Knowing that these 'pre-approved' offers on Experian don't necessarily mean anything, right now they're showing me three pre-approved Chase cards; for each one, Experian's approval odds are "Best" (out of Good, Better, Best). I recently had my only HP fall off my reports and really wasn't planning on getting any new cards. However, these have good BT offers--and it's almost time for my favorite game, Balance Transfer Bingo! That's because of all the charges I made while remodeling my house. They're all on 0% offers RIGHT NOW, but that will eventually end. If I got a new card with a decent SL and nice BT offer, it would come in handy.
The three cards are:
Chase Sapphire Preferred
Intro Bonus: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Rewards: 1x - 5x (Points per dollar)
Annual Fee: $95
Chase Freedom Flex
Intro Bonus: Earn a $200 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening!
Rewards:1% - 5% (Cashback)
Annual Fee: $0
Chase Freedom Unlimited
Intro Bonus: Earn an extra 1.5% on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) - worth up to $300 cash back. That's 6.5% on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards; 4.5% on dining and drugstores, and 3% on all other purchases.
Rewards:1.5% - 5% (Cashback)
Annual Fee: $0
In general, I don't mind paying an AF if the rewards easily make up for it. I prefer cash back over points. The SUB for the Freedom Flex really piques my interest! $200 CB after only $500 spend in 3 months? That's pretty good.
All things considered, do you think any of these is worth a hard pull? What I don't want to do is waste a HP on a denial or a low SL! I'm leaning toward the Freedom Flex, but for those of you in the Chase ecosystem already, which of these would you recommend?
@GatorGuy wrote:There is an offer for the CSP currently for 80k points. While it isn't the 100k they were offering last year, it is the best offer they have currently.
The report on Reddit today is that 80k is no longer available. It was officially discontinued on June 1, but had still been showing up on referral links. However, that seems to be gone too as of today. We're back to 60k, at least for now.
@SoCalGardener wrote:Knowing that these 'pre-approved' offers on Experian don't necessarily mean anything, right now they're showing me three pre-approved Chase cards; for each one, Experian's approval odds are "Best" (out of Good, Better, Best). I recently had my only HP fall off my reports and really wasn't planning on getting any new cards. However, these have good BT offers--and it's almost time for my favorite game, Balance Transfer Bingo! That's because of all the charges I made while remodeling my house. They're all on 0% offers RIGHT NOW, but that will eventually end. If I got a new card with a decent SL and nice BT offer, it would come in handy.
The three cards are:
Chase Sapphire Preferred
Intro Bonus: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Rewards: 1x - 5x (Points per dollar)
Annual Fee: $95
Chase Freedom Flex
Intro Bonus: Earn a $200 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening!
Rewards:1% - 5% (Cashback)
Annual Fee: $0
Chase Freedom Unlimited
Intro Bonus: Earn an extra 1.5% on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) - worth up to $300 cash back. That's 6.5% on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards; 4.5% on dining and drugstores, and 3% on all other purchases.
Rewards:1.5% - 5% (Cashback)
Annual Fee: $0
In general, I don't mind paying an AF if the rewards easily make up for it. I prefer cash back over points. The SUB for the Freedom Flex really piques my interest! $200 CB after only $500 spend in 3 months? That's pretty good.
All things considered, do you think any of these is worth a hard pull? What I don't want to do is waste a HP on a denial or a low SL! I'm leaning toward the Freedom Flex, but for those of you in the Chase ecosystem already, which of these would you recommend?
1. Experian's marketing material is completely meaningless. Just disregard it.
2. Since you prefer cash back there's no point in discussing the Sapphire card.
3. Since you don't want to waste hard pulls you shouldn't apply to Chase without some good reason to think you'll be approved, because Chase typically double pulls, so if you're denied you'd be spending not one but two hard pulls.
4. You've included no information about your profile or your scores, so we have no idea what your chances are.
5. You could check to see if there are any preapprovals for you. If you're not already a Chase customer, the only way I know to do that is to stop in at a branch, and ask one of the bankers if you would be preapproved for any of the cards. If there is a preapproval, your chances are very good.
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@SoCalGardener wrote:Knowing that these 'pre-approved' offers on Experian don't necessarily mean anything, right now they're showing me three pre-approved Chase cards; for each one, Experian's approval odds are "Best" (out of Good, Better, Best). I recently had my only HP fall off my reports and really wasn't planning on getting any new cards. However, these have good BT offers--and it's almost time for my favorite game, Balance Transfer Bingo! That's because of all the charges I made while remodeling my house. They're all on 0% offers RIGHT NOW, but that will eventually end. If I got a new card with a decent SL and nice BT offer, it would come in handy.
The three cards are:
Chase Sapphire Preferred
Intro Bonus: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Rewards: 1x - 5x (Points per dollar)
Annual Fee: $95
Chase Freedom Flex
Intro Bonus: Earn a $200 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening!
Rewards:1% - 5% (Cashback)
Annual Fee: $0
Chase Freedom Unlimited
Intro Bonus: Earn an extra 1.5% on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) - worth up to $300 cash back. That's 6.5% on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards; 4.5% on dining and drugstores, and 3% on all other purchases.
