topic Re: Looking for card recommendations for thin file in Credit Card Applications

Looking for card recommendations for thin file

barsandrhyme — Mon, 20 Feb 2023 19:31:19 GMT

Hi, I wanted to try for one more credit card before I give things a break and see if my current cards graduate/grow.

So far I just have: Self Credit Builder secured loan, Self Secured Card: $250, Discover Secured Card: $200, and PayPal World MasterCard: $1800.

My FICO 8 scores from Experian are: EXP: 721 INQ: 2 | EQ: 735 INQ: 0 | TU: 708 INQ: 3

I've been trying some various pre-approval tools. For CareCredit, it says I am pre-qualified for $8000, but then I tried Lowes and they say $637. I'm a bit confused by American Express seemingly have two different pre-qual pages, but some cards do seem to pop up on both while Capital One only pre-qualifies me for secured cards. My oldest account is the Self Credit Builder loan at 8 months, so my file is still pretty thin. I was wondering if there are any okay cards that I might be able to get. I am in California if that might factor into any of the credit pulls.

Re: Looking for card recommendations for thin file

GZG — Mon, 20 Feb 2023 19:34:58 GMT

apple card? HP if you accept the approval offer

you can apply for Amex under "apply with confidence" and not incur a HP if you are rejected or don't accept the approval, BCE or BCP depending on your grocery spend comes to mind

otherwise, if you can't get something you can take advantage of, feel free to garden for a bit and start up again with Chase in 6-12 months

Re: Looking for card recommendations for thin file

CYBERSAM — Mon, 20 Feb 2023 19:40:08 GMT

@barsandrhyme Try AMEX! Most of their core cards can be product change to others in the future and you can get CLI with SP to help your card limit grow!

Re: Looking for card recommendations for thin file

JoeRockhead — Mon, 20 Feb 2023 20:03:45 GMT

With you current scores, I'm going to jump on the Amex train here too. As stated up thread, new customers can use their prequal and see if they'll get an approval with no hard pull unless you accept an offer. Plus, most (not all) future applications for new cards are SP only which is phenomenal.

Re: Looking for card recommendations for thin file

barsandrhyme — Mon, 20 Feb 2023 22:16:08 GMT

Is the pre-qual on the main AmEx page? I tried searching some old threads here and one link returned only travel cards and the other did show the Blue Cash card. Would that be the one to try for? Also does the pre-qual give any indication to the credit limit or is that only after the hard pull?

Thanks for the advice. I did have AmEx on my mind, but wasn't sure if it was too soon to try.

Re: Looking for card recommendations for thin file

GZG — Mon, 20 Feb 2023 22:53:11 GMT

@barsandrhyme wrote:
Is the pre-qual on the main AmEx page? I tried searching some old threads here and one link returned only travel cards and the other did show the Blue Cash card. Would that be the one to try for? Also does the pre-qual give any indication to the credit limit or is that only after the hard pull?

Thanks for the advice. I did have AmEx on my mind, but wasn't sure if it was too soon to try.

there's a prequal page, and there's the page where you can directly apply with 'apply with confidence'

If you don't see 'apply with confidence', you might be rejected with a HP:

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/card/blue-cash-everyday/

and if you have significant grocery spend: https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/card/blue-cash-preferred/

You won't find out SL, only after you accept the card and take the HP, if approved, I imagine you would get a 1k SL, but can grow quickly

Re: Looking for card recommendations for thin file

SweetCreditObsession — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 02:45:14 GMT

I'd take @GZG's advice and try the Amex "Apply with Confidence" option. Once you're in with them, your limits can grow and quite quickly too.

Re: Looking for card recommendations for thin file

SouthJamaica — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 04:24:37 GMT

@barsandrhyme wrote:
Hi, I wanted to try for one more credit card before I give things a break and see if my current cards graduate/grow.

So far I just have: Self Credit Builder secured loan, Self Secured Card: $250, Discover Secured Card: $200, and PayPal World MasterCard: $1800.

My FICO 8 scores from Experian are: EXP: 721 INQ: 2 | EQ: 735 INQ: 0 | TU: 708 INQ: 3

I've been trying some various pre-approval tools. For CareCredit, it says I am pre-qualified for $8000, but then I tried Lowes and they say $637. I'm a bit confused by American Express seemingly have two different pre-qual pages, but some cards do seem to pop up on both while Capital One only pre-qualifies me for secured cards. My oldest account is the Self Credit Builder loan at 8 months, so my file is still pretty thin. I was wondering if there are any okay cards that I might be able to get. I am in California if that might factor into any of the credit pulls.

I wouldn't worry about prequalifications.

Amex Blue Cash Everyday is a nice cash back card.

There are lots of good credit union cards.

Re: Looking for card recommendations for thin file

Beefy1212 — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 16:59:37 GMT

I would possibly try Penfed, or another that pulls EQ. It is your highest score least number of inquiries and if they say no, you can still try AMEX who pulls Experian, hell you could do PenFed and Amex.

Re: Looking for card recommendations for thin file

barsandrhyme — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 22:27:43 GMT

I tried for the Apple card first and wasn't pre-qualified. The three reasons they gave were high loan balance, too many inquiries, and not enough payment history.

The Self Credit Builder loan should be 9 months old in about two weeks, so I'll wait until then before trying for AmEx and see if the apply with confidence thing works out.

Re: Looking for card recommendations for thin file

barsandrhyme — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 03:36:18 GMT

I got a little eager and tried for the Blue Cash Everyday. I was approved for a $4000 starting limit. Motivated, I tried my luck with Capital One, but was denied. Also tried PenFed, but denied as well. Definitely took on more inquiries than I wanted, but AmEx has certainly been a dream card of mine, so I'll just see if it will grow.

Re: Looking for card recommendations for thin file

Absolution16 — Tue, 28 Feb 2023 10:26:07 GMT

I started with 1K SL on my BCE back in 2016 just out of rebuild, and now after 2 tries with the 3x CLI, it has 9K CL, more than enough for me. You will have no trouble getting this card to grow, with steady spending and timely payments in full. This card is a keeper for long-term use as well, as it has no AF and has some nice rewards structure.

Re: Looking for card recommendations for thin file

Yasselife — Tue, 28 Feb 2023 12:36:41 GMT

Congratulations on your approval @barsandrhyme that's a major achievement.

Re: Looking for card recommendations for thin file

OmarGB9 — Tue, 28 Feb 2023 17:50:45 GMT

@barsandrhyme wrote:
I got a little eager and tried for the Blue Cash Everyday. I was approved for a $4000 starting limit. Motivated, I tried my luck with Capital One, but was denied. Also tried PenFed, but denied as well. Definitely took on more inquiries than I wanted, but AmEx has certainly been a dream card of mine, so I'll just see if it will grow.

Sorry about the 2 denials, but congrats on the Amex approval and nice SL!

Re: Looking for card recommendations for thin file

SouthJamaica — Tue, 28 Feb 2023 23:06:17 GMT

@barsandrhyme wrote:
I got a little eager and tried for the Blue Cash Everyday. I was approved for a $4000 starting limit. Motivated, I tried my luck with Capital One, but was denied. Also tried PenFed, but denied as well. Definitely took on more inquiries than I wanted, but AmEx has certainly been a dream card of mine, so I'll just see if it will grow.

Congratulations on your approval for the Blue Cash Everyday card. It's a good card.

Re: Looking for card recommendations for thin file

Kh-Phil — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 22:04:00 GMT

Congrats on your approval! I am going to lock this thread now, but you can continue the discussion in the Approvals board if you wish.