Curious about the ins and outs of Chase

[Anonymous]

Forgive my ignorance of the topic, but I’m curious. All over these boards I see references about how tough Chase can be to get in with, how selective they are for approvals, how itchy their trigger finger gets on CLDs or account closures, how you always have to app very carefully with them, lots of verifications and reviews for people.

So what’s the deal? Are their cards and perks that good? It seems that AmEx for many is their “credit barometer”, in that when you get approved for AmEx, you know your credit is truly good, and there seems to be a huge following based on their MRs. So is Chase in the same boat? Are they similarly excellent?

I’m curious because when I reach that level to be considered for AmEx, my intent has been to go for it. I’m interested in whether Chase is superior.

Opinions?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Forgive my ignorance of the topic, but I’m curious. All over these boards I see references about how tough Chase can be to get in with, how selective they are for approvals, how itchy their trigger finger gets on CLDs or account closures, how you always have to app very carefully with them, lots of verifications and reviews for people.

So what’s the deal? Are their cards and perks that good? It seems that AmEx for many is their “credit barometer”, in that when you get approved for AmEx, you know your credit is truly good, and there seems to be a huge following based on their MRs. So is Chase in the same boat? Are they similarly excellent?
I’m curious because when I reach that level to be considered for AmEx, my intent has been to go for it. I’m interested in whether Chase is superior.

Opinions?

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Chase and Amex are premium Cards, both give you decent perks like 150$ for min spend, 10K points on min spend. Chase offers interesting rotating categories every quarter giving cash back 5%.

Amex gives you wonderful CLI with Soft inquiries and both grow beautifully with your credit age, and the availability of various products makes it easy to have options in product change at any point over the years of aging.

[wasCB14]

A lot of people are happy with Chase and don't experience AA or other major problems. We just don't go out of our way to talk about it.

Chase has a lot of good cobrand cards and the UR lineup combines a good earn rate with (in the general consensus of travelers) valuable points. Chase's travel insurance is pretty strong on most (maybe not all) AF products.

*CSR and Ritz require a pretty strong income and/or credit history because of the $10k minimum CL. By contrast, the requirements to get an Amex Platinum are relatively relaxed. Amex has less credit risk on a charge card and can increase or decrease customer spending power freely.

[bourgogne]

re chase, the only dp that matters is yours.  how would chase be to deal with someone that has your profile.  chase likes history, decent scores and income.  they have imo fantastic sign ups on the business side and good referrals.  it does not matter if they are this or that, its if they align with your type of spend and if they yield the type of bonus you desire.  re a amex revolver, far easier to get and grow, nobody competes with a 3x sp @ 180.  next to nfcu chase sapphire has the best phone csr's out there imo.  both chase and amex are great to deal with but for low scores and less history amex is far better imo, I just dont think their products are that compelling based on my spending but I am not you

[K-in-Boston]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Forgive my ignorance of the topic, but I’m curious. All over these boards I see references about how tough Chase can be to get in with, how selective they are for approvals, how itchy their trigger finger gets on CLDs or account closures, how you always have to app very carefully with them, lots of verifications and reviews for people.

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Chase is no tougher than any other prime lender "to get in with" or any more selective for approvals.  I've not seen any data points of people receiving CLDs or account closures for Chase crads when they wouldn't have received them from another lender for the same reasons.  As for apping "very carefully," they do have the 5/24 policy to try to discourage people from churning credit cards for bonuses, but otherwise I'm not sure why one would need to be careful.  I've never had a need for verification with them.

Chase is not my favorite lender, but they do offer a handful of very valuable cards for travel purposes.  I don't think their underwriting really differs much from most of the other prime lenders, but they are certainly not the first bank you would want to go to after filing bankruptcy and beginning a rebuild.

[AverageJoesCredit]

Chase, meh!. For others, Yea!

All depends what you want to do for your spend. Seems they are better suited for travelers as you can get better low apr cards or cash backl elsewhere. Imo of course. For every I love Chase opinion you'll find I hate Chase. You'll have to make which team is best for you.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Forgive my ignorance of the topic, but I’m curious. All over these boards I see references about how tough Chase can be to get in with, how selective they are for approvals, how itchy their trigger finger gets on CLDs or account closures, how you always have to app very carefully with them, lots of verifications and reviews for people.

So what’s the deal? Are their cards and perks that good? It seems that AmEx for many is their “credit barometer”, in that when you get approved for AmEx, you know your credit is truly good, and there seems to be a huge following based on their MRs. So is Chase in the same boat? Are they similarly excellent?

I’m curious because when I reach that level to be considered for AmEx, my intent has been to go for it. I’m interested in whether Chase is superior.

Opinions?

