Pre-Qualify Frequency

[Anonymous]

Is there any downside to using the soft-pull pre-qualify options on sites like AMEX and Chase? My credit fluctuates often with new payments, balances, and occasional CLIs reported every day or two. Am I overdoing it by checking every few days?

Also, the list I have includes Disco, Capital One, AMEX, Chase, Citi, US Bank, and Card Match. Are the any others I should be checking?

I currently have two $300 cards (Cap1 and Credit One) and a BoA Alaska Air with a $1500 SL that's in the mail. I also have Fingerhut and three Comenity store cards. My oldest line is 5 months, so no FICO on any of the bureaus yet. FAKO shows 640ish. Any advice will be appreciated.

[Anonymous]

there's nothing wrong with doing pre-qual checkers. All they do is compare a soft-pull of your credit to criteria in a database. Sometimes they do the SP on the spot, sometimes they use a recent one.

Really nothing to worry about.

[Anonymous]

Thank you. +1

[Anonymous]

That's how I got my Discover It card; I visited their prequalification site and put in the requested information, then accepted the offer that came up. Be aware, of course, that there are a number of tricks and catches to preapprovals. As far as Discover goes, the general rule seems to be that the "harder" the APR quote is (you ideally want it to be a single figure or no more than a 3% variation; if you get something like 11.49% - 23.49%, you're just getting a "marketing" offer with so-so approval odds, and you'd be best advised to come back another time and see if you can get a better offer then), the better your chances of getting approved are. (If you get a 0% APR offer for the first 14 months of your Discover account on purchases and transfers, that's also a good sign.) Other issuers may follow different policies.