CHASE SAPPHIRE PREFERRED WORRIES/CONCERNS

Anonymous · ‎10-07-2017

Greetings, all--

So...I badly want to apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. This is the last card I want until I get further into my career and my income goes up and I get into "elite" credit profile status (770+). I have the Chase Freedom Unlimited which I applied for in April 2017 (1.5K limit; pay off balance in full early each month). And I have a Barclaycard, which was recently auto-updated to the Barclaycard with Apple (2K; zero balance). There is also a mix of store cards (Brooks Brothers, Amazon Prime etc) all of which are zero balances.

Background info: 702 transunion, 693 Experian and 672 Equifax;
Combined income with my wife is 107-108K (I make 68K);
I have 10 inquiries (3 of which are old, and should drop off over the next month or two; and my wife and I just bought a house);
There are around 8 late pays (I'm a recovering grad student), but these lates were over a year ago, and I've been current since that time;
My credit utilization is 5%
I have around 27 open accounts, including my new mortage; oldest is 15 years

No collections
I had a Chase Freedom, but that one I closed, foolishly around 3 years ago.

I am a Chase Customer, and I've been with them since the end of college, so hopefully that helps me, but generally speaking, do I have a shot? I'm thinking my utilization is my saving grace, but should I wait a bit longer to work my score up some more? I am about to make an early payment on a furniture credit line that will cut the balance in half, further lowering my util.

Any sage advice, I'd appreciate.

simplynoir · ‎10-07-2017

Have you gone to a branch office and checked to see if you have any prequalified offers - including the CSP - that way? Because while the lates may be troubling, having a banking relationship with Chase is a positive when applying for their cards from what I've seen around here. Could also check to see if you have any prequalifiers on your online account if that is applicable; dunno if you need a Chase credit card to see offers from them or not.

Anonymous · ‎10-07-2017

PRe-qual offers--sadly, there is no Chase in my state within 60 miles, and when I've logged in for the pre-qual checks online, I always get the "we couldn't find any matches" message.

simplynoir · ‎10-07-2017

I think your scores, income, and inquiries are fine it's the lates that concern me. I dunno how sensitive they are with lates even if they are over a year old. Best guess til someone else chimes in is that they'll probably decline your app and you may have to recon with them if you decide to go through with it. Again, a banking relationship with them can only help if you have to do that and if you explain the reasons for the lates if/when it comes up.

Anonymous · ‎10-07-2017

I know with my daughter she has income over $250K scores over 700 no lates banked with Chase, but had a short sale from her divorce could not get approved til 5 years.

She got CSP, FU and Freedom all this summer. She got those in branch I think. The limit on her Freedom card is only $4K which is quite low considering her income. I am training her to ask for cli now.

bourgogne · ‎10-07-2017

if by late pays you mean 8 items on an ex that are reporting 30+ days and they are all recent re a year then you can save yourself a hp as chase will never give you a card. there are of course exceptions to everything but this is a major long shot imo. chase is a special club for a reason, they don't let just anyone join.

red259 · ‎10-07-2017

@bourgogne wrote:
if by late pays you mean 8 items on an ex that are reporting 30+ days and they are all recent re a year then you can save yourself a hp as chase will never give you a card. there are of course exceptions to everything but this is a major long shot imo. chase is a special club for a reason, they don't let just anyone join.

I got a CSP with student loan lates showing but they were like 4 or 5 years old at the time. I think recent lates is a real problem especially when you need to get approved for at least 5k.

;
Starting Score: EQ: 714, TU 684
Current Score: EQ: 725 7/30/13, TU 684 6/2013, Exp 828 5/2018, Last App 8/5/17
Goal Score: 800 (Achieved!) In garden until Sepetember 2019

bourgogne · ‎10-07-2017

@red259 wrote:
@bourgogne wrote:
if by late pays you mean 8 items on an ex that are reporting 30+ days and they are all recent re a year then you can save yourself a hp as chase will never give you a card. there are of course exceptions to everything but this is a major long shot imo. chase is a special club for a reason, they don't let just anyone join.
I got a CSP with student loan lates showing but they were like 4 or 5 years old at the time. I think recent lates is a real problem especially when you need to get approved for at least 5k.

4-7 is not an issue, recent re 1-3 is for sure with them. chase likes clean more than most, with cap1 you can pull this sort of stuff off but this is no cap1. the only positive the op has, minor as it is in the instance, it that he did have a card with them and therefore has a risk score but recent negs trump the internal score. there is no way to get a card with recent lates with chase or most lenders. paying on time is 35% of the pie, its the most important risk factor there is

Anonymous · ‎10-07-2017

I concur with other posters. 8 lates that are recent, especially under 2 years. Eight 30 day lates is going to prevent your "elite" status for a while.

You won't get the CSP with the those lates reporting. If you had one 30 day late at 3 years old, maybe.

Anonymous · ‎10-07-2017

@Anonymous wrote:
Greetings, all--

So...I badly want to apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. This is the last card I want until I get further into my career and my income goes up and I get into "elite" credit profile status (770+). I have the Chase Freedom Unlimited which I applied for in April 2017 (1.5K limit; pay off balance in full early each month). And I have a Barclaycard, which was recently auto-updated to the Barclaycard with Apple (2K; zero balance). There is also a mix of store cards (Brooks Brothers, Amazon Prime etc) all of which are zero balances.

Background info: 702 transunion, 693 Experian and 672 Equifax;
Combined income with my wife is 107-108K (I make 68K);
I have 10 inquiries (3 of which are old, and should drop off over the next month or two; and my wife and I just bought a house);
There are around 8 late pays (I'm a recovering grad student), but these lates were over a year ago, and I've been current since that time;
My credit utilization is 5%
I have around 27 open accounts, including my new mortage; oldest is 15 years
No collections
I had a Chase Freedom, but that one I closed, foolishly around 3 years ago.

I am a Chase Customer, and I've been with them since the end of college, so hopefully that helps me, but generally speaking, do I have a shot? I'm thinking my utilization is my saving grace, but should I wait a bit longer to work my score up some more? I am about to make an early payment on a furniture credit line that will cut the balance in half, further lowering my util.

Any sage advice, I'd appreciate.

Going from a 5% utilization down to 3% or so won't score you any points, maybe 1 point. Your score isn't going to start going up until those lates age or you get them removed.

Your utilization is not the problem here, it's your lates.