@Medic981 wrote:
Information in your signature line is so forum members can see your info without having to ask you for it. I have goal cards and dream cards listed. I do not put cards in my tradelines until I have them. As ImTheDevil has stated, you have an awesome resource in the collective knowledge of this forum. Heed their advice or do what you want, however, why ask for advice if you are not going to heed it?

i changed my sig to make it clearer what cards i have.

yes, the conventional wisdom is 6 months between apps but you can app quicker than that. i have done it successfully, and others have done it too. you just have to do it strategically. i have seen some forum members here that started from scratch and apped 15 cards without a long garden stretch. they got good limits that grew, and their scores grew fast too. i'm not going that far but its possible.

i started this topic because maybe there's a person here who has apped to BOA recently, thin file or thick. i spent 2 days searching for approvals/denials and didn't find much. if there's no solid data, i'm just going to take a gamble and see what happens.

lately when i post a topic on myfico, i am dogpiled by 30 different people and told to go garden. and when i say i don't want to garden right now, they always get mad and say i shouldn't be asking for advice! but i never asked anyone for advice about if i should go garden or not anyways, don't take it personal if i don't take that advice.

Re: how strict are BofA's new rules?

ZackAttack — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 09:30:05 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Medic981 wrote:
Information in your signature line is so forum members can see your info without having to ask you for it. I have goal cards and dream cards listed. I do not put cards in my tradelines until I have them. As ImTheDevil has stated, you have an awesome resource in the collective knowledge of this forum. Heed their advice or do what you want, however, why ask for advice if you are not going to heed it?
i changed my sig to make it clearer what cards i have.

yes, the conventional wisdom is 6 months between apps but you can app quicker than that. i have done it successfully, and others have done it too. you just have to do it strategically. i have seen some forum members here that started from scratch and apped 15 cards without a long garden stretch. they got good limits that grew, and their scores grew fast too. i'm not going that far but its possible.

i started this topic because maybe there's a person here who has apped to BOA recently, thin file or thick. i spent 2 days searching for approvals/denials and didn't find much. if there's no solid data, i'm just going to take a gamble and see what happens.

lately when i post a topic on myfico, i am dogpiled by 30 different people and told to go garden. and when i say i don't want to garden right now, they always get mad and say i shouldn't be asking for advice! but i never asked anyone for advice about if i should go garden or not anyways, don't take it personal if i don't take that advice.

My credit started July 2018 and rolling to today, my FICO 8 Scores are TU 751, EQ 740, and EX 747 last alerted me from MyFico Website. So, it's possible that BoA can approve you for a card, but they may put you at a lower limit for a thin file.

Relationship wise, I don't see any benefit of it other than a higher chance on a SL depending on how many months an account been open with BoA.

Re: how strict are BofA's new rules?

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 10:16:32 GMT

OP, it’s your profile and your choice. Others have been successful, yes, but YMMV. You may be as well, but you may not be. We try and guide people in the ways that will be successful, not ones that might. If you do carry through the way you’re talking, I hope it is successful. Either way, please continue to document your course for the DPs.

Re: how strict are BofA's new rules?

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 10:17:17 GMT

@ZackAttack wrote:

My credit started July 2018 and rolling to today, my FICO 8 Scores are TU 751, EQ 740, and EX 747 last alerted me from MyFico Website. So, it's possible that BoA can approve you for a card, but they may put you at a lower limit for a thin file.Relationship wise, I don't see any benefit of it other than a higher chance on a SL depending on how many months an account been open with BoA.

if you get a low limit from BOA, they are reported to give big CLI's very quickly and they're soft pull approval now, so i would be fine with a low starting limit from them. this is an underestimated card, it's much better than people think it is.

Re: how strict are BofA's new rules?

CreditInspired — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 11:32:55 GMT

I say go ahead and pull the trigger. Apply for the BOA and try for the Uber too. As you say, this is a new BOA rule and there are no DPs. At least we'll get our first DP from your outcome. Definitely keep us in the loop.

Also, please understand that we do not take it personal or get mad, because the bottom line is everyone's mileage is different. We voluntarily provide advice from our own experiences or the knowledge and expertise we've learned over time. It's given to thwart others from going down the rabbit hole unnecessarily, not because we're trying to wield any power.

GL2U

Re: how strict are BofA's new rules?

kdm31091 — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 12:38:08 GMT

I'd echo the other comments and say it's a good time to let things age and just wait it out for awhile. Don't get so wrapped up in lender policies of when you can apply that you forget whether you should apply.

Most of the time, when we hear about these new "rules" from banks, they are hard coded and typically enforced. Banks try to automate these things as much as possible. It's much easier to plug "reject anyone above 7/12" into an algorithim than to have humans evaluating applications on a case by case basis. So my guess is the BoA rule is probably firm. Could you get them to budge if you had an exceptional investment relationship or something? Possibly, but who knows.

The point is that regardless of the rule being active or not, I don't think it's a good time for you to app.

