How long might I be waiting to go from 'good' to 'excellent'?

[MisterFico]

Hi thanks for looking. Based on the details below, can anybody kindly take an educated guess on how long I could be looking at before my credit profile  is aged enough to be considered for cards required excellent credit? Also, please let me know if you think there is any particular pattern of behaviour over the coming months/years which would better influence my scores. Finally, given that I only have checking and credit card accounts/I don't have any loans, is there a lower ceiling to how far my credit scores can go? 

A recent request to see if I can be pre-approved for the Venture X credit card resulted in a letter with the following:

Unfortunately, we can't pre-approve you for a Capital One account VENTUREX credit card at this time.
Rest assured, the form you filled out online was not a credit card application and your credit score
was not affected.
Here are the reasons why we couldn't match you with an offer:
• Based on your credit report from one or more of the agencies on the back of this letter, length of
credit history
We know this isn't the answer you were hoping for, but we hope there is an opportunity to provide you
with new products and services in the future.
Sincerely,
Capital One | Customer Care Team

I have the following credit accounts, in order oldest to newest: checking account, opened 06/2020. Amex credit card, opened 02/2021 (CL $22k). HSBC mastercard, opened 12/2021 (CL $9k). Capital One 'good credit' mastercard, opened 01/2025 (CL $2k). No US history prior to the checking account. I also have a phone with Tello, but I don't know if that gets reported or not. I tried to find out online but couldn't get the answer. 

I know that my Equifax score was 765 in January (just before the Capital One card was opened), and my Experian score as of the failed pre-approval last week was 735. I have never seen Transunion. 

[FicoMike0]

You should have access to creditwise from capone, they give tu fico8.

You might improve your score by doing azeo, search it, and managing utilization. Keep reported utilization under 29% individual and 9% total. Reported utilization is based on your balance when the account posts. In your case, a few days before each account posts, pay the amex to under $2900 and the other to zero.

[NoHardLimits]

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@MisterFico wrote:

Unfortunately, we can't pre-approve you for a Capital One account VENTUREX credit card at this time.
Rest assured, the form you filled out online was not a credit card application and your credit score
was not affected.
Here are the reasons why we couldn't match you with an offer:
• Based on your credit report from one or more of the agencies on the back of this letter, length of
credit history
We know this isn't the answer you were hoping for, but we hope there is an opportunity to provide you
with new products and services in the future.
Sincerely,
Capital One | Customer Care Team

I have the following credit accounts, in order oldest to newest: checking account, opened 06/2020. Amex credit card, opened 02/2021 (CL $22k). HSBC mastercard, opened 12/2021 (CL $9k). Capital One 'good credit' mastercard, opened 01/2025 (CL $2k). No US history prior to the checking account. I also have a phone with Tello, but I don't know if that gets reported or not. I tried to find out online but couldn't get the answer. 

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I know your question was about how long it would take to go from a good to an excellent credit profile rating.  However, I just wanted to point out that your Capital One denial didn't really mention anything about your credit rating.  The reason for the denial was "length of credit history" which is likely in reference to the fact that you just opened another Capital One card a few months ago (January 2025).  

[Varsity_Lu]

I doubt your scores are the issue with Venture X. You just opened a Cap One card in January, right? I think they have like a one card every six month rule so I'd guess that's more at play here than your score.

[GZG]

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@MisterFico wrote:

Hi thanks for looking. Based on the details below, can anybody kindly take an educated guess on how long I could be looking at before my credit profile  is aged enough to be considered for cards required excellent credit? Also, please let me know if you think there is any particular pattern of behaviour over the coming months/years which would better influence my scores. Finally, given that I only have checking and credit card accounts/I don't have any loans, is there a lower ceiling to how far my credit scores can go? 

