Should I apply for a chase card?

[Anonymous]

I have been working on my credit for about a year and a half now.  I just bought a house 2 weeks ago.  My mid score was 661.  I believe my other two scores were 685 and 659.  I have a car loan with Chase (I got it May 2009 - originally $24,500 at 7.5% that now has a $21,500 balance or thereabouts) and my mortgage MAY get sold to them (or Wells Fargo) in the next month.  

I have a credit card that I got in October 2008 (Continental) and I pretty much feel it has done the job and I want to get rid of it soon.   I hate making $18 a month payments for service charges on top of the annual fee plus a fee every time they up my credit limit every 6 months (I pay $25 to get a $75 CLI). 

Should I apply for a Chase card?   Should I wait for my mortgage to hit?  I am ok with waiting 6 more months if necessary but I reallly want a "normal" credit card soon.  I have been getting offers left and right for cc with a $39 annual fee which is much better.  I have just been hoping to get rebucketed and have no annual fees if possible. 

I know