Rewards:1.5% - 5% (Cashback)
Annual Fee: $0
In general, I don't mind paying an AF if the rewards easily make up for it. I prefer cash back over points. The SUB for the Freedom Flex really piques my interest! $200 CB after only $500 spend in 3 months? That's pretty good.
All things considered, do you think any of these is worth a hard pull? What I don't want to do is waste a HP on a denial or a low SL! I'm leaning toward the Freedom Flex, but for those of you in the Chase ecosystem already, which of these would you recommend?
1. Experian's marketing material is completely meaningless. Just disregard it.
2. Since you prefer cash back there's no point in discussing the Sapphire card.
3. Since you don't want to waste hard pulls you shouldn't apply to Chase without some good reason to think you'll be approved, because Chase typically double pulls, so if you're denied you'd be spending not one but two hard pulls.
4. You've included no information about your profile or your scores, so we have no idea what your chances are.
5. You could check to see if there are any preapprovals for you. If you're not already a Chase customer, the only way I know to do that is to stop in at a branch, and ask one of the bankers if you would be preapproved for any of the cards. If there is a preapproval, your chances are very good.
Thanks for the thoughtful response. It helps a lot. I had no idea that Chase was one of those double-dippers when it comes to pulling credit, so this is very helpful info. I'm not a Chase customer--never have been, but used to take my mom there to service her accounts--and have no desire to go to a branch. Can't anyway, what with COVID and everything. (I can't risk getting infected.)
You're right, I totally failed to provide any data points! I guess I just thought everyone would know by ESP. 
Scores are usually in the 820s but right now are in the high 700s; utilization is normally <7% but right now it's around 27%; perfect credit history, no lates, nothing derogatory at all; AAoA ~8 years; most of my cards have 5-figure limits.
@SoCalGardener wrote:Thanks for the thoughtful response. It helps a lot. I had no idea that Chase was one of those double-dippers when it comes to pulling credit, so this is very helpful info. I'm not a Chase customer--never have been, but used to take my mom there to service her accounts--and have no desire to go to a branch. Can't anyway, what with COVID and everything. (I can't risk getting infected.)
You're right, I totally failed to provide any data points! I guess I just thought everyone would know by ESP.
They don't always pull from multiple bureaus, but I have read they can for some people. IME, they've always only pulled Experian (except for mortgages, which of course they will pull all 3).
@SoCalGardener wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@SoCalGardener wrote:Knowing that these 'pre-approved' offers on Experian don't necessarily mean anything, right now they're showing me three pre-approved Chase cards; for each one, Experian's approval odds are "Best" (out of Good, Better, Best). I recently had my only HP fall off my reports and really wasn't planning on getting any new cards. However, these have good BT offers--and it's almost time for my favorite game, Balance Transfer Bingo! That's because of all the charges I made while remodeling my house. They're all on 0% offers RIGHT NOW, but that will eventually end. If I got a new card with a decent SL and nice BT offer, it would come in handy.
The three cards are:
Chase Sapphire Preferred
Intro Bonus: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Rewards: 1x - 5x (Points per dollar)
Annual Fee: $95
Chase Freedom Flex
Intro Bonus: Earn a $200 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening!
Rewards:1% - 5% (Cashback)
Annual Fee: $0
Chase Freedom Unlimited
Intro Bonus: Earn an extra 1.5% on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) - worth up to $300 cash back. That's 6.5% on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards; 4.5% on dining and drugstores, and 3% on all other purchases.
Rewards:1.5% - 5% (Cashback)
Annual Fee: $0
In general, I don't mind paying an AF if the rewards easily make up for it. I prefer cash back over points. The SUB for the Freedom Flex really piques my interest! $200 CB after only $500 spend in 3 months? That's pretty good.
All things considered, do you think any of these is worth a hard pull? What I don't want to do is waste a HP on a denial or a low SL! I'm leaning toward the Freedom Flex, but for those of you in the Chase ecosystem already, which of these would you recommend?
1. Experian's marketing material is completely meaningless. Just disregard it.
2. Since you prefer cash back there's no point in discussing the Sapphire card.
3. Since you don't want to waste hard pulls you shouldn't apply to Chase without some good reason to think you'll be approved, because Chase typically double pulls, so if you're denied you'd be spending not one but two hard pulls.
4. You've included no information about your profile or your scores, so we have no idea what your chances are.
5. You could check to see if there are any preapprovals for you. If you're not already a Chase customer, the only way I know to do that is to stop in at a branch, and ask one of the bankers if you would be preapproved for any of the cards. If there is a preapproval, your chances are very good.
Thanks for the thoughtful response. It helps a lot. I had no idea that Chase was one of those double-dippers when it comes to pulling credit, so this is very helpful info. I'm not a Chase customer--never have been, but used to take my mom there to service her accounts--and have no desire to go to a branch. Can't anyway, what with COVID and everything. (I can't risk getting infected.)
You're right, I totally failed to provide any data points! I guess I just thought everyone would know by ESP.
In view of your strong profile, and assuming you haven't added 5 new revolving accounts within the past 24 months, I think you would likely be approved for either of the Freedom cards. But don't do it just because experian.com says you should; they get paid to tell you that you should.
In view of your 27% current utilization, I don't think you'd get a huge starting limit, but what do I know?