A recent request to see if I can be pre-approved for the Venture X credit card resulted in a letter with the following:

Unfortunately, we can't pre-approve you for a Capital One account VENTUREX credit card at this time.
Rest assured, the form you filled out online was not a credit card application and your credit score
was not affected.
Here are the reasons why we couldn't match you with an offer:
• Based on your credit report from one or more of the agencies on the back of this letter, length of
credit history
We know this isn't the answer you were hoping for, but we hope there is an opportunity to provide you
with new products and services in the future.
Sincerely,
Capital One | Customer Care Team

I have the following credit accounts, in order oldest to newest: checking account, opened 06/2020. Amex credit card, opened 02/2021 (CL $22k). HSBC mastercard, opened 12/2021 (CL $9k). Capital One 'good credit' mastercard, opened 01/2025 (CL $2k). No US history prior to the checking account. I also have a phone with Tello, but I don't know if that gets reported or not. I tried to find out online but couldn't get the answer. 

I know that my Equifax score was 765 in January (just before the Capital One card was opened), and my Experian score as of the failed pre-approval last week was 735. I have never seen Transunion. 

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are the amex card and the HSBC card American cards reporting to your american credit reports? 

if they are, 3-4 years of revolving history is more than enough to get upper-tier travel cards, Capital One doesn't actually think your credit profile is 'too short' they just don't like your profile as a whole for some reason, I would keep checking every month or so to see if they change their mind

if your amex and HSBC cards aren't reporting to your american credit reports, that would change things a bunch

[GoldSorata]

Has nothing to do with your score. I just got a Venture X a little over a month ago and my scores were all in the mid 600s.

[MisterFico]

Thanks Mike but that's not the case. When logged in on their website I can click and go through the motions of going to see it, but it then errors out due to me not having a SSN. Same thing happened with the service that Amex offers. Tried both of them several times, and it's definitely the lack of SSN that's the problem.

[Varsity_Lu]

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@MisterFico wrote:

Thanks Mike but that's not the case. When logged in on their website I can click and go through the motions of going to see it, but it then errors out due to me not having a SSN. Same thing happened with the service that Amex offers. Tried both of them several times, and it's definitely the lack of SSN that's the problem.

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That really stinks. Hope it cam be fixed at some point.

[MisterFico]

(Something went wrong with my reply. I was trying to quote: "

are the amex card and the HSBC card American cards reporting to your american credit reports?

if they are, 3-4 years of revolving history is more than enough to get upper-tier travel cards, Capital One doesn't actually think your credit profile is 'too short' they just don't like your profile as a whole for some reason, I would keep checking every month or so to see if they change their mind

if your amex and HSBC cards aren't reporting to your american credit reports, that would change things a bunch")

Well those cards, and all the other accounts I mentioned, are certainly American accounts. Some were gained through ties across the ocean for example the UK subsidiary of Amex introducing me to the US parent company, but they're definitely bonafide US accounts. I've always assumed that they are reporting in the US, ever since I first saw my Equifax score about a year ago, with it being well in to the 700's, which if I understand correctly is higher than average. That's with my limited history age-wise, and with no home/auto loans or other lines of credit in the mix. I don't think my score could have got to where it is just based on the checking account, so at least one but probably both the Amex and HSBC cards were reporting. Oh and just to clarify, I've never seen any of my actual credit reports. I've just had glimpses of my FICO scores, mainly with Equifax but also Experian.

Thanks to you and the other members who highlighted that the Capital One (Quicksilver) card opened early this year could be the stumbling block. I'll try again at the start of August, when at least six full months have passed. Something else I wondered about is whether the card has a fairly high minimum credit limit? I've read the Visa Infinite cards have a $10k minimum, which prevents some folks from getting them even though their scores are reasonably high; would it be the same sort of threshold for the Mastercard World Elite?

[NoHardLimits]

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@MisterFico wrote:

Thanks to you and the other members who highlighted that the Capital One (Quicksilver) card opened early this year could be the stumbling block. I'll try again at the start of August, when at least six full months have passed. Something else I wondered about is whether the card has a fairly high minimum credit limit? I've read the Visa Infinite cards have a $10k minimum, which prevents some folks from getting them even though their scores are reasonably high; would it be the same sort of threshold for the Mastercard World Elite?

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The minimum credit limits for Visa and Mastercard tiers aren't so much set in stone anymore by the processing networks.  The issuing financial institutions will determine the minimum credit limits for each of their products.  Sometimes it's higher than the networks recommend, and sometimes it's lower.  If you have a specific card product in mind (like the Venture X), forum members may be able to contribute data points to help gauge what the minimum starting limits could be.