topic Re: Your Easiest and Hardest Cards in Credit Cards

Your Easiest and Hardest Cards

pinkandgrey — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 00:07:33 GMT

Just wondering what card you have that you consider very difficult to get approved for. Conversely, which ones are easy approvals?

None of my cards is particularly difficult to get, but in my personal experience, the USB Cash + was an uphill battle LOL. Disco basically threw itself at me very early on in my credit journey, so that was an easy one.

Re: Your Easiest and Hardest Cards

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 00:23:20 GMT

SSFCU Power Cash Back was the only difficult one for me. I applied, it went to review, they called me and wanted proof of address which took me a lot of arguing with them to get them to take my Colorado drivers license with the new address on the back since I was not willing to renew the drivers license (I’m actually not able to get to the DMV to do so and in Colorado you can only renew online twice which I’ve already done) and they wouldn’t accept the Comcast bill. She finally noticed that my address on the application matches my credit report and took it. Then I got off the phone and a few hours later they asked me for POI so I sent them three months of bank statements. Another hour or so and I finally got approved.

All of that to barely get approved - $5K at 18% (their highest APR so I essentially have a fixed APR).

The rest of my apps were all easy and I have only experienced four denials since my BK in 2012. Chase Amazon back in 2015 or so, Sony card by Capital One in 2017 (I already had the PlayStation card though, if I would have gone Sony first I would have gotten it), PenFed for 2 new accounts in September, and Amex denied me in December for my FICO which was higher than my March approval so I’m obviously blacklisted with them internally for awhile.

Disco, BBVA, Amazon Store Card, and PayPal were instant approvals with no further information requested, NFCU accounts all went to review but none of them had to be reconned, Cap instant approved me for my platinum as a $500 credit steps card back in 2014 as my first post-BK card.

Re: Your Easiest and Hardest Cards

wasCB14 — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 00:24:15 GMT

Excluding cards that require an invitation or some asset-based banking relationship, hard-to-get cards seem to fall into two buckets:

1. A minimum CL (several/most/all Visa Infinite cards require $10k...I have CSR)

2. Very strict credit standards (none of these have really interested me)

And to address your question in its most literal sense, some cards also have employment or geographic restrictions.

Re: Your Easiest and Hardest Cards

simplynoir — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 00:36:25 GMT

@wasCB14 wrote:
Excluding cards that require an invitation or some asset-based banking relationship, hard-to-get cards seem to fall into two buckets:

1. A minimum CL (several/most/all Visa Infinite cards require $10k...I have CSR)
2. Very strict credit standards (none of these have really interested me)

And to address your question in its most literal sense, some cards also have employment or geographic restrictions.

Only notable card I want to mention is the BofA Premium Rewards card. I was a Preferred Honors holder and still had to wait awhile for this one. Honestly thought this one would be a rejection.

Re: Your Easiest and Hardest Cards

Andypanda — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 01:02:01 GMT

All my cards we easy. Disco gad to do a verification, but no problems. Biggest issue I have now is trying to get beyond tge $300 scl from target.

Re: Your Easiest and Hardest Cards

AverageJoesCredit — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 02:38:08 GMT

Hardest:

Discover- 5 tries 6hps
Anything Penfed😠
Amex, overall, 10 year blacklist🤔
Synchrony Car Care ( Pep Boys) had to write recon letter to get, cli is very difficult to get without hp and even with very stubborn☹

Easiest:

Rest were more or less standard approvals, no prequals ever though my DC was an invitation to Apply.

Re: Your Easiest and Hardest Cards

Pikaboo-icu — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 02:50:07 GMT

Oh my gosh! Inspirus CU!!!

I wrote a novella about it on the board.. It's over on the personal finances board now and also a thread in approvals..

The process was INSANE but in the end 'twas 100% worth it.

It's geographically restricted and hoop after hoop but I ended up with saving & checking (8% int up to $500 on both) and a $20,000. SL 2% CB Visa without a HP!!

Each product was only a SP.

So, I highly recommend them but warn it will be an extensive process.

Easiest was PenFed Power Cash Rewards.. They just said: Here take this offer and I said: OK!

My second NFCU card was pretty simple too- App, Instant approval: $25,000. SL Yay!

Re: Your Easiest and Hardest Cards

DU556 — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 03:01:09 GMT

Never paid attention to "visa infinite ". Not even sure what that is.

Re: Your Easiest and Hardest Cards

bizarrocreditworld — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 03:22:10 GMT

Hardest: Probably the Ebates Signature Visa since I got it on my third attempt.

Easiest: The one I just got today , Bethpage FCU Low Rate Mastercard. They offered it over the phone, no new app, no new credit pull, $30,000 SL. The full story is in the Approvals section.

Re: Your Easiest and Hardest Cards

Zolomon — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 03:58:18 GMT

@pinkandgrey wrote:
Just wondering what card you have that you consider very difficult to get approved for. Conversely, which ones are easy approvals?

The Amex PRG was shockingly easy with an instant approval. I had a score of 680 - 700 at the time (Jan 2018). Had several 90 day lates from 2011 as well. Edit: I just found my very first post, and it was about my PRG approval.

The next week I applied for the CSP and they gave me a 30 day notice. I did not sleep well that night. They surprised me with a call the following day to verify my identity for approval. It was my first 5k starting limit / Visa Signature card.

Re: Your Easiest and Hardest Cards

wasCB14 — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 03:36:11 GMT

@DU556 wrote:
Never paid attention to "visa infinite ". Not even sure what that is.

