Discover & AMEX denials

[Anonymous]

Hello, I am new here and have been lurking a bit. I am building credit or at least attempting to. My scores (which will be going down after these two HP) were 705 TU, 757 EX , 761 EQ.
I have about $48k in student loan debt that is deferred as I'm back in school.
I have one credit card for Capital One $5k SL I have only had it since August.
I had preapproval from Discover IT & Amex Cash Magnet, which is why I applied and was denied both. I did call Discover and they said my file was too thin. I thought I could qualify at least for a student card, but nope. Anyway any advice is welcome. Should I just wait a year as I continue with my Cap1? The next time I do apply for a card, which should I attempt? The main reason I applied for these cards is because I wanted to take advantage of Cash Back. I have spent a lot on my debit with no rewards to show for it.

[Anonymous]

You have a 5k capital one card and discover denied you because your file is .. thin?

Discover throws around student credit cards to people that have no credit at all. Are you sure you applied for the student version?

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply. I called them and it seems I accidentally applied for the regular version ( I did it on my cell). Either way they said they would not reconsider and that I needed more time with my Cap 1 card. The guy's exact words were that they didn't want to "overwhelm" me and could hot extend me credit at this time. He said I needed to build my credit history...ironic since that is what I was attempting to do.

[jamie123]

Yeah, building credit can take a while. Discover and AMEX are tier one lenders and can sometimes be difficult. Either try again after your Cap 1 card is 6 months old or app for something easier to get. Try the Amazon store card if you use Amazon at all or maybe Walmart.

[Anonymous]

Capital One Quicksilver has cash back. After some time you may be able to upgrade the Cap 1 card.
Btw, if your school loans are federal and you'll be repaying them on a (10-20 year) loan forgiveness plan, you can often "pay" while in school with payments as low as $0 and get the clock started on forgiveness a few years early. If you want more info just leave a post on the student loans page and someone can give you more information.

[Anonymous]

Thank you!

[AverageJoesCredit]

Discover never ceases to amaze me. I think they flip a coin on who they give credit and cli to

[tedb]

You could try for a secured card from Discover, just to get another one reporting if you want to build your credit. Or if you're a member of a credit union you could get a card from there to build up your file some. 

[joltdude]

Op:

Just wait until Jan ... unless you get a secured card from a CU or such...

Sign up for Discovers Credit Scorecard (free FICO score)...

Let your first card age at least a few months.. Seriously... you only have a few months experience with revolving credit (as far as the CC companies are concerned)... in Jan id try again for the Disco....  and possibly even the amex... 

Wait to see what happens with your scores in Jan.. then possibly revisit prequals and such for both Disco and Amex... 

-J

[joltdude]

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@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
Discover never ceases to amaze me. I think they flip a coin on who they give credit and cli to

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This one I completely "get" why the denial....

Since disco isnt the ops first card.. they want to see her experience with a revolving account... actually discover did something similar to me years ago.. I tried to app shortly after I got my first CC and thats when i got the denial... 

Though not sure why they didnt entertain the secured.. think the CSR might have tried to basically hint that the op might be eligible for a UNSECURED card if they wait.. but as always Miss Disco is a unpredictable gal...  Since as of late you have to reapp and take the HP for a secured app even if youve done an unsecured app..