topic Re: Getting ready for apping... in Credit Cards

Getting ready for apping...

sarux3 — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 00:00:58 GMT

Well, it's almost time... I'm just waiting on my Amazon store card to report its statement (probably tomorrow) and then I'm good to go with apps! As I finalize my plan of attack, I'm sure that I'll have questions for all you myFICOteers, so I'll just use this thread as a catch-all, rather than litter the board with multiple items. So, just to put everything out in front, here's my current credit situation: no baddies, INQs are 3 TU / 2 EX / 2 (I think...) EQ, FICO/FAKO scores are all in the 700-720 range (I'll probably shell out for myFICO scores the morning I app), no mortgage, no open auto loans, and 2 federal student loans with a total $20k balance. My revolvers are currently reporting as shown below:

Issuer	Card	Limit	Balance	Util %	Age	APR %	AF
Chase	Freedom	6300	1230	20	8 yr 0 mo	25.24	none
Citi	Sears	2300	1135	49	5 yr 8 mo	25.24	none
Synch	VCF	4000	1103	28	0 yr 0 mo	0 (promo)	none
Citi	Best Buy	2000	965	48	0 yr 3 mo	0 (promo)	none
Synch	Amazon	2000	700	35	2 yr 2 mo	25.99	none
Merrick	Visa	1800	516	29	1 yr 1 mo	23.45	none
Cap One	Platinum	1500	742	49	8 yr 10 mo	9.67	39
Cap One	Platinum	1500	627	42	9 yr 10 mo	9.67	39
Cap One	QS One	1600	780	49	9 yr 8 mo	13.4	39
Amex	Costco TE	6000	490	8	0 yr 4 mo	0 (promo)	none
Barclays	iTunes	1250	124	10	7 yr 9 mo	22.74	none
WebBank	Dell	6100	739	12	8 yr 3 mo	27.24	none

Totals		36350	9151	25	5 yr 2 mo
w/ 2 AU's		46600	11037	24	4 yr 10 mo

Yes, I know those near-50s aren't ideal for apping and might keep me away from higher CLs, but due to some expenses coming up in the next couple months, it'll take me a bit longer than I would have liked to bring all cards down below 30% util. But, if I'm able to get approved for some BT goodness now, that'd make things a lot simpler for me to manage.

My primary goal is to snag a Chase Slate; hopefully that'll work out due to my existing relationship with Chase. Two questions in relation to this:

How reliable is the "2 Chase apps on same day, 1 HP" rumor? I keep reading differing accounts on this. Would it be wise for me to hit them up for a second Chase card right after I app for the Slate? I've been eyeing that Marriott card lately, and people seem to have good luck apping for the CSP...
Is it true that Chase does not consider AU accounts whatsoever? Reason I ask is, I'm an AU on DW's Capital One that she just BT'd most off onto her Discover IT, but it won't report until next week. If Chase doesn't care about AU accounts then I shouldn't feel the need to wait around for this to report, right?

I'll let this post go up now, that's enough to start on while I go get dinner taken care of. I'll post back with my app wish list later tonight!

Re: Getting ready for apping...

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 00:14:07 GMT

I only got one hard pull from chase for a Cli right after I applied for a card. Who knows though

Re: Getting ready for apping...

sarux3 — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 02:32:05 GMT

In order of attack, here's my plan so far:

Chase Slate; if not instant approval then I'll stop here and take care of verification/recon; if the approved limit is low ($2k or less), I might try to recon for higher CL

If the Slate is ultimately a no-go, then I'll run a "Plan B" and try to get a BT card from a different lender (Citi or Amex -- and if I fail here, I might rein it in early).

If I get the Slate, then I'll app for Chase Marriott. The $1k-in-3mos target spend for the bonus points is pretty reasonable under my situation, I think I can handle that.
Next, a 0%-for-15-mos card for general spend, since my promo period on the Costco Amex is nearing its end. Thinking about that new Citi Double Cash or a Discover IT...
Growth-friendly store cards: Macy's, Lowes, and/or JCPenney. I know I would use all of these
Comenity: I can't recall if TigerDirect's card works with the shopping cart SP trick..? If so, I'd be interested in that, plus the easy-to-CLI J.Crew card.

Re: Getting ready for apping...

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 02:58:30 GMT

Tiger direct doesn't work with shopping cart trick. They will email you though randomly if you have an account with them. I was pre approved via email for their tigerpay

Re: Getting ready for apping...

