Amex/Discover- need some strategy advice

[chalupaman]

With me, I had low overall utilization on my cards (around 9% and majority of my cards having under 30% utilization or a 0 balance) but plenty of inquiries and relatively new accounts to put it in perspective. Ficos ranging from 680-700ish and 9 months of positive credit history when I got my first Amex. 11 months for the two other Amex cards and AAoA around 5 or 6 months and no baddies and also had some auto CLIs on some of my GE accounts as well. A couple of student loans as well.

[gheedorah]

Well, having read a lot of other threads here, and seeing all the dire warnings about how utilization must be at or below 30%, I think my pre-approvals from Discover and Amex are a bunch of bologna (I've been fluctuating between 45% and upwards of 75-80% in recent months- probably right around 60% at the time of checking pre-approvals earlier today). That said, I'll sit on my hands for another month or two before doing anything.

[chalupaman]

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@gheedorah wrote:

Well, having read a lot of other threads here, and seeing all the dire warnings about how utilization must be at or below 30%, I think my pre-approvals from Discover and Amex are a bunch of bologna (I've been fluctuating between 45% and upwards of 75-80% in recent months- probably right around 60% at the time of checking pre-approvals earlier today). That said, I'll sit on my hands for another month or two before doing anything.

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I just checked Discover and put a fake name and fake SSN and still got the personalized offer for their Discover It card. It's amazing how they haven't fixed their preapproval website yet.

[newhis]

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@chalupaman wrote:

I just checked Discover and put a fake name and fake SSN and still got the personalized offer for their Discover It card. It's amazing how they haven't fixed their preapproval website yet.

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 Yeah, I got the same, nothing with Amex, BoA, Chase, ...

Don't trust Discover pre-qual

[jamesdwi]

"I spent the first decade of my adult, post-college life being dead broke, and those old habits of frugality die hard. I doubt I'd be able to charge 2k in three months without triggering a panic attack. Ha."

start with your Cable Bill, Cellphone bill, Insurance bill, groceries, most of them let you pay on a credit card,  pay those for 3 months and you may be half way to 2k easy. Pay off your insurance for the rest of the year avoid the monthly payment fees.