How long to wait before applying for another card

[TexasKaren]

I just got a brand new Chase Freedom Unlimited and did a balance transfer from my Delta Amex to get the 0% APR for 15 months.  I still have about $15K on the Amex and I'd like to get another 0% APR card to transfer the rest. I can get the balance paid down fairly quickly if I'm not paying interest and I really want to be debt free by next summer, or sooner. 

The CFU is my first new card in about three years. I have three other cards, and a bank line of credit, in addition to the Amex and all those have a zero balance. Overall, I'm using about 32% of my available credit.

I'm interested in applying for a Discover Card. It's something different than all my other cards.  Should I wait a while before applying? I don't know if the new CFU will be seen as a risk to another card issuer, or if the fact that I have 30+ years of credit history, no late payments, and a good FICO score (it was 772 before I got the CFU, not sure how much it dropped because of the new account) will work in my favor.  Anyone have an opinion on how easy or hard it is to get a Discover Card? 

[jl4]

Without knowing more about your scores, inquiry counts and age, whether there are any negatives on your file, etc., it's hard to really say. Have you checked Discover's pre-qual site? (https://www.discovercard.com/application/prequal). It's a soft-pull and always worth a look if you're considering them. If you do apply, I wouldn't bet on a $15k starting limit, though. I haven't seen anyone get that large of a SL very often, though their BT offers are really nice. 

[TexasKaren]

No negatives anywhere. I posted the score I knew before getting the CFU. Amex said it was 772, which I believe was a FICO EX 8 score (??).  The only hard pull on my credit in the past three years or so is the one from Chase last week. 

Thanks for the prequal link. I will check that out. 

[joltdude]

Not sure youll get the 15k right off the bat... but you should be eligible... try the prequalify tool...

might get more as you pay off the BT.... or in three months/statements and some days after getting the card and trying for an SP CLI

You dont have a wallet full of cards and have a great FICO score..

This is in your favor for a higher starting CL

-J

[TexasKaren]

Well, now I have to wait a week to try to prequalify for Discover. I didn't know which credit bureau they pull from, and after filling out all the info and submitting it (and being told they have no offers for me because my credit is frozen), I learned I will need to unfreeze Experian a week from now and try again. Transunion is so much easier for me because I can just click to lock/unlock.  Unfreezing Equifax and Experian is a pain but it's worth it to me because I've had a few friends become victims of ID theft and none of them had any sort of protection on their SSN. 

Three years ago, I needed to unfreeze my credit and it just wasn't working and I finally found out that Experian had my current address wrong so I wasn't answering their security question correctly according to them. I had to to get a three bureau credit report to see which of my myriad of old addresses they had listed. I'll have to do that again, because they might have updated it by now. 

[Felony_Phil]

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@TexasKaren wrote:

Well, now I have to wait a week to try to prequalify for Discover. I didn't know which credit bureau they pull from, and after filling out all the info and submitting it (and being told they have no offers for me because my credit is frozen), I learned I will need to unfreeze Experian a week from now and try again. Transunion is so much easier for me because I can just click to lock/unlock.  Unfreezing Equifax and Experian is a pain but it's worth it to me because I've had a few friends become victims of ID theft and none of them had any sort of protection on their SSN. 

Three years ago, I needed to unfreeze my credit and it just wasn't working and I finally found out that Experian had my current address wrong so I wasn't answering their security question correctly according to them. I had to to get a three bureau credit report to see which of my myriad of old addresses they had listed. I'll have to do that again, because they might have updated it by now. 

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I'm in Georgia and Discover hit my Equifax.  There is a list somewhere on the internet about which CC lender pulls such bureau based on the State you're in. 

[Felony_Phil]

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/credit-bureau-discover-pull/

[SBR249]

$15K is a lot to ask for in a starting SL unless you've got the disposable income and the credit profile to support it. If you are going to apply for the Discover, I'd say apply for another card at the same time to make sure you've got a decent chance to cover your entire $15K balance. You'll want to apply before the new Discover starts reporting to the credit bureaus and dings your average age of accounts. Maybe look into either Citi Simplicity or Diamond Preferred? 

- The Simplicity has a 0% for 18 months intro offer but you can't PC it to another card after you pay it off

- The Diamond Preferred has a 0% for 21 months intro offer and you can PC it to another card afterwards

I'd also recommend Chase Slate, but you've just got a Chase card, might not be a good idea to double dip with the balance transfers to the same lender. Could spook them. 

Between 2 cards, you'd have a decent chance of covering all $15K of your remaining balance I think and still have maybe a bit of buffer. 

[joltdude]

If you do go for a Citi BT card, pass up the Simplicity, you cannot product change it at all, at least when your done paying off the BT, you can product change the Diamond into.... a double cash, or other card... Simplicity is a dead end road...... 

-J