topic Re: Looking for Advice on Second Credit Card in Credit Card Applications

Looking for Advice on Second Credit Card

Anonymous — Mon, 18 May 2015 19:40:20 GMT

I am looking for advice on when to apply for a second credit card and what credit card will be a good stepping stone for future approvals.

About me:

-I applied for two credit cards in February: the Chase Freedom and the Discover It Student. I was denied for the Chase Freedom due to lack of credit history and was approved for the Discover with a $1500 CL.

-i have received two statements from Discover and my most recent statement says my credit score is 689.

-Aside from my discover card the only credit history I have is I am an AU on a CSP for about 3 years now.

-Income is approx. 54,000

I just got my most recent Discover statement and was curious if I had any prequalified offers. I checked citi, amex, and chase. Chase came up and said I was prequalified for the Chase Freedom and the Chase Slate. I would love to get my foot in the door with chase, but I am wary of trusting this pre-qual offer as I was just denied by them a couple of months ago for short credit history. Given this, what advice would you give me on applying for a second credit card? I don’t know if I should wait longer for the Chase, apply for the Chase Freedom, or apply to a different credit card.

Thanks in advance!

Re: Looking for Advice on Second Credit Card

TRC_WA — Mon, 18 May 2015 19:00:42 GMT

Capital One.

Now.

You have limited history. Building/Rebuilding credit is a marathon... not a race.

Re: Looking for Advice on Second Credit Card

Anonymous — Mon, 18 May 2015 19:09:04 GMT

Personally I would give Chase another try bc of the pre-qual before using three HP with one Cap One application. A couple months sometimes changes things. Worse they can say is no

Re: Looking for Advice on Second Credit Card

Anonymous — Mon, 18 May 2015 19:21:01 GMT

capital one! they will give you the world!

Re: Looking for Advice on Second Credit Card

Anonymous — Mon, 18 May 2015 20:11:54 GMT

Sallie Mae Rewards?

Re: Looking for Advice on Second Credit Card

Anonymous — Mon, 18 May 2015 20:18:51 GMT

Cap One. You have a pulse. (LOL) Seriously, they are the easiest to get approved from everything I've read on here, and from my experience. Go on the Cap One website and do the prequal. It's a soft pull and seems to be pretty accurate as to whether you'll be approved or not. I'll bet you'll be approved for at least one of their cards.

Re: Looking for Advice on Second Credit Card

Anonymous — Mon, 18 May 2015 20:24:11 GMT

Went to the capital one site and didnt get back any pre-qual offers. Should I just hold off on applying for a second card?

Re: Looking for Advice on Second Credit Card

SecretAzure — Mon, 18 May 2015 20:41:20 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
capital one! they will give you the world!

They will give you a darkened, ill-fated version of the world. I would look anywhere else but there. I started at Cap1, I don't want to end there. Although, yes...generally good for new credit/rebuilding credit.

DO NOTHING FOR 4 MORE MONTHS. Trust me, the credit limits will be much better!

Re: Looking for Advice on Second Credit Card

Anonymous — Tue, 19 May 2015 02:28:25 GMT

Lol SecretAzure love the darkened, ill-fated comment

Re: Looking for Advice on Second Credit Card

SecretAzure — Tue, 19 May 2015 02:32:35 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Lol SecretAzure love the darkened, ill-fated comment

Thanks! It's true and we know it! You and I have 2 cards in common, get the Barclaycard Ring or Amex BCE so we can have 3, kthx?

Re: Looking for Advice on Second Credit Card

Anonymous — Tue, 19 May 2015 13:12:45 GMT

Go to Chase since it is prequal! Go for the Freedom as 5% cashback for gas, etc is coming up! They double pull, TU and EX for me and it seems to be the case for most. Cap One...wait till the prequals show up as they tripple pull. Their prequals are solid. Of course you can still get in without having cards show up in the prequal, but I think right now you are good to go for Chase.

Re: Looking for Advice on Second Credit Card

Anonymous — Tue, 19 May 2015 13:29:29 GMT

I think I'm going to hold off on applying for the capital one cards seeing as I do not have any prequal offers and I dont think their cards offer anything special for me. Does anyone think I would have a better chance at an Amex vs. the Chase w/ the prequal? Again, I am nervous about apping for the chase even with the prequal because 3 months ago I was denied for lack of credit history.

