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@Anonymous @Also I wanted to add. When you are just starting out in your credit journey it is really important to have a good foundation of useable cards which is seems you are doing very very well so congrats!
I unfortunately started with cap one cards that have yet to grow and had to build from there and it was an uphill battle trying to get some better cards. Like I said previously if you want it go for it. Now is the time to do it because then you'll have two new cards reporting that you can really grow and use for the long haul. Your age of accounts now will hurt but in the long run you'll have 3 cards you can keep open your entire credit journey. Chase I believe won't care about one recent inquiry because that's not "credit seeking" behavior. If it was 5 that would be different but they'd see one inquiry to a prime lender and that wouldn't deter them. I doubt the automated system cares.
@Anonymous Okay, thank you! You calmed me down a lot, haha. Do you think I should wait a month, or do you think I should be fine to just apply in like a week? And true, if I get denied then I'd just have to wait anyway which I would be doing if I was playing it safe.
And yea I tried the pre-qualifications link, but it says
"We are unable to locate any offers for you at this time. This may be because you have opted out of "pre-screened" offers from Chase and other companies or you have recently responded to another offer from Chase. However we may still have products to meet your needs. Please continue to chase.com"
I have never opted out of anything, so I don't know if it's on by default? Or if they just don't have any pre-qualified offers for me.
@Anonymous just saw your second message, haha. Thanks! Yea with the months leading up to my 18th birthday I did a lot of research on the steps I should take to maximize benefits and they all said go down the discover student card route, then do amex or chase.
For months I've been all CFU route first then amex, but when I realized how much grocery shopping I would be doing now doing I figured doing the BCE would be more helpful...then chase pulls out the uno reverse card and creates the 5% grocery category LOL.
I keep hearing chase likes 1 year, so I may wait for that. I got approved for discover Aug 18, 2019, so I'll wait for the beginning of september to apply probably just to have that one year. Unless you think because of having the checking account I should be okay. I opened that back in the end of March early April, I forget when exactly.
But again, like you said, worse comes to worst I get denied and I just wait which is what I would have done anyway, haha.
@Anonymous Chase as many banks like to see one year but they are a strange beast I guess.... I mean I have noticed having a checking account definitely helps and some banking history with them. Discover is definitely a great first step and an Amex is a great card that grows. I definitely recommend marking 91 days in your calendar to request a 3X credit limit increase. I was approved for my two cards the same day and at 91 days requested a $5k increase and got it which bumped me to $6k and $1k on my two cards with them.
now back to chase. If you google chase bank pre qualification there should be a link to check. Another way is going into your app and clicking offers below your account to see what comes up. That's how my freedom showed up. I did cold apply for my freedom unlimited and get approved. I guess my rationale is if the main reason you'd get this card is for the sub then why wait? I guess if I like a card for a sub I just go apply for it and risk the denial because there's no guarantee there will be a favorable sub like that. Trust me when I was in school a couple years ago I would've loved that 5% grocery and even though it's only 2% more that 2% would have gone a long way for me. I would say it's worth the risk especially just starting out. Definitely check the pre qualify page and I personally would just risk it. It's not like you'll be buying a house soon where the inquiries really add up I guess.
My only advice is if you do get denied then I would wait for 6 months before applying for my next card to space between another inquiry.
also, if you do get declined you can always call the recon line with chase and explain you just got approved for an Amex to fit your spend categories but since you love the convenience of having a card where you bank and that with this sub you would most likely be putting most of your spend on their card they do like to hear that and would likely be able to override a decline if the decline is for short history.
chase does like a year but I've seen people get their first card from chase or go the discover route and get a chase card 6 months later once they have a viable score. The other benefit is this would put you at 3 cards which is the fico sweet spot to maximize scoring. If you get approved then I would wait a year before going for another.
like I said that sub is almost too good to pass up so if it's worth the risk to you at getting declined and having an inquiry on a report then don't but at the end of the day maybe it's my opinion but I don't really think inquiries are a huge deal unless you are buying a car or a house in a year and even then it wouldn't really hurt a car loan.
