“Why do you want a credit card with us”

[CreditInspired]

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@doctormyers wrote:

CENTRAL MINNESOTA CREDIT UNION

pulled EQ for report 

EQ 726

100% Payment History

6 Total Accounts ( 1 opened recently)

AAoA 1 Yr

3 Inqs 

12% Utilization

Applied for the basic credit card since the Visa Signature requires a 750 Fico to apply. Rep called me next day and said she doesn't know if she should approve it because I have 6 credit cards and she thinks it may negatively affect my credit score if I open it. I told her it would not as I use their credit score simulator and if I open a new one it would in fact go up. She then asked why I wanted one in which I said Soon I will be getting an auto loan and I wanted to use a credit card for the down payment, also I got a new job and told her I will be spending more and I could use a card with rewards. She told me she would get back to me on Monday.

pretty redicoulis if you ask me. She said my score is great and I should continue to maintain it!! But I don't want to waste an hard INQ and plus this was the last card I wanted before I am going to garden.

CURRENT CARDS : Cap 1 QS $300 SL

 Cap 1 Secured $200 SL

PenFed PCR $2000 SL

Barclays $250 SL

Barclays $750 SL 

Elan Secured $500

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Hi and welcome to myFICO. 

If I could get a nickle everytime someone said, "this was my last card before going to the garden, yada, yada, yada...." 🤣😂. I'm just pulling your leg since I've said it too.

But I want to focus on something else. You stated you wanted the card to use as a downpayment to purchase a car. That's telling the bank right there that you will be continuously increasing your debtload, and in a very short period of time.

IMHO, I really think it's time to garden. 

[Anonymalous]

Don't listen to the naysayers! Here's my suggestion: Find a list of cards from each of the major banks, and apply for them all. Find all the regional banks near you, and apply for all their cards. Join every credit union in your state, and the surrounding states, and apply for everything they have. Figure out which regional banks and credit unions lack a geofence, and apply for all their cards as well. Put together a list of every store card you can find, and apply for every one. Submit an application for every novelty fintech card you can find.

As the stack of rejection letters becomes a ream, and then fills boxes, feed us those DPs. How many hard pulls does it take to drop 100 points? 200? Can you reach a perfect 300, or will your score plateau first? You'll be doing a service to the science of credit scoring, and at the end of it all, the result will be the same salubrious state everyone else is suggesting: You'll be in the garden.

[Royalbacon]

I live in Minnesota and used to live right by one of their branches though have no experience with this particular credit union.

Smaller credit unions tend to manually review things more often and tend to do things differently then large banks as others have said. And the average person only has like one or a couple credit cards so seeing someone that already has 6 cards, it is a perfectly valid question to ask. Your answer to the question saying you want to use it to put a down payment on a car isn't a very good answer either, signalling that you're looking to be taking on a lot more debt in a short amount of time.

Good to know that they pull Equifax though if I ever decide to join them for whatever reason being that i'm in their geographic footprint in Minnesota.

[Luxeedee]

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@Aim_High wrote:

Welcome to My Fico Forums, @doctormyers. 

Keep in mind that this is a smaller regional credit union.  They lend differently from large national banks.  Some are more conservative than others in various ways, but being asked your intentions about adding cards when you already have others open is not unusual.  This is especially true since the manual underwriting process is more common with smaller financial institutions.  Also, remember that the national "average" number of credit cards is only about four per consumer, so while your six cards is not exceptional among our forum members, it may be to them.  Again, different lenders have different standards and sensititivities to profile metrics.  

How long have you been a member at this credit union?  If your membership is fairly new, they may want to get to know you better. 

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This is so true! I decided to try opening a credit card with a small local credit union.  The first asked me for personal references even though I worked for their company.  The second credit union asked why I wanted the card and for more personal references.  When I applied to NFCU, I got none of that weirdness.  Theay approved me while the local CU denied me! I later found out from a forum member that they have a reputation for being stingy with credit for female borrowers.  It's not the 1950s guys!

[Luxeedee]

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@FinStar wrote:

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@doctormyers wrote:

Yeah I guess ;,,,,, just hate wasting INQs................

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I mean, they're not wrong with asking those questions as has already been echoed upthread. It may sound ridiculous to you, but it's their CU so their rules.

Also, if your recent Barclays approvals aren't any indication to apply the brakes and slow down on things I don't know what is -- given you barely got approved and had to resort to a reconsideration on the second card.  Plus, trying for a second card with PenFed recently didn't turn to gold.

If you dislike wasting HPs, maybe it's time to re-evaluate your strategy, give things time, and be more selective as your credit profile improves.

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I agree that there is a time for gardening and letting your credit garden grow. This might be the time, OP.

