@ aWzrd and chriz_r :
I've read multiple times that pre-approvals are both stronger and more visible in branch with a banker(as opposed to teller). All of those posts have been for personal cards but I'm guessing it's the same for biz.....
and regarding banking relationship impacting credit approvals - although there does not seem to be any hard, written proof supporting the benefit (only written evidence seems to come with denials citing lack of relationship), personally I believe it's always a plus.
my experience - opened a BoA personal checking/savings in 2015. Burned them in 2005, was barred from opening a new account until 2015,. They gave me the account said something crazy like, "thanks for being a valued customer since 2000". I then applied for a card in 2016 when I had no clue about scoring models and therefore had 90%+ reported utilization - I was denied for the Cash Rewards card but offered the consolation prize - a $500 limit card with $39 AF but unsecured. I don't think I get ANY card unless I'm an existing customer with no NSF history.
30 days later I applied for Chase Freedom, had a checking/savings for years, got a $4,500 limit and SUB. They actually stated on their site that 'average' credit did not qualify for SUB and I definitely did not even have average credit at the time. I just got denied for a card with BoA but approved for an okay limit with Chase......again, I think the relationship helped. I looked at my credit history and i was like 598 at the time.
flash forward to November last year - I was like 10/24 and got a pre-approval for Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve, like a bonehead I chose Preferred cuz I thought the Reserve an error/trap waiting to happen. Even with a fraud alert on my profile got instantly approved for minimum limit on Preferred, might have even gotten the minimum limit on Reserve if I was brave enough....regardless, I believe the relationship carried the approval
[not bank acct related] but I also was too greedy for the Capital One Venture bonus and probably had no business getting approved but I tried anyway. I have had Capital One cards since '99. Never had a decent limit until a few years ago. But only had a negative with them in 2013. Grew the card since then and even took on a subprime card to build more history. going on 6 years of decent spend and on time payments- got approved for $15,000. I believe my history with them positively impacted the approval
Then I applied for the Citi Biz AAdvantage card, had a solid balance on my Citi checking/savings, got my first business card with $5,000 limit. not great, but not super tiny like the Hilton card I got the same day($3,000). again I think the relationship helped.
and then in December I opened a BoA biz checking and they pushed for the combo app to get a credit card. I didn't want to try since I already just got 2 cards for a brand new EIN and didn't want another pull, they said I was going to get a pull regardless and I was pre-approved for the Cash card. I said I wanted the Alaska card instead, they said fine, and 2 days later they approved me for both ($11,000 and $5,500 respectively)
my credit is far from great since I still have crappy negatives reporting for another 18 months but I think cleaning up my checking account practices was a good first step because I probably got approved for a ton of credit that I normally should not have received due to banking relationships.
I apologize if this wasn't the type of info you were seeking but I obviously feel strongly about the benefit of banking relationships so I felt the need to share.
