topic Re: Credit Spree in Credit Cards

Credit Spree

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Aug 2018 18:25:42 GMT

Over the past year, I have been recovering my credit from being an authorized user on my ex-wife’s cards and having virtually no credit of my own. I have a small mortgage in my name, bought a truck for my son last year and acquired two USAA and one Discover cards last November to try and establish something of my own.

My scores have improved dramatically from 602 median to 730 median (Experian is actually over 800). I want to make the best of my hard work this year and acquire permanent cards with good incentives.

Here is where I am at the start of my spree:

I just closed yesterday on a new home $443k borrowed at 3.93% (yay!), completed financing on a new vehicle today $91k borrowed at 3.9% (yay!) and was (finally) approved for the Chase Sapphire Reserve ($35k at 16%). However, when I immediately applied for the Slate and Freedom Unlimited cards to share points (learned that here, thank you FICO community!), I was only approved for $5k on the Slate and declined on the Freedom.

The recent pulls should not be affecting my scores yet and I would like to round out my spree before they do. Aside from the CSR, what are additional cards with good offers/bonus programs that you would recommend?

I need to purchase furniture, some appliances and upgrade some of the outside landscaping of the new home and have plenty of expenses to run through cards for points and initial bonus levels.

Thanks in advance for your help and thank you very much for the advice last year that allowed me to get established credit.

Re: Credit Spree

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Aug 2018 21:29:06 GMT

Look at AmEx - they’re known for SUBs, limits that grow quickly, and the ability to app for multiple cards on a single HP. They have a prequal page and you can see what they’ll offer. They’re known for very solid prequals too - if you see a preapproval with a solid APR it’s almost as good as gold.

Re: Credit Spree

Shadowfactor — Wed, 08 Aug 2018 21:39:56 GMT

The chase slate doesn’t earn rewards as far as I know. It is a good BT/0% card though.

But to answer your question.
Do you want travel points or cash back.

Amex ED has 15 months at 0% and has a 25K point offer if you look around for it.

Amex Platinum has the 100K offer through the prequalified site or card match tool.

Altitude Reserve has 50K in points and allows mobile pay for 3X points.(4.5%) It’s extremely nice if you have a Samsung phone. You could earn a lot of extra points for applicances and home upgrades by using Samsung pay in store. Stuff you probably wouldn’t get extra points for with most cards like the CSR or Amex.

Re: Credit Spree

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Aug 2018 21:55:46 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
The recent pulls should not be affecting my scores yet and I would like to round out my spree before they do. Aside from the CSR, what are additional cards with good offers/bonus programs that you would recommend?

HPs affect your scores instantly as they're pulled, have you checked your reports and scores after the car loan and CC app? What has not hit your report/score yet is new loan/account reporting.

Re: Credit Spree

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Aug 2018 22:56:06 GMT

Oh crud. I thought that I got a couple of days before it all caught up with me. Should I garden for six months or so before pushing beyond the CSR?

Re: Credit Spree

Shadowfactor — Wed, 08 Aug 2018 23:25:15 GMT

It really depends on what your scores are.

Most lenders will count multiple mortgage inquiries as one so they shouldn’t hurt you too much. But the recent credit pulls for the chase card could be adding up. They are a known EQ/EX double puller.

You would probably be fine if you wanted one more card if you a good credit profile.

Maybe the Altitude Reserve would be a good choice for you. It would help you get a good bonus, lots of points if you use mobile pay for those house upgrades and they are mainly a TU puller.
You have to be a USB customer but you can always open a checking account for free.

Re: Credit Spree

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Aug 2018 23:49:04 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Oh crud. I thought that I got a couple of days before it all caught up with me. Should I garden for six months or so before pushing beyond the CSR?

Waiting rarely hurt, in your case I would pull your score and report before proceeding in any case, you can get all 3 FICO scores for $1 7day trial from Credit Check Total, just make sure to cancel before trail period.

FYI, your Freedom Unlimited application was automatically denied because you broke the Chase 2/30 rule, no more than 2 applications in 30 days, the rejection "may" not have anything to do with your score/profile. The silver lining, they might have used 1 HP for both CSR/Slate and 0 for FU, only way to know is to pull the report.

Re: Credit Spree

Anonymous — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 11:37:06 GMT

I picked up the CSR, Slate and the Citi AA Executive cards. I was denied the Chase Freedom due to the 3/30 rule and was put into underwriting on the Citi Executive but was surprised last night with a late approval after seven days of waiting.

Something interesting that I came across on the CSR: I have been buying furniture and appliances for the new house and due to the agonizingly slow payment and balance updates on my USAA cards, expected to run $100k through it over weeks of filling up and flushing the CSR for new purchases. However, payments made to the card from my Chase account instantly update my available card balance. When I margin or withdraw funds from my Chase brokerage account, pay the CSR and (quite literally) funds are available on the card the second that I hit submit button on a payment. I have already pushed $40k through the card and it handles like dream. This card rocks!!

Farming time; thanks very much to all that responded.

Re: Credit Spree

Cred4All — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 11:39:14 GMT

Great work recovering that score back into the mid 700's, it paid off in spades with the new home, auto, and cards (Not to mention your percentage rates.) The Chase cards were the final icing on the cake!

Re: Credit Spree

Anonymous — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 12:56:38 GMT

Thank you :-). Honestly, I just followed the basic instructions posted here on the FICO forum. I cannot thank all of you enough for helping me to recover from poor credit management and divorce.

I have advanced degrees in finance and accounting yet was completely ignorant of how to manage my credit. Future generations of my family and my clients will benefit from information that should have been delivered to all of us in school.