Denied b/c of thin file - Try again now?

[SecretAzure]

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@Anonymous wrote:

You are correct - as of recently I am an AU on a card that websites all say requires excellent credit, account is 9+ years old, no missed/late payments, limit is between 30-50k, very reasonable utilization. Do I really need to work my way up or will some more time with this card be enough to get the Venture soon?

Thanks for the help so far.

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Try for the Discover It. I'm not sure what you'll get with your profile...it's a bit unorthodox. But with Discover, you could be knocked down to a secured version (that can graduate) or you could just be given a high CL. This is the only card that has such a giant range of possibilities. Lets see what others say about my suggestion though.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

You can piggyback because I have done it, BUT the mistake that was made is instead of rolling over 1 card, it should have been 3, and once those showed up the op should have been actively building credit on that file, not just using the parents card and not building any of his/her own credit. I got $26,000 in accounts that way and my wife has 3 major accounts in her name plus is au several of mine. Some creditors may want to ignore au accounts but many do not.

The opportunity to get college credit cards was lost as well. I don't think a subprime card is needed, Maybe a Quicksilver 1 could be considered.Just a rouded file. Most people on this forum have a mix of store cards, some au cards, and gradually get some majors during the process. Credit building is a process. That file can be phenomenal with some elbow grease put in the rest of this year. At some point that au card will really pay off, but not as a stand alone card.

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1) Thanks for all of the input so far - extremely helpful all around. Focused on my job for a few months but I'm going to focus on this more seriously now. Regarding your note above, what actions would constitute building credit vs simply using my parents card? I was under the impression that by becoming an AU I am now building credit based on that account.

2) When I originally posted this thread, I was not getting any prequal offers - I have not applied/opened any cards since then, but now I am getting "prequal" online offers for fairly good cards:

Chase: Freedom, Sapphire Preferred, Slate

Amex: Gold Delta SkyMiles, SPG, and Premier Rewards Gold

CapOne: QS1

Discover: it

Does the fact that these are appearing signal a significant improvement in my approval chances or will having a single account (though untarnished) still kill me? Obviously I would rather start out with one of these if possible, but if a secured card is my only option I'll do that as a first step.

[Anonymous]

I agree that Discover might be the best way to start; I graduated from college with a job in 2013 and within a month I was approved for a Discover It card with a $3500 SL.  Not that you'll necessarily have the same luck (could be better or worse!), but even if it's worse then you'll most likely be able to get a secured card with them which will graduate into an unsecured card pretty quickly as long as you show good usage and pay everything off in a timely fashion.

There's also the added bonus of a free TU FICO 08 score every month, plus Discover's excellent (IMO) customer service, as well as the Discover Deals which often have great cash back offers.  And the rotating categories are really nice too!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

You can piggyback because I have done it, BUT the mistake that was made is instead of rolling over 1 card, it should have been 3, and once those showed up the op should have been actively building credit on that file, not just using the parents card and not building any of his/her own credit. I got $26,000 in accounts that way and my wife has 3 major accounts in her name plus is au several of mine. Some creditors may want to ignore au accounts but many do not.

The opportunity to get college credit cards was lost as well. I don't think a subprime card is needed, Maybe a Quicksilver 1 could be considered.Just a rouded file. Most people on this forum have a mix of store cards, some au cards, and gradually get some majors during the process. Credit building is a process. That file can be phenomenal with some elbow grease put in the rest of this year. At some point that au card will really pay off, but not as a stand alone card.

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1) Thanks for all of the input so far - extremely helpful all around. Focused on my job for a few months but I'm going to focus on this more seriously now. Regarding your note above, what actions would constitute building credit vs simply using my parents card? I was under the impression that by becoming an AU I am now building credit based on that account.

2) When I originally posted this thread, I was not getting any prequal offers - I have not applied/opened any cards since then, but now I am getting "prequal" online offers for fairly good cards:

Chase: Freedom, Sapphire Preferred, Slate

Amex: Gold Delta SkyMiles, SPG, and Premier Rewards Gold

CapOne: QS1

Discover: it

Does the fact that these are appearing signal a significant improvement in my approval chances or will having a single account (though untarnished) still kill me? Obviously I would rather start out with one of these if possible, but if a secured card is my only option I'll do that as a first step.

