Chance at Chase Freedom Unlimited

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone, I've been lurking for a while and this is my first post. I just have a few questions about my chances at the Chase Freedom Unlimited. The card I have my eye on is the Chase Sapphire Preferred, but I feel like I should get my foot in the door with this card first. I feel pretty confident that I need to wait a while before I apply, mainly because my credit is new (ish). Here is what I have going on:

Capital One Quicksilver One- Opened 11/27/18 (Just upgraded to Venure One-thanks to this forum $3300

Capital One Platinum- Opened 10/14/19 $3500

Discover Secured- Opened 5/20/20 $600

Capital One Auto-Opened 4/16/19 starting bal $12,196, current bal $6701

I also have a $2700 loan that was opened in May of this year but isnt reporting yet.

I do have a Verizon charge off that was paid in full 2 years ago that will fall off Oct 2022 and a charge off from OneMain Financial that was recently settled in full that will fall off April 2024. I know these are going to hurt me, but for how long?

Experian Fico8 is 699

Equifax Fico8 is 699

Transunion Fico8 is 690.

I have boosted all of my scores by almost 100 points in a year, since I started getting serious about improving my credit.

My question is how long should I wait before I apply? Should I wait until the Discover card has aged 6 months? One year? I know I need to garden for a while, just not sure how long. Also, should I wait untill the charge-off's fall off or is their a reccomended time frame where they no longer care about them?

Thank you so much for all of your help!! 

[Anonymous]

Today I was approved for the Freedom Unlimited after nearly two weeks of waiting due to verifications. I started rebuilding my credit in December with a secured card from Discover. I have a bunch of student loans, one paid off collection from Capital One, and one revolving collection from them as well on my report. My credit scores are worse than yours - at EX - 624, TU - 663 and EQ - 668. I have been banking with Chase for the past 10 years though.

YMMV but good luck! 

[K-in-Boston]

It's tough to say.  Your credit file is old enough and you have pre-existing limits in the ballpark. Your current scores are pretty much right on the cusp, though.  I am not sure how sensitive Chase is to COs when they are not the party that was charged off.

Do you have a local branch that you could go into to see if you have a pre-approval?  Are you enrolled in Chase journey; if so, do you have preapprovals?

[Anonymous]

That's awesome! Congratulations! That gives me a little hope. I don't bank with them currently, but I've been thinking about it. I hear it improves your odds. 

[Anonymous]

I do use Credit Journey but I do not have any pre-approvals. I'm thinking that's because of the CO.

[Anonymous]

Your plan for the Freedom Unlimited and a Sapphire card is a good one. Those cards pair nicely together. Without a Sapphire card, the Freedom Unlimited isn't valuable. Good luck.

(I don't know anything about the underwriting requirements.)

[K-in-Boston]

I read your first post a little too quickly on my phone and missed the Freedom Unlimited part.  For that card, your odds would be much better.  If you are willing to risk a hard pull (possibly 2), you could be pleasantly surprised just going for a cold app.

[M_Smart007]

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@K-in-Boston wrote:

I read your first post a little too quickly on my phone and missed the Freedom Unlimited part.  For that card, your odds would be much better.  If you are willing to risk a hard pull (possibly 2), you could be pleasantly surprised just going for a cold app.

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+1

[randomguy1]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Your plan for the Freedom Unlimited and a Sapphire card is a good one. Those cards pair nicely together. Without a Sapphire card, the Freedom Unlimited isn't valuable. Good luck.

(I don't know anything about the underwriting requirements.)

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It's still a valuable card. I disagree. With a Sapphire card, it makes it more valuable. 1.5% + $200 sub is pretty good and just about as good or if not better than most other 2% card without subs unless the spend is significant.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

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@Anonymous wrote:

That's awesome! Congratulations! That gives me a little hope. I don't bank with them currently, but I've been thinking about it. I hear it improves your odds. 

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It doesn't help unless you plan to run a couple hundred thousand through it.