Citi DoubleCash Approval Odds

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone!

I'm new to this site and credit (graduated 2 years ago) and thinking about applying for my first unsecured card to begin my credit journey :-); I'd like some opinions on odds before I risk a HP. I am mainly worried about my short credit history with a single low CL secured card. No prequal available.

Score (from Credit Karma):

* 733 (TransUnion Vantage 3.0) - Rent payment account  + 1 Wells Fargo CC

* 726 (Equifax Vantage 3.0) - only Wells Fargo CC account shows

* 725 (FICO 9 from Wells Fargo)

Credit History (average age 1 yr 7 months) :

* Only Wells Fargo secured CC ($300 limit) - 2% util

* Payment history 100% all paid in full

* No inquiries

* No derogatory remarks

Income / expenses:

* Low 6 figures 

* Rent + utilities (21% gross income)

* No debt

Thanks!

[Jnbmom]

Have you tried the pre qualify sites yet? Discover doesn't mind thin files, not sure about citi but both have pre qualify sites where you can check and no HP until you apply.

Do you know your FICO scores? Credit Karma scores are not used by any banks and your real scores can sometimes be very different.

[Jerry45]

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@Jnbmom wrote:
Have you tried the pre qualify sites yet? Discover doesn't mind thin files, not sure about citi but both have pre qualify sites where you can check and no HP until you apply.

Do you know your FICO scores? Credit Karma scores are not used by any banks and your real scores can sometimes be very different.

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+1 Good advice. Check the pre qual site at Citi, which is solid.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi everyone!

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Hi, w!

You might want to spend a dollar here to learn your FICO 08 scores so as to better inform your decision-making. Good luck.

[SweetCreditObsession]

You are bound to get it with those stats...after all they let me in and I've got a "dirty" file...

[SomewhereIn505]

Citi never showed prequals for me. However, they do have a free score card for 90 days and it showed a few offers. This gave me the confidence to try to app even though no prequal showed up. 

Good luck and definitely do some research here in the forums!

[xaximus]

With your scores (vantage is not used, I would advise as the above posters stated to get your scores through the link provided). I would say you have a good chance of getting approved, but I would recommend possibly going with Disco/Amex first. Citi is known to start with low SL's at times.

[HeavenOhio]

Welcome, @Anonymous.

I don't think scores are that important here because we've read the OP's entire credit report.

A year and seven months of history on a card is a good thing. And not having a bunch of newish accounts can work to your advantage too. I think you're in good shape for a lot of mainstream products from just about any bank. I'd check the pre-quals for Discover, Chase, AMEX, and Capital One, then report back here before pulling any trigger.

[Anonymous]

Thanks to all who replied :-).

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@HeavenOhio wrote:

Welcome, @Anonymous.

I don't think scores are that important here because we've read the OP's entire credit report.

A year and seven months of history on a card is a good thing. And not having a bunch of newish accounts can work to your advantage too. I think you're in good shape for a lot of mainstream products from just about any bank. I'd check the pre-quals for Discover, Chase, AMEX, and Capital One, then report back here before pulling any trigger.

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@Anonymous @HeavenOhio for your suggestion.  I checked the pre-quals and got these results:

Discover it® Cash Back
Discover it® Chrome Card
No Prequalified offers from Chase
American Express® Green Card
No Prequalify from Citi

With no negative marks/inquiries in my history I would hope my actual score to be very similar to the "estimates" I see now. I will order at least one free official from annualcreditreport.com which I hear is an official reporting site authorized by federal law. I don't get why it's so hard to get regular official reports; don't the free estimating sites get their data from the bureaus, but why are the scores not official? I heard Citi double pulls EX/EQ in CA.

My only other worry is that I nearly maxed out my $300 limit on my CC last month before I learned about utilization rates affecting score. I am waiting until that clears back to my usual utility rate of 2% (dropped me from 742 to 725 on Well's Fico 9).

[Caught750]

Credit Karma and other fako scores use a different algorithm. They don't take the same things into account. That's why they aren't a good benchmark for scores. I'd probably wait until a lower utilization reports and then check again.