PandiferBear — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 03:15:18 GMT

@sarux3 wrote:
Well, it's almost time... I'm just waiting on my Amazon store card to report its statement (probably tomorrow) and then I'm good to go with apps! As I finalize my plan of attack, I'm sure that I'll have questions for all you myFICOteers, so I'll just use this thread as a catch-all, rather than litter the board with multiple items. So, just to put everything out in front, here's my current credit situation: no baddies, INQs are 3 TU / 2 EX / 2 (I think...) EQ, FICO/FAKO scores are all in the 700-720 range (I'll probably shell out for myFICO scores the morning I app), no mortgage, no open auto loans, and 2 federal student loans with a total $20k balance. My revolvers are currently reporting as shown below:

Issuer Card Limit Balance Util % Age APR % AF
Chase Freedom 6300 1230 20 8 yr 0 mo 25.24 none
Citi Sears 2300 1135 49 5 yr 8 mo 25.24 none
Synch VCF 4000 1103 28 0 yr 0 mo 0 (promo) none
Citi Best Buy 2000 965 48 0 yr 3 mo 0 (promo) none
Synch Amazon 2000 700 35 2 yr 2 mo 25.99 none
Merrick Visa 1800 516 29 1 yr 1 mo 23.45 none
Cap One Platinum 1500 742 49 8 yr 10 mo 9.67 39
Cap One Platinum 1500 627 42 9 yr 10 mo 9.67 39
Cap One QS One 1600 780 49 9 yr 8 mo 13.4 39
Amex Costco TE 6000 490 8 0 yr 4 mo 0 (promo) none
Barclays iTunes 1250 124 10 7 yr 9 mo 22.74 none
WebBank Dell 6100 739 12 8 yr 3 mo 27.24 none

Totals 36350 9151 25 5 yr 2 mo
w/ 2 AU's 46600 11037 24 4 yr 10 mo

Yes, I know those near-50s aren't ideal for apping and might keep me away from higher CLs, but due to some expenses coming up in the next couple months, it'll take me a bit longer than I would have liked to bring all cards down below 30% util. But, if I'm able to get approved for some BT goodness now, that'd make things a lot simpler for me to manage.

My primary goal is to snag a Chase Slate; hopefully that'll work out due to my existing relationship with Chase. Two questions in relation to this:
How reliable is the "2 Chase apps on same day, 1 HP" rumor? I keep reading differing accounts on this. Would it be wise for me to hit them up for a second Chase card right after I app for the Slate? I've been eyeing that Marriott card lately, and people seem to have good luck apping for the CSP...
Is it true that Chase does not consider AU accounts whatsoever? Reason I ask is, I'm an AU on DW's Capital One that she just BT'd most off onto her Discover IT, but it won't report until next week. If Chase doesn't care about AU accounts then I shouldn't feel the need to wait around for this to report, right?
I'll let this post go up now, that's enough to start on while I go get dinner taken care of. I'll post back with my app wish list later tonight!

What kind of capability do you have to pay off some of those balances before you apply? That is an awful lot of cards with balances. I think that could hurt your chances. I would definitely try getting several of those down to zero balances. Do you have any accounts without a balance, or is this everything?

Re: Getting ready for apping...

TRC_WA — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 03:33:43 GMT

@PandiferBear wrote:

What kind of capability do you have to pay off some of those balances before you apply? That is an awful lot of cards with balances. I think that could hurt your chances. I would definitely try getting several of those down to zero balances. Do you have any accounts without a balance, or is this everything?

Agreed... the $0 balances matter.

I've got 9 cards, and I had at one point 7 of the cards were reporting a balance early this year. With every card that I paid off and reported a $0 balance, I got a FICO score boost from 2-6 points... every time.

Plus you save yourself the "too many accounts with balances" denial.

Re: Getting ready for apping...

sarux3 — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 05:09:16 GMT

@TRC_WA wrote:
@PandiferBear wrote:

What kind of capability do you have to pay off some of those balances before you apply? That is an awful lot of cards with balances. I think that could hurt your chances. I would definitely try getting several of those down to zero balances. Do you have any accounts without a balance, or is this everything?
Agreed... the $0 balances matter.

I've got 9 cards, and I had at one point 7 of the cards were reporting a balance early this year. With every card that I paid off and reported a $0 balance, I got a FICO score boost from 2-6 points... every time.

Plus you save yourself the "too many accounts with balances" denial.

