topic Re: Approved for Chase Freedom! Although for a ridiculously small CL... in Credit Cards

(UPDATE) Approved for Chase Freedom! Although for a ridiculously small CL...

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 17:14:21 GMT

I got an offer in the mail to apply for Chase Freedom, went online and was instantly approved for a whopping $400! My credit has been improving steadily for the past 8 months or so (from about 590 to 680ish now) and I'm happy to get any approval at all given that I have one paid CA from 2 years ago and a half-dozen or so 30 and 60 day lates from student loans. However, $400 seems like a preposterously tiny limit... I'd like to ask for a CLI and am wondering about the best timing. The frontline CSR said that Chase would do a 6-month auto CLI but I wasn't ready to request a CLI right away without doing more research. From reading the forums it seems like Chase will only do customer-request CLI's with a hard pull, which is fine with me since I don't plan on applying for more cards in the near future.

Should I call the backdoor number immediately? Or wait until I receive the card next week and call upon activation? Or should I just roll with it and wait for Chase to bump up the CLI on their own or perhaps pester them a few months down the road?

The only other card I have is an ex-WaMu Chase plain jane MC with a $1,000 limit which I've had for about 6 years with near-perfect payment history. It now has a balance of about $20 so I have very low utilization. I'm also considering asking them to transfer some of my credit limit (NOT a balance transfer) to my new Freedom so that I can have some more flexibility with the 0% interest promotion. I plan on making a relatively large ($1500-$2000) purchase in the next month and would like to get some rewards out of it. I have the cash to back up the purchase so I'm not just racking up debt...

Thoughts?

UPDATE: Applied for Citi Forward and approved for $5,000! Looks like Chase is just being stingy.

Re: Approved for Chase Freedom! Although for a ridiculously small CL...

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 07:04:04 GMT

alot of members here lately have had success by calling the executive office number located in the sticky here on the forum. they prob started you out with a low limit due to the ca listed on your report.

Re: Approved for Chase Freedom! Although for a ridiculously small CL...

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 07:12:38 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

I'm also considering asking them to transfer some of my credit limit to my new Freedom so that I can have some more flexibility with the 0% interest promotion.

I would ask them to take the limit from your old Chase MC and put it ALL on the Freedom and close out the old card. In doing so, you would have $1,400 on your Freedom card and in 6 months time you would be eligible for a CLI. There's no danger in getting rid of your old Chase MC, it certainly won't hurt your FICO score. And, maybe while you are asking Chase to take the credit limit from your old Chase MC and transfer it to your new Freedom card, they might give you a CLI as well.

I wish you the best!

Re: Approved for Chase Freedom! Although for a ridiculously small CL...

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 07:21:21 GMT

Ack I don't know how to quote properly... Anyway, you said:

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There's no danger in getting rid of your old Chase MC, it certainly won't hurt your FICO score.

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Wouldn't that adversely affect the average age of my accounts? Or does that not have much bearing on my score? I have two student loans that I started paying in 2006 and the MC from 2006... Seems like closing the card would reduce the AAoA. I only sort of understand how this all works though so it's entirely possible you're right.

Re: Approved for Chase Freedom! Although for a ridiculously small CL...

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 07:23:58 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

Seems like closing the card would reduce the AAoA.

Any cards that are closed report on your Experian, Equifax and Transunion for 10 years so, nothing to fear!

Re: Approved for Chase Freedom! Although for a ridiculously small CL...

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 07:31:03 GMT

Ah, that makes sense. So they use all accounts to calculate it, not just open ones. Thanks!

EDIT: Is it ten years from the date I close the account? i.e. it'd continue to report until 2022? Or ten years from opening i.e. report until 2016?

Re: Approved for Chase Freedom! Although for a ridiculously small CL...

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 07:38:59 GMT

10 years after the last report on the billing cycle (showing closed). Wouldn't make since if its 10 years since u open it, hence a 11 year old account would auto drop off....OUCH!!!

Re: Approved for Chase Freedom! Although for a ridiculously small CL...

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 07:40:23 GMT

Also the limit they take into affect your salary, it's not just your score. At least you are not stuck with a Cap1 (PLAT) .

Re: Approved for Chase Freedom! Although for a ridiculously small CL...

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 07:46:03 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
10 years after the last report on the billing cycle (showing closed). Wouldn't make since if its 10 years since u open it, hence a 11 year old account would auto drop off....OUCH!!!

Haha right, that wouldn't make sense at all. Still, in 2023 having a 17 year old account might be worth something as opposed to just the 11 year old Freedom account. I guess I'd still have the student loans reporting from 2006 then though. My credit situation by then will probably be much improved and none of this will matter much in ten years!

Oh look, I figured out how to quote in replies.

Re: Approved for Chase Freedom! Although for a ridiculously small CL...

tsquad131 — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:08:02 GMT

thats how much i got approved for on my first chase card a year ago it was the amazon card and then applied for freedom 6 months later and got 2k

Re: Approved for Chase Freedom! Although for a ridiculously small CL...

