Help with Chase Freedom

[Anonymous]

Did you do a prequal on their website. That's what I'd do first.

[TRC_WA]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Your FICOs are a bit low, but one thing that would help us answer your question a bit better would be if you could tell us what baddies you have on your credit reports.

Chase uses an internal score (even for new applicants) for their cards, and their internal score seems to weigh certain baddies a lot less heavily than FICO does.

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Is that what it is?

I was denied for the Freedom back in Feb with scores in the 670's and 680's... citing too many INQs (bought car in January) and BK13 from 2009.  I called to recon and the rep seemed OK with the INQs but wouldn't budge from the BK13... and I've never had a Chase card.

I requested a $500 Freedom to get in the door... nope... denied... despite the fact I have solid payment history on multiple $5-$10k cards since 2013.

Chase is just stubborn and that's fine... when everything from my BK13 falls off at the end of the year and my scores go well into the 700's I'm sure Chase will be throwing cards at me.

[Anonymous]

When I apped on 5.31 they pulled EQ, and my score was 704. The letter that came with the card cited their CARS score, though. It was 726.

[Anonymous]

I looked at the letters for both my Freedom and SWA and neither included a score with the card package. I would love to know what my internal score is with them so I know where I stand. Is that something they would tell me if I just called and asked? I wonder if their internal scoring doesn't weigh paid collections as heavily as FICO does...

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I looked at the letters for both my Freedom and SWA and neither included a score with the card package. I would love to know what my internal score is with them so I know where I stand. Is that something they would tell me if I just called and asked? I wonder if their internal scoring doesn't weigh paid collections as heavily as FICO does...

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I have no idea how to acquire Chase's CARS (Card Acquisition Risk Score) score if it's not included on your approval letter. For me, it was included in my approval letter for my Freedom, my first card with Chase (however, it's not been included in any other Chase approal since). My EX FICO was in the 640s when I was approved for the Freedom (with a $7000 limit, no less!), but for some reason, my CARS score was 711 -- even though I had no prior banking relationship whatsoever with Chase. 

However, my baddies are all late payments -- late payments on student loans specifically. If I had to venture a guess, I suspect Chase's CARS score doesn't weigh late payments on student loans very heavily (even twelve 120 day late payments). Ozix, another user on myFICO, has also had a lot of success with Chase even though he has low FICOS due to late student loan payments.

[Anonymous]

Sorry for the delay. Great advice. I am aware my scores are on the low side for CHASE right now. But they are the next bank I wish to get in with, so Im trying to do my homework now. As far as my baddies. THe only negative info on my reports are old STUDENT LOANS. Set to fall off 4/2016. So not too far away. By the time that date rolls around I will have less than 3 inquiries on all reports. Really wish I had taken care of those student loans before. Due to their old age, I an surprised NFCU refuses to give me any CLI because of them. So I wont even try for CHASE till those are taken care of.

[Anonymous]

Student loans, eh?

That is pretty interesting. I may sound like a maverick, but given that knowledge I would hazard a guess that you would be approved now for a Freedom, based on my experience as detailed in my above post.

But if you want to wait to maximize your chances, go for it.

I will say though, your FICO scores seem rather low for baddies that occurred over 6 years ago....

[Anonymous]

Not really. 6 federal loans all defaulted ( currently in REHAB though) And 3 private loans defaulted. Which is a total of 9. But yes all are more than 6 years old. Other than that, 5 CC worth about 10k unsecured. Paid off AUTO loans, Paid off personal loans. NEVER LATE on anything else. Util at about 15%. But always 0 by statement cut. By next year with all these loans taken care of Im expecting a significant boost! Wanna get in with CHASE and AMeX next year. Just order a ChexSystem report just to make sure Im clean on that system as well. But Freedom card will definately be my next card to apply for.