topic Re: Went App Spree in Credit Cards

Went App Spree

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 15:02:46 GMT

A month ago, I had a cumulative sum of $2050 as a limit and almost my util percent hit 90%. As a result, my fico went deep down to 555. Since I planned to get a Auto Loan, I paid off all the debt and waited for the score to go up. Here is the summary of my score as of last week.

EQ FICO - 677 (08/09/2012)
TU FICO - 620 (Lender pull on 08/08/2012)
EX - 670 (Lender Pull on 08/08/2012)
EQ Fako - 643 (08/12/2012)
CK - 672 (08/12/2012)

No	Date	Company	Type	EQ	TU	EX	Decision	Limit
1	08/01/2012	Genisys CU	CLI		1		Approved Instantly	CL increased to 2000.00
2	08/08/2012	Page Toyota - Dealer	Auto Loan		1	1	NA	NA
3	08/09/2012	Toyota Financial	Auto Loan			1	Approved after submitting so many docs	17662.00
4	08/08/2012	DCU Visa	Credit Card	1			Approved instantly	5000.00
5	08/09/2012	Discover More	Credit Card	1	1		Approved after calling	1000.00
6	08/09/2012	Kohls	Store Card			1	Approved instantly	300.00
7	08/10/2012	Amex – Costco	Credit Card		1	1	Denied upfront	NA
8	08/12/2012	Walmart	Store Card		1		Approved	500.00
9	08/12/2012	Chase Freedom	Credit Card		1		Received 7-10 day msg. Denied when called.	NA
10	08/12/2012	Capital One Cash Rewards MC	Credit Card	1	1	1	Approved instantly.	500.00
			Total	3	7	5		CC - 8300.00 AutoLoan - 17662

Total inquiries in last 2 years:
EQ Inq Count - 16
TU Inq Count - 15
EX Inq Count - 12

Util under 25% in all 3 bureaus. But no. of hard inquiries spoiled me the chance of getting approved for Chase Freedom & Amex Costco. I tried recon line for Freedom, convince the credit analyst in all possible way but of no use.

Updated Cards collection:

DCU Visa - $5000.00 Genisys CU Visa - $2000.00 Discover More - $1000.00 Cap One Platinum - $750.00 Cap One Cash Rewards MC - $500.00
Household MC - $300.00 Walmart Store Card - $500.00 Kohls Store Card - $300.00 Macys Store Card - $200.00

Will be closing household within a week to keep my portfolio as clean as possible.i.e. 2 Visa 2 MC & 1 Discover. Once approved for Freedom, plan to close Cap One platinum. I know Walmart store card is a less useful one but I opened that account for getting TU FICO.

My next app will be after a year. By the time, my score should be around 720(hopefully) to qualify for Freedom and Amex.

Re: Went App Spree

ntx — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 17:23:34 GMT

Hi kulamrazool82,

Congratulations! And thank you for posting this. I've done much the same since the beginning of August, and have made some decent progress.

Date	Company	Type	Decision	Limit
Oct. 2011	Wells Fargo Dealer Services	Car Loan	Approved, $1K down, 5.2%	~$20K
Feb. 2012	USAA	Visa Cash Rewards	Approved	$3,000

Aug. 7, 2012	Discover	More card	Approved w/ call	$1,200
Aug. 8, 2012	GE/Walmart	Store Card	Approved	$400
Aug. 8, 2012	GE/Amazon	Store Card	Approved	$600
Aug. 10, 2012	Barclay	Mastercard	Denied
Aug. 11, 2012	Bank of America	Basic Visa	Denied
Aug. 11, 2012	US Bank	Visa	Denied
Aug. 12, 2012	USAA	Mastercard Cash Rewards	Approved	$4,000
Aug. 13, 2012	Chase	Freedom Card	Denied, but approved on recon	$1,000

So, within a week:

From $3,000 to $10,200 total CL
From 1 major card by one lender to 4 major cards by three lenders

5 out of 8 apps successul ( 2 w/ call and recon )
Two store cards added ( because: 1) Frequent CLI increases, 2) Discounts/offers, and 3) That's where I shop the most )

I know it was a gamble doing this. I also know I will likely take a FICO hit for inquiries and AAoA, but that's OK. I'm not applying for anything else until I'm ready for a mortgage sometime next year. I don't want to push my luck, so I'm in the garden until then, but very pleased now.

