Discover It APPROVAL

[Anonymous]

First off, i'm going to start out by saying i'm a new member. I have read through this site multiple times looking for answers in the last couple of weeks. I have been thinking about getting a credit card for some time now. I've never had one. Ever. I'm 28 years old. I have two car loans, a personal loan and a new mortgage. I got a discover it pre approved offer in the mail. It gave me a specific APR after the 0% promotion ends. So, I went onto the website and typed in my invitation #. I got the fixed APR on there too. So, after reading through these threads I decided that I have a pretty good chance for approval. I finally hit submit and I was approved!! Small starting limit of $3500. I can toatlly deal with that though. As i've said, i've never had a credit card so i'm excited. 

For anyone who is wondering my scores Trans- 690 Ex- 675 Eq- 660

I also get pre screened offers for Capital One but I stay far away from them. I've heard nothing but bad things from friends and family.

Now, i'm thinking about getting one more card and keeping utilization low on both to help raise my score into the middle 700's. Any suggestions?

[Anonymous]

Capital One is a fantastic lender.  They're one of the few lenders who lets you combine CLs and get really really high credit limits on one or many cards and use those limits as prybars to get high limits out of others.

Chase also lets you combine limits.

You want a minimum of 3 credit cards to maximize FICO with no penalty.  Eventually in time, you want 5 credit cards reporting to get the most FICO points for credit mix, but the 4th and 5th card have a small age penalty for 12 months or so.

Do you have an open installment loan reporting?

[Anonymous]

I really thought about Capital One but everyone has told me that the interest rates are pretty high. I am new to this though so I will give them a second look. I have 3 loans reporting. One for my WRX through Ally, one for my Legacy through Wells Fargo and the loan for my home through a local bank. All of those reporting and on-time student loans that are paid in full. I've never missed a payment on anything. I want to open a few cards, just not all at one time.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I really thought about Capital One but everyone has told me that the interest rates are pretty high. I am new to this though so I will give them a second look. I have 3 loans reporting. One for my WRX through Ally, one for my Legacy through Wells Fargo and the loan for my home through a local bank. All of those reporting and on-time student loans that are paid in full. I've never missed a payment on anything. I want to open a few cards, just not all at one time.

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APR doesn't matter if you never pay interest.  Always pay your "statement balance" in full before the "due date" each month and you'll never pay interest, so APR won't matter.

If you ever do have to pay interest, it's a sign that you are likely spending in excess of your earnings, so curb spending until all balances are paid off and interest stops accruing.  At that point, does 21.99% versus 24.99% really matter?  

[Sandman771]

My understanding is three cards is the magic number with two showing zero balance and one reporting less than 9%. As to too many at one time, if you open two more you will age all three at the same time. Since you have a relationship with BOA you may try them and with your scores you may want to look into AMEX. Just my opinion, but there are far more learned on here than I. Congrats on the Disco approval. 

[Anonymous]

You make a good point, I don't know much about credit cards but am looking forward to learning as I go. Thanks for your input!

[Anonymous]

I want an AMEX card! I've read that excellent credit is needed though. I wouldn't want that hard inquiry unless I was approved.

[sonicchris8]

Congrats on the Disco approval. I think Capital One and Amex are great. With Amex you can easily get a 3X CLI after 90 days.

[Sandman771]

The SL may not be much but there are AMEX stories on here with folks in the 600's and you have a good mix. Not sure if they will be your first card someone else should chime in on that. 

But def check BOA website for a pre=approval. Also check AMEX site for a pre-approval as well. I heard the skymiles was one of the easier AMEX to get. Again just anecdotal from reading too many threads on here. 

[austinguy907]

If you want to keep on par for prime lenders and a solid foundation I would look into AMEX BCE/P or ED/P depending on if you want cashback like Disco or Member Rewards points instead.  AMEX is a great one for bumping up your CL's due to the 3X CLI policy it grows quiickly every 6 months after the first CLI.  

As to Crap1.... I had a bad experience with them when trying to replace a Quicksilver card with a new card under a new profile bucket where they denied me with 800+ scores for too many recent inquiries and that number of inquiries was 2 from prior apps the same day.  I had a QS card for ~8 years prior and they still wouldn't budge on the approval for the new card so, I closed it and kicked them out of my wallet.  I managed to pick up Chase x 2 and a BOA in the process.