Getting prequalfied notices in mail, should I look into them?

[Anonymous]

Since getting and using my CC, I've been getting a few pre qualified notices in mail. Never got them before, so im skeptical. I got one from discover, just got one from CapitalOne. My ex works for cap1 and he likes them, I read here that theyre good. Im just also a little weary of banks after my Wells Fargo and TCF issues. Reason I switched to CUs in the first place, actually.

My other issue is I recently opened a Penfed account and even they wont give me a loan or CC. Apparently my credit score is way above their minimum, but my history is too short. If they cant do much for me, as a member, can a bank?

But either way, should I look into it or ignore it as spam mail?

[Anonymous]

Discover and capital one are known to approach people with little credit history. 

I suggest taking the discover offer since even your credit union doesn't extent credit to you to build your scores.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

Penfed is extremely picky from what I've read. You probably won't get approved by them for a while. Cap1 is a good builder card and Discover is bae.

[SomewhereIn505]

I second the motion for Discover.

If your interested in Cap One, I would go after the QuickSilver. Platinum is more of a rebuild card. 

PenFed, which I am also a member of, is pretty conservative. But I figure banking with them will give them time to see my spending habits and begin to trust me. 

What cards do you have now?

[Anonymous]

OP, what are your credit scores?  I find that 700 seems to be the "sweet spot" for receiving offers.  I'd say the range of 650-750 is where you see 90% of offers received with probably only 10% or so of offers coming outside of that range.  Just curious.

[Anonymous]

My scores are, as of 4-27/whatever the myfico app says currently: 698 TU, 706 EQ, and 614 EX (usually pulled the most/collection).
I also recently got approved for an unsecured CC through my CU and an increase to the personal loan I have with them. That card is my only credit card and the loan is its own as well.

[iced]

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@Anonymous wrote:


But either way, should I look into it or ignore it as spam mail?

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I define spam as any mailer that's trying to offer me something I didn't ask for (aka unsolicited). They're spam.

You'll occasionally get an offer in the mail that beats the online offers (American Express and Chase are the most frequent banks to do this) but the rest are pretty much just offering you the same promotion their website does. You can safely ignore 95% of the mailers, and if you aren't actively looking for a new card, you can safely ignore 100% of the mailers.

[Anonymous]

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@AnonymousMy scores are, as of 4-27/whatever the myfico app says currently: 698 TU, 706 EQ, and 614 EX (usually pulled the most/collection).

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Expect those mailers to keep coming since 2/3 of your scores are right at that sweet spot.  When my scores were at about that point, I would receive 3-4 mailers a week easy.  Once I got above that range it dropped to 3-4 a month tops and now if I see 1 a month it's a surprise.

I'd toss those mailers upon arrival.  They're bad news and of course their purpose is to get people to apply.  Any time someone applies for a credit card product IMO it should be thoroughly researched/planned first.  No one should ever apply for something impulse-style just because a mailer showed up in their mailbox.  If you decided that you wanted to apply for a specific CC product after doing your research on it and a mailer arrived around that time for that specific product, sure you could entertain responding to it.  That should be the exception though, where all other mailers find a comfortable spot in your trash can.

[Anonymous]

Im only gonna look at the cap1 one cause I AM looking into a new card with a low limit and from what I'm told, I could trust to not get screwed over by them. They offered an unsecured one with a low limit I want, so Im looking at taking it. Hopefully this helps since theres a collection on my EX that looks like its gonna stay there. Maybe this'll get me the score for a loan I need for school 😁.

[Anonymous]

Capital One will pull all three credit reports. Discover only pulled Equifax for me (Missouri).

I received an initial mailer for the standard Platinum Cap One card. I was approved for $300 and slowly worked it up to $750. Discover IT mailer approved me for $6,000, 0% for 14 months + 5% cash back (plus first year match).