topic Take the risk to apply for Sallie Mae Mastercard? in Credit Card Applications

Take the risk to apply for Sallie Mae Mastercard?

Anonymous — Sat, 30 May 2015 17:22:44 GMT

Hello, all. I am looking to apply for my first credit card and the rewards of the Sallie Mae Mastercard look very appealing. However, I am unsure whether I would realistically get approved for this card.

As for my credit situation, my Equifax and TU scores are 681. I have no inquiries, no late payments, and my average account age is 8 years. All of the accounts in my credit history are student loans that are currently deferred (I'm a current grad student) and the newest of these is over 6 years old. I would like to take advantages of the benefits of this card as soon as possible and I have not seen another card with comparable rewards; but I am conflicted, given the scores and circumstances that seem to have been approved & denied. I am thinking that my low income (grad student stipend) and not great credit score mean that I will probably not be approved for this card; but, I do not have any experience with this, so I thought I would seek some advice.

Thank you in advance for any help!

Re: Take the risk to apply for Sallie Mae Mastercard?

Anonymous — Sat, 30 May 2015 17:38:22 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello, all. I am looking to apply for my first credit card and the rewards of the Sallie Mae Mastercard look very appealing. However, I am unsure whether I would realistically get approved for this card.

As for my credit situation, my Equifax and TU scores are 681. I have no inquiries, no late payments, and my average account age is 8 years. All of the accounts in my credit history are student loans that are currently deferred (I'm a current grad student) and the newest of these is over 6 years old. I would like to take advantages of the benefits of this card as soon as possible and I have not seen another card with comparable rewards; but I am conflicted, given the scores and circumstances that seem to have been approved & denied. I am thinking that my low income (grad student stipend) and not great credit score mean that I will probably not be approved for this card; but, I do not have any experience with this, so I thought I would seek some advice.

Thank you in advance for any help!

Credit score is within range of approval. What income can you report?

Re: Take the risk to apply for Sallie Mae Mastercard?

Anonymous — Sat, 30 May 2015 17:43:35 GMT

This card seems to be made for students or recent graduates so I can't imagine the income requirement being extremely high. But then again I'm not certain. Your AAoA is great, TU score is probably ok I got it with a 696. If you think its a great benefit for you then give it a try, especially if you have 0 or very few inqs on TU System might deny you for lack of credit card accounts on file but there's always the recon option. Nothing beats a failure like a try! GL

Re: Take the risk to apply for Sallie Mae Mastercard?

Callandra — Sat, 30 May 2015 18:41:23 GMT

If you have at least 10k income, you should be okay. My bigger concern would be the the lack of no CC history. Barclays tends to like 6-12 months CC history. Have you looked at student cards to build your history?

Re: Take the risk to apply for Sallie Mae Mastercard?

steel_string — Sat, 30 May 2015 18:59:55 GMT

Sounds like your credit report is actually quite good for someone with no cards. I think I would probably go ahead and give it a shot. I wouldn't expect them to give an instant approval, but a call to the 24 hour credit analyst number might get the job done. If they decline over the phone, try for one of the easier cards from an issuer that doesn't pull TU and then try for SM again after six statements have reported to TU. The worst case scenario would be that Barclay sees a six month old Barclay HP and one six month old account with a better FICO score than you have now.

Re: Take the risk to apply for Sallie Mae Mastercard?

CreditCuriosity — Sat, 30 May 2015 19:13:41 GMT

Problem I see if you don't have any CC history, unless I missed something.. Barclay's like to see 1 year of CC history at least.. Unless I missed you have any CC history I see it being a decline personally. If you do indeed have CC history of over a year you have a good shot

Re: Take the risk to apply for Sallie Mae Mastercard?

Anonymous — Sat, 30 May 2015 19:35:05 GMT

What Barclays likes is up to Barclay and subject to change They were ok with me having three months of CC history. There are always exceptions. I've been reading how Chase *likes to see a year of history* since I first came around here and they approved me with none.

But like I said before you having 0 CC payment history may be an issue and if so recon is worth a try. Worse they can say is no and then you figure out alternatives.

Re: Take the risk to apply for Sallie Mae Mastercard?

CreditCuriosity — Sat, 30 May 2015 20:00:14 GMT

I just see 0 CC history as a sticking point personally.. It is only a TU pull though.. I think it would have to goto recon as well if approved, aka wouldn't be instant.. Just my thoughts of reading tons of barclay's stories, but hey I could be wrong as there are always exceptions as we all know.

