Hey all, first post here since I started coming to myFICO forums for reading a while back. Apologies if this is not the right fourm or if an existing thread exists; I didn't see anything in the search.
I'm looking for some approval odds and app strategy advice. Basically, I have been planning to get the CSR for a while and would like to get it in time for some upcoming travel next month to start working towards the sign up bonus with trip expenses. I am below the 5/24 rule, have had a previous Chase card for more than 2 years (Amazon Visa) as well as business checking with Chase. My AAoA is fairly young, but not unreasonable. 100% payment history and 20% utilization (once a payment is reported that will drop to under 10%). The only factor I think that may hurt me is the number of inquiries on my report, which is about 50 (!) across all bureaus in the past 2 years. I know. However, 95% of them are from dealerships from car shopping both 2 years ago, last year (car from 2 years ago was a lemon), and motorcycle shopping recently. If you look at non-vehicular inquiries, I've only got a handful.
My understanding is that once an inquiry is older than 1 year, it no longer affects your score (even though it's still on the report for another year). By the end of this month, 24 of those inquiries will become more than a year old, so that should boost my score a bit, right? I'm currently in the low 700s. That would leave me with 6 inquiries total in the past 12 months on Experian, which it seems is favored by Chase.
Either way, I am expecting I will probably have to call the reconsideration line. Has anyone else had experience with this type of thing? Do you think they will be lenient with the fact that my non-vehicle inquiries are pretty normal? My income is low 6 figures if that helps, total debt including auto (no mortage) is about 1/3 of that.
Mod note: I've updated your subject to reflect your approval; feel free to change/edit if you would like. --UB
