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Background: 23, recent grad with no job, foreigner, credit history of 7 months old, 2 CCs (BoA and Citi) with $1400 CL approved 7 months ago with no hard pulls
I got approved for Chase Freedom with a CL of $500 yesterday. Surprisingly, it was a soft pull and no income verification. I guess I was lucky. My credit score was good though (EX 730 6 months ago with no CCs yet and no loans) and I pay my balances in full.
Since my 2 older CCs are more than 6 months old, I am thinking of asking for a CLI. However, the Chase manager told me to wait for a month as the new application will show in my credit report (that was when we thought it would be a hard pull). I assume it won't affect my score since it is a soft pull now, should I proceed with the CLI or wait for a month or another 6 months? Please advice
In my opinion since you have three new tradelines and theyre your first, I suggest you use them responsibly and let them age for at least six months.
What makes you believe the application resulted in a soft inquiry?
You mention Ex, but did you check EQ?
If you've never been a customer with Chase before, I don't see any way it was a soft pull. In addition, there are two reasons I think you should wait awhile before you ask for CLI. First, I believe both BOA and Citi are hard pulls for CLI. Second, if you're a recent grad with no income verification, it's going to hinder or at least severely limit your ability to get a decent CL. Assuming you've jumped into the job market now, you might as well wait until you have some form of verifiable income, since with your score, your income level is the biggest determiner of CL.
| Chase Freedom $9500 DCU Visa $10000 Capital One QS $2000 AMEX BCE $3000 | Lowe's CC $8500 WalMart CC $3100 BOA Platinum $600 AMEX Gold NPSL |
Congrats! Listen to the Chase rep and use the current CL regularly for 6 months. I think if you ask for a CLI now you will be denied (even with a high FICO) because the account is brand spanking new and Chase will want to monitor your habits with them to know you can handle the extra credit responsibly.
Some clarifications.
Been with BoA for 4 years and used to have a secured card with a CL of 2k. Similarly, 4 years with Citibank except Citi Forward is my first card with them. When I checked one of the reports (forget which one), it says zero inquiries but they might show up in other reports though as mentioned by someone above.
I was pre-approved for Chase Freedom and Slate after I signed up for Chase checking 7 months ago. In fact, I was also offered the United MileagePlus mainly because I have close to 100k miles with United but don't think I will get approved. The manager confirmed it was a soft pull and no questions or income were asked or verified during the process. Whole process took only 2 minutes in the bank branch.
I only plan to request for a CLI for my BoA and Citi card since they are 7 months old. Yet, since I don't need those extra CL (except that I need to pay my balance off more often to avoid exceeding the 25% utilization), I will wait till I get a job. I am actually looking forward to my next card, i.e. Amex Blue Cash but I will wait for another 6 months.
@ratatouille22 wrote:Some clarifications.
Been with BoA for 4 years and used to have a secured card with a CL of 2k. Similarly, 4 years with Citibank except Citi Forward is my first card with them. When I checked one of the reports (forget which one), it says zero inquiries but they might show up in other reports though as mentioned by someone above.
I was pre-approved for Chase Freedom and Slate after I signed up for Chase checking 7 months ago. In fact, I was also offered the United MileagePlus mainly because I have close to 100k miles with United but don't think I will get approved. The manager confirmed it was a soft pull and no questions or income were asked or verified during the process. Whole process took only 2 minutes in the bank branch.I only plan to request for a CLI for my BoA and Citi card since they are 7 months old. Yet, since I don't need those extra CL (except that I need to pay my balance off more often to avoid exceeding the 25% utilization), I will wait till I get a job. I am actually looking forward to my next card, i.e. Amex Blue Cash but I will wait for another 6 months.
in your first post you mentioned you are a foreigner. You probably got the card because of your balances in your checking account.
It's kinda a "shortcut" for people who migrated over. However, there is usually a HP. If there isn't, even better I suppose.
It's best to wait until you land a job, then ask for a CLI. usually income is one of the questions they would ask.