Consider Application Spree--Should I?

[Anonymous]

Hello all!

I've been reading this forum a lot and have learned a lot. Thank you. 

I am new to MyFico. I just got serious about caring for my credit. Prior to this month (like Late December), I had all three FICO scores were around 610. After deciding to use some of my disposable income to pay bills rather than allocate to other ventures, I have paid off all of my credit card debt. Here are my scores now: EQ 700; TU 690; EX 685. Not all of my debts have reported with all agencies, so I expect each to rise about another 10-15 points at the close of one of my Barclay card's statement period. 

Here are my current credit cards: 

Chase Rewards - $7000 Limit with a balance of $100 (I'm charging a little because it seems like a zero balance is as bad as a maxed out balance).

Chase Slate - $1500 Limit with a balance of $25

Barclays Apple - $1300 with a balance of $50

Amazon Store - $800 with a balance of $100

The only remaining update to my credit repot is a $1290 payment to Barclays. Prior to this month, my utility rate was around 90%. I had a recent boost in income after graduation and now make $195k, so paying off these debts was not an issue. 

I really want to open a Chase Sapphire Preferred card. I used to have a Chase miles card as a debit card. It was the best. Nearly all of my vacations were paid for with miles. In addition to the Sapphire Preferred, I would like to begin increasing my credit limits and available credit cards. The other cards that have caught my eye are the American Express Blue, Barclays Travel Rewards, and Chase Amazon. 

As of now, I have between 6 and 9 inquiries on each of my reports. These were due to my ignorance of how credit worked while I was in college. I have a significant amount of student loan debt that is still in deferment. And I have two small car loans. 

Am I a good candidate for the Chase Sapphire Preferred? And should I consider applying for all of these cards so that I can begin building credit? I understand that once I do, I should not apply again for 12-24 months so that the inquiries will fall off. 

Thanks for all of your help.

[NRB525]

Congratulations on the graduation and salary bump!

I don't have the CSP, but it would seem you should be OK for that. You may want to wait until the Barclays payment is fully registered in your score.

Which AMEX are you looking at? The real Blue card is only one MR point, full stop. The EveryDay is extra MR points for groceries, also no AF. The advantage to getting an AMEX is, you then have a well-defined path to get CLI, as you may have found by all the discussion of 3X CLI here.

Beyond that, with your income and just really getting your score up, you may want to go for only the AMEX and CSP for now, work those cards over for a while, then think about which cards otherwise you want, for later this year. By that time you would have raised the AMEX CL, and with a better FICO score your chances of stepping into larger limits is more likely.

The main thing with any spree, when you decide, is to go slowly to plan thoroughly prior to springing it. You'll get lots of advice for questions posted here about specifics of your strategy.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your advice.

The AMEX I am considering is the Everyday AMEX. And yes, the idea of receiving a 3x CLI is very enticing. With that advice, I think I am going to apply for the CSP and the AMEX Everyday.

I agree with your advice that I should wait until the Barclays payment registers. It should register within the next 7 days, so once I get the MyFICO alert, I will likely apply. 

Thank you again!

[Anonymous]

Getting the AMEX backdate locked in would be nice (EX Inquiry) and with some luck, Chase might pull your TU so all the inquiries don't come from one place.

Also, if your INQ's happened over a year ago, they no longer affect your FICO and I suspect most lenders don't care about INQ's over a year.

I think you'll be approved as long as your paid utilization is showing on your credit report.

[JoshuaHolySpirit]

Most likely you'd get the AMEX ED & CSP.

With income of 195k I would have thrown 5k on BOA Secured just to build. That's not a good idea now since they wouldn't PC now.(or would they?)

During my time, I was able to PC to Travel Rewards for my overseas usage after it graduated. (No AF, No FTF & High CL's). Never mind.

All the best to you-!!!! Let us know whether you got any of'em.

[Anonymous]

195k out of college??? Man am I in the wrong business....

[Themanwhocan]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Hello all!

I've been reading this forum a lot and have learned a lot. Thank you. 

