Premier America "Premiere Privileges" MC - $3,000 Approval - Did not accept

[LADave]

While following the Dover FCU tried to blow my socks off thread, I saw that I was pre-approved at Dover for $19290, and hoped I could get approved for a similar amount at Premier America. And I'd been thinking about the Premier America card for a few weeks after I got approved for an auto loan with them. I understood that my HP from the auto loan would last a while, but I may have overestimated how long, since I got a second HP on my Experian when I applied today. (That second HP may have been made in error, I have contacted Premier America about this).

The high approval I sought didn't happen - not by a long shot 😂 and I was told that my recent open accounts and having high unsecured credit had something to do with that. I'm currently at 8/24, including 6/12, which includes a recently-opened Discover that hasn't popped up on my reports yet (although the inquiry has). My CL on all my cards is $30,400, with utilization at about 6 percent. Exp F8 is 703 before the new HP. Current annual income is $53K.

So I don't need a new card to improve my utilization for scores. I was hoping to start with a high-limit card ($10,000 or more) to show history using that sooner than later, but that's not essential.

I do plan on using this card for at least $100 in spend a month and I expect it to grow over time, while developing a stronger relationship with Premier America that could come in handy for future credit (I'm looking at future auto purchases and a mortgage).

There are some nice things about the card. I was approved for an APR of 12.49 percent, after 6 months at 0% (and no balance transfer fee!). That would overlap with a few other cards that are offering a limited term APR of 0% for transfers, although none of them are doing it with no transfer fee. It has some travel benefits from Mastercard, but they look identical to what I'm getting wth my Chase Amazon Prime card. Using the Premier America card might also help develop a stronger relationship with this credit union, which I would like to use more in the future.

But I don't really need this card, and the downsides seem stronger than any upsides, especially at the relatively low SL.

I'm told that I do have a couple months to change my mind about the Premier America card. If I do then I'll post here. I'm having a difficult time imagining a compelling reason for me to do that. My plan to garden for at least the next 6 months.

Edit: I updaed this post to correct my X/12 and X/24 numbers. I can't seem to keep them straight when counting the number of credit cards I've signed up over the last 2 years. Perhaps I should consider this my official welcome into the LOL/24 Club™.

[babygirl1256]

Congrats on your Premier America "Premiere Privileges" MC approval although you declined it, you have the option to change your mind. 

[FinStar]

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@LADave wrote:

While following the Dover FCU to blow my socks off thread, I saw that I was pre-approved at Dover for $19290, and hoped I could get approved for a similar amount at Premier America. And I'd been thinking about the Premier America card for a few weeks after I got approved for an auto loan with them.

The high approval I sought didn't happen - not by a long shot 😂 and I was told that my recent open accounts and having high unsecured credit had something to do with that. I'm currently at 8/24, including 6/12, which includes a recently opened Discoverthat hasn't popped up on my reports yet (although the inquiry has). My CL on all my cards is $30,400, with utilization at about 6 percent. Exp F8 is 703 before the new HP. Current annual income is $53K.

So I don't need a new card to improve my utilization for scores. I was hoping to start with a high-limit card ($10,000 or more) to show history using that sooner than later, but that's not essential.

It just goes to show you that varying degrees of UW criteria from one CU to another will result in different outcomes. And, since you haven't accepted the CC offer, what was the CL that Premier America entertained? You mentioned you have an existing auto loan with them, have you been with Premier America for a very long time? Does the card offer anything that would be competitive with other or similar CCs?

[LADave]

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@FinStar wrote:
It just goes to show you that varying degrees of UW criteria from one CU to another will result in different outcomes. And, since you haven't accepted the CC offer, what was the CL that Premier America entertained? You mentioned you have an existing auto loan with them, have you been with Premier America for a very long time? Does the card offer anything that would be competitive with other or similar CCs?

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I had asked for a $20K CL, since that was slightly above what I had been preapproved for with Dover. If they accepted it, great - if they didn't, then I knew I could decline the offer. So it seemed like a low-risk, high-reward proposal.

I've been with Premier America less than a month. My partner and I share a savings account and a car loan with them, and I just opened a  personal savings account. I do plan on staying with them beyond the car loan, but there's not a lot of history.

The card is similar to Capital One Quicksilver: It's eligible for 1.5 percent cash back (or "points" redeemable at an online mall for less money), but with much better travel benefits/protections and purchase protections than my Quicksilver. The travel benefits/purchase protections on the PA card are about equivalnet to my Chase Amazon Prime card. So there wasn't anything super-compelling about this card for me beyond getting a nice SL and building a relationship with Premier America. My attitude about it would probably be different if I was offered a higher SL, or if they had better rewards (2% or higher cash back).

I'm sure that PA's criteria are very different from Dover's. I wouldn't be too surprised to see Dover starting to adjust their criteria in the near future!