New to America - When can I apply for Chase cards?

[Anonymous]

Hey all, I moved to the US recently and have been trying to get established, credit-wise. So far I have been able to get the following unsecured CCs:

Generic bank Visa: CL $3000, opened Nov/18
AMEX BCE: CL $9000, opened Jan/19

Right now I have no FICO score and TU VantageScore is showing as 687. My main goal at this time is to get some of the better Chase cards such as Amazon Prime, CFU and someday maybe even the CSR before I hit 5/24. How long should I wait before applying for these cards? Is there anything I can do to improve approval odds?

[Remedios]

Wait till your oldest card is at least a year old. You may get approved before that, but if you do, it will almost certainly  be under less than desirable terms. 

Good luck 

[CreditCuriosity]

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@Remedios wrote:

Wait till your oldest card is at least a year old. You may get approved before that, but if you do, it will almost certainly  be under less than desirable terms. 

Good luck 

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+1 chase usually likes to see at least 1 year of credit history

[Anonymous]

Not only wait for a year, ask also for SP CLI's on both of your current cards. Make sure you check prequal page before you apply in a year from now.

[Anonymous]

OT, but was the BCE a global transfer?   Seems a good limit with no credit history!

[Anonymous]

Yes that was a Global Transfer - otherwise I would have to start from nothing with secured cards which would not very ideal...

Thanks all for your advice, looks like I have a lot of waiting to do!

[jdbkiang]

Only way to shortcut is if you possibly have a family member in the States add you as an AU.

[Priory_Man]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Yes that was a Global Transfer - otherwise I would have to start from nothing with secured cards which would not very ideal...

Thanks all for your advice, looks like I have a lot of waiting to do!

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A year in this country flies by, so much to do and see.

Some good and solid advice given by the other guys here, wait that year then have at it.

[CramEiko]

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@Remedios wrote:

Wait till your oldest card is at least a year old. You may get approved before that, but if you do, it will almost certainly  be under less than desirable terms. 

Good luck 

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+1

How does the global transfer work?  Is there lag time or does it start reporting from date of transfer? That's way better than starting from ground zero in a new place.

Good Luck!

[Anonymous]

I made the mistake of applying to Chase too early in my own history. I got greedy. I had gotten an Amex through Global Transfer as well, and then I had gotten a BoA card by going into the local branch and then a visa from FirstTech (a local credit union). I got ahead of myself, thought I was doing great, had a >720 score and applied for Chase Amazon card online thinking I was killing it. 

Instant denial.

Follow people's advice and wait a year. All my early approvals were "relationship" based and when I put the online app through to get credit purely on my report and particularly from a tough lender like Chase I just wasn't there yet and so I took that HP for nothing.

Also when you do apply I highly recommend going into the branch instead of applying online. For the major banks (CITI, BoA, Chase) it seems that sometimes the relationship manager in the branch can pull some strings if they see good things and especially if you set up a bank account with direct deposit and show them your offer letter, etc. A lot of them have programs just for people who've relocated to the US for employment.