There are a handful of Visa cards issued not as "Signature" (of which much has been written and much of it marketing fluff) but as "Infinite". These "Infinite" cards have minimum benefit levels set by Visa, but card issuers go further, adding some features and improving others. These cards have ~$450 annual fees and are intended for moderate to heavy spenders. As such, most/all issuers reject applicants whose credit and income would not justify a $10k credit limit.

They include: Chase Sapphire Reserve

JPM Ritz

JPM Reserve

US Bank Altitude Reserve

City National Crystal

There may be others I can't think of.

Re: Your Easiest and Hardest Cards

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 03:38:40 GMT

@DU556 wrote:
Never paid attention to "visa infinite ". Not even sure what that is.

It's the tier above Visa Signature, relatively few US cards have this. It has some extra benefits that, like most of for Visa Sig, never get used. But the cards generally still do require a $10K CL (whereas the VS $5K is often not followed)

Re: Your Easiest and Hardest Cards

issac2x — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 03:59:09 GMT

Got into credit cards towards the end of 2017 and up to that period only had my BOA card. To date I've applied for 10 cards total and approved for 9. Only bank to deny me was FNBO for one of their 2% variants. Other cards were pretty straight forward with little or no hassle at all.

BOA- Applied by phone and approved.

CAP1- Online and approved for QS and Savor, combined QS into Savor later on

Sears - Online and approved

ICBC - Had to request an application link through email but applied and approved. Only issue was two weeks wait and didn't say the SL amount.

UMB- Online and two week notice, manual review for all their cards but got the card 6 days later

Amazon - Online and had to call in for placing a fraud alert due to EQ debacle but eventually approved a week later

Propel - Online and approved

Uber- Online and had to recon but approved

FNBO - Online and denied due to I think it was credit history or inquires

Re: Your Easiest and Hardest Cards

issac2x — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 04:10:26 GMT

@wasCB14 wrote:
There may be others I can't think of.

There's also infinite privilege which may be a tier above infinite (not certain) only place I've seen it is for RBC Avion

Re: Your Easiest and Hardest Cards

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 04:18:32 GMT

@issac2x wrote:
@wasCB14 wrote:
There may be others I can't think of.
There's also infinite privilege which may be a tier above infinite (not certain) only place I've seen it is for RBC Avion

Available in Canada (and maybe elsewhere) and is indeed above Visa Infinite. See

https://www.visa.ca/en_CA/pay-with-visa/cards/credit-cards.html

https://www.visainfinite.ca/privilege/en/index.html

Re: Your Easiest and Hardest Cards

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 04:21:24 GMT

So now we can all be dissatisfied with Visa Infinite cards, as there is (at least in Canada) a better tier!

Re: Your Easiest and Hardest Cards

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 05:04:22 GMT

Easiest ones that I got approved right away are Cap1 Plat (approved online), and USAA Cashback Rewards Plus (approved through one phone call).

Hardest ones are Barclays Uber Visa then PenFed Power Cash Rewards.

In the case of Uber, I applied online then instant denial. Called their recon line and it was a no-go. Called a while later and it was the same lady who I talked to earlier and it was a no-go again (as expected) and asked if I can talk to the loan officer/supervisor which no one answered and back to the lady I talked to. She then offered me to move my case to another department, gave me my case# and phone# to get the application status directly from the said department. Went to sleep then woke up and checked my email stating that I got approved for lowest CL (finally!!!).

For PenFed, I applied through phone which got denied. Asked for a loan officer in which he said that I should get a co-signer (I don't really want to) then I hung up. I called again an hour later and thankfully it was a different rep. I asked for her supervisor and she redirected me to the operational manager. The manager gave me good points after reviewing my credit file and anything, its just the credit history that's holding my down. She redirected my application to a senior loan officer in which I did get approved (finally!). The operational manager was really REALLY helpful and I forgot her name and I wish I can leave a review. She said that I can ask for whatever credit limit to the senior loan officer but she may have forgotten about it. Doesn't matter as long as I got approved and won't be pushing my luck any further. In the end, that operational manager was helpful.

Re: Your Easiest and Hardest Cards

iheartwings — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 05:27:02 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
So now we can all be dissatisfied with Visa Infinite cards, as there is (at least in Canada) a better tier!

Of course, because we always want better. IIRC, Infinite cards were available internationally for a bit before they ever made their way to the US, as indicated by this oldie but goodie post from 2015 asking about Visa Infinite:

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Visa-Infinite-vs-Visa-Signature/m-p/3795584

Re: Your Easiest and Hardest Cards

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 05:39:26 GMT

I haven’t experienced any rejections and card apps have all been instant approvals. Granted none of my cards are considered particularly difficult to get I think...

Re: Your Easiest and Hardest Cards

Gollum — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 15:43:25 GMT

@pinkandgrey wrote:
Just wondering what card you have that you consider very difficult to get approved for. Conversely, which ones are easy approvals?

I have a Simmons Bank credit card, and they are difficult to obtain, from what I have read. I also have a Capital One credit card, and they are easy to obtain. I went from one of the easiest directly to one of the most difficult, but there were quite a few years between the two.

Edit: I forgot I briefly had another credit card (I think an HSBC card) that I got at about the same time as the Capital One card. I canceled it because I decided I didn't like it: it was a Mastercard, it had a high interest rate, I didn't like the way it looked, I suspected it was for people with bad credit, and I had bad credit. LOL