NTX

Re: Went App Spree

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 17:57:31 GMT

Congrats, that just goes to show that Credit Unions are the way to go Vs banks like Capital One

Re: Went App Spree

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 18:14:30 GMT

Congrats. Your portfolio looks impressive than mine Best thing happend for you is the Chase Freedom card approval!

I completely agree with you that this strategy is a pure gamble. I am eager to know my score after a month, by the time all the accounts will be reported to CRAs. I know, AAoA is an issue, but it's OK for me. My concern is I have too many account with lower limits which I should work on. Discover promised me for CLI every 6 months. Hope CU will give me frequent CLIs. But getting CLI from cap one is really hectic. So, I may close a cap one account If I get approved for Freedom(after a yr).

My short term goal is to reach 700-720 within a year. Right now, full focus is on Chase Freedom(denied 3 times in the past!) & an Amex card and I understood US Bank Visa card has so many rewards and for approval they will expect arond 720-750 range, so may be I ll target that too.

May I know your score while apply for the car loan? and while beginning the app spree? Also, I would like to know the chances of getting USAA cards. What will be the expected score to get it approved?

Thanks,

Syed

Re: Went App Spree

ntx — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 19:22:18 GMT

Hi Syed,

I agree, I think the Chase Freedom card is a good one to get. I applied for that one solely on the info that all the wonderful members here have posted.

Your portfolio looks great - you have some nice CL cards in there!

I filed BK in 2005, no baddies since then, but also very little credit use. I got a Credit One card a short while after BK, and closed that when I got an HSBC card a few years later. I closed HSBC in Feb. 2012 when I got the USAA Visa. Hindsight is 20/20 - I now know that closing both cards was a mistake, as it affected AAoA.

I'm sorry, I don't actually know my credit score from when I got the car in Oct. 2011. I'm assuming it was in the low to mid 600s though. I can tell you that when I applied for my USAA Visa in Feb. 2012 (4 months after car loan) they said it was 674 at EQ.

Discover reported my EQ score at 657 when I applied Aug. 7th. That was the first app in my spree, so I'm not sure why it was lower now than in Feb. All I can think of is that in February I still had the HSBC card which I had for a couple of years before, so my AAoA was probably longer then than now. That's just a guess though.

I can't really help much re. USAA. The only thing I've had with them up until now is various insurance policies ( homeowner, renter, auto ). I've had that for 14 years, and have never been late on a payment, so maybe that helped with getting my credit cards there. Even so, I was still shocked by the limits on both of them. I will definitely open a savings account with them now (I'm self-employed and will put my money for income taxes there). When I'm ready for a mortgage, I will also certainly give them preferred status for an FHA loan and homeowner's insurance.

NTX

Re: Went App Spree

Middleswarth — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 19:36:34 GMT

@ntx wrote:
Hi Syed,

I agree, I think the Chase Freedom card is a good one to get. I applied for that one solely on the info that all the wonderful members here have posted.

Your portfolio looks great - you have some nice CL cards in there!

I filed BK in 2005, no baddies since then, but also very little credit use. I got a Credit One card a short while after BK, and closed that when I got an HSBC card a few years later. I closed HSBC in Feb. 2012 when I got the USAA Visa. Hindsight is 20/20 - I now know that closing both cards was a mistake, as it affected AAoA.

I'm sorry, I don't actually know my credit score from when I got the car in Oct. 2011. I'm assuming it was in the low to mid 600s though. I can tell you that when I applied for my USAA Visa in Feb. 2012 (4 months after car loan) they said it was 674 at EQ.

Discover reported my EQ score at 657 when I applied Aug. 7th. That was the first app in my spree, so I'm not sure why it was lower now than in Feb. All I can think of is that in February I still had the HSBC card which I had for a couple of years before, so my AAoA was probably longer then than now. That's just a guess though.

I can't really help much re. USAA. The only thing I've had with them up until now is various insurance policies ( homeowner, renter, auto ). I've had that for 14 years, and have never been late on a payment, so maybe that helped with getting my credit cards there. Even so, I was still shocked by the limits on both of them. I will definitely open a savings account with them now (I'm self-employed and will put my money for income taxes there). When I'm ready for a mortgage, I will also certainly give them preferred status for an FHA loan and homeowner's insurance.