Re: how strict are BofA's new rules?

kdm31091 — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 12:49:09 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Medic981 wrote:
Information in your signature line is so forum members can see your info without having to ask you for it. I have goal cards and dream cards listed. I do not put cards in my tradelines until I have them. As ImTheDevil has stated, you have an awesome resource in the collective knowledge of this forum. Heed their advice or do what you want, however, why ask for advice if you are not going to heed it?
i changed my sig to make it clearer what cards i have.

yes, the conventional wisdom is 6 months between apps but you can app quicker than that. i have done it successfully, and others have done it too. you just have to do it strategically. i have seen some forum members here that started from scratch and apped 15 cards without a long garden stretch. they got good limits that grew, and their scores grew fast too. i'm not going that far but its possible.

i started this topic because maybe there's a person here who has apped to BOA recently, thin file or thick. i spent 2 days searching for approvals/denials and didn't find much. if there's no solid data, i'm just going to take a gamble and see what happens.

lately when i post a topic on myfico, i am dogpiled by 30 different people and told to go garden. and when i say i don't want to garden right now, they always get mad and say i shouldn't be asking for advice! but i never asked anyone for advice about if i should go garden or not anyways, don't take it personal if i don't take that advice.

Keep in mind also that things change. What worked a year or two ago may no longer work. Lenders change policies all the time, and for the most part, they're clamping down on people with a lot of new inquiries and new accounts. It used to be a lot easier to get a Capital One higher end card than it is now, for example. BoA also used to be considerably more lax than they are today.

There is no rule that says you have to garden for x amount of time, and yes, there's times you'll still get approved. It doesn't mean it's a great idea, and the best advice may still be to wait awhile to avoid being stuck with a $500 card at 24% interest, which not all lenders will budge on later.

With the BoA situation, there aren't many solid DPs so as you said, if you really want to do it now, you'll just have to go for it and see what happens.

Re: how strict are BofA's new rules?

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 16:19:12 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Medic981 wrote:
Information in your signature line is so forum members can see your info without having to ask you for it. I have goal cards and dream cards listed. I do not put cards in my tradelines until I have them. As ImTheDevil has stated, you have an awesome resource in the collective knowledge of this forum. Heed their advice or do what you want, however, why ask for advice if you are not going to heed it?
i changed my sig to make it clearer what cards i have.

yes, the conventional wisdom is 6 months between apps but you can app quicker than that. i have done it successfully, and others have done it too. you just have to do it strategically. i have seen some forum members here that started from scratch and apped 15 cards without a long garden stretch. they got good limits that grew, and their scores grew fast too. i'm not going that far but its possible.

i started this topic because maybe there's a person here who has apped to BOA recently, thin file or thick. i spent 2 days searching for approvals/denials and didn't find much. if there's no solid data, i'm just going to take a gamble and see what happens.

lately when i post a topic on myfico, i am dogpiled by 30 different people and told to go garden. and when i say i don't want to garden right now, they always get mad and say i shouldn't be asking for advice! but i never asked anyone for advice about if i should go garden or not anyways, don't take it personal if i don't take that advice.

I don't have an opinion one way or the other on whether you should apply for the cards you want. But can you point to an example of what you stated in the highlighted portion of your earlier comment?

Re: how strict are BofA's new rules?

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 18:24:54 GMT

If OP is not pining for a Chase card I am not convinced gardening is all that important.

At the end of the day, payment history sets the tone for scores and decent income and low dti ratio get you starting limits. Age is important but in op's case it will all grow no matter how many cards they get now.

Be responsible, don't miss payment. Live within your means, don't think of credit as your own money. And you will be just fine.

Re: how strict are BofA's new rules?

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 18:41:10 GMT

My advice is go for the cards you want and do the research before you apply to figure out what the potential outcome will be with similar profiles in the Approvals section. If there's a heavy tendency to "go to the garden" then you know what you're getting into before you hit submit. Sure the OP has a thin file and 3 new accounts in under a year but, I've seen stranger things happen around here with thinner files even with Chase where someone had just a couple of AU cards and pulled off a CSR approval for 15K.

The only issue around here is when people ask for advice, get advice, apply anyway, and then come back and whine about the outcome if it's not 100% favorable.

Gathering information is part of the process and OP is trying to gather data points on similar situations not whether gardening is the way to go. We who have experience sometimes lose sight of what's best and what's asked. There are some baited subjects that pop up and within minutes there's already 2 pages of responses given. (NOT saying this is the case here)

BOA and every other lender have these policies that get leaked or experienced. As long as there is awareness that changes are being made it is half of the battle trying to get an approval. DP's and research are part of the process if you want to facilitate a more predictable outcome. Nothing is for sure though until you have the card in hand and able to make a purchase or two with it. There are plenty of instances where people go around and hit 10 apps in a weekend and then turn around a week after getting a new card to find it's shutdown due to a later SP review of additional activities.

Every 3 months on new cards is a bit aggresive but, if it works and knowing there's a potential for AA to overcome down the road then if you want to push your luck on it then so be it.

Putting in the time though and thinking things out before hitting submit is the proper approach. I put in hours of research before sniping a series of cards. I put together targets and contingency plans if one fails to be realized then there's another similar option or diverting to a different path completely due to changes in rules. If I'm thinking about 2-3 cards I'll compile a list of 10 because I most likely have a set goal in mind for either spend, SUB, or otherwise.

OP probably wouldn't be able to pull off 2-3 cards but, 1-2 isn't out of the question but, after those 1-2 the advice of gardning will be thick as mud since those inevitable denials after 5/12 will roll in like clockwork w/o a break period.