I'm not generally a big forum poster, but I had a recent experience that some may find interesting...
In September 2019, I opened a Chase online checking account for the $200 new account bonus, and because I wanted a Freedom Unlimited card and have read elsewhere that Chase likes relationships. My plan was to sit on the account until I wouldn't be immediately denied because of the 5/24 rule. Earlier this week (1/27/20 or so), I logged in and had three notifications, all of which were offers for different Chase cards.
I've been rebuilding my credit (but not gardening like I should be, more like reckless application sprees) since October 2017, and have added 11 new cards since then. 8 of them (9 if you count the Synchrony TJ Maxx card that Synchrony closed on me without warning last summer for unexplained reasons) have been in since January 2018 (within 24 months) with 3 of them being in the last 4 months.
Since my wallet has all the cards I need now, and I don't plan on applying for any more credit any time soon, I figured what the heck, and clicked the submit button on the Freedom Unlimited card. 20 seconds or so, I got the approval screen for $1500 (nothing as awesome as the $15,000 SL my former coworker got on his, but approved nonetheless...) When I went back to my accounts page on the Chase web site, the new card showed on the list under my checking account.
I was very surprised, and even reviewed my credit report this morning to count cards and timeframes, and sure enough, 8 cards in the last 24 months. My credit is not spectacular...perfect payment history since I started rebuilding (2 charge-offs and a 90 day late before that, 3+ years ago, all of which I paid in full afterward), and I am currently at 62% utilization on my 10 active cards and my credit union's PLOC. As of January 15, 2020, my FICO 8 scores were EX 664, EQ 655, TU 676. I didn't pay enough attention to the credit alerts that poured in other than I saw that Chase did a hard pull on TransUnion.
I'm stoked about the Freedom Unlimited card (though, I just got a Wells Fargo CaseWise last month to fill the role of "1.5% on everything"), but I'm shocked that I was actually approved. Anyway, I thought some of you may find that interesting.