I will say though as well I do have 20 inquiries on every bureau which I definitely DO NOT recommend going that high haha but my score is still in a good range and I'm finally chilling out on my apps.
@Anonymous To add one more thing chase does offer pretty solid pre quals if they show up for you.
@Anonymous Thank you so much! That really helps. Yea I tried going to the pre-qualification for chase but it said I opted out from pre-screened offers? Which I know I never did, so maybe I just don't have any?
On mint, experian, and credit karma, they show "fair odds" for the CFU, but I know those can be targeted and paid advertisements.
I think I'll wait for my discover card to age one more month (discover reports on the 5th, so I'll show 11 months then) and then I'll wing it and apply. I don't forsee it changing in the next 2 weeks...knock on wood...and if it does oh well, haha. If I went for the CFU before amex, I would have waited until aug 5th to apply anyway so I would have missed the SUB by that point anyway, too.
But thank you for what you said about HPs. Yea, definitely not looking at a house or car anytime soon, haha, and I'm not going to go willy nilly on applications after I get the CFU, anyway, so a denial if it happens isn't the worst and I'll just wait the 6 months like you said to apply again, which is what I probably would have waited for to apply even if chase didn't roll out the new SUB.
Everything evens out in the end, haha.
@Anonymous wrote:@Anonymous Thank you so much! That really helps. Yea I tried going to the pre-qualification for chase but it said I opted out from pre-screened offers? Which I know I never did, so maybe I just don't have any?
On mint, experian, and credit karma, they show "fair odds" for the CFU, but I know those can be targeted and paid advertisements.
I think I'll wait for my discover card to age one more month (discover reports on the 5th, so I'll show 11 months then) and then I'll wing it and apply. I don't forsee it changing in the next 2 weeks...knock on wood...and if it does oh well, haha. If I went for the CFU before amex, I would have waited until aug 5th to apply anyway so I would have missed the SUB by that point anyway, too.
But thank you for what you said about HPs. Yea, definitely not looking at a house or car anytime soon, haha, and I'm not going to go willy nilly on applications after I get the CFU, anyway, so a denial if it happens isn't the worst and I'll just wait the 6 months like you said to apply again, which is what I probably would have waited for to apply even if chase didn't roll out the new SUB.
Everything evens out in the end, haha.
The message Chase puts up if they can't prequalify you is that they have no offers for you, perhaps because you had opted out from pre-screened offers.
Recommendations and odds of approval from CK, Experian, Mint, and so on are based on generic demographic data and are not preapprovals in the same ilk as those from Chase or AMEX, which are not 100% foolproof but are are pretty accurate in that a high percentage of prequals do get approved.
@Anonymous I agree it might be best to wait then! No harm in waiting! I hope the sub is still there for you! I do agree credit karma and other sites are more advertising based on scores their members get approved on and advertisements from partners. It's kind of the same with mail in offers as those are done by a marketing agency that matches scores to recommended scores from the provider. I got a mailer from chase bank and citi a while back and both were denials for one reason or another.
my recommendation is to check out experians website. It is completely free and provides free fico 8 from experian. Also a little secret I utilize is I just turn their 7 day free trials. I accept the feee trial and it gives me my fico 8 from tu and eq as wel as my experian credit card bank scores and auto and home as well. I just cancel as soon as I accept the free trial. If you don't trust yourself to cancel then it is just a good option to get a reliable fico 8. Granted your amex will have that info as wel!
Goodluck on your credit journey and smart decision waiting the year! You definitely have more restraint than I do which will do you well in this realm! Also if you ever need to ask anything feel free to pm me I am recently graduated from college and work in credit!
@Anonymous wrote:Chase just slapped me in the face with their new CF/CFU sign up bonus...5% cash back on groceries for the first year...
Meanwhile 2 days ago I got approved for amex's BCE for their 3% grocery cash back...
Do we think it'll be there in 3 months? I've heard 3 months is how long I should wait until I apply for a chase card.
WOW, I thought you were going to say they closed your CC.
@CreditInspired Ah noooo, that would be more like a punch in the stomach, haha!