CSP approval with fair credit!

[Anonymous]

Hi myFICO! I applied for this card before I found this forum, so thanks for all the helpful info that I've been able to review in the meantime.

I want to share this approval because I found it pretty surprising. I'm in credit rebuilding mode and recently applied for the Capital One Platinum, so a CSP seemed a bit out of my league.

I updated my income in my Chase online account hoping for a modest auto-CLI to bring down my utilization. Instead, Chase gave me a "green check" offer in my account to apply for the CSP. Knowing what I know now, I probably would not have applied. But I did, and I got the 2 week message right away. It stayed that way for 6 biz days, and then I finally got a quick call from the fraud department. Approved over the phone for an SL of $8400!

The good: I'm a Chase Freedom cardholder with a perfect 4+ year payment history with the bank. I just graduated grad school and am starting a job paying ~$200k.

The bad: My Freedom CL is $8500, but my utilization is at ~90%. I've carried a balance for quite a while now and have barely used the card during that time.

The ugly: My current FICO scores are 644 (EX), 635 (EQ), and 607 (TU). ETA - Chase pulled EX and TU. I have recent-ish missed student loan payments and a small cell phone carrier collection account, both of which I'm working on disputing. 

I'm surprised and excited about the CSP approval, but I'm also really worried about an AA from Chase after SRR. I plan to lay low and garden for at least 6 months. While my application was in limbo, I made an extra "minimum payment" to my Freedom, tried to get some swipes on the card, and then paid those charges off immediately in an effort to improve my internal score with the bank. Any other advice to avoid an AA would be much appreciated!

[Anonymous]

Does, you new job have a sign on bonus? Take it and pay off the balance. If not, aggressively pay off that balance in the next 6 months. Pay off the cell phone collection right now. Ask for “pay for delete”. Either way, pay it off.

[Anonymous]

This is awesome!! Congrats!

[gdale6]

Grats on the CSP

As far as AA they know what your CR looks like now so settling those collections and paying down the freedom is paramount, bring that Freedom down below 89% as anything above this is considered maxed out. When trying to figure out amounts relative to the CL an 88.1% of the CL is considered 89 in Ficos eyes. Welcome to the board.

[M_Smart007]

Congratulations!!!

[Anonymous]

Congratulations on the CSP approval! I think you should be fine so as long as you keep on track with paying down the balance on your Freedom card. 

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Does, you new job have a sign on bonus? Take it and pay off the balance. If not, aggressively pay off that balance in the next 6 months. Pay off the cell phone collection right now. Ask for “pay for delete”. Either way, pay it off.

---

Thanks for your response. No sign on bonus, but I plan to pay off the balance in full by January. 

For the collection account, they never contacted me so I only learned of it when I pulled my reports this week and saw it listed. I called and requested a debt validation letter from the agency but haven't received it yet. Do you think it's prudent to wait for the letter, or should I just pay it off immediately? It's a small charge that I can pay right away if necessary.

[Anonymous]

---

@gdale6 wrote:

Grats on the CSP

As far as AA they know what your CR looks like now so settling those collections and paying down the freedom is paramount, bring that Freedom down below 89% as anything above this is considered maxed out. When trying to figure out amounts relative to the CL an 88.1% of the CL is considered 89 in Ficos eyes. Welcome to the board.

---

Thanks for your response and advice. I scheduled a payment that will bring my balance to 87.9%. 

For the collection account, they never contacted me so I only learned of it when I pulled my reports this week and saw it listed. I called and requested a debt validation letter from the agency but haven't received it yet. Do you think it's prudent to wait for the letter, or should I just pay it off immediately? It's a small charge that I can pay right away if necessary.

[Anonymous]

If they haven’t sent you a dunning notice in the mail, they’re under no obligation to respond to your DV request. You’re better off trying to arrange pay-for-delete.

As for the card, redo your payment to bring it to 87.0%. That’s enough so that after interest is added, when the statement cuts you’ll still be under the 88.9% threshold.

[AverageJoesCredit]

Congrats with 200k income time to change your username to Great White Shark