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Chase, Amex and Cap1 pre-quals are pretty solid.  Make sure it's an actual pre-qual and not a recommendation.  If it has a set APR, you are good.  Make sure you app in the right order, Chase has new rules about more than 5 accounts in two years, you might want to try them first.  Cap1 is not inquiry or new account sensitive IMO.

Discover pre-qual is junk - you could get your dog or cat pre-qualified..........

[Anonymous]

+1

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Make sure it's an actual pre-qual and not a recommendation.  If it has a set APR, you are good. 

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Chase pre-qual page says APR will be 15.99%, CapOne say 22.9% - I assume this means it's an actual prequal, not just a random recommendation, correct?

I'm stuck between applying for a chase/capone card or the Discover it card, because if I'm denied discover will likely offer me a secured card at least. Any strategy for which I should try first?

I bit the bullet and got a CCT account, and it reports scores of:

EQ: 734

TU: 766

EX: 752

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Make sure it's an actual pre-qual and not a recommendation.  If it has a set APR, you are good. 

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Chase pre-qual page says APR will be 15.99%, CapOne say 22.9% - I assume this means it's an actual prequal, not just a random recommendation, correct?

I'm stuck between applying for a chase/capone card or the Discover it card, because if I'm denied discover will likely offer me a secured card at least. Any strategy for which I should try first?

I bit the bullet and got a CCT account, and it reports scores of:

EQ: 734

TU: 766

EX: 752

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Others will chime in, but are you looking just to get your own CC or are you looking for specific rewards based on your spend patterns? Sign-up bonus'

If it were me, with no other information to go on, I'd do Chase, Discover, Cap1 in that order.....

For Cap1, what are you prequalified for?  Make sure you put in that you have excellent credit, not the rebuilding or building whatever it is called - you might get a pre-qualifcation for one of their prime cards (i.e. Quicksilver, not Quicksilver1.  I've played around with it before and can get different results.  If you are interested, apply with them for 2 cards back to back, it should be (YMMV) 1 set of triple HP's - that takes the sting out of the triple pull (at least for me).......

[Anonymous]

Ideally I want the best travel rewards card- I am a consultant and pump tens of thousands of dollars of flights per year through my debit card at the moment
Just want to get my foot in the door though so I can build up to a venture card as soon as possible.

Cap 1 recommends a QS1 @22.9%, alternatively suggests platinum... Chase recommends SP @15.99%, slate @ 12.99%, and freedom at 13.99%

[Anonymous]

I used to be a road warrior so I totally get it!  Thankful that my current firm doesn't require travel!

You might want to post in the main CC section asking about the best travel rewards program.  They can guide you on the best option based on your main airline, hotel, etc.  I love my Venture, I don't travel as much anymore but when I do it really works well for me.

My advice, if you are set on the Venture, I would go for both the platinum and QS1 back to back - build up a relationship with Cap1 and every 30-35 days, check the pre-qualification again (always checking excellent credit) and wait for it to pre-qualify you.  Once they warm up to you, they can be very generous with their cards and limits.  They don't use the fico 08 for Venture, they use the mortage scores which explains why I got mine........

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

If it were me, with no other information to go on, I'd do Chase, Discover, Cap1 in that order.....

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Rolled the dice on Chase SP- denied due to lack of credit history (AU doesn't count in their view). $5k minimum line of credit for the SP meant they couldn't make it happen. Understandable. They originally gave me the 7-10 day message and I got the news from their recon line. Didn't try for others because I wasn't convinced I wouldn't get another HP.  

Went for the Discover (with a referral code) and got approved for $1,500. Good start; hopefully CLIs will come quickly (won't even be able to put most flights on here yet ). If I put a ~$1,300 flight on here but pay it off immediately, will I still get dinged for high utilization? At what point does utilization "register"?

Ultimate goal is still the Venture card (or maybe SP). Would it be worth opening a checking account at CapOne in anticipation of applying in 9-12 months?