Creditaddict — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:35:31 GMT

If the only 2 cards you have are a $1k Wamu now Chase Card and your new $400 Chase Card you need to get a card or two with another bank!

Citi is known to give very nice CL's and not really caring what you have before them as far as blowing current CL's out of the water. Citi Forward would be my 1st choice.

Try the discover Pre-Approval on website, I have not seen anyone declined if applying by clicking on the Pre-Approval given to them.

Chase "Might" be more giving in future also if you have more cards then just them because currently they are looking at you as a bit of a risk since they can't compare your habits with other banks and with large credit lines.

Re: Approved for Chase Freedom! Although for a ridiculously small CL...

CS800 — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 15:25:43 GMT

Congrats OP. Great card to have. Use it well and they will be good to you

Re: Approved for Chase Freedom! Although for a ridiculously small CL...

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 17:10:59 GMT

@Creditaddict wrote:

Citi is known to give very nice CL's and not really caring what you have before them as far as blowing current CL's out of the water. Citi Forward would be my 1st choice.
Try the discover Pre-Approval on website, I have not seen anyone declined if applying by clicking on the Pre-Approval given to them.

So I took your advice... No pre-approval from Discover so I applied for Citi Forward (after doing my own research as well, obviously) and just got approved for $5,000! Sweet! Now I'm going to use the Freedom to get the 10,000 point bonus and let it do it's own thing with an auto-CLI in 6 months (hopefully) and use the Forward for my upcoming purchase with 0% interest. Thanks for the tip! Progress is being made.

Re: Approved for Chase Freedom! Although for a ridiculously small CL...

Creditaddict — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 17:17:25 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Creditaddict wrote:

Citi is known to give very nice CL's and not really caring what you have before them as far as blowing current CL's out of the water. Citi Forward would be my 1st choice.
Try the discover Pre-Approval on website, I have not seen anyone declined if applying by clicking on the Pre-Approval given to them.

So I took your advice... No pre-approval from Discover so I applied for Citi Forward (after doing my own research as well, obviously) and just got approved for $5,000! Sweet! Now I'm going to use the Freedom to get the 10,000 point bonus and let it do it's own thing with an auto-CLI in 6 months (hopefully) and use the Forward for my upcoming purchase with 0% interest. Thanks for the tip! Progress is being made.

I get so excited when it actually works out the way I thought it would/should especially friends and credit... If it doesn't work out you always get that look like Im not so sure!

Re: Approved for Chase Freedom! Although for a ridiculously small CL...

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 17:27:11 GMT

Also my Chase Identity Protection FAKO says EQ is 649 but my Citi app said it was 685. Nice surprise there! I checked my actual TU score through annualcreditreport.com and it was also about 25 points higher than the Chase FAKO (696 vs 671). Interesting. Perhaps I don't need to pay extra to have Chase make up scores out of thin air.

Re: (UPDATE) Approved for Chase Freedom! Although for a ridiculously small CL...

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 17:54:21 GMT

Chase likes to see a long credit history, stable job and housing. Thisinfo was recently gathered from a credit analyst.

Re: (UPDATE) Approved for Chase Freedom! Although for a ridiculously small CL...

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 18:41:09 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Chase likes to see a long credit history, stable job and housing. Thisinfo was recently gathered from a credit analyst.

Housing?

Re: (UPDATE) Approved for Chase Freedom! Although for a ridiculously small CL...

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 18:45:56 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Chase likes to see a long credit history, stable job and housing. Thisinfo was recently gathered from a credit analyst.
Housing?

Yes, they do not want to see that you've moved often. But if one is in the military, it can be explained during a recon.

Re: (UPDATE) Approved for Chase Freedom! Although for a ridiculously small CL...

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 18:50:27 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Chase likes to see a long credit history, stable job and housing. Thisinfo was recently gathered from a credit analyst.
Housing?
Yes, they do not want to see that you've moved often. But if one is in the military, it can be explained during a recon.

I don't think this to be true. People rent. I do. I've had 5 different addresses in the last 6 years.

I've had no problem getting two Chase backed cards. Maybe I'm an outlier, but I find that a little hard to believe.

In the same vein, I really haven't had a stable job history either, because of the moves.

As far as employment is concerned, how would they know you have stable employment other than what you fill out on an application?

Re: (UPDATE) Approved for Chase Freedom! Although for a ridiculously small CL...

cashnocredit — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 19:00:55 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Chase likes to see a long credit history, stable job and housing. Thisinfo was recently gathered from a credit analyst.
Housing?
Yes, they do not want to see that you've moved often. But if one is in the military, it can be explained during a recon.
I don't think this to be true. People rent. I do. I've had 5 different addresses in the last 6 years.
I've had no problem getting two Chase backed cards. Maybe I'm an outlier, but I find that a little hard to believe.

In the same vein, I really haven't had a stable job history either, because of the moves.
As far as employment is concerned, how would they know you have stable employment other than what you fill out on an application?

I'm "retired." now that I draw SS. Before that I was unemployed. I got a Chase Freedom Siggy with a AAoA < 3y, relatively thin file, and a PO Box. OTOH, my credit file is clean.