My situation was somewhat similar to the OPs but I pulled the trigger on the pre-selected mailer. I was approved (instantly) with CL of $2,500. I had been getting mailers for their Diamond Prefered and Rewards+ cards for at about 4 months.
@kah-pas wrote:
Citi sent me a pre-qualy letter for the Diamond Preferred card. 0% Intro APR for 18 months, just what I want. I think I'd like to have that card. It has the "invitation number" and fixed APR after 18 months stated on the letter but I do not know should I apply?
My scores:
-- 761 Experian FICO 8 since March 18th, 2019
-- AAOA 1 year 4 months
-- oldest account 2 years 8 months
-- 4 credit cards, 1 personal loan is all I have on the CR
-- 100% payment history
-- 2 hard inquires (November 2017, plus one "Misc." the apartment rental company pulled)
-- and therefore a new personal loan from November 2018 and a CC from December 2018
-- no deragatories
-- I have two new business credit cards but would not like to mingle private exepenses with the business credit.
My scores when I applied in DEC:
Fico8 Experian: 744, Transunion 748, Equifax: 742
No BK, no late pays, no public recs
1/5 accounts with small bal, 1% utilization.
Cards/limits, AMEX 6K, CapOne(2) 3K, Discover 1.8K, Amazon store card: 2K
AooA: 1Y, 7M, AooA: 9mo.
Most recent app/account was 4 months earlier. Total inquiries 4/12, 6/24 (all 3 CRA similar because of Capital One trifecta HPs).
APR% included with my offer was a fixed (horrifying) 23.99%. There was also an insert with the offer that claimed a 90% acceptance rate. The fine print mentioned factors that might result in a decline, and none of them seemed to apply to me. The insert could be just a marketing trick, but, taken at face value, Citi seemed to be trying to communicate that the offer was not just marketing, that they had some data, a SP or something, and liked my profile.
Noticed Citi did a SP on my experian CR 2 weeks after they approved my card.
Longer term I'll likely PC the Rewards+ for a DoubleCash.
Credit Profile (AUG 2025)
F8 EX 802 EQ 812, TU 813, F8 BC EX 830, EQ BC 835, F9 EX 812
TCL: $159,400, reporting available: $154,459
cc utilization: 3%, auto loan: $3641/$6850
AoOA 7Y 4M, AAoA 4Y 2M, AoYA 1Y 1M
new cc accounts 2/24, 0/12, 0/6, 0/3, INQs 12 months EX 0, EQ 0, TU 0
Personal Cards (17)
US Bank/Elan - Fidelity Visa Sig, Chase/Amazon Prime Visa, Freedom Unlimited, Bank of America CCR,
American Express BCP+CM, GS Apple Card (MC), PenFed PC Rewards, Truist Future, Citibank DoubleCash,
Discover IT + BT,Regions Cash Rewards, Wells Fargo AC, CapOne QS (x2), Synchrony PPMC +
Closed (1): Synchony Amazon Prime
Business Cards (1)
American Express BBC
