PayPal Mastercard - Odds?

[jayjayhawaii]

I started this rebuilding journey in 2016 with FICO scores in the upper 400s/lower 500s. So far, so good.

My next milestone I want to achieve is the PayPal Mastercard before aiming to get a foot in with Amex - TransUnion is my clean report, Equifax is so so and Experian is dirty. Barclay and Synchrony are great because they pull TU, but I have too many inquiries for sensitive Barclay. Synchrony was very generous to me with CareCredit, so I've been eyeing the PayPal MC. I'm getting more and more stingy on the HPs though, because inquiries and AAoA is what's keeping my TU down.

I'm planning to apply for the Synchrony PayPal MC at the end of September. My TU FICO is currently 695 with 31% util, AAoA is 10 months (I know, I know) and 9 inquiries and 8 new accounts in the past year.

By the end of the month I should be at 25% util, 11 month AAoA and 8 inquiries in the past year. There are no baddies on my TU, just low AAoA and plenty inquiries. Score will likely round 700 come end of Sept, income $80k. Any thoughts/advice?

[Anonymous]

I got the PayPal 2% MC at the end of June with a 664 TU with 8 HP's on the report, 2014 Chapter 7 BK, 8% util and an AAoA of about 6 years (I have an OLD student loan from the 1980's/1990's that's really helping there, since all my active credit cards are still less than 2 years old!) I think you do well to concentrate on getting your overall util down past 28.9% which is the maximum level considered "good" by lenders, so I would certainly wait on applying until you do that. My SL was $6K; I don't have any CLI's yet because my card is still too new but putting active use on it/establishing a good payment history should help with that.

I was pretty worried about my chances, but in the end it turned out to be a snap. I got really low SL's with my first two Sync cards, Amazon ($800) and Walmart ($1200) but they're now up to $6K and $5K respectively. What SL did you get with Care Credit?

[jayjayhawaii]

Thanks! This is great! Yea I see a lot of people with lower scores get approved, I guess my only concern is my low AAoA.

My SL with CareCredit was $3k from the start. I apped for Synchrony’s Cheapoair CC a week later but was shut down for too many recent inquiries/new accounts. That was in June when I also apped for Barclays Apple, and AMEX, opened a new CC through my CU and Fingerhut turned my previous installment into a new credit account. In September I’ll have no inquiries or new accounts for 3 months.

[Anonymous]

That should probably be long enough - when I applied for PayPal MC at the end of June, it'd been about 3 1/2 months since my last inquiry/new account.

[Anonymous]

Hmmmm.... I would like to get the Paypal 2% card but I am afraid I'll get shot down due to the number of new cards, 7 since Jan this year and the huge number of inq's from those new cards and the auto loan shopping. (tu=2, eq=10, ex=5).

I currently have only one Synch acct my Sam's Club MC. I would love to have the Paypal 2% to link to my Paypal Business debit card. But I hate to get another inq and have nothing to show for it. I'm in Fl and Synch didnt pull TU when I app'd for the Sam's Club MC they pulled EX. Chase was the only CC that pulled TU and they pulled EX as well.

[SBR249]

I know this is going to sound contrarian but if it were me I'd give it another think before pulling the trigger on the Paypal MC. Don't get me wrong, I have it and I like it a lot but looking at your portfolio, there's already the CapOne QS and QS1. 

Assuming you are going to switch most of your non-category spend from CapOne to Paypal you are essentially getting redundant cards for an extra 0.5% CB with no SUB. While I don't necessarily think that getting an extra card would greatly harm your rebuild or your CRs, one thing I do caution people at the beginning of their credit journey or rebuild is over-exuberance and impatience. It's a long journey, it pays to think long term. </lecture>

[MrDFinance]

I was recently having this argument with myself about getting the Citi double cash...... The hit on my AAoA just for .5% ..... I think we just think about getting the higher percentage that we don't really think about what we will really get out of it.....

To put it into perspective... If you spend $10,000 in non bonus category spend a year, that .5% difference will only get you a extra 50 bucks.....

[xaximus]

I think some great points have been brought up, esp. the difference of 1.5% to 2% and so. I agree the difference on a 10k spend is only $50 but there's a lot more to it.

Cap1 (depending on what you got the card, if it's bucketed or not), may or may not grow as quick as others (again, if bucketed or not, YEMV). Also, there's no need to have the QS and QS1 (AF) - I would consolidate and keep the QS (No AF).

Also, I would get rid of the CreditOne as you have enough other lenders. No need for a Subprime one.

Depending on how dirty your EQ and EX are, I would recommend cleaning off the baddies if you can. In that time, your accounts will age a bit and the AAoA will grow. 8 accounts in the past 12 months may trigger credit seeking behavior so I would be careful. I would give it atleast 3-6 months and try to work the baddies off.

Just my two cents - Good luck!

[jayjayhawaii]

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@xaximus wrote:
I think some great points have been brought up, esp. the difference of 1.5% to 2% and so. I agree the difference on a 10k spend is only $50 but there's a lot more to it.

Cap1 (depending on what you got the card, if it's bucketed or not), may or may not grow as quick as others (again, if bucketed or not, YEMV). Also, there's no need to have the QS and QS1 (AF) - I would consolidate and keep the QS (No AF).

Also, I would get rid of the CreditOne as you have enough other lenders. No need for a Subprime one. Agreed. Right now it's a util filler only.

Depending on how dirty your EQ and EX are, I would recommend cleaning off the baddies if you can. In that time, your accounts will age a bit and the AAoA will grow. 8 accounts in the past 12 months may trigger credit seeking behavior so I would be careful. I would give it atleast 3-6 months and try to work the baddies off.

Just my two cents - Good luck!

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Thanks everyone who answered!

I lived cash only for 8 years so the world of CCs is incredibly exciting, but I'm still learning by the day.

Update: Applied and approved for the PayPal Mastercard, $2,500 SL with 710 TU FICO.