Approval odds for: (Chase) Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Sig. & (AMEX) Blue Cash Everyday

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone! 

After being a lurker for a bit, I figured I'd finally pull the trigger on registering....now, I need some advice for pulling the trigger on applying for the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature card and the AMEX Blue Cash Everyday. I like the idea of 5% back at Amazon with the Prime subscription I have, obviously that doesn't mean go on a shopping spree and buy stuff I cannot afford to pay back, but it'll be nice to have some cash back with all the stuff I buy. The AMEX Blue Cash Everyday's 3% at grocery stores is a pretty good deal, not sure if I'm spending enough on groceries yearly for the Preferred 6% to offset the $95 annual fee. 

So a little about me, I'm a college student, and my income isn't the greatest in the world, only 11.5K annual income, living with family. I currently have a Schools First FCU Mastercard @ $500 (3 years and 4 months old), Chase Freedom @ $700 (1 year and 9 months), and Discover it @ $1000 (1 year and 9 months). I also have an auto loan I'm paying off since 2014.

My FICO TU score I receive from Discover is at 782, however it still hasn't reported the payment I made on March 9th, which is close to the date which FICO reported the credit score information to me on March 13th, showing an overall 20% utilization (0% util on the SFFCU and 0% util from Chase Freedom, with 35% util from Discover). Also on the TU, it shows 1 inquiry from Discover when I applied back in 2016. 

Separate from that one, the Equifax score I have is at 753, though it has reported the payment I made to the Discover card, and shows an overall 3% utilization (0% on SFFCU and Chase, with 8% util on Discover). I have 0 late payments over the years I've had these cards, and the inquiry from Discover isn't reported on EQ.

I'm a little unsure about applying, because I'm not sure if Chase or AMEX will pull TU for my report and note the 20% utilization as a reason for declining my application, even though Equifax shows only 3% utilization. Also, my income is quite low right now, so it could be an important factor in their decision making. So, what are my odds at approval? Should I wait for TU to get the report from Discover that I've paid off nearly all of the balance I had? Or should I just give it ago? Also, how far apart should I spread out the two apps for the cards? I dunno about applying for both the same day or within days of eachother....

I'd like any advice I can get! 

[Anonymous]

You can check CK or Nerd Wallet to see if your Discover balance has updated to TU. If it has, I’d say you stand a good chance of being approved for both. I’d wait for it to report 3% utilization so that you can maximize your potential limits.

I would apply to Chase first if I were you as Amex tends to be less inquiry sensitive though you have a minimal amount. Have you checked the Amex prequal site?

[Anonymous]

Hmm, well CK and NW still show TU without the Discover payment. Looks like Discover hasn't reported back to TU since Feb 19th, it's been over a month already. I'll wait for NW to update later this morning to see if it has updated. My statement was released on the 20th for Discover, so maybe soon?

And I have received a pre-qual offer from the blue cash everyday through the mail from AMEX, which is why I got interested in it in the first place. Maybe it's a good sign for potential approval? It's from earlier this month before I made the Discover payment.

[Anonymous]

Ok, so it looks like TU recieved the update from Discover. So I applied for the Amazon Chase Visa card, and I got a 30 day message..... not sure if that's bad or good, I suppose they're reviewing my app. 

So, should I just wait for them to contact me then? Or should I give them a call to a certain number?