How long does it take for creditors to see that you have a decent credit history length?

[v639dragoon]

I'm still fairly new to credit, I'm in my 20s. I went from a secured card last year, to an Amex gold, and also got approved for a chase sapphire preferred $5k limit. I recently applied for the Southwest Chase card so that I could get that nice 50k point signup bonus, however I was told that I would receive a letter in the mail if I was approved or not (I believe this means I wasn't approved). I pay my cards off in full every month. How long do I need to have these cards to be approved for others? What has been your experience? I really like these cards, but some of the sign up bonuses are really enticing. 

Thanks!

[webhopper]

Call the Chase Recon line and talk to an analyst.... dont wait on snail mail

[dodgerslv]

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@webhopper wrote:

Call the Chase Recon line and talk to an analyst.... dont wait on snail mail

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+1

[Anonymous]

The "letter in the mail" message doesn't always mean you're out of luck. Your application might still be approved on the first try, or, you can call back in for reconsideration. If you don't have any black marks on your credit, having a human manually look at your file during reconcilation has a very high rate of success, even for applications initially denied. 

[MovingForward_2012]

As far as how long you should garden a card to get more cards: I garden my cards for a year between app sprees and when it is time for another app spree, I evaluate my cards and credit to make a determination on whether it is a go or no go. If a no go, I just continue to monitor and garden until what I want to change, changes.

[Johnny_Favorite]

For me it was 5 months. For others it may be a year.

I don't understand the credit industry these days and question everything. I think that it depends on a lot of things including how old you are, how much you make, etc.

Maybe the reason I was able to build up credit so fast is because I'm old, at my job for 15 years and make a good amount.

Maybe it will take you longer because you're young, new to the workforce, maybe don't make a lot of money yet.

I'd say a good amount of time is a year - that's just a general opinion and two years is even better.

[v639dragoon]

Thank you for all the replies. I called the Chase App status line and talked to someone that said I was approved yesterday for the Southwest Card with a $5k limit! Woohoo! 

[john398]

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@v639dragoon wrote:

Thank you for all the replies. I called the Chase App status line and talked to someone that said I was approved yesterday for the Southwest Card with a $5k limit! Woohoo! 

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Congrats, Chase is Awesome