topic Re: Barclay or Freedom??? in Credit Cards

Barclay or Freedom???

kobe2012 — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 16:18:12 GMT

what's easier to get (instantly or recon approval) with 1 6-yr old collection, 2 6-yr old charged (one coming off in Dec and one is currently on GW) off and a 4 yr old charged off??? and 12 inquiries in two yrs (6 in 6 months).... am thinkin of gettin one more card this year and done!!! i just need one more major cc besides capital one....

Here are my current cards:

Capital one : $1000

Capital one cash rewards: $1250

AMEX Zync $500 PSL

Walmart store card: $2000

Chevron gas card: $1700

Gap store card: $1000

Kay jewelers: $1500

My current myfico TU score is around 660-680

Any thoughts????

Re: Barclay or Freedom???

LS2982 — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 00:06:55 GMT

I would go Barclays. I think you would have a good shot at Chase but at a toy limit.

Re: Barclay or Freedom???

kobe2012 — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 00:11:27 GMT

@LS2982 wrote:
I would go Barclays. I think you would have a good shot at Chase but at a toy limit.

Yea, that's what I was thinkin about chase.... I really want their 10/10 since I bank with them..... isn't barclay inquiry sensitive???? would they approve me for a higher limit???

Re: Barclay or Freedom???

LS2982 — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 00:19:29 GMT

@kobe2012 wrote:
@LS2982 wrote:
I would go Barclays. I think you would have a good shot at Chase but at a toy limit.
Yea, that's what I was thinkin about chase.... I really want their 10/10 since I bank with them..... isn't barclay inquiry sensitive???? would they approve me for a higher limit???

You'll probably get declined initially but approved on recon.

Re: Barclay or Freedom???

Revelate — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 00:27:21 GMT

@kobe2012 wrote:
@LS2982 wrote:
I would go Barclays. I think you would have a good shot at Chase but at a toy limit.
Yea, that's what I was thinkin about chase.... I really want their 10/10 since I bank with them..... isn't barclay inquiry sensitive???? would they approve me for a higher limit???

The Chase Freedom 10/10 bonus would replace pretty much all of your other cards. Don't sweat limits (you can always pay multiple times a month), and wrapping your arms around Chase since you bank with them has way more future upside than a relationship with Barclays perhaps ever will in our lifetimes here in the US unless they purchase one of the near-national banking institutions.

Edit: don't underestimate the value of your having a depository account with Chase already, all the national (or even near national like Chase) lenders are trying to increase their customer retention rates, and a toy limit Freedom worst case is still a Freedom, which doesn't suck.

Re: Barclay or Freedom???

kobe2012 — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 00:26:40 GMT

@Revelate wrote:
@kobe2012 wrote:
@LS2982 wrote:
I would go Barclays. I think you would have a good shot at Chase but at a toy limit.
Yea, that's what I was thinkin about chase.... I really want their 10/10 since I bank with them..... isn't barclay inquiry sensitive???? would they approve me for a higher limit???
The Chase Freedom 10/10 bonus would replace pretty much all of your other cards. Don't sweat limits (you can always pay multiple times a month), and wrapping your arms around Chase since you bank with them has way more future upside than a relationship with Barclay's perhaps ever will in our lifetimes here in the US unless they purchase one of the near-national banking institutions.

I am very tempted to apply for chase.... they denied my recon 4 times last april but i only had 2 capital one cards at that time and at least 10 negatives... am trying to bring my utility down to 10% and I will pull the trigger.. Im currently on 25%... can the freedom be PC'd to CSP???

Re: Barclay or Freedom???

Revelate — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 00:31:18 GMT

@kobe2012 wrote:
I am very tempted to apply for chase.... they denied my recon 4 times last april but i only had 2 capital one cards at that time and at least 10 negatives... am trying to bring my utility down to 10% and I will pull the trigger.. Im currently on 25%... can the freedom be PC'd to CSP???

Chase Recon policy is different today as is their underwriting criteria for the Freedom. The Freedom can be PC'd I think assuming you have a large enough limit on the card at some point in the future; however, furthering the relationship with Chase now increases your odds of CSPing in the future. Barclays doesn't do much except another tradeline on FICO unless you really want to finance a Mac, or maybe their NFL / Ring cards have some interest too but I just don't think they're exactly competitive with the rest of the marketplace today. Acquiring more tradelines just to acquire more tradelines, better to choose ones that have some future upside, and while Barclay's isn't exactly a dead-end or credit doorknob, they just aren't Chase.

