topic Re: J.C. Penny PreQualification? in Credit Cards

J.C. Penny PreQualification?

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Oct 2018 01:14:00 GMT

So a couple weeks ago, I was approved for three new cards: Amazon Visa with a CL of $1500 (my lowest), an Amazon store card with a CL of $1200 and an Express store card for $1000. My current fico scores despite my signature are: EQ: 679; TU: 682; EX: 638. In addition to the cards named above, I have a Cap1 Quicksilver with a CL of $6000, a Discover card with a CL of $2900 and a JetBlue card with a CL of $3500, a Victoria's Secret Card with a CL of $500 and a NY& Co card with a CL of $300. My utilization is about 40% across all revolving accounts and about 15% for store cards. Will be back to 30% by month's end for revolving accounts. I am technically gardneing as all my credit cards were opened this year and I need some age, but I do occasionally shop at JC Penny and I wonder if anyone has any opinions on whether another store card would help my picture. Since it's a prequal, would it be a soft pull? Does anyone know what report they tend to pull? I'm happy to let it go, too, but on the off chance it could help the picture, I want to take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way. Thanks.

Re: J.C. Penny PreQualification?

Jnbmom — Fri, 26 Oct 2018 02:46:28 GMT

Did you receive a preapproved letter in mail ? As far as I know penny's doesn't have pre qualifted online app. It's synchrony they tend to pull EXP, but YMMV.

Re: J.C. Penny PreQualification?

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Oct 2018 05:47:20 GMT

In short, with the exception of adding a fairly meager sum to your total available credit, I don't think the J.C. Penney card adds very much to your credit profile. I believe it would have to be a hard pull on your credit. The prequal is generated from a soft pull, but approval of any extension of credit typically requires a hard pull. You should also be careful not to generate too many frivolous inquiries. That can scare lenders off as you can begin to appear "desperate" for credit.

I'd also add that, imho, if you don't shop at a place religiously, dump the store card. I only keep my Amazon Prime Store Card because I buy tons of stuff from Amazon and use the promotional financing. In my opinion, if you only shop at places occasionally, store cards aren't really worth it. The fact you have the Amazon Visa and the Amazon Prime Store Card is redundant. I'd choose one to keep based on your needs (cash back or promotional financing) and dump the other one. I'm only suggesting closing cards because you mentioned they were all opened this year, so - barring any damage already done by the hard pulls - it should have minimal effect on your FICO scores.

The biggest thing is to reduce your utilization and keep it low. Forty percent certainly isn't the worst, but it's a decent chunk of change given your available credit and ideally it would be half that or less. If you can pull that off, I think you're in a good place to garden for a little bit. Let things go for a year and watch your scores go up!

Re: J.C. Penny PreQualification?

Malcono — Fri, 26 Oct 2018 06:24:17 GMT

So, from your post it seems that you've opened up 8 cards in the last year alone?

I highly suggest that you stick to gardening for now.

Lenders do not like credit seeking behavior.

Cheers.

Re: J.C. Penny PreQualification?

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Oct 2018 11:33:51 GMT

@Jnbmom Yes, received in the mail. Thanks for the info on who they pull.

Re: J.C. Penny PreQualification?

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Oct 2018 11:39:51 GMT

@thedubixcube, thanks for this. I will be tearing up the letter. Also, I do shop at Amazon often, so I use the store card there and the Visa as my weekend card (grocery store, gas, restaurants) paying in full while I pay down travel charges and fall shopping charges on the other cards. As far as I know you can't use the Prime store card outside of Amazon, so I don't find it redundant.

Re: J.C. Penny PreQualification?

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Oct 2018 11:46:17 GMT

@Malcono, thanks, definitely sticking to gardening.

Re: J.C. Penny PreQualification?

SunriseEarth — Tue, 30 Oct 2018 10:36:36 GMT

As rebuilders, it's easy to fall into the trap of getting credit just because you can. Certainly, if you shop at JCP and would value the rewards structure, it's a good card. However, at this point in your rebuild, I wouldn't advise getting it unless you have an actual purpose for it. If you need a zero balance account that you can occassionally use or if you need a UTIL buffer, maybe that's enough of a reason to go for it.

When I got my JCP card, they pulled TU for my application (I also received a pre-approval in the mail). I think every Sync app I've made pulled TU.