Apply for Chase Freedom early due to unknown economy, or wait for 1 year of history?

[Anonymous]

I'll make this short - I want in with Chase. I am at 4/24 currently, and I want the Chase Freedom card as my next card and to start building history with Chase. I hear that Chase pulls Experian - I have a 753 FICO 8 score directly from the Experian website. Income is $36k. Longest account history is 8 months. I have a checking account that I have opened with Chase last month to become a Chase customer and have deposited $3k so far. I do not have any pre-qual offers from Chase.

I am hearing theories that credit cards will become harder and harder to get as the economy continues to go downhill with an unknown future. Do I chance a hard inquiry and apply for the Freedom now, or do I wait until my one year mark (July) and try then? Would love any and all opinions. Thanks!

UPDATE: APPROVED! See post: https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Card-Approvals/Chase-Freedom-approval-with-8-months-of-credi...

[mkhan1093]

I don't think that the pandemic going on right now is going to affect credit card applications very much - maybe APRs offered but I do believe Chase isn't going to back down extending credit as long as your history looks good. With that said, having an AoOA of 8 months (which means AAoA would be even less than that) can look a little scary. If you're not in a huge rush to get the most out of the specific 5x categories, I'd maybe wait until you have the oldest one for a year. But your chances of getting approved now aren't 0, since you have a great EXP score.

[Girlzilla88]

I agree let that bad boy hit a 1 year and your chances will improve not that they are horrid now but if you want a better shot the 1 year mark will help!

[Anonymous]

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@Girlzilla88 wrote:

I agree let that bad boy hit a 1 year and your chances will improve not that they are horrid now but if you want a better shot the 1 year mark will help!

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Well, you guys can both say, "I told you so!" I decided to chance it and apply, got denied. I'm calling recon now, but I accepted denial as a potential outcome when I applied. I'll be fine if I don't get accepted, the "emotional effects" of being denied are the greatest thing I'll suffer.

[Girlzilla88]

LOL nah I'll just say this you live you learn and now we have DP's lolololol   XD

[blindambition]

It would have been better to check preapproval in branch, especially with less than year of history. GL on recon.

[Anonymous]

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@blindambition wrote:

It would have been better to check preapproval in branch, especially with less than year of history. GL on recon.

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There's not a branch very close to me, but I actually had to go in branch to verify my ID and open the checking account. I asked the banker, and he said that while I didn't have any pre-qual offers, he thought I had a good chance at getting it based on my income and credit score. I decided to pass on applying in-branch to wait a few weeks, deposit some money, and show some activity on the checking account.

[AllZero]

Good luck on your reconsideration!

[Anonymous]

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@AllZero wrote:
Good luck on your reconsideration!

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Thanks! So I called and I wasn't denied, but I wasn't approved either. I was told that my "reconsideration application moved on to a secondary review to make sure the information I provided all makes sense" and that I'll know a final decision in 7-10 days. I have no idea if this is a good sign or a bad sign, but I'm sure not getting my hopes up.

[Anonymous]

My analogy for these types of situations is do you want to try a 52 yard FG now or try a 35 yard FG later.

You went for the longer one now and missed. But maybe there will be a retry? Lol.