[disdreamin]

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@doctormyers wrote:

CENTRAL MINNESOTA CREDIT UNION

pulled EQ for report 

EQ 726

100% Payment History

6 Total Accounts ( 1 opened recently)

AAoA 1 Yr

3 Inqs 

12% Utilization

<snip>

CURRENT CARDS : Cap 1 QS $300 SL

 Cap 1 Secured $200 SL

PenFed PCR $2000 SL

Barclays $250 SL

Barclays $750 SL 

Elan Secured $500

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You have a number of cards, but some very small credit lines with some of them being secured. I know you said only one account was opened recently, but if your AAoA is 1 year, a lot more of them are recently opened than one. A declination from the CU wouldn't surprise me, as they tend to be more picky/selective than banks in my experience.

Frankly, you've got plenty of cards for the time being, the number of lines you have will make a nice robust profile with some age. It would be nice if there was more than one CL above $1k, but if I were in your shoes I'd allow things to age before app-ing for anything else and then choose the product carefully to make sure it was something I'd keep long-term.

[bigseegar]

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@doctormyers wrote:

CENTRAL MINNESOTA CREDIT UNION

pulled EQ for report 

EQ 726

100% Payment History

6 Total Accounts ( 1 opened recently)

AAoA 1 Yr

3 Inqs 

12% Utilization

Applied for the basic credit card since the Visa Signature requires a 750 Fico to apply. Rep called me next day and said she doesn't know if she should approve it because I have 6 credit cards and she thinks it may negatively affect my credit score if I open it. I told her it would not as I use their credit score simulator and if I open a new one it would in fact go up. She then asked why I wanted one in which I said Soon I will be getting an auto loan and I wanted to use a credit card for the down payment, also I got a new job and told her I will be spending more and I could use a card with rewards. She told me she would get back to me on Monday.

pretty redicoulis if you ask me. She said my score is great and I should continue to maintain it!! But I don't want to waste an hard INQ and plus this was the last card I wanted before I am going to garden.

CURRENT CARDS : Cap 1 QS $300 SL

 Cap 1 Secured $200 SL

PenFed PCR $2000 SL

Barclays $250 SL

Barclays $750 SL 

Elan Secured $500

---

C/U tend to me way more "hands on" than regular banks so asking that doesn't surprise me really. Especially since not only don't you have the 750 score but your 726 is a very light 726. BUT and this is just me. I think the answer you gave them probably hurt your chances of approval being they are clearly already on the fence about it. Using a new CC for the down payment on a new/used car will say to them you don't have the financial means of a down payment otherwise. Which in turn will make her question if you can afford the car and the CC payment. 

[CreditInspired]

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@Anonymalous wrote:

Don't listen to the naysayers! Here's my suggestion: Find a list of cards from each of the major banks, and apply for them all. Find all the regional banks near you, and apply for all their cards. Join every credit union in your state, and the surrounding states, and apply for everything they have. Figure out which regional banks and credit unions lack a geofence, and apply for all their cards as well. Put together a list of every store card you can find, and apply for every one. Submit an application for every novelty fintech card you can find.

As the stack of rejection letters becomes a ream, and then fills boxes, feed us those DPs. How many hard pulls does it take to drop 100 points? 200? Can you reach a perfect 300, or will your score plateau first? You'll be doing a service to the science of credit scoring, and at the end of it all, the result will be the same salubrious state everyone else is suggesting: You'll be in the garden.

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I got a chuckle out of this response--read it twice. 

[practical1]

Yep, I'm with the majority on this one.

Let your garden grow a bit more, develop some leaves and longer roots before branching out.  If you want to cultivate a local CU, that's not a bad thing -- but start with a deposit account.  Make regular deposits, preferably a little from each paycheck.  After a while, then inquire about credit products -- never lead with that ask; small ones often get spooked easily, as this one clearly did.

If you want to try the bigger leagues, go with a PenFed or something similar -- a large, national CU with strength and an established reputation for offering generous SLs on new credit cards.  With your thin file, banks will likely not be quite as interested in offering you the size of lines you'd be happy with.  Never again even think about mentioning putting a "down payment" on a credit card.  Moving expenses for a new apartment (or furnishing one) -- that kind of one-time, high-dollar expense is defensible and appropriate to put on a card to be paid-back over a reasonable period of time.

[disdreamin]

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@practical1 wrote:

Never again even think about mentioning putting a "down payment" on a credit card.  Moving expenses for a new apartment (or furnishing one) -- that kind of one-time, high-dollar expense is defensible and appropriate to put on a card to be paid-back over a reasonable period of time.

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Hey now, I tried to put a new car on a credit card once lol. They wouldn't allow it, so I put as much as they'd let me on a card for rewards/points and then wrote a check for the rest. It's a fringe case, but I am definitely in favor of putting things on credit cards just for rewards.

However, if OP was saying they were using a credit card for a downpayment without having those funds to immediately pay off the card, I agree that is a huge red flag.