You're both right, it would be ideal to have lower balances and some zero balances. Unfortunately, it's not feasible for me to get to that point in the short term; while I have been paying down balances aggressively over the past year and will continue to do so, there's only so much extra cash to go around each month, and it could take several months to get to the point you describe... at which point I wouldn't have much need for a BT card! So I can stay the course with my current paydown strategy, or I can try to improve my situation with my stronger credit profile (relative to, say, my near-maxed state around this time last year). I know it's not a perfect picture, but it doesn't need to be in order to make things a little better -- as evidenced by my recent approval successes. Pipe dreams in my app wish list aside (mayyybe that Marriott card is a touch out of reach, lol, but a guy's gotta dream!), I'm not expecting to nail those super-prime cards just yet.

Oh, to answer the other question, the only $0 accounts I have in my CRs are closed accounts that were paid as agreed with no problems... 10 in total including an auto loan, an installment loan, my pre-consolidation student loans, and a few old credit cards. DW's CapOne that I mentioned earlier will report a zero balance next week (on Saturday, I'm paying off the small amount left over after her BT went through), but then that's an AU account for me.

Re: Getting ready for apping...

sarux3 — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 05:12:29 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Tiger direct doesn't work with shopping cart trick. They will email you though randomly if you have an account with them. I was pre approved via email for their tigerpay

Ahh, that's too bad about no SCT. I should probably set up an account, though I wonder how long it would take them to send me a pre-approval email... probably not within the app window I'm considering, lol

Re: Getting ready for apping...

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 05:18:19 GMT

@sarux3 wrote:
Well, it's almost time... I'm just waiting on my Amazon store card to report its statement (probably tomorrow) and then I'm good to go with apps! As I finalize my plan of attack, I'm sure that I'll have questions for all you myFICOteers, so I'll just use this thread as a catch-all, rather than litter the board with multiple items. So, just to put everything out in front, here's my current credit situation: no baddies, INQs are 3 TU / 2 EX / 2 (I think...) EQ, FICO/FAKO scores are all in the 700-720 range (I'll probably shell out for myFICO scores the morning I app), no mortgage, no open auto loans, and 2 federal student loans with a total $20k balance. My revolvers are currently reporting as shown below:

Issuer Card Limit Balance Util % Age APR % AF
Chase Freedom 6300 1230 20 8 yr 0 mo 25.24 none
Citi Sears 2300 1135 49 5 yr 8 mo 25.24 none
Synch VCF 4000 1103 28 0 yr 0 mo 0 (promo) none
Citi Best Buy 2000 965 48 0 yr 3 mo 0 (promo) none
Synch Amazon 2000 700 35 2 yr 2 mo 25.99 none
Merrick Visa 1800 516 29 1 yr 1 mo 23.45 none
Cap One Platinum 1500 742 49 8 yr 10 mo 9.67 39
Cap One Platinum 1500 627 42 9 yr 10 mo 9.67 39
Cap One QS One 1600 780 49 9 yr 8 mo 13.4 39
Amex Costco TE 6000 490 8 0 yr 4 mo 0 (promo) none
Barclays iTunes 1250 124 10 7 yr 9 mo 22.74 none
WebBank Dell 6100 739 12 8 yr 3 mo 27.24 none

Totals 36350 9151 25 5 yr 2 mo
w/ 2 AU's 46600 11037 24 4 yr 10 mo

Yes, I know those near-50s aren't ideal for apping and might keep me away from higher CLs, but due to some expenses coming up in the next couple months, it'll take me a bit longer than I would have liked to bring all cards down below 30% util. But, if I'm able to get approved for some BT goodness now, that'd make things a lot simpler for me to manage.

My primary goal is to snag a Chase Slate; hopefully that'll work out due to my existing relationship with Chase. Two questions in relation to this:
How reliable is the "2 Chase apps on same day, 1 HP" rumor? I keep reading differing accounts on this. Would it be wise for me to hit them up for a second Chase card right after I app for the Slate? I've been eyeing that Marriott card lately, and people seem to have good luck apping for the CSP...
Is it true that Chase does not consider AU accounts whatsoever? Reason I ask is, I'm an AU on DW's Capital One that she just BT'd most off onto her Discover IT, but it won't report until next week. If Chase doesn't care about AU accounts then I shouldn't feel the need to wait around for this to report, right?
I'll let this post go up now, that's enough to start on while I go get dinner taken care of. I'll post back with my app wish list later tonight!

