Update: I was also approved for the Chase Freedom ($2k), Chase Freedom Unlimited ($2k), Citi Double Cash ($9,300), and Alliant FCU Platinum Rewards Visa ($2.5k). The Chase cards were ✅ offers in my Mobile app. The Citi DC was identical to my other Citi card. Couldn’t pull credit upfront but after obtaining copy when I called in, they were able to approve me. Alliant made me verify Income and noted my short history and lack of banking relationship with them is keeping me from a higher CL. Fine with all of those.
I am NOW hanging it up after accumulating over a dozen cards and $70k in available credit lines. Good luck everyone!
Hey all! I recent went on an credit application spree after significantly raising my score from low 600s to mid 700s. I know this could be put in approvals, but this is more about the application processes, “recons”, and data points than it is me gloating. I have been LURKiNG in here since December 17 and haven’t made a post. I wanted to have a decent one to break the ice.
Let’s get to it...
I was approved yesterday for the AA Miles up Card with a $5,400 limit and the CapOne Venture One for $9000 SL. On the Citi application I cold apped, after not receiving any prequalified offers through their portal. I was given the 7-10 review message, and when I called the next day to see if I needed to verify any info, they informed me they were unable to pull Experian and TU and that I needed to unfreeze them. I then asked for the rep to pull EQ and she obliged without any rebuttle. She put me on hold and within 30 seconds I got an alert my EQ had been pulled, 30 seconds after that the rep came back on the line and gave me the terrific news of my approval and SL.
With all the apps I have submitted recently, I have had to “recon” a decent amount of my approvals. I am in Insurance/Finance so I find schmoozing reps is actually kind of fun and challenging. Let me tell you one thing though... don’t give up if they deny you the first time or two(as long they aren’t HP’ing multiple times). It took me 4 recon calls to get Barclays to issue me a low limit card. Even at a $500 limit, I was elated to get my foot in the door with them with such limited history at the time.
Data points:
$150k income. 26 years old. Had no credit cards and a single auto loan on my credit profile as recently as January 2018, when I started to care about my credit. Average FICO8 score in January was 601.
Current scores:
684 EX(3 year old medical collection bill in process of being removed) with 10 INQ (6 in last 30 days)
757 TU with 15 INQ (6 in last 30 days)
747 EQ with 7 INQ (2 in last 30 days)
AAoA is 1.7 years. 11% UTL.
Existing cards I am an AU on:
- Citi Best Buy card $700 limit opened in 2011 (was my wife’s only credit card and has helped my AAoA remain over 12 months)
NOTE *between my first card, a Capital One QS1, and being added as an AU on this card... my scores went from 601 FICO8 in January 2018 to 702 FICO8 in April 2018.*
Within the last 6 months I have applied/approved for:
-Capital One QS1 $300 CL (first ever credit card, in January technically so 8 months)
-Amex Everday $10k SL in April (almost **bleep** my pants, first instant approval/big SL)
-Chase Saphhire $5k SL in May (read about 5/24 rule and apped early on. Had to ID verify)
-State Farm $7.5k SL in May (instant)
-Barclays Uber card $500 in May (had to recon 4x)
****spree time!****
-Amex Cash Magnet $2.5k SL in August (instant)
-Amex Gold Charge Card $NPSL in August (instant)
-Amex SPG $5K SL in August (Instant)
-Wells Fargo Propel $5k SL in August (ID ver)
-Discover IT $7.5k SL in August (Recon 3x)
-Citi AA Milesup $5.4k SL in August (recon 1x)
-Capital One VentureOne $9k SL in August (ID ver)
-Capital One QS1 credit line increase from $300 to $400 😂😂😂
Within the last 6 months I have applied/denied for:
-Bank of America Cash Rewards denied me in May and in August. Denied for lack of credit history length. 2x recon both times
-PayPal Cash Rewards card denied me in May for lack of credit history length. No recon attempted
-Fifth Third sent me a *set* APR Pre-Approved offer in the mail in August and I apped that evening only to be denied for length of credit history.
-HSBC Platinum Rewards declined for length if credit history
-Barclays Ring card was denied in August for too many inquires and too many recent accounts
-PenFed CU Amex denied in August due to “too high of credit lines across all revolving lines for my income”. The rep told me I would have to close a card elsewhere to allow them to issue me a card. I said that was the first I had ever heard that and politely declined. No recon attempts. I am not a member and that was off putting. Will not pursue them in future.
-Chase Freedom denied me in August for being over 5/24. No recon attempted as of today, but plan to do so soon.
As you can see... I have been approved for a lot of cards, but I have also seen my charge of denials. The only thing that seemed to deter people aside from inquiries was my relatively short history of credit. Bank of America, Chase, Barclays, and Fifth Third all told me that when they manually review credit reports they do not factor in the length of any AU accounts. Even though my AAOA is over 12 months with that included, they consistently told me my AAoA was only 3 months when they would manually “reconsider” my applications.
HSBC was the most miserable application and recon process of them all. The customer call hours for non-existing customer applications is only 9-5 Monday-Friday. None of the reps were able to speak English and were confused any time I said something they couldn’t use a script to respond to.
Citi Was by far the EASIEST application to “recon”. They let me explain my credit journey and why I have opened so many accounts so quickly. The facts my UTL is relatively low and my income is above average for my age made them happy. I just had them pull another credit application and they approved me instantly.
Hope this post has some good data points for someone to utilize! I went from credit scrub to breaking 700 and having almost $60,000 in available credit in 8 months. Be diligent and smart about how you use your cards and good things will happen!
