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Hi everyone, first time poster here! This forum has been incredibly helpful to me as I've built up my credit over the past three years or so and tried to start "adulting". I'm hoping some of the veterans here can help me with my planning.
I have seven personal cards now, all of which I am very happy with, and I think I'm done for now with my personal credit card journey. That said, I really want to get a couple business credit cards to I can start building business credit. My FICO scores are down a bit because of my low AAOA after my recent card spree, so I'm wondering if anyone has advice on my approval odds and how I should time my applications.
Cards I want: Capital One Spark Cash, Chase Ink Business Preferred.
Would also consider Bank of America Business Advantage Cash Rewards if I have better odds at being approved for it than the others. I am a platinum preferred member.
Scores: EX FICO 8 724, TU FICO 8 731
Oldest account: 13 yr 4 months
AAOA: 4 yrs 10 months on EX (3yrs 4months actual)
Income: high 5-digits for myself, $0 for the company.
3 accounts opened last year
Account utilization: 0%
Avail credit: $78k
How many accounts have you opened in the last two years? If the number exceeds five, cross Chase off your list. They have a 5/24 rule; no more than 5 new accounts from any lender in the past 24 months or it's an auto decline. On top of that, they have stringent underwriting on the business cards anyway, and they aren't fond of businesses with no established income from what I've seen.
Probably your better bet is BOA; of the three you mention they are probably the easier to get approved with, but I have heard of them asking for verification documents and such so be prepared to provide that. Capital One isn't bad, but you're looking at 3 pulls and their underwriting has become pretty tough too.
Thanks for the comment
I'm under 5/24 (4 accounts total in past 24, and the oldest will be gone next month).
It sounds like my biggest issue is the fact that I'm trying to get a card for a pre-revenue business... do you think a score of about 20 points higher will help? Experian projects I'll be at 744 in a few months. Or am I most likely going to need to wait until I have money coming in for the business?
@Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the comment
I'm under 5/24 (4 accounts total in past 24, and the oldest will be gone next month).
It sounds like my biggest issue is the fact that I'm trying to get a card for a pre-revenue business... do you think a score of about 20 points higher will help? Experian projects I'll be at 744 in a few months. Or am I most likely going to need to wait until I have money coming in for the business?
For business cards, I would focus more on business income and history vs a few more points on your score. Banks have overall tightened up with scrutinizing business apps, partially thanks to people applying with non-legitimate "businesses". So I think a track record and income with the business will help you.
@Anonymous wrote:Hi everyone, first time poster here! This forum has been incredibly helpful to me as I've built up my credit over the past three years or so and tried to start "adulting". I'm hoping some of the veterans here can help me with my planning.
I have seven personal cards now, all of which I am very happy with, and I think I'm done for now with my personal credit card journey. That said, I really want to get a couple business credit cards to I can start building business credit. My FICO scores are down a bit because of my low AAOA after my recent card spree, so I'm wondering if anyone has advice on my approval odds and how I should time my applications.
Cards I want: Capital One Spark Cash, Chase Ink Business Preferred.
Would also consider Bank of America Business Advantage Cash Rewards if I have better odds at being approved for it than the others. I am a platinum preferred member.
Scores: EX FICO 8 724, TU FICO 8 731
Oldest account: 13 yr 4 months
AAOA: 4 yrs 10 months on EX (3yrs 4months actual)
Income: high 5-digits for myself, $0 for the company.
3 accounts opened last year
Account utilization: 0%
Avail credit: $78k
Of the 3 cards you mentioned, Chase Ink is the hardest to get, and Capital One Spark is the easiest to get.
However, I would avoid Capital One because (a) it often triple pulls, (b) it reports to your personal credit, and (c) I have found Capital One to be a low-class bank.
I consider Chase and American Express the best.
I can't speak to your question about a "pre-revenue" business, as I've never applied "pre-revenue".
The Spark cash card will show up on your personal credit reports so it'll lower your AAoA even more and it'll add to the 5/24, but you mentioned that one will come off soon anyways so that shouldn't be a big deal. It just so happens that these are the first three business cards that I applied for. My scores were 20-30 points lower than yours. First applied for the spark cash first, approved. 3 months later applied for the chase ink card approved. 1 month later applied for the BoA card. I'm also a platinum reward member (previously platinum honors), but the underwriter didn't care about my rewards tier status, didn't care how much money I put through my business accounts there. He looked for something that he didn't like on my report and used that excuse to give me a low starting limit. I've heard that it might be different if you apply in branch, but if you do it online or over the phone don't expect it to be easier than with CapOne or Chase unless your reports don't show any flaws.
Thank you so much for the replies!
That’s a great point about capital one reporting to personal.. They’re seeming like a bad choice at least for the near term future.
Thanks for the DP with Chase. I have a business checking account with them and have a few clients now - woohoo! - so maybe I’ll wait until I can make a fair estimate on business rev and then pull the trigger.
Interesting. I’m surprised B of A didn’t care more about the platinum honors! I had them pegged as the most relationship-driven bank in my mind.. I'm thinking I'll wait until after Chase with them, especially bc I'm 4/24.
I completely forgot to mention that I have an Amex Simply Cash Plus - approved for 10k last year. Advertising as a 3% category is golden. Because of that I think I’m fine with Amex.
Do any of you happen to know for sure if Chase or B of A report to the bureaus, and which ones? I’ve been seeing conflicting reports..
My BoA card shows up on my DnB report. My chase card shows up on my Experian report. No idea what is reported on my Equifax. I've read that Chase reports to all of the main business credit bureaus (DnB, Experian, and Equifax), but it hasn't reported to my Experian yet (and maybe not equifax?)