1. Pay off the balances

2. You have too many store cards

3. Get rid of those cap1 cards already

good luck!

Re: Getting ready for apping...

sarux3 — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 05:29:58 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
1. Pay off the balances Working at it pretty hard, actually! This is one thing that you all don't have to keep telling me, I'm already aware
2. You have too many store cards Really? I count only five, and two of those (the Citi BB and Sears) are co-branded MasterCards. Plus, isn't diversity important in a credit profile?
3. Get rid of those cap1 cards already I wish! Unfortunately, they are also my oldest TLs so I'd prefer to keep them active. Hate those AFs though; customer service told me they couldn't be waived or the cards converted to non-AF versions, but I'm hoping they will be able to convert after I pay down the balances more.

good luck!

Re: Getting ready for apping...

Swapmeet — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 06:34:16 GMT

Why don't you bt all of your debt to one or two cards? Also, it is not that big of a deal, but 5 store cards is kind of a lot. I keep one pure store card around (wal mart) for diversification purposes, and one co-branded card that is my "hey, I want to try the shopping cart trick at least once" card (sportsman's guide visa). I know it gets annoying for everyone to tell you to pay your balances down, so I won't, but I will reiterate my suggestion to consolidate as much debt as you can so that you do have several 0 balances reporting, then 2-3 reporting substantial balances. This is just my $.02 worth. Everyone should do what is right for them.

Re: Getting ready for apping...

TRC_WA — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 11:16:02 GMT

@Swapmeet wrote:
Why don't you bt all of your debt to one or two cards? Also, it is not that big of a deal, but 5 store cards is kind of a lot. I keep one pure store card around (wal mart) for diversification purposes, and one co-branded card that is my "hey, I want to try the shopping cart trick at least once" card (sportsman's guide visa). I know it gets annoying for everyone to tell you to pay your balances down, so I won't, but I will reiterate my suggestion to consolidate as much debt as you can so that you do have several 0 balances reporting, then 2-3 reporting substantial balances. This is just my $.02 worth. Everyone should do what is right for them.

That's the route I decided to take months ago. I have 7 of 9 cards reporting a $0 balance with pretty much all my UTI being 0 % purchases split between 2 cards (BB and CU card) that I will pay down in the coming months.

Just doing that (instead of carrying balances) has raised my EQ score 22 points... EX and TU slightly less due to the fact all my INQs are TU and are dragging that score down til the end of the year when they age past 1 year.

Re: Getting ready for apping...

sarux3 — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 12:13:09 GMT

@TRC_WA wrote:
@Swapmeet wrote:
Why don't you bt all of your debt to one or two cards? Also, it is not that big of a deal, but 5 store cards is kind of a lot. I keep one pure store card around (wal mart) for diversification purposes, and one co-branded card that is my "hey, I want to try the shopping cart trick at least once" card (sportsman's guide visa). I know it gets annoying for everyone to tell you to pay your balances down, so I won't, but I will reiterate my suggestion to consolidate as much debt as you can so that you do have several 0 balances reporting, then 2-3 reporting substantial balances. This is just my $.02 worth. Everyone should do what is right for them.
+1

That's the route I decided to take months ago. I have 7 of 9 cards reporting a $0 balance with pretty much all my UTI being 0 % purchases split between 2 cards (BB and CU card) that I will pay down in the coming months.

Just doing that (instead of carrying balances) has raised my EQ score 22 points... EX and TU slightly less due to the fact all my INQs are TU and are dragging that score down til the end of the year when they age past 1 year.

That's exactly what I am trying to do by apping for a BT card first and foremost. I mean, sure I could try to stuff my existing balances onto a card I already have but it's really counter-intuitive, given the state of my current profile. All my cards are 20% except for my old CapOne's whole CL's are too low to be of use. The balances on Best Buy, VCF, and Amex are under 0% promo terms, so it doesn't make sense to move them (though the Amex promo expires in a couple months, it moves to 15.9%, so why would I move that?). I don't have the resources to pay down a huge balance quickly, so I'd likely end up parking a bunch of BT onto my Freedom at 25% for who-knows-how-long while bringing its util back into the undesirable range and incurring 3% BT fees at the same time (not to mention undoing all the hard work it took to bring the Freedom balance down from near-max levels this year)... and THEN I'd have to BT again at 3% fee to a non-Chase card that I would have to get approved for because I can't BT from Freedom to a Slate. Plus, in the span of time it would take for me to do all that, I could also just stay the course and pay things down as I have been while not making expensive moves all so I can have a couple cards report zero balances?

