Is this a good application strategy?

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

I've been in the garden for the past 2 months and was hoping to get some guidance in planning my next steps. My goal is to get a premier travel card before taking a big trip abroad on Dec. 20 (interested in the 0% foreign transaction fee and would like to use it to pay for lodging). The three cards that have caught my eye are the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Amex Gold, and Uber Visa. 

My current plan:

1. Hope for a green check mark to appear in my Chase offers by mid December. Apply (and hopefully get approved) for the CSP if pre-qualified

2. If not pre-qualified/denied, apply for the Amex Gold card. 
3. If denied for Amex, apply for Uber Visa 

Any thoughts, critiques, or recommendations?

Here is a quick overview of my credit profile:

Fico 8 Scores/Inquiries

- Experian 708 (7 HPs)

- TransUnion 719 (0 HPs)
- Equifax 715 (3 HPs)

Accounts

- Best Buy store card ($2000 CL/ 4 months old)

- Bank of America Cash Rewards ($1500 CL/ 8 months old)
- Chase Freedom ($3000 CL/ 2 months old)

- Various student loans dating back to 2014

- AAOA: 2.6 yrs

Other

- No baddies or late payments

- 0% credit utilization 

- $90k annual salary

- Denied for the CSP twice in the past year (8 months ago and 2 months ago)

[Anonymous]

Your plan is pretty solid. Make sure you get an Visa, if you get approve for the Amex. What was the reasons for your last 2 CSP denials?

[josh1]

I like the strategy, but make sure you have a backup card if you end up going with the Visa.  My sister was abroad for a few months and a lot of places won't accept amex internationally.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Your plan is pretty solid. Make sure you get an Visa, if you get approve for the Amex. What was the reasons for your last 2 CSP denials?

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The first denial (8 months ago) was because of the lack of credit history - I foolishly tried to get the CSP as my first credit card.

The second denial (2 months ag) was due to too many credit requests with Chase. I had applied for the CSP immediately after I was approved for my Freedom, the Customer Service Rep said the application was auto flagged. He said they'd like to build a a relationship with me before extending more lines of credit.

Now I'm just unsure of how long it will take to build that relationship.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
Your plan is pretty solid. Make sure you get an Visa, if you get approve for the Amex. What was the reasons for your last 2 CSP denials?

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The first denial (8 months ago) was because of the lack of credit history - I foolishly tried to get the CSP as my first credit card.

The second denial (2 months ag) was due to too many credit requests with Chase. I had applied for the CSP immediately after I was approved for my Freedom, the Customer Service Rep said the application was auto flagged. He said they'd like to build a a relationship with me before extending more lines of credit.

Now I'm just unsure of how long it will take to build that relationship.

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Building relationship is usually at least 6 months. You still got a month and a half to get that green check mark. You can also check in on a banker at a Chase branch to see if you have any pre approvals as well. Sometime, the branch can see pre approval even when you don't have any green check marks. 

[Anonymous]

My green check mark showed up the day my FU was 6 mon old. I've been scared to apply I'm LOL/24 8+ new cards since Jan and an auto loan. My UTI is less than 2% total and everything unsecured is under 8.9%. I would like to have the CSP I have the green check mark for.