Re: Barclay or Freedom???

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 15:45:44 GMT

Chase is definitely a good bank to get in with. But, I wouldn't discount Barclays so much either.

I agree that the Apple card isn't worth much of anything, but they also have the Barclaycard Rewards card. Right now it has 0% for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers, 5,000 bonus points ($50) upon first use, and 2 points per $1 year round on gas, utilities, and grocery stores (1 point per $1 on everything else). Unless you have an Amex BCE/BCP for groceries, or a US Bank Cash+ for utilities, then this card is at least as good as most of the other rewards cards out there, if there are no 5% offers for the quarter on Chase or Discover.

Re: Barclay or Freedom???

Revelate — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 16:04:58 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Chase is definitely a good bank to get in with. But, I wouldn't discount Barclays so much either.

I agree that the Apple card isn't worth much of anything, but they also have the Barclaycard Rewards card. Right now it has 0% for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers, 5,000 bonus points ($50) upon first use, and 2 points per $1 year round on gas, utilities, and grocery stores (1 point per $1 on everything else). Unless you have an Amex BCE/BCP for groceries, or a US Bank Cash+ for utilities, then this card is at least as good as most of the other rewards cards out there, if there are no 5% offers for the quarter on Chase or Discover.

The base BOFA 1-2-3 rewards is 3% / 2% on gas / groceries respectively, and prior to it's discontinuation Zync was equilvalent for rewards on utilities though I agree now that makes the Barclaycard a little better.

That said anyone who can obtain a BOFA secured card can get their 1-2-3 rewards, so the credit strata required for the Barclaycard makes it a little suspect I think. Can do as good or better a full year earlier for many people building/rebuilding with the BOFA card, as such the Barclaycard is somewhat awkward I think, whereas the Freedom is a good card regardless of credit strata for their bonus categories and is a card one can keep nearly forever. Barclaycard gets replaced later assuming's one spend in the categories is more than trivial.

It's a fine card, I just don't think it works in the current market, but that admittedly changes all the time.

Re: Barclay or Freedom???

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 16:24:52 GMT

I have no relationship with BoA, so didn't know they should be easier to get than Barclays. I always had the impression that BoA was harder to get approved with, at least in the past few years.

I see what you mean about Chase Freedom vs Barclays, in terms of eventual replacement. That's true, I would eventually replace the Barclaycard Rewards card with a BCP and US Bank Cash +, though who knows how long it would take to make that sort of jump.

If someone doesn't already have a Chase card, I could certainly see going for the Freedom over the Barclaycard. Still, it's not a bad little card. Particularly nice if you already have another Chase card and want a little bit of diversity in lenders.

In terms of which one is *easier* to get, I feel like that's a toss up. They seem pretty similar from what I've seen.

Re: Barclay or Freedom???

youngandcreditwrthy — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 21:07:29 GMT

AVOID BOA LIKE THE PLAGUE.

Love Barclay's!!

But if you want the Freedom, I say go for it....

I got approved with a 640 FICO (two disputed fraud accounts; now I'm at around 700). I also got a $5,000 line.....

of course, ymmv. :-D

Re: Barclay or Freedom???

creditnocash — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 21:11:02 GMT

@youngandcreditwrthy wrote:
AVOID BOA LIKE THE PLAGUE.

Love Barclay's!!

But if you want the Freedom, I say go for it....
I got approved with a 640 FICO (two disputed fraud accounts; now I'm at around 700). I also got a $5,000 line.....

of course, ymmv. :-D

def ymmv.

had no baddies but no non store cards. (1 but hadn't reported yet) only got approved for 500 27k gross yearly income at that point. aaoa was over a year.

500 limit.

plan on cli next year. income is higher now.

Re: Barclay or Freedom???

armbenderc — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 02:17:48 GMT

Chase is awesome. I applied for freedom and got denied. I recon and got 2k cl, when I got the card I call back door and got cli to 3.7k all in same HP when I applied for that card.

I also banking with chase now. Since I got the freedom.

My question is in six month or one year can I PC or get csp even know my cl is only 3.7k?

Thank you

Re: Barclay or Freedom???

kobe2012 — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 16:19:01 GMT

Since my lowest limit is $1000, would chase or barclays match my limit if approved??