topic Re: What next?... in Credit Cards

What next?...

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 06:06:09 GMT

Hi everybody, I had a rather unfortunate start with credit and credit cards. I got my first card in 2008 from USAA with a 1500 CL. I immediately maxed it out for a trip abroad. For that trip abroad I got an Banana Republic card with 600CL and an HSBC Best Buy card. During my four years of college I proceeded to miss payments and not pay attention. By the end USAA had canceled my card with me owing $1100 on it and I had paid and closed out the Banana Republic card and HSBC card. However, the damage was done. The HSBC card had been late 90 days, the Banana republic had been 30 days late 7 times and the Usaa card had been late 3 times. So fast forward to this November. I started to wonder about my credit report/score and checked it out here for the first time. EQ was 601. I decided to take up one of the Capital One offers I had received in the mail and applied and was approved for a platinum mastercard with a 1000 CL. Meanwhile I paid off the Usaa card and initiated some disputes about old information. My score started to rise. I began obsessing about my score and checking it everywhere I could. I found one blog that suggested that an immediate way to up your score is to become an AU on someone's card who has a long history and no baddies. So I got my grandmother to put me on her card that she has had since 1999 with a 15,000 CL. My score continued to go up to the point that TU was 722 and EQ was 674....thats over 70 points in two months (Experian plus score 710). So I went ahead and applied for the Delta Gold Amex card online and was immediately approved with a $2000 CL! Then the following night I said what the heck and applied for a Chase Freedom card and was instantly approved with a 4000 CL! I'm wondering how long I should wait before applying for the top cards that I want. I ultimately want a Capital One Venture card, a Chase Sapphire Preferred and an Amex PR Gold card. Any advice for how I should go from here and what my strategy should be?

Starting Score: 11/14/12 EQ 601

Current Score: 1/1/13 TU 722, EQ 674, EX plus 710

Goal Score: 740

Re: What next?...

jsucool76 — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 06:11:14 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hi everybody, I had a rather unfortunate start with credit and credit cards. I got my first card in 2008 from USAA with a 1500 CL. I immediately maxed it out for a trip abroad. For that trip abroad I got an Banana Republic card with 600CL and an HSBC Best Buy card. During my four years of college I proceeded to miss payments and not pay attention. By the end USAA had canceled my card with me owing $1100 on it and I had paid and closed out the Banana Republic card and HSBC card. However, the damage was done. The HSBC card had been late 90 days, the Banana republic had been 30 days late 7 times and the Usaa card had been late 3 times. So fast forward to this November. I started to wonder about my credit report/score and checked it out here for the first time. EQ was 601. I decided to take up one of the Capital One offers I had received in the mail and applied and was approved for a platinum mastercard with a 1000 CL. Meanwhile I paid off the Usaa card and initiated some disputes about old information. My score started to rise. I began obsessing about my score and checking it everywhere I could. I found one blog that suggested that an immediate way to up your score is to become an AU on someone's card who has a long history and no baddies. So I got my grandmother to put me on her card that she has had since 1999 with a 15,000 CL. My score continued to go up to the point that TU was 722 and EQ was 674....thats over 70 points in two months (Experian plus score 710). So I went ahead and applied for the Delta Gold Amex card online and was immediately approved with a $2000 CL! Then the following night I said what the heck and applied for a Chase Freedom card and was instantly approved with a 4000 CL! I'm wondering how long I should wait before applying for the top cards that I want. I ultimately want a Capital One Venture card, a Chase Sapphire Preferred and an Amex PR Gold card. Any advice for how I should go from here and what my strategy should be?

Starting Score: 11/14/12 EQ 601

Current Score: 1/1/13 TU 722, EQ 674, EX plus 710

Goal Score: 740

You have an amex now, so if you get denied it should only be a soft inquiry on your report, so I say go for the PRG. Charges are supposed to be easier than revolvers to get (about even with the delta gold card (their easiest revolver))

CSP requires a min limit of $5000, which I doubt chase would give you right after giving you a $4,000 limit. I would wait for that one.

