Been a while since my last post. I think last time was in 2012 when I was sitting at a 465 (bad relationship, we all know how that goes), but now I'm sitting high 600's. I was recently approved for the following:
* Chase Freedom, 2.5k
* Amex Hilton Regular, 1.0k
* Amex SPG Regular, 1.0k
* Capital One Quicksilver, 1.0k
* Sweetwater Sound (store card), 1.2k
Additionally, I already have the following:
* CareCredit, 6k
* Local Credit Union Visa, 5k
* Amazon (store card), 4k
* Walmart (store card), 2.5k
* Capital One Platinum, 2k
* PayPal Extras Mastercard, 600
Credit file is 14 years thick and total util is about 27%. Only thing is, I applied for 3 other Chase cards around the same time. First one (Freedom) was approved on 9/20, last one (CSR) was a "pending" on 9/27. Obviously, I didn't know about their 2/30 rule until after that. I obviously got 3 rejection letters saying "too many apps in 30 days". The 2nd app went to Pending, but then was apparently borked by the other 2 apps.
I've been hearing great things about the Reserve. I think I can probably get it; my income is sufficiently high I think. Two questions:
* Freedom is my first Chase card. Should I go for CSR after the other apps are 30 days old, or wait a while (6 months, a year?)
* Given the above stats, do I have enough accounts/CL to even go for CSR?
* Would the Sweetwater store card trip 5/24 and therefore upset the whole apple cart anyway?
Thanks much,
Hi Op, I can appreciate your interest in the CSR, it's a pretty sweet deal for travel and rewards to boot. Couple things in my mind that come to mind reading your DP's..
The Freedom you acquired (Congrats!) is only 30 days old, so your time with Chase is slim. It would behoove you most likely to develop a good history with them for the next 6+ months and exercise good usage / payment history / etc. You stated you also App'd and were denied the CSR already last month or roughly 3 weeks ago. With that being the case I would definitely not apply this quickly again and also waste an inquiry on your profile.
Had there not been this many applications recently and/or the CSR denial a few weeks ago, I would've said you have a fair chance at acquiring the CSR. I was also in the high 600's when I did get approved for the CSR but believe I was in a slightly different background at the time. I was around a 691 (And the approval SL reflects that on m CSR) but only had 3 inquires of which 2 were not for revolving credit the last 2 years. I had not gone through any other apps or inquiries at the time (Platinum was under the radar with SP), AAoA was 5.5yrs, and salary was 6 figures w/ low utilization. As hard as it is, and we all share this app urge in our blood after joining MyFico, I would recommend giving the Freedom 6 months or more as I said, let the other inquiries age, and perhaps the other accounts get a CLI or two. As already mentioned above, apping for the CSR around this many recent apps probably will be a thorn in the side of approval.
Thanks all for the advice, I think I'll probably wait then. It sounds like it wouldn't even work anyway this quickly if Sweetwater counts and 5/24 is in play. My CU Visa just got CLI'd from 2k to 5k this past June and I find them to be more trusting, so maybe sometime next year or two I can request them to bump it to 10k, which should help the cause.
You might be suprised at what 6 months history with Chase might accomplish
Solid plan, and I'm sure half-way through you'll get the itch, but stay the course 
.