Hi, I've been on this forum for a couple of months now and I recently turned 18. I've been looking for advice on what credit cards cards to open early on in order to garden my credit score so that after college I can start out one step ahead. I convinced each of my parents to sign me up as an authorized user on one of each of their cards so I waited till both cards came up on my Experian report (8 years and 8 months average age of accounts and $13,000 credit line between both) so I'm assuming this probably helped with my applications but I didn't push my luck very far with the applications either so who knows?
So, onto the applications: ($18k income, 18 year old)
I applied to Discover It Student Cash Back on my birthday (a couple weeks back) and got an email stating I had to verify my SSN with a photo, I never did it. (Only a Soft Pull)
On 5/28, I applied to Macy's credit card at the store in order to save some money (that's the best part about credit cards right?). I wasn't really excited at the time since it was a hard inquiry but at least I saved a decent amount on my purchase (Maxed out the Credit Line but I have the money to pay it off) and got my first approval. I learned later that I didn't qualify for the AMEX but I will be trying the 30 day CLI that seems to work very well on this card and shoot for the AMEX version in December.
Macy's store card: $300 limit which is the card minimum but you have to start off somewhere and the card is known for insane CLI growth so I'm looking forward to that and then converting to AMEX! (Pulled Experian)
That same night, I decided to hit it and impulsively applied for the Chase Freedom Flex (I bank with Chase so I thought this would also be an easy approval and I wanted to apply before 2/30 since Discover never had a HP). I ended up being denied at the start but more on this later.
On May 31st, as I had gotten two hard pull on my credit report (Chase app was very good at having push notifications sent within 15 minutes both times), Discover sent me an email saying my application had been approved but I rechecked my Experian Report and there still was no HP (so I could still call Chase Reconsideration without being over 2/30 chase autodenial)
Discover It Student Cash Back: $500 limit (minimum limit but it has good cash back and I can definitely put spending on it as I start college)
Back to Chase application, I saw my denial on Monday, May 30th then I called reconsideration on May 31st, explained that I banked with Chase for a while now and I wanted to grow the relationship as I try to build my credit. (They said Chase was worried about credit history and I just said, I'm an 18 year old, do you expect me to have 10 years of credit history with another bank?) I waited a day and on June 1st the card appeared in my Chase App. My limit was probably so high due to my deposits there and having had direct deposit there, I'm definitely pleased with this card especially the benefits and the high limit which Chase isn't known for. I think the banking relationship was a large part of the reconsideration and approval with such a high limit. I recommend the reco line to any Chase denials with a good reason to back yourself up.
Chase Freedom Flex (Official Approval on June 1st): $2,200 limit (pretty high if you ask me but it will give me a good cushion to have a low utilization rate) (Pulled Experian)
Ending Summary (TLDR):
- Three credit approvals on the span of a 5 days (Two Experian Pulls)
- Macy's Store Card ($300 SL) [Sadly no Amex approval at this point]
- Discover Student Cash Back ($500 SL)
- Chase Freedom Flex ($2,200 SL) [told me my score was 674 pulled from Experian]
I plan on gardening till December, putting spend on the cards (and paying off Macy's), pay off before the due date, have a low utilization rate so I can hopefully get CLIs on Macy's and Discover and get approved for Macy's Amex. Definitely still surprised about Chase, the Flex's UR points will definitely become more useful after college!
Well good for you, you have your 3 cards to drive your Fico score which will take 6 months to generate. Keep them paid down preferrably one card with small balance reporting monthly. Grats to all your approvals and welcome to myFico!
Yep, I plan to use these only for myself and maybe my parents if some of the benefits are useful because my parents have always paid me whenever I have let them borrow some money for a short period of time but thanks for the advice. I appreciate it!
Yes, they will be driving up my score but the only agency I don't have a score in yet is Transunion. I plan on prepaying whatever small balance I have so they all close with less than $25
Hey CreditAggie, thanks for the congradulations. I actually have a question for you, how can I show a signature like you do with all of your credit cards and inqueries?
@Mones wrote:Hey CreditAggie, thanks for the congradulations. I actually have a question for you, how can I show a signature like you do with all of your credit cards and inqueries?
Check out the following threads for what I used to build my signature:
THIS IS HOW YOU ADD CREDIT CARD PICS TO YOUR PROFILE - Credit Card images
Badges for Your Signature - for inquiries, account age, etc.
Note that you will need to have a minimum rank of Member in order to add images to your signature. You can rank up by posting in the forums. If you need help with the coding, feel free to ask one of our moderators!
Congratulations @Mones Getting the freedom flex💳 is a mayor success, remember if you're doing AZEO Chase will report $0 balance to the bureaus if you pay the card off before new statement cuts.