Sorry for the mini-rant; the short version is that the suggested approach may work out for some people, but it's not tenable in my situation.

Re: Getting ready for apping...

Swapmeet — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 16:20:58 GMT

@sarux3 wrote:
@TRC_WA wrote:
@Swapmeet wrote:
Why don't you bt all of your debt to one or two cards? Also, it is not that big of a deal, but 5 store cards is kind of a lot. I keep one pure store card around (wal mart) for diversification purposes, and one co-branded card that is my "hey, I want to try the shopping cart trick at least once" card (sportsman's guide visa). I know it gets annoying for everyone to tell you to pay your balances down, so I won't, but I will reiterate my suggestion to consolidate as much debt as you can so that you do have several 0 balances reporting, then 2-3 reporting substantial balances. This is just my $.02 worth. Everyone should do what is right for them.
+1

That's the route I decided to take months ago. I have 7 of 9 cards reporting a $0 balance with pretty much all my UTI being 0 % purchases split between 2 cards (BB and CU card) that I will pay down in the coming months.

Just doing that (instead of carrying balances) has raised my EQ score 22 points... EX and TU slightly less due to the fact all my INQs are TU and are dragging that score down til the end of the year when they age past 1 year.
That's exactly what I am trying to do by apping for a BT card first and foremost. I mean, sure I could try to stuff my existing balances onto a card I already have but it's really counter-intuitive, given the state of my current profile. All my cards are 20% except for my old CapOne's whole CL's are too low to be of use. The balances on Best Buy, VCF, and Amex are under 0% promo terms, so it doesn't make sense to move them (though the Amex promo expires in a couple months, it moves to 15.9%, so why would I move that?). I don't have the resources to pay down a huge balance quickly, so I'd likely end up parking a bunch of BT onto my Freedom at 25% for who-knows-how-long while bringing its util back into the undesirable range and incurring 3% BT fees at the same time (not to mention undoing all the hard work it took to bring the Freedom balance down from near-max levels this year)... and THEN I'd have to BT again at 3% fee to a non-Chase card that I would have to get approved for because I can't BT from Freedom to a Slate. Plus, in the span of time it would take for me to do all that, I could also just stay the course and pay things down as I have been while not making expensive moves all so I can have a couple cards report zero balances?

Sorry for the mini-rant; the short version is that the suggested approach may work out for some people, but it's not tenable in my situation.

Well.....it seems that you know what is best....Although you are getting hurt, thereby lessening your odds of approval for any new card, by letting more balances report. And why can't you bt from freedom to slate? you know what? You do not need to answer me--I wish you good luck bro.

Re: Getting ready for apping...

sarux3 — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 19:28:36 GMT

@Swapmeet wrote:

Well, know that your advice didn't fall upon deaf ears... maybe just a pair of cranky ones for that early in the morning I'm still not 100% sold on moving around balances among my current cards rather than to a new card that would be geared for such a move, but I'm definitely considering how I might be able to fit such a strategy into my plan on a smaller scale.

Re: Freedom-to-Slate transfers, you can't do it because they are from the same lender, and most (all?) lenders don't allow BTs across their own products. I had a Chase CSR verify this for me a couple months ago.

Re: Getting ready for apping...

sarux3 — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 19:48:45 GMT

So, I haven't apped anything yet... checked Experian this morning and Amazon still hadn't reported, even though the statement cut late last night (and here I was thinking that GE/Synch was good about timely reporting!). But, I went ahead and started a myFICO subscription so I could finally see my current standings....

760 EQ 742 TU 750 EX !!!!!

Apologies for the font size, but I had to express my elation... I never paid much attention to FICO scores back when I was an irresponsible 20-something, so I've never actually seen my own scores this high! I know they aren't such great scores for some of you elites, but this pretty much makes my day

The broad negative factors listed are:

Heavy use of available revolving credit (26% across the board, since they don't have the Amazon update yet)
Balance on installment loans is too high (just my student loans... not much I can do about this one, they're being paid as agreed)
Short credit history (EX rates slightly lower than TU/EQ: AAoA 6yrs vs 7 yrs, oldest account 13yrs vs 14.5 yrs

I was honestly expecting low-700 ranges, so this is a big surprise. Makes the wish list cards seem a little more in reach!