Checking on a good time to take the next card

[Manhattanlad]

it says it does not affect your credit report and when i did it they said i was qualified. i may wait to see if the student loans clear next week as that will increase my fico score.

[Anonymalous]

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@Manhattanlad wrote:

ahhhh very very good point...when they offer you a card with a low credit line, can you refuse it? you still get hit with the hard pull but you don't have that other issue...

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Doesn't work that way. When you apply and you're approved, the card is open. It doesn't matter if you activate the card, or if you call up and ask them to close it, a new tradeline will still appear on your credit report.

[Manhattanlad]

Ah i'm learning so much in this very friendly and helpful community. So the Wells Fargo card was approved but it isn't showing on my credit report yet...does it take a while? 

With your note i will pause before accepting the Discover. If the Student Loans drop off first of the month i will see how that sets up the credit report...which would presumably give me a better chance of a larger CL...

[Anonymalous]

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@Manhattanlad wrote:

it says it does not affect your credit report and when i did it they said i was qualified. i may wait to see if the student loans clear next week as that will increase my fico score.

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The "does not affect your credit score" terminology means it's a soft pull. That's usually the case for prequals. But a soft pull still means they pulled your credit report, and saw what's on it.

The point I'm making is there's a gap between when you apply for a new card, and when it appears on your credit reports. If you apply for a second card in that gap, you can sometimes get better terms, or be more likely to approved, because the 2nd lender doesn't know you just got a new card. Many lenders (including Discover) are hesitant about offering even more credit to someone who just got new credit.

But you only have until the card reports, and you also have to watch out for hard pulls. A new application generates a hard pull, which is basically an alert that says "I just applied for new credit!". Unlike a new card, which can take a while to appear, a hard pull is effectively instanteous. But also unlike a new card, a hard pull typically only appears on one of the 3 credit bureaus.

So if your Wells Fargo card hasn't appeared on your credit reports, and the only hard pull it generated is on Experian, and Discover pulls Equifax, they won't know you have a new card that's about to appear. But if the first card has already appeared on your credit reports, or if Discover pulls the same bureau as WF's hard pull, they'll know you just applied for a new credit. In which case, waiting might be the best option.

That's why I linked this thread, because it shows which lenders pull which bureaus: https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Which-Report-Will-They-Pull-Part-2/td-p/63797...

[Horseshoez]

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@Manhattanlad wrote:

Ah i'm learning so much in this very friendly and helpful community. So the Wells Fargo card was approved but it isn't showing on my credit report yet...does it take a while? 

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Yes, new cards do take a while; case in point, I got a new Chase Freedom Unlimited card on 17-Jul; it first popped up on my TransUnion report about 10 days ago, then my Equifax report 7 days ago, and then finally my Experian report 2 days ago.  Long story short, figure between 4 and 6 weeks for all bureaus to report the new account.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Manhattanlad wrote:

So short background. I'm on my 9th year of Chapter 7...should expire in about 10 months. Just got approved for $10k Wells Fargo Cash Back. Current Credit Scores:715-Equifax/729-Transunion/718-Experion
Income: $150,000
Have 4 Capital One Cards for available $55,000
1 Apple Card for $8,000
Current Balance across all cards is $6,000
I should be able to pay off balances next month (freelance life, sometimes clients take FOREVER)
BUT i need to make some big purchases (new computer some other tech $4,000) and I need to pay one freelancer about $7,000. If i use one of my current cards to do it i'll pay a ton of interest but if i do that and transfer it to a 0% card it saves me a few months of nasty interest).

Student Loan Balance of $395,000 is now $0 but yet to show up on credit report (simulator says that will boost me by 40 points, if you trust that)

Pre-Approved for Discover Balance Transfer Card. 

i'd like to apply for that but i know it would mean the 2nd hard pull in a month. But If i have 2 -  0% interest cards  for 12 months it gives me some flexibility on these payments and both cards would have lower utilization. 

But ...should i wait?  I can max out the Wells Fargo and just pay that off before adding another card but it means some of my debt is going to be on higher interest cards for the short term.

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Since it's a big business purchase, what I think you should be doing is taking out a good new business card, like the Amex Business Cash card, and using the 0% promo, as well as getting a modest SUB.

[Manhattanlad]

hmm, good idea. thanks. Can't be with AMEX as i burned them in the Bankruptcy...but will look into other options.

[Manhattanlad]

Figured I'd give an update to this incredibly helpful community. I was hoping the student loan payoff would appear on my credit report before my Wells Fargo card - but no such luck. I decided to go ahead and pull the trigger on the Discover Card because if they accept me and my credit drops,that's fine, i'll pay everything off in 4-5 months and any credit damage will be repaired and if they decide not to give me any credit, then nobody else was going to either and i'll just have to stack some short term debt on my 17% interest Capital One...Either way i. won't be apply for any more new credit (except possibly a business loan) before my Chapter 7 falls off the report next April.

So we'll see what happens. I had to call them and verify information which might mean i'm declined...but now the deed is done

Thanks for all the advice - i'll report back on the approval or decline.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Manhattanlad wrote:

Figured I'd give an update to this incredibly helpful community. I was hoping the student loan payoff would appear on my credit report before my Wells Fargo card - but no such luck. I decided to go ahead and pull the trigger on the Discover Card because if they accept me and my credit drops,that's fine, i'll pay everything off in 4-5 months and any credit damage will be repaired and if they decide not to give me any credit, then nobody else was going to either and i'll just have to stack some short term debt on my 17% interest Capital One...Either way i. won't be apply for any more new credit (except possibly a business loan) before my Chapter 7 falls off the report next April.

So we'll see what happens. I had to call them and verify information which might mean i'm declined...but now the deed is done

Thanks for all the advice - i'll report back on the approval or decline.

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Good luck with it.