NTX

I do not believe your AAoA will be impacted by your decision to close the cards. Only after they drop off your report in 10 years will it matter (and by then it shouldn't be a big deal).

Re: Went App Spree

ntx — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 20:07:15 GMT

Hi Middleswarth,

Thanks - that's interesting, and I certainly hope that's the case!

In fact, I should have mentioned that I do also have a number of positive accounts from 9-10 yrs ago - including a couple of major credit cards and a car loan - that had been paid off well before BK.

I don't know if those count for FICO AAoA purposes, but certainly any analyst could see them on my report, whether they can be officially counted or not.

Still don't know why EQ would have gone from 674 to 657 in 6 months though, with no new apps and perfect record during that time. My only other guess would be that USAA used an internal / PLUS score to get 674 in Feb. Their CMS is showing EQ now at 733 so I guess that's possible.

NTX

Re: Went App Spree

Middleswarth — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 20:11:39 GMT

The USAA score is useless. My score has a 40 point difference between USAA and FICO. Ignore it.

Also, the AAoA on USAA may be calculated on just open accounts. FICO includes all accounts on your report. Closed accounts stay on for at least 10 years.

Re: Went App Spree

ntx — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 20:30:41 GMT

>>>The USAA score is useless. My score has a 40 point difference between USAA and FICO. Ignore it.

I've been getting that feeling, from what I've read elsewhere on these forums. Their CMS is nice for the credit report updates, but their scoring doesn't really mean anything.

>>>FICO includes all accounts on your report. Closed accounts stay on for at least 10 years.

I didn't realize that. I certainly won't complain That will definitely help with AAoA.

Thanks for clarifying both !

Re: Went App Spree

ssghandless — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 19:54:21 GMT

I'd like to go on an App Spree. Does anyone have any preferences to what approach to take since I would like to buy a house next year? I have just paid off a Judgment and I am waiting for it to come off at the end of the Month. THen I would like to start the App spree. I paid off all my vehicles last month also but that Judgment seems to get me EVERY time. Any suggestions?

Re: Went App Spree

ntx — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 20:03:21 GMT

Hi ssghandless,

Which card(s) are you most interested in?

Not that I have much to add, but all the knowledgeable folks around here seem to ask that (understandably).

NTX

Re: Went App Spree

ssghandless — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 20:52:57 GMT

Honestly, I dont care. I just want to increase my credit overall. Reduce HP and maybe get something with an installment plan since I just piad off my truck and car. I was thinking of refi my truck so I could qualify for a low APR for a motorcycle (I know what you are going to say about a motorcycle but the truck takes mega amount of gas and the bike offsets the price of gas if I drive it.) Just make my credit file look great for a mortgage. I have a 634 EX 635 TU 646 EQ. I had an old lien come off my record recently. Any suggestions?

Re: Went App Spree

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 21:04:42 GMT

To help you better, could you list down your current cards with limit, util % and no of recent inqs?

- Syed

Re: Went App Spree

ssghandless — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 21:23:05 GMT

Sure:

1. Cap One 196*/500

*I can pay more on this if need be.

Thats it. LOL. I've had that card about 8 months now and it started with $300. I paid off truck November $27k and car last month $14k and lien last month $2800k. oh YES! I need an installement account somewhere in there. I was thinking of gettting that motorcycle for gas and an account?

I'd like to AMEX, Discover, Amazon, Walmart OR Target, hmmm. I dont know what else.

Re: Went App Spree

creditnocash — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 03:26:40 GMT

i thought i was the only one who exceled the heck out of my accounts

Credit
Citizens	Citizens		0	500	0	15th		12-Jun	3 months
Chase Freedom	Chase		0	500	0	7th		12-Jul	2 months
			0	1000	0
Store Cards
Best Buy	HSBC/Cap ONE	661.8	2500	0.26472	27th		10-Oct	22 months
Macy's	Discover		0	3500	0	21st		10-Dec	20 months
Kohls	Cap One		0	400	0	9th		12-Jan	8 months
American Eagle	GECRB		0	400	0	10th		12-Jul	2 Months
Walmart	GECRB		0	800	0	25th		12-Jul	2 Months
			661.8	7600	0.08707				8.4 Months AAOA

went from 3 cards and 1.2 aaoa to 7 cards 8.4 months.

