Approved for USAA Amex

[Anonymous]

i received a promo mailer from USAA saying i was preapproved for the USAA Amex card. i was feeling jumpy and applied.  they hit equifax with a hard INQ; my score is 651 because i am still negotiating to get 2 collections removed, but too bad they didn't hit TU, which is 686 with only one collection.  my wife and i have insurance products and about 6 bank accounts with them, including an installment loan (flawless payment history) and i'm an AU on her USAA MC (very high util, but flawless payment history).  got the standard $3K starter CL.  the terms are not spectacular...  apr in the high teens, and the BT is almost joke-worthy.  they offer 3% fee with a $75 CAP!  but the apr is something like 12%, so how's that?  this could mark the re-beginning of capped BT fees though, so keep your eyes peeled.  i won't be using it for anything but a util buffer, but it's nice to be approved for something.

thought it may be my lucky day so i applied for chase freedom and citi forward for their generous starter CLs, but got denied by citi for the collections, and i'm waiting to hear from chase.

[Anonymous]

congrats!

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a very nice and generous CL for your scores. Congrats

[Anonymous]

applied for the USAA MC just in case thy're feeling generous.. denied.

We regret that we're unable to open a World MasterCard account for the following reasons: 1

• Proportion of revolving account balances to credit limits
• Serious delinquency, and derogatory public record or collection filed
• Number of accounts with delinquency
• Too many inquiries last 12 months

[Anonymous]

Congrats on the new card!  Do you know what reports citi and chase pulled?

[score_building]

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@Anonymous wrote:

i received a promo mailer from USAA saying i was preapproved for the USAA Amex card. i was feeling jumpy and applied.  they hit equifax with a hard INQ; my score is 651 because i am still negotiating to get 2 collections removed, but too bad they didn't hit TU, which is 686 with only one collection.  my wife and i have insurance products and about 6 bank accounts with them, including an installment loan (flawless payment history) and i'm an AU on her USAA MC (very high util, but flawless payment history).  got the standard $3K starter CL.  the terms are not spectacular...  apr in the high teens, and the BT is almost joke-worthy.  they offer 3% fee with a $75 CAP!  but the apr is something like 12%, so how's that?  this could mark the re-beginning of capped BT fees though, so keep your eyes peeled.  i won't be using it for anything but a util buffer, but it's nice to be approved for something.

thought it may be my lucky day so i applied for chase freedom and citi forward for their generous starter CLs, but got denied by citi for the collections, and i'm waiting to hear from chase.

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Congrats!!

Perhaps 3k is 'standard' for somewhat  borderline full members who apply but they issue lines as low as 500 and routinely offer 1k - 2k to weaker applicants that are still in an approvable range, so looks like done v. good all things considered.  Particularly as a USAA full memebr the starting CL is almost inconsequential since short and long-term growth potential on cc products is spectacular.

(USAA has always had better terms than big boy banks, would definitely not take anything that usaa does as indicative of setting a trend for the majors, would be nice though.  The 75 capped fee is not surprising coming from USAA but would have to look long and hard to find low caps or no fee BTs from any of the majors)