Bear with me…this is long. Went to my Chase branch to pay off my Disney card. I had a large balance from past and upcoming Disney vacations (83% util).
I was there for a while when a banker came up to apologize for the wait. She asked why I came in today. I told her and she asked if I knew about the Freedom Unlimited.
Told her I didn’t need it since it would be redundant with cards I already have. She asked me to stop by her desk on my way out so she could talk to me more about the Unlimited. Still wasn’t interested but figured I’d use the opportunity to see if I had an in-branch pre-approval.
I actually want the CSP but was waiting to app when my utilization was down (currently 39%, but paying down to 8% in the next few days).
I told her that in a few months, I would be in the market for a travel card (I have trips to Europe and Asia planned for 2020 and 2021). I told her I had my eye on CSP. She asked if she could check for a pre-approval. Ummm…yes, please. BOOM! Preapproval for CSP!
More data points…I check for preapprovals on my chase account and NEVER have them. I’m currently 3/24. My highest credit line is Citi Costco $12,000. I have $60,000 in total credit. I make close to $100,000 and have a good mix of credit (mortgage, car loan, credit cards). My EXP is 706 (She told me that is who they would pull). EQ 725, TU 705.
My plan was to pay down utilization on all cards, request a 3x CLI on my BCE, THEN apply for CSP if a pre-approval ever popped up.
I can meet the SUB no problem by paying bills. I also have domestic travel to book and various other expenses coming up.
So finally, here are my questions:
1. Does this in-branch pre-approval seem solid? I’m concerned because I NEVER have green checkmarks and when I do check online, never have pre-approvals.
2. What are the chances that this will go away and I won’t be pre-approved anymore? The only thing changing on my credit is that I recently refinanced my mortgage.
3. I wanted to try for a 3x CLI on the BCE which, if approved, would bring that card to $27,000. I’ve read that Chase likes to see that you have high limits elsewhere. Is that a good strategy for my situation?
4. I wanted to bring my scores back up (I was recently in the low 800s/high 700s) as I know that it's hard to get an auto CLI with Chase and I didn't want to start out with a low SL. Should I wait or does this even matter?
Any thoughts and input would be appreciated!
I've read in-branch approvals are pretty solid and as long as nothing drastic changes on your CR you should be good to app now.
If I was in your position though, I would pay down the other cards to hit under the 8% UTIL, wait for that to hit my CR's then go for it. You already have some fairly decent CL's if your sig is up to date so that should encourage Chase to give you somewhere in that region.
@simplynoir wrote:
2. Pretty sure because of your current history with Chase, your income, and scores that the pre-approval is there to stay. What may change is the type of approval you would get with them. Pretty confident if first get that utilization down and wait for that to report to the bureaus before checking the pre-approvals again you'll sit pretty on getting a good sized SL from them. I don't think having the BCE report a potential 3X CLI is necessary but certainly wouldn't hurt
Thanks for your input. Just want to clarify, in your answer to my 2nd question, you said "What may change is the type of approval you would get with them." Do you mean the amount I might get as an SL?
@Priory_Man wrote:
I've read in-brance approvals are pretty solid and as long as nothing drastic changes on your CR you should be good to app now.
If I was in your position though, I would pay down the other cards to hit under the 8% UTIL, wait for that to hit my CR's then go for it. You already have some fairly decent CL's if your sig is up to date so that should encourage Chase to give you somewhere in that region.
Thank you for your input. As much as I'd love to app now, I know you're giving good advice to wait. I'll let my lower utilization hit before apping. I just wanted to make sure that the pre-approval won't disappear.