Credit card offer expires on Dec 23 , is it a big deal if I apply couple days later ?

[Tristate]

Few weeks ago I've got a pre-approved offer from Merrick bank for $1500 with no AF. Offer expires on 23-rd .But I want to apply later , cos closer to 30-th in my report  they will see $1500 CL on my Secured Cap1 instead of $1200  , and maybe couple more points because of that. I want to apply for "pre-selected" offer from Barclays with rewards program same day. 

  Do that $300 more of CL  and few points (hopefully) help me when I apply (especially for Barclays) ? Or should I just apply now before an offer expires ?

Thank you for your opinions and suggestions!

[bahbahd]

The only thing that could expire would be any special offers included with this specific promotion, ie. free gift bag, 18 months 0% intro APR, or 2% balance transfer for 6 months. (When their normal intro APR or BT have different terms.)  You chances of getting approved are the same (CR change aside) before or after the promo expiration. I would just call up the 800 number and apply over the phone and tell them you have a pre-approved offer.

[Tristate]

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@bahbahd wrote:

The only thing that could expire would be any special offers included with this specific promotion, ie. free gift bag, 18 months 0% intro APR, or 2% balance transfer for 6 months. (When their normal intro APR or BT have different terms.)  You chances of getting approved are the same (CR change aside) before or after the promo expiration. I would just call up the 800 number and apply over the phone and tell them you have a pre-approved offer.

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Ah , Ok then. I hope their "No Annual Fee" is not a special promotion. I've heard about their terrible AF charged monthly . 

Also, I understand that having $300 more of available credit is not a gamechanger by any means , but I just want to squeezes as much more positive info as I can .

At the same time don't want to lose this offer cos I've read here that you have to have a promotion code to apply for credit from Merrick.

[bahbahd]

At the same time don't want to lose this offer cos I've read here that you have to have a promotion code to apply for credit from Merrick.

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I know nothing about Merrick bank specifically, so, if you have read elsewhere that you must have a preapproval to get a Merrick card I would heed those words and call the 800 number and ask them just that. In general, pre-approvals are not personalized, pre-qualified apps, they are just matching you to a certain set of characteristics and criteria. So, the pre-approval does not guarantee an approval.

However, some recent threads have been hinting that people are seeing what they believe to be correlated soft-pulls on their reports and subsequently receiving pre-approval offers. I would still think that any app requires a hard pull and is not guaranteed.