topic Re: Discover odds and advice in Credit Cards

Discover odds and advice- UPDATE

wche — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 04:04:45 GMT

Hi everyone,

I posted the following on the FICO score section, but need some advice on my next steps for applying for credit, mainly Discover IT.

So apparently I am an AU on one of my older brother's credit cards. He has been racking up to 95% of the card's utility for quite some time now (having trouble paying it off). Unfortunately, this account is also my oldest TL (6 yrs). His util is really killing my overall util at 46%, and I know this will hurt my chances on applying for future credit.

My question is, if I have him take me off as an AU, how will that report on my credit reports? Will the util history still remain and destroy me? Will my AoAA decrease?

Some relevant info:

Overall utility: 46% under my brother's card. 22% on my own cards.

FAKO scores (Privacy Guard): EX 712, EQ 679, TU 707, CreditKarma 752.

AAoA: 3yrs 4mo, No baddies.

22yo, Income 40k

$9900 US Dept Education loans reporting, for last 4 years. I paid them off last December but they have yet to report to the CRAs??

I am really interested in Discover IT or AMEX Blue Sky, both of which I have pre-approval mail from. But I don't know how they would respond to the high util %. Any advice is appreciated!!

Re: Discover odds and advice

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 06:28:18 GMT

Depending on how many INQ's you have you should be alright.

Re: Discover odds and advice

wche — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 06:33:07 GMT

I have

1 EX

1 EQ

3 TU (1 dropping in march, 1 in may)

Re: Discover odds and advice

chnceit — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 06:43:37 GMT

You got a good chance, I would apply for the IT card because the rewards are nice and no fees especially if you have a targeted offer. Good luck and keep us posted

Re: Discover odds and advice

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 06:49:35 GMT

I agree.

Go for IT

Great card

Re: Discover odds and advice

BearsAndTurtlesRtheBest — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 06:56:50 GMT

Yes go for discover the thing they most hate is seeing inquries and yours are very low and i asume they must be aging right? if so your possibilites of getting a IT card is great!

Re: Discover odds and advice

wche — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 06:57:08 GMT

so I shouldn't worry about the high utilization that my brother is causing? And currently all of my cards are reporting a balance...should I PIF and wait for the 0 balances to report? Also, will the school loans hurt me since it isn't reporting as PIF? Thanks for the input guys!

Re: Discover odds and advice

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 07:02:53 GMT

I honestly think you're going to be fine, plus you can afford the HP if you somehow get denied.

Re: Discover odds and advice

chnceit — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 07:05:34 GMT

Discover is known to pull TU

Re: Discover odds and advice

BearsAndTurtlesRtheBest — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 08:08:03 GMT

Keep us posted if you decide to apply. GOOD LUCK!!

Re: Discover odds and advice

TiggerDat — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 11:29:50 GMT

@wche wrote:
Hi everyone,

I posted the following on the FICO score section, but need some advice on my next steps for applying for credit, mainly Discover IT.

So apparently I am an AU on one of my older brother's credit cards. He has been racking up to 95% of the card's utility for quite some time now (having trouble paying it off). Unfortunately, this account is also my oldest TL (6 yrs). His util is really killing my overall util at 46%, and I know this will hurt my chances on applying for future credit.
My question is, if I have him take me off as an AU, how will that report on my credit reports? Will the util history still remain and destroy me? Will my AoAA decrease?

Some relevant info:

Overall utility: 46% under my brother's card. 22% on my own cards.
FAKO scores (Privacy Guard): EX 712, EQ 679, TU 707, CreditKarma 752.
AAoA: 3yrs 4mo, No baddies.
22yo, Income 40k
$9900 US Dept Education loans reporting, for last 4 years. I paid them off last December but they have yet to report to the CRAs??

I am really interested in Discover IT or AMEX Blue Sky, both of which I have pre-approval mail from. But I don't know how they would respond to the high util %. Any advice is appreciated!!

If they sent you the pre-approval then I would think you are a pretty good candidate. Pay attention to the RSVP date. If possible, then yeah pay down the balance and use Credit Karma to check when it posts. After that go online and accept through the website. They pulled TransUnion for my card. I actually got denied, but then got the card through a recon. They mostly wanted to speak with me about the inquiries, so after that they said OK. At that time I had less than 20% util and I clearly pointed that out! I made a point of saying that I am probably doing things pretty good as I came out of Christmas without a huge debt and I did spend a lot. The lady chuckled a bit about that, which to me meant that she was not in the same boat as I was about Christmas debt! I didn't get the best terms, but since I don't carry a balance, it is not much concern for me. You should be OK!

From what I have read they don't really send out a pre-approval, unless they really mean it, however odd things do happen. I have also noticed that depending on the words on the letter it will determine your odds better. They use terms like pre-selected, pre-qualified, and pre-approved to mean different levels of chances. I just got a pre-selected offer from Citi and I pretty much know that that might be from the fact that I have the Discover card. I know right now they would not let me have the card, so I am not going to try. Earlier, I got a Compass Bank with pre-approved on it and certainly they meant it! It is the card with the highest limit for me! I am so happy to have such a limit! I can't wait to build my other cards to such limits!

Good Luck!

Re: Discover odds and advice

wche — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:11:01 GMT

Thanks everyone! I'm just worried they will question my utilization. I want to make sure that if I do get approved, I will get an okay CL matching my Forward or Freedom. I'm thinking about requesting a 2500$ balance transfer since intro fee is 0$

Re: Discover odds and advice

shakalaka — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:34:13 GMT

@chnceit wrote:
Discover is known to pull TU

They pulled EQ for me ...

I would go for it, esp. if you have a pre approval. And the 1 Inq will not hurt no matter the outcome. And they are pretty good with recon, if necessary.

Re: Discover odds and advice

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:41:07 GMT

Do IT!

You know you want IT!

Don't be afraid of IT!

Re: Discover odds and advice

wche — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 18:48:35 GMT

I just had my brother remove me as an AU off his card. I think i'll wait one reporting cycle to let it report. Hopefully by then, i'll be approved with an okay limit!

Re: Discover odds and advice

wche — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 21:20:48 GMT

So I updated my CK score today and it dropped from 754 to 730. The only changes were the 4 DOE student loan accounts that finally posted and whose accounts are now "closed." Nothing else changed...why the sudden drop?

Re: Discover odds and advice

wche — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 04:04:16 GMT

Thought I'd update everyone. I finally applied today. My current util rate is 40% since I am still listed as an AU under my brother's high balance credit card. I was hoping it would be removed from my credit reports by now. Anyway, I applied and got instant approval. Called in and I received a 3k credit limit. I was hoping for a higher limit, but I guess 3k is alright. Thanks everyone!

I'm thinking about applying for Amex Bluesky and Chase Priority club also.. any thoughts?

Re: Discover odds and advice

Shogun — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 05:45:42 GMT

CK does not factor in the AAoA of closed accounts. Only open.

Re: Discover odds and advice

09Lexie — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 06:08:49 GMT

@wche wrote:
Thought I'd update everyone. I finally applied today. My current util rate is 40% since I am still listed as an AU under my brother's high balance credit card. I was hoping it would be removed from my credit reports by now. Anyway, I applied and got instant approval. Called in and I received a 3k credit limit. I was hoping for a higher limit, but I guess 3k is alright. Thanks everyone!

I'm thinking about applying for Amex Bluesky and Chase Priority club also.. any thoughts?

Congrats on the approval.

Re: Discover odds and advice

dodfire — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 06:18:13 GMT

Congrats!!!!