Hi,
Long time lurker first time poster. Thanks for all the good advice here.
New to the US, and I'm (or at least used to be up until recently) absolutely baffled by lending practices here 
Anyway, I have $250K+ income and I don’t actually even need/want the credit line — I’m just looking for good rewards and building up score for mortgage in 1-2 years. Most of my money goes to travel, then dining outside, then groceries. So ideally I would want Chase Sapphire Preferred for the first two, and Amex Blue Cash Preferred for the third.
So I started with no credit history in May 2013 and got my first fully secured BofA card with $5000 CL. Before that, due to some bad advice and unfortunate circumstances, I had a few HPs (3 unsecured cards — all denied, 1 for rent). I managed to get a product change to Travel Rewards, which isn’t all that bad, so I just have the problem that my $5000 that could be invested elsewhere is still locked up. Annoying, but no biggie.
I now mostly figured it out so I make sure that everything is paid off as soon as the statement closes and I try to keep between 20-30% utilization. I use CreditKarma, CreditSesame, and MyFico (trial) for figuring out my scores, and the estimates are TU=730, EX=730, EQ=680. I think that the initial HPs were spread somewhat evenly among three bureaus so I guess that’s good.
Now that the six months are up, and EX no longer shows me as a thin file, I thought I should apply for graduation and/or my ideal cards. I asked for early graduation in BofA, and they said they would need to HP. I said forget it, I can wait six more months. I then straight up applied to CSP after some encouraging posts around here and elsewhere, but got denied. When I called the recon line the guy was super nice, he just said that “There just isn’t enough history here. You’re on the right track, keep doing what you’re doing and apply again later” (refused to tell me in 6 months or in 18 months). Now I’m considering going for Amex BCP.
So, my questions to you are:
(1) I read somewhere that multiple HPs in a short timeframe do not affect you adversely. How true is this? Should I take this opportunity that my record got dinged anyway and try both for early grad and Amex (and possibly other CCs, to increase lines of credit)?
(2) I’m interested in Amex BCP, but I read that the Green/Gold might be easier to get because they’re charge cards. Is that true? I can start with one of them and later try to move to BCP since I understand that for existing cardholders it's a SP.
(3) If I do apply for Amex, is there any difference between doing it online vs call to the “backdoor” number?
(4) My wife (who is an AU on my card) and I keep getting CapitalOne Platinum card “prescreened” offers. Should we even bother?
(5) Does it make any sense to try to apply for the cards for my wife, so that we spread around the HPs? When applying for mortgage for two people, is it the higher/lower/combination of two people’s credit scores that counts?
(6) I got conflicting reports on whether 25% or 10% is the right util number. I have no problem of reducing utilization by the next statement (I can just pay off once a week so that I hover around 10%), but is this desired? I would also need to wait a couple of weeks for that. Would that be an interference to the "short timeframe" described in (1)?
Thanks again, you guys are awesome!
@Anonymous wrote:Hi,
Long time lurker first time poster. Thanks for all the good advice here.
New to the US, and I'm (or at least used to be up until recently) absolutely baffled by lending practices here
Anyway, I have $250K+ income and I don’t actually even need/want the credit line — I’m just looking for good rewards and building up score for mortgage in 1-2 years. Most of my money goes to travel, then dining outside, then groceries. So ideally I would want Chase Sapphire Preferred for the first two, and Amex Blue Cash Preferred for the third.
So I started with no credit history in May 2013 and got my first fully secured BofA card with $5000 CL. Before that, due to some bad advice and unfortunate circumstances, I had a few HPs (3 unsecured cards — all denied, 1 for rent). I managed to get a product change to Travel Rewards, which isn’t all that bad, so I just have the problem that my $5000 that could be invested elsewhere is still locked up. Annoying, but no biggie.
I now mostly figured it out so I make sure that everything is paid off as soon as the statement closes and I try to keep between 20-30% utilization. I use CreditKarma, CreditSesame, and MyFico (trial) for figuring out my scores, and the estimates are TU=730, EX=730, EQ=680. I think that the initial HPs were spread somewhat evenly among three bureaus so I guess that’s good.
Now that the six months are up, and EX no longer shows me as a thin file, I thought I should apply for graduation and/or my ideal cards. I asked for early graduation in BofA, and they said they would need to HP. I said forget it, I can wait six more months. I then straight up applied to CSP after some encouraging posts around here and elsewhere, but got denied. When I called the recon line the guy was super nice, he just said that “There just isn’t enough history here. You’re on the right track, keep doing what you’re doing and apply again later” (refused to tell me in 6 months or in 18 months). Now I’m considering going for Amex BCP.