Re: Looking for Advice on Second Credit Card

SecretAzure — Tue, 19 May 2015 13:33:44 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I think I'm going to hold off on applying for the capital one cards seeing as I do not have any prequal offers and I dont think their cards offer anything special for me. Does anyone think I would have a better chance at an Amex vs. the Chase w/ the prequal? Again, I am nervous about apping for the chase even with the prequal because 3 months ago I was denied for lack of credit history.

Like I said earlier, I think you should do nothing for 4 months. After that, you'd probably have better luck with Amex. Wait 2-3 months, do the 3XCLI and by then you'll have no trouble at all getting anything else you might want. There's no rush. Patience is key here, don't keep adding inquiries that get you very little (SCL) or worse, nothing at all.

Re: Looking for Advice on Second Credit Card

Existentialist — Tue, 19 May 2015 19:26:29 GMT

@SecretAzure wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I think I'm going to hold off on applying for the capital one cards seeing as I do not have any prequal offers and I dont think their cards offer anything special for me. Does anyone think I would have a better chance at an Amex vs. the Chase w/ the prequal? Again, I am nervous about apping for the chase even with the prequal because 3 months ago I was denied for lack of credit history.
Like I said earlier, I think you should do nothing for 4 months. After that, you'd probably have better luck with Amex. Wait 2-3 months, do the 3XCLI and by then you'll have no trouble at all getting anything else you might want. There's no rush. Patience is key here, don't keep adding inquiries that get you very little (SCL) or worse, nothing at all.

SA is correct. The most common mistake ppl who are trying to build/rebuild credit make is.... rushing to add additional credit when patience and thoughtful consideration are the keys. Also NEVER be anxious about getting in with a particular lender (cuz there is no perfect lender... period). They all hav their strengths & weaknesses. Furthermore as SA also indicated, the other common mistake folk make is failing to consider how patience will likely enable them to receive a much better SL. This should always be kept in mind bcuz getting approved is merely the first step. The flip side of the coin is getting approved 'with the best SL possible'. So dont do what so many others hav done which is just try to get your foot in the door. Work the credit U now hav so that when U eventually app (whatever card) you'll be better positioned to receive the best SL possible. Good luck.

Re: Looking for Advice on Second Credit Card

Anonymous — Wed, 20 May 2015 13:14:02 GMT

@Existentialist wrote:
@SecretAzure wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I think I'm going to hold off on applying for the capital one cards seeing as I do not have any prequal offers and I dont think their cards offer anything special for me. Does anyone think I would have a better chance at an Amex vs. the Chase w/ the prequal? Again, I am nervous about apping for the chase even with the prequal because 3 months ago I was denied for lack of credit history.
Like I said earlier, I think you should do nothing for 4 months. After that, you'd probably have better luck with Amex. Wait 2-3 months, do the 3XCLI and by then you'll have no trouble at all getting anything else you might want. There's no rush. Patience is key here, don't keep adding inquiries that get you very little (SCL) or worse, nothing at all.

SA is correct. The most common mistake ppl who are trying to build/rebuild credit make is.... rushing to add additional credit when patience and thoughtful consideration are the keys. Also NEVER be anxious about getting in with a particular lender (cuz there is no perfect lender... period). They all hav their strengths & weaknesses. Furthermore as SA also indicated, the other common mistake folk make is failing to consider how patience will likely enable them to receive a much better SL. This should always be kept in mind bcuz getting approved is merely the first step. The flip side of the coin is getting approved 'with the best SL possible'. So dont do what so many others hav done which is just try to get your foot in the door. Work the credit U now hav so that when U eventually app (whatever card) you'll be better positioned to receive the best SL possible. Good luck.

I agree! I started out with partially secured card then few months later I started getting prequal for few cards. I did my research based on my needs and plans and carefully selected the next three cards. While so many like the shopping cart trick for store cards I made sure to not add more than one (had nice AAoU). I only took one Cap One card after getting 3k Freedom card. Cap One started me at low $500 but I did not take the bait to get more than that. I just wanted to get in the door. I waited until the Venture card showed up and all my cards, especially the Freedom 3k, was showing up in reports. Took the Venture and SL is 10k. Be patient! It pays!