How reliable are pre approvals?????

[alienfico]

Hi all, I have been working steadily on my credit.  I'm not where I want to be, but it is slowly improving.

The other day I received a pre-approval offer for a car loan for up to 35K.  I don't want a new car yet, but that got me thinking about credit card preapprovals. 

So I went on the Discover site and I was pre-qualified for two of their cards.  Then I went on the Cap1 site and I was approved for their quick silver and

their standard gray and white card.  I don't want to waste hard pull points and drop my score.  My cards are all over 6 months old.  I pay them down regularly.

Should I fill out the application?  I've never done the shopping cart trick either.  I've just worked with my secured cards and I have been okay thus far.

I have two installment loans which will be paid off in June,  and a student loan - all three are paid on time never missed a payment..  So I'm wondering if

I want to add the extra credit cards or not?

What would you do?  

[Anonymous]

Yes. Don't sweat hard pulls, if you don't have a ton of inq already one is not going to be more than a point or so, and if you're under five, probably not even going to affect you.

I would pull the trigger on both so you can prepare to close out your First Progress and Open Sky starter accounts.

[Anonymous]

Dammit! I went to the Discover prequal page and it gave me the Discover It offer, I got all excited, filled out the app, then it wanted more information, then it turned me down! ArgggHHH! Not even the secured card offer!!!

On the bright side, it said my EQ 586! thats better than the 501 I had last summer!

[cartwrna]

Discover pre qual always pops up with the IT. It's more of a "recommendation" instead of a pre qual. My wife and me both got the "recommendation" and we're denied awhile back

[Calistal]

I've had a lot of luck with the Cap1 prequals - as long as it actually says you're prequalified.  I think they do actual soft pulls to pre-qualify.  Other companies - I'm not sure cause my credit isn't in the range in which they would consider me to be qualified for their cards.

[DeeBee78]

Capital One's preapproval was spot on for me, both times. I was originally preapproved for the standard platinum card, then a couple of months later I got the preapproval for the quicksilver. 

[alienfico]

Thanks all, I think I might just pull the trigger.....

[cartwrna]

Do it do it do it, keep us updated LOL

[Calistal]

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@alienfico wrote:

Thanks all, I think I might just pull the trigger.....

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I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you! XD  Let us know how it goes!

[Deltadog03]

With your TU score, I would try Barclays.  Its right on the line, but you can always call RECON and plead your case if needed.