So, my questions to you are:
(1) I read somewhere that multiple HPs in a short timeframe do not affect you adversely. How true is this? Should I take this opportunity that my record got dinged anyway and try both for early grad and Amex (and possibly other CCs, to increase lines of credit)?
(2) I’m interested in Amex BCP, but I read that the Green/Gold might be easier to get because they’re charge cards. Is that true? I can start with one of them and later try to move to BCP since I understand that for existing cardholders it's a SP.
(3) If I do apply for Amex, is there any difference between doing it online vs call to the “backdoor” number?
(4) My wife (who is an AU on my card) and I keep getting CapitalOne Platinum card “prescreened” offers. Should we even bother?
(5) Does it make any sense to try to apply for the cards for my wife, so that we spread around the HPs? When applying for mortgage for two people, is it the higher/lower/combination of two people’s credit scores that counts?
(6) I got conflicting reports on whether 25% or 10% is the right util number. I have no problem of reducing utilization by the next statement (I can just pay off once a week so that I hover around 10%), but is this desired? I would also need to wait a couple of weeks for that. Would that be an interference to the "short timeframe" described in (1)?
Thanks again, you guys are awesome!
Well that wasn't exactly what I was wanting to hear happening - was planning on applying for the same card with a similar history issue and a lot smaller income (~58k). Though that being said I have a banking relationship with Chase, and have their Freedom card.
First - do you have a banking relationship with Chase? If so you can sometimes get a recommendation from a banker and a hand to get around some of those problems. Just need 10k in a savings account and they seem to be more friendly. The other possibility is if you want to invest, try and see if you can get in with a chase private client - they should be able to sort you out for a CSP or something a little more exclusive.
1) Stay below 5 for credit lines on any report and you will be fine - every app for a credit card counts as one (loans work differently). They stop affecting your record after a year, drop off after 2.
2) If you want a travel card on the interim and can't get the CSP - get the AMEX Premier Rewards Gold - they will jump at you with the income and 6 months history (see if you can get a 50k point offer). You'll qualify for the 30k spend annually bonus as well. Once you have got an in, then you can apply for the next card through the same pull (possibly), or at worst get it via soft INQ as you suggested (BCP).
3) Not really sure, I don't think the form is going to care much once you enter your income level and that history.
4) Don't bother with the CapOnes - I get them weekly too and they are an annoying bank in my book (denied me for a secured line and wouldn't recon).
5) You can probably do that down the line, but it depends on her income whether you go for her own cards.
6) Keep it below 10% for apping.
Hope this helps some, good luck with it.
Been there, done that.
The only card issuer that cares about income above all else is AMEX.
You shouldn't even bother applying for anything apart from AMEX at this point, because while you might see the occasional lucky approval for a CSP at 8 months or whatever, you're not seeing the 99.99% of people who are being declined for it with a short history. Don't waste INQs -- each one is about 9-14 FICO points on a thin file. The point loss reduces every month (costing you about 1-4 FICO points from 6 months) until 1 year.
There's no reason to call AMEX. Applying over the phone is basically the exact same process as applying online, except someone else is doing the typing. And they type it in wrong sometimes. And you don't have screenshot proof of the offer/bonus you're applying for.
You should ideally (for maximum FICO) have a single small balance reporting. Since you only have one card, that's not that hard. Just pay down the balance and leave $30 to report. Nowhere near 25%. *Reported* balances here are seen as negatives for whatever reason, whereas in most other countries, no one cares as long as you PIF by the due date (floating your bills on an interest free loan . You can start leaving balances to report if you're not actively applying for anything, but with a thin file you have to micro-manage everything until you get what you want.
Anyway, you have a single option, and that option is AMEX. And you should apply in 2013 to lock in your Member Since date.
You should apply for the PRG, and if accepted, apply for a revolver (BCP or SPG) as soon as that's approved. This will generally merge both INQs into one. You will be triple pulled (EX + EQ + TU), but it's worth it. You'll most probably get a "low" CL (3-5K). You can triple it in 61 days. Then again after 180 days. You should be trying to get the CL as high as possible as quickly as possible. Check creditcards.com "CardMatch" to see if you get the latest PRG offer.
Once your BOA hits 12 months, you should be able to apply for the CSP without issues (or get approved on recon). But it's not a guaranteed thing. Depends on how grumpy the particular analyst you're talking to on the day is. You can keep trying until it gets approved, or give up and try again in a couple of months after that.
Have fun... and try not to get addicted.