I am looking to build my credit, but am very cautious about applying for cards unless I am almost 100% certain I will get approved. I know people who get pre-approved mail from credit card companies almost daily. I know pre-approval offers aren't always guaranteed from the mail, but it is better than nothing. Is there a way to get more mail or kind of catch the eye of credit card companies?
18, which is the problem. I know a lot of companies won't send offers to people under 21, but Delta AMEX sent me a bunch of offers.
Welcome, @josh1. 
The best thing to do is come here and ask about cards. You want to do that even if you receive mailers. When you do that, give us a list of your cards, their balances, their limits, and their ages or date opened — along with the kind of cards you're interested in. Income is helpful, but we can usually work without it if someone doesn't want to divulge it.
I see from an earlier post that you already have two nice cards and that your scores are in great shape. Congragulations. For the benefit of others, here are Josh's current cards:
Discover It Student: $1,500 limit (new)
AMEX Gold Delta: $1,000 limit (4 or 5 months old)
Capital One AU: $23,000 (3 years and 7 months old)
At this point, you want to garden (not apply for anything) for a while. During this time, you can do your homework, i.e. come here and ask questions about cards you're interested in or look for suggestions.
How long you garden depends on your level of patience. You can probably apply for a new card in three months or so if you'd like. That'll be enough until your oldest card is a year old.
The reason I'm suggesting that you work slowly is Chase. They have their infamous 5/24 rule, which means that if one has opened 5 or more cards within the past 24 months, denial is likely. Other things that are helpful are your oldest card being at least a year old and that you've had a gardening period of at least three months preceeding the application.
If you're interested in Chase, your two cards will provide plenty of history if you wait it out until your AMEX card is a year old. Optionally, you can apply for one more card between now and then.
I like the idea of always staying under 5/24 (or almost always being under 5/24). That will always leave Chase open as an option, and you'll also be set for other banks that may be sensitive to new accounts and inquiries. Averaging one new card every six months or so will keep you in great shape.
One word of caution about scores: you probably saw an immediate score increase when you added the AMEX card, and you may see another when your Discover card appears. Those immediate score increases won't last forever, though.
When you apply for a card, your score is dinged for an inquiry, for bringing your AoYA (age of youngest account) to zero, and for lowering your AAoA (average age of accounts). For one's first couple of cards, simply adding the account to your mix will offset the dings. Starting with card three or four, your score will show the dings and will need to recover.
Oftentimes, people see scoring increases for grabbing their first two or so cards. Then they apply for several more, expecting similar increases. They're unpleasantly surprised when they see their score take a hit and we suggest that they garden for a year. If you work slowly and build in some gardening all along, scoring hits will be minimal and you'll recover quickly.
@HeavenOhio wrote:Welcome, @josh1.
The best thing to do is come here and ask about cards. You want to do that even if you receive mailers. When you do that, give us a list of your cards, their balances, their limits, and their ages or date opened — along with the kind of cards you're interested in. Income is helpful, but we can usually work without it if someone doesn't want to divulge it.
I see from an earlier post that you already have two nice cards and that your scores are in great shape. Congragulations. For the benefit of others, here are Josh's current cards:
Discover It Student: $1,500 limit (new)
AMEX Gold Delta: $1,000 limit (4 or 5 months old)
Capital One AU: $23,000 (3 years and 7 months old)
At this point, you want to garden (not apply for anything) for a while. During this time, you can do your homework, i.e. come here and ask questions about cards you're interested in or look for suggestions.
How long you garden depends on your level of patience. You can probably apply for a new card in three months or so if you'd like. That'll be enough until your oldest card is a year old.
The reason I'm suggesting that you work slowly is Chase. They have their infamous 5/24 rule, which means that if one has opened 5 or more cards within the past 24 months, denial is likely. Other things that are helpful are your oldest card being at least a year old and that you've had a gardening period of at least three months preceeding the application.
If you're interested in Chase, your two cards will provide plenty of history if you wait it out until your AMEX card is a year old. Optionally, you can apply for one more card between now and then.
I like the idea of always staying under 5/24 (or almost always being under 5/24). That will always leave Chase open as an option, and you'll also be set for other banks that may be sensitive to new accounts and inquiries. Averaging one new card every six months or so will keep you in great shape.
One word of caution about scores: you probably saw an immediate score increase when you added the AMEX card, and you may see another when your Discover card appears. Those immediate score increases won't last forever, though.
When you apply for a card, your score is dinged for an inquiry, for bringing your AoYA (age of youngest account) to zero, and for lowering your AAoA (average age of accounts). For one's first couple of cards, simply adding the account to your mix will offset the dings. Starting with card three or four, your score will show the dings and will need to recover.