If OP doesn't mind using a TU pull and willing to recon then go for it.

Re: Take the risk to apply for Sallie Mae Mastercard?

Anonymous — Sun, 31 May 2015 01:14:21 GMT

Thanks for the reply. My annual income is only $15,000, which sort of concerns me.

Re: Take the risk to apply for Sallie Mae Mastercard?

Callandra — Sun, 31 May 2015 01:18:09 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for the reply. My annual income is only $15,000, which sort of concerns me.

When I applied for their Rewards MC, I put down $17k for income and I still got approved for $1.5k.

Re: Take the risk to apply for Sallie Mae Mastercard?

Anonymous — Sun, 31 May 2015 01:18:57 GMT

Have you apped yet? What's the holdup?

Re: Take the risk to apply for Sallie Mae Mastercard?

Anonymous — Sun, 31 May 2015 01:35:17 GMT

15k works Especially if your rent is $0. Get crackin!
(no pressure)

Re: Take the risk to apply for Sallie Mae Mastercard?

Anonymous — Sun, 31 May 2015 05:01:17 GMT

Thanks for all of the replies!

I live by myself in an apartment, so my rent is definitely not $0. Do credit card applications ask about monthly expenses?

I am just mulling over the decision to apply, since I do not have any credit card history. I have seen some recommendations to wait 6 months after a denial to apply for another card. So I don't want to apply for this one without thinking it over, beciase if I get denied, I'm going to want to apply for another one within a month or so. I also have no knowledge about RECON calls, so I want to look into those a bit.

Re: Take the risk to apply for Sallie Mae Mastercard?

JSS3 — Sun, 31 May 2015 12:20:44 GMT

I have no suggestions on applying for Sallie, but whatever you do, make sure to go over to Capitalone.com and try the prequal link to see if any of their cards show up(preferably a quicksilver). I believe you're a shoe-in for one of their cards. You can even apply for two recommended ones back to back. This will get you going with your building.

Re: Take the risk to apply for Sallie Mae Mastercard?

Anonymous — Sun, 31 May 2015 16:24:15 GMT

No prequal on barclays exist?

Re: Take the risk to apply for Sallie Mae Mastercard?

Anonymous — Sun, 31 May 2015 16:53:07 GMT

No Barclays prequal. They removed it sometime last year.

Re: Take the risk to apply for Sallie Mae Mastercard?

Anonymous — Sun, 31 May 2015 16:53:07 GMT

Sounds promising, go for it!

Re: Take the risk to apply for Sallie Mae Mastercard?

Anonymous — Sun, 31 May 2015 18:11:08 GMT

Thanks for the advice on Capital One. I tried the prequalify there and it said "we couldn't match your records to a card offer. But based on your answers, we think you might like this card" (the QuicksilverOne). I guess that means that I am not pre-approved for any of those cards?

Just as a general question: if I apply for the Sallie Mae MC and am denied, how long would you all recommend waiting before applying for a different (more easily attainable) card?

Re: Take the risk to apply for Sallie Mae Mastercard?

CreditCuriosity — Sun, 31 May 2015 18:55:11 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for the advice on Capital One. I tried the prequalify there and it said "we couldn't match your records to a card offer. But based on your answers, we think you might like this card" (the QuicksilverOne). I guess that means that I am not pre-approved for any of those cards?

Just as a general question: if I apply for the Sallie Mae MC and am denied, how long would you all recommend waiting before applying for a different (more easily attainable) card?

Recon first before applying for another if declined... I believe the UW/Analyst are open 24 hours a day.. Not sure on the other answer, but sure other people will weigh in...

I still think the sticking point is no CC history even with the Apple CC from barclay's which is their easiest.. Barclay's isn't known to be a lender that wants to hand out credit to a person new into the game nor do they really like to have more exposure than other lenders either.. Obviously there are exceptions to every rule.

As stated if you can afford a TU pull go for it, only 1 TU pull or should only be one against TU.. Otherwise I would suggest going for a Discover or Cap1 where you don't need cc history persay..

Re: Take the risk to apply for Sallie Mae Mastercard?

GoldSorata — Sun, 31 May 2015 20:12:33 GMT

If you don't have any CC history, I'd say grab a discover or Cap 1 and then in 6 months give a Barclay card a try. Barclay denied me when i didn't have any other card history and I tried talking to an UW, they wouldn't budge. Then did a Discover app and they gave me $1500.

6 months after having the Discover, I apped for a Barclay rewards and was instantly approved.