Try for the venture if you want (after you app for PRG, if you do). Remember cap1 pulls all 3 reports.

Re: What next?...

webhopper — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 06:14:07 GMT

Apply for PRG now... you will likely get it. ask for a CLI up to 6k on your delta card 61 days after you activate it. Do not; I repeat; do not charge more than you can pay in full. Be diligent about this. Join the garden club and garden for 12 months. The apply for chase sapphire preferred and cap 1 venture if those fit your needs in a year.

Re: What next?...

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 06:26:44 GMT

Does Amex allow for mulitple card applications in a short window of time? and Im wonding if I would get the 25,000 points offer since it wouldnt be my first Amex card.

Re: What next?...

webhopper — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 06:30:24 GMT

You should. I plan on calling them to see if they will apply the bonus point offer on my new PRG as well as expedite an AU card for the hubby.

with amex you are able to call and ask for things even after you apply... their service is just awesome.

Re: What next?...

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 07:17:17 GMT

OMG! I just applied and it said congratulations your application has been approved, you are now an American Express Cardmember. And I just got an email saying that they are expediting my card 2-3 days! You guys are the best, I would never have had the nerve to apply.

Re: What next?...

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 08:10:37 GMT

Just checked EX and there was another Amex hard inquiry, even though they just checked it two days ago for the Delta Gold card.

Re: What next?...

chnceit — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 08:13:31 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Just checked EX and there was another Amex hard inquiry, even though they just checked it two days ago for the Delta Gold card.

Congrats welcome to the AMEX family! If you are approved they will do a HP. If you get denied then it will be a SP.

Re: What next?...

Shogun — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 08:18:26 GMT

Congrats on the approval. Nice card.

Re: What next?...

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 08:28:31 GMT

Thanks, now I'm wondering how the no preset limit thing works.....what if you're declined somewhere?

Re: What next?...

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 06:19:35 GMT

Which one is harder to get, the Chase sapphire preferred or the Venture card?

Re: What next?...

chnceit — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 06:40:31 GMT

Chase Sapphire Preferred

Re: What next?...

webhopper — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 06:41:35 GMT

CSP... my advice is to wait until you've received your 61 day CLI with amex delta and the new limit is reporting... then, they are more likely to match your Amex Delta limit Also, more likely to be approved on Recon...

Nice approval on the Amex Way to go!

Re: What next?...

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 23:54:10 GMT

Thanks, so pleased to have gone from Fico 601 to Amex in two months. Can the Freedom just be upgraded after a certain period to the Sapphire rather than applying for it seperately?

Re: What next?...

webhopper — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 00:21:14 GMT

generally speaking, the information that I got from Chase was that cards could be PCed after their 1 year anniversary... I got this message when I asked Chase to upgrade my amazon card to the Amazon Visa Siggy.

I personally think its important to use only one card as a primary, so that you aren't diluting your rewards. For this reason I don't see the point in having both CSP and PRG. Especially since they both have Annual Fees. Why not just keep Freedom?

Re: What next?...

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 03:50:09 GMT

Yeah, I haven't quite figured out that part of my plan. I thought I wanted all of my cards to earn miles/points but I also realize that if you spread your spending across 3 or 4 cards then you earn miles alot slower. I was looking at the perks of the Amex PRG and I thought it had more....does Platinum make more sense?

Re: What next?...UPDATE

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 20:08:50 GMT

Well yesterday I decided that I would go for broke and applied online for the Chase SP and got the pending review notice. So today I called the reconsideration number and after answering questions about my report and income, I was approved the Sapphire Prererred. The lady I spoke to said that she could make it happen by moving 3,500 of my availble credit on the Freedom card. So now I have only 500 on the Freedom but got the CSP as the prize!

Re: What next?...UPDATE

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 23:02:36 GMT

Congrats