I am new to MyFico. I just got serious about caring for my credit. Prior to this month (like Late December), I had all three FICO scores were around 610. After deciding to use some of my disposable income to pay bills rather than allocate to other ventures, I have paid off all of my credit card debt. Here are my scores now: EQ 700; TU 690; EX 685. Not all of my debts have reported with all agencies, so I expect each to rise about another 10-15 points at the close of one of my Barclay card's statement period. 

Here are my current credit cards: 

Chase Rewards - $7000 Limit with a balance of $100 (I'm charging a little because it seems like a zero balance is as bad as a maxed out balance).

Chase Slate - $1500 Limit with a balance of $25

Barclays Apple - $1300 with a balance of $50

Amazon Store - $800 with a balance of $100

The only remaining update to my credit repot is a $1290 payment to Barclays. Prior to this month, my utility rate was around 90%. I had a recent boost in income after graduation and now make $195k, so paying off these debts was not an issue. 

I really want to open a Chase Sapphire Preferred card. I used to have a Chase miles card as a debit card. It was the best. Nearly all of my vacations were paid for with miles. In addition to the Sapphire Preferred, I would like to begin increasing my credit limits and available credit cards. The other cards that have caught my eye are the American Express Blue, Barclays Travel Rewards, and Chase Amazon. 

As of now, I have between 6 and 9 inquiries on each of my reports. These were due to my ignorance of how credit worked while I was in college. I have a significant amount of student loan debt that is still in deferment. And I have two small car loans. 

Am I a good candidate for the Chase Sapphire Preferred? And should I consider applying for all of these cards so that I can begin building credit? I understand that once I do, I should not apply again for 12-24 months so that the inquiries will fall off. 

Thanks for all of your help.

---

For FICO scoring purposes, you want only one card to report a small amount, and the rest to report $0.

Inquiries affect your FICO score only for 1 year, though they are on your reports for 2 years. The older the Inquiries are during that year the better. So you want few inquiries in the past year and hopefully no inquiries in the past 6 months, on whatever credit report(s) are pulled for your application.

You could apply and would likely get those cards right now, but if you wait and make sure al your ducks are in a row you might get better starting credit limits.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice everyone. So, I got the itch to apply before my Barclays balance showed up on my report. I told myself I wasn't going to, but I ended up doing it anyways.

Well, my first application was, of course, the Chase Sapphire Preferred. I was denied. Called the reconsideration line and was unsuccessful. They told me that since I was a day or two late on my Chase cards within the past 6 months that I could not be approved. I called back... same thing. So, I moved on. And thankfully I did.

Went to American Express Everyday Blue Card. Instantly approved for $15k. Woohoo.

Went to Discover. Instantly approved for $8500. Woo hoo.

Ok one more.

Went to Barclays. Denied for the Travel Rewards card. Dangit.

Ok ... one ... more.

Went to Bank of America for the Travel card. Approved for $8500.

Ok... dang it... how am I getting all of these high credit limits from other banks, but I cannot get Chase to give me the Sapphire Preferred. Well, I guess I will try the Chase Amazon. Denied. Called reconsideration. He approved me for $3000 and said to call back after a good payment history in 6 months and they'll get me the CSP. I'm hoping so. 

Although I applied for more cards than I should have (the application process is kind of addicting and exhilirating) and I did not get the ultimate card I wanted, I feel pretty good about it. I'm going to hold off for a year or so before I try again. I can't imagine needing more credit than what I was just approved for. I'll probably just work on getting the CSP and then be done.

I do have a question though. How would the 3x CLI for Amex work at 61 days and 181 days if I already have been approved for $15k. I mean that would put me at $45k and then... lets do the math... $135k? Surely that would not happen, right?

Thanks for all of your help everyone!

[NRB525]

Congratulations!

and it always amuses me when someone goes on an app spree, gets a bunch of really nice cards (these are fantastic limits BTW) then is disappointed because they didn't get the toughest one, the one they really wanted.   #FirstWorldProblems

The AMEX 3X CLI is going to run into a limit. You'll want to search here, but there is a lot of discussion about people's experience right around $25k. Depending on profile, history, length of time with AMEX and annual income, some who step just over that line get a call to submit a 4506T form so AMEX can peruse your latest tax forms, others go well beyond that $25k and don't seem to hear a peep from AMEX. YMMV. But it seems unlikely you would get to $135k in two unhindered steps