Oftentimes, people see scoring increases for grabbing their first two or so cards. Then they apply for several more, expecting similar increases. They're unpleasantly surprised when they see their score take a hit and we suggest that they garden for a year. If you work slowly and build in some gardening all along, scoring hits will be minimal and you'll recover quickly.
Wow, thank you for the thorough reply I truly appreciate all the information! AMEX really seems to send my family a lot of offers, but most have annual fees so I don't really want to do another AMEX card (or fee card). Right now I'm really trying to establish a nice base, which is why I want to focus on some no annual fee cards that will be good for a while.
The cards that I'm currently interested with are the Citi DC, Chase Amazon Prime, and possibly either the Chase Freedom Unlimited or Chase Freedom. I've just heard that Citi is really strict with applications and Chase generally requires higher credit and a higher income. The only problem with income is that since I'm a student, it is hard to prove income. At most I can prove $20,000, and that's just because I work a lot during summer and have a nice amount in savings/invested. Do you have any advice for what I should apply for next, with that kind of income and a mid-range credit score in 6 months?
I think my biggest mistake was applying for the Capital One Platinum because I got a hard pull on each of my credit accounts and didn't even get approved.
@heavenohio that makes sense. I know I won't be leaving the country for probably 1-2 years, so I have some time to get a Visa or MC, but worst comes to worst I can use my AU CapOne which is Visa. And yeah, I just wish I didn't apply. I kinda am confused why I didn't get it, but I probably just applied to close to my 18th birthday, so maybe my AU card wasn't on my score yet?
I don't know if you would know this, but I have heard sometimes having a good relationship with a bank can help get a card - especially with Chase. I have heard stories about people who get denied and go to their branch and are able to get the decision changed by doing that. Most of those stories are from a few years ago, and kinda want to know if that is still true. I am not sure if that would work for me with Chase since I pretty much moved all my money from them a while back to Capital One. But, I have a really good relationship with the branch manager, because where I work during summer uses my Chase branch for banking so I know all the employees very well. A bit random, but just kinda interested.
I really try to justify all my cards, especially ones with annual fees like the Amex. But honestly, the free checked bag pays for the annual fee since I mainly fly Delta and take probably 4+ flights a year at least.
I'm going to read the article you sent, so if it answers this question just ignore it, but does Amex do hard pulls for increases? I have heard really scary things about Amex CLI request, including them freezing your account and shutting down cards sometimes.
Lastly, would you suggest I apply for the Citi DC, Freedom Unlimited, or Freedom for my next card? I would kind of like a sure thing, or as close as possible, so Citi might be a stretch.
Thanks again for all the help, and sorry for all the questions!
@josh1, it's soft pulls for AMEX CLI requests. I should have also mentioned that Discover also soft pulls. They don't have a nice neat schedule or clock, though. And it's almost impossible to tell people how to "prepare" thier cards for increases.
So with Discover, you have to kind of experiment. I'd ask after the third statement prints and the credit score following that statement has been revised. If approved, try again in 60 days (after your score has been revised). If declined, try again in 30 days. You might detect a pattern as far as how often to expect increases. Or you might not.
Having a checking account with a bank can't hurt. It's known to help a lot with US Bank. And I think Bank of America likes it too. I'd base a decision on how much you want to bank with Chase and maintain the account. They'd be happy to have you back if you want to return, so don't worry about that.
The best annual fees are the ones like the one you mention. You don't have to worry about earning rewards to justify the fee. Its value is covered without having to spend a cent.
I think you have a great shot for the DC or either of the Freedom cards once your oldest card reaches month 13. They're all keeper cards, so you can't go wrong that way.
I think the first thing to consider if you have a preference for a bank to get first. The second is which rewards program appeals to you. Citi is more or less a straight 2%, but you have to follow some rules to get the full 2%. The bottom line is that you need to transfer your rewards to a bank account rather than redeeming them as statement credit.
The Freedom cards are capable of feeding Chase's Ultimate Rewards (UR) program. You can transfer your points to an eventual Sapphire card and redeem them for higher than the initial value. If you don't have a Sapphire card, you can redeem the rewards as cash if you'd like. Or you can bank them if you think a Sapphire is in your future.
If I were in your shoes, I'd apply for the Freedom when your older card surpasses 12 months in age. Six months after that, I'd apply for the DC. Or you could do it the other way around. This would give you two complementary rewards structures, and you'd have added two new banks.
@HeavenOhio, perfect. I've heard really good things about Discover's CLI process, so I'm not too worried. I always pay all my cards off in full and keep utilization low, so hopefully, they like that.
I still technically have a checking with them, but pretty much I use it for the ATMs and transferring money to PayPal since it doesn't charge fees for that.
I kinda feel like I want to do the Chase trifecta, but not for a while (at least until I'm out of college in 4 years), so I have plenty of time to make that happen. I would probably do the Freedom like you recommend since I want to establish a relationship with Chase soon.