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Chase: they have arguably the best reward program in Ultimate Rewards. Between sign-up bonuses and the current availability to earn UR points on lower level cards (Freedom, Freedom Unlimited) and combine them with higher end cards (CSP, CSR) make them a favourite around here. UR points can be redeemed with Chase's travel partners to make them even more valuable (as long as you have the CSP or CSR). Chase also makes a handsome credit card; if you are into that. I would argue, however, that if the UR program weren't as good as it is, a lot of people wouldn't be singing Chase's praises: HP for new cards, sometimes two HPs; typically only one auto CLI-the rest are an HP at your request and are far from generous; high APR's (one should avoid revolving a balance on reward cards as a general rule though as you end up paying for the reward and more if you pay interest) and they typically do not like to be your first $5,000+ CL lender. Meaning, usually before Chase extends a card with a $5,000+ SL they want to see that you have already handled a limit like that. And yes, you are correct; their verification process is idiotic to say the least. I recently got approved for a Chase Ink Unlimited card. Applied 14 June, received a letter asking for ID verification (despite having two personal cards!); once that was all sent in I was approved and finally got the card 13 July...it took a month! As far as Adverse Action...Chase isn't like Synch or Comenty in that respect. I would have to say that most who have received AA from Chase deserved it. Keep your balances low on all cards, don't be opening a ton of credit and Chase will be fine with you. 

Amex: Membership Rewards is the second-best reward program out there and can be valuable to a lot of people. Like Chase, Amex has some great sign-up bonuses-but beware; Amex only allows one sign up bonus per lifetime per card type. Meaning, open a Platinum now and later close it, when you go for a Platinum in the future you will likely not get another sign-up bonus. First card is a HP; however, future card applications and CLI requests are almost always a SP. Despite what others have said, Amex has great customer service and they really have your back in a dispute situation. Amex has been losing cache as of late, especially with Millennials who do not seem impressed by Amex cards for appearance sake and rather have a card that works for them. Amex cards are not always accepted everywhere and Chase easily has better partner cobranded cards etc. Amex is a heck of a lot more flexible and customer friendly than Chase is. 

It really comes down to what you are looking for in a card. Both Amex and Chase have something to offer practically anybody. They both excel in some areas and could use work in others. 

[Anonymous]

Chase is my favorite lender simply because their card line-up and rewards program best fits my needs. And as luck would have it, my very first credit card was a Chase card that my mother helped me get when I was a freshman in college to use for books and other expenses. That card morphed into a Freedom, and for over 20 years it was my only credit card. When I started researching travel hacking through credit card sign-up bonuses in 2016, I discovered that Chase had the best cards for my needs (flying Southwest, staying in a Hyatt, going to Disney World). Because of my long history with them and my excellent credit, I was able to acquire pretty much every card I applied for with them in a short time span. I currently have five cards with them three with AmEx, two with Citi, one Discover, and one Bank of America. I have a closed Capital One card and a closed Barclays card as well. Oh, and I have two Synchrony store cards (Lowes and Tractor Supply). There are pros and cons of all of the lenders, but I find Chase's rewards and sign-up bonuses to be most valuable to me. They've been very generous to me and I've not had any issues with them over our 25+ year history. But I do tread carefully with them in order to preserve the relationship. 

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Forgive my ignorance of the topic, but I’m curious. All over these boards I see references about how tough Chase can be to get in with, how selective they are for approvals, how itchy their trigger finger gets on CLDs or account closures, how you always have to app very carefully with them, lots of verifications and reviews for people.

So what’s the deal? Are their cards and perks that good? It seems that AmEx for many is their “credit barometer”, in that when you get approved for AmEx, you know your credit is truly good, and there seems to be a huge following based on their MRs. So is Chase in the same boat? Are they similarly excellent?

I’m curious because when I reach that level to be considered for AmEx, my intent has been to go for it. I’m interested in whether Chase is superior.

Opinions?

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Everyone has different credit card interests, so the cards that meet your needs are the right ones, and the lenders that meet your needs are the right lenders. Chase and Amex are big players in the credit card field, and are well regarded.

For me, for my personal credit, I'd rather have my credit union cards than anything either Chase or Amex has to offer.

For business cards, both Chase and Amex are excellent, but Amex has the advantage of free, direct Quickbooks data downloading.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So what’s the deal? Are their cards and perks that good? It seems that AmEx for many is their “credit barometer”, in that when you get approved for AmEx, you know your credit is truly good, and there seems to be a huge following based on their MRs. So is Chase in the same boat? Are they similarly excellent?

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Lots of good comments from others, just want to address the bolded bit.   While this may have been true in the (distant) past, this is no longer the case.  Amex charge cards are usually very easy to get, and their credit cards are also not hard (but perhaps with a low starting limit for those with a thin or slightly marred credit record).    Chase has starter cards like the Freedom, which are easy to get, and others that require better credit, such as the CSR.

Amex certainly isn't a barometer of credit worthiness!