the only other card i want is an amex. also im going to be leasing a car depending on job status(promotion not a new job) that i will know for sure in the next week (hoping to get it sep-3/4th) and apping for amex same day.

then apping for second amex in feb when half the inquries fall off. here is all inquries on my accounts after that gardening forever. (or until i look for a condo/house)

Inquries

1	Chase 8/23/2010		Denied		Experian		1
2	Macy's 12/21/2010		Received		Experian		2
3	Sallie Mae 4/14/2011	Denied		Transunion	1
4	Cap One Kohl's 1/4/2012	Received		Experian		3
5	Chase 2/2/2012		Denied		Experian		4
6	Citi 2/2/12		Denied		Equifax		1
7	Cabela's 2/8/12		Denied		Equifax		2
8	Citizens Bank 6/15/12	Received		Equifax		3
9	Citizens Bank 6/26/12	Received		Equifax		4
10	GECRB-AE 7/18/12		Received		Transunion	2
11	Chase 7/26/12		Received		Experian		5
12	Walmart 7/29?/12		Received		Transunion	3

excuse the screwups by html error from copy and paste. move one over for things that look out of place.

Re: Went App Spree

maiden_girl — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 04:21:32 GMT

I would like a CitiForward card but they denied me. I have a cap one card now for two years and I'm at my max limit of $750. They refuse to increase my CL. It's annoying. You can't do anything with a $750 limit.

Re: Went App Spree

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 05:04:39 GMT

Hi ssghandless,

If I am you, I would approach near by credit union and open a membership and request for Credit Card with the single inquiry (usually CUs will make a Hard Pull for opening membership). Identify a CU and do little research in this forum to know the bureau they will pull before going there. Assuming your score is mid 600, you have a good chance of getting min 1K CL there.

Then, I would suggest go for Walmart (GE), they might approve you a 500.00 limit but we may request min 3 CLI each year, so this card will grow with us and help AAoA. Same goes for Amazon store card. But, I would wait and build a decent history in atleast 2 cards for more than a year before applying for Discover or Amex. If you want to take a chance with those 2, that's perfectly ok but I would not like to waste an inquiry on them. I think, both Discover & Amex will make inquiries in atleast 2 bureaus.

Re: Went App Spree

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 05:13:33 GMT

Hi OlegWasHere

Shall I ask you a question? Having score on 700s, why you went for store cards? You should have applied for premium cards...(Amex, Discover, Chase), isn't it? I learnt from this forum that, while doing App Spree always begin with top Cards as we can get store cards even with low 600s, also we won't get denial for too many inquiries when apping store cards.

I see ppl with glamorous portfolio when they are in 700+. With your score you will definitely get higher limits...min 5K per card assuming you don't have any BK in the past.

- Syed

Re: Went App Spree

CK_Charles_Lover — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 05:24:05 GMT

Store cards are not just for people with lower scores. They are actually for people who shop at those stores on a regular basis. They can save you a ton of money, which is just as important as a fico score.

Re: Went App Spree

creditnocash — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 05:46:28 GMT

Ok to flatly answer your question. I have been Denied in the past. (chase denied 2 times in the past couple years) And have only been able to receive store cards alone.
The denial reason was always not enough revolving accounts
I've saved all my denial and approval letters for everything I've apped for.

Best buy was jointly opened with my mom.
Macy's started me with a 100 dollar limit.

Kohls was 400 after a year and a half of perfect payment with both accounts.

I really only wear Nike and ae clothes everything else is work related ( dress shirts and ties )

When I appd for ae it was in store when I was purchasing 140 dollars worth of clothes and only got approved for the store card.

Walmart I apped online and wasn't given the choice and was approved for 800 store off the bat.

I fear that I am stuck in the toy limit phase.
I'm just starting out my credit journey.

I'm only 21 working full time while attending full time amount of college classes.

My Gross income right now is 24k and paying only about 2-3k a year in actual bills. Apart from my car.

Like I stated I'm going to be applying for an Amex just not sure when. If same day as my co signed lease next month so be it.
Or in feb after all those old inquiries stop affecting my score.

My scores do not have my chase freedom inq or account but the table I posted is up to date with everything.

I think that's so weird that chase account has not reported yet as the statement already cut. And was pif same day. Ughh i was mad about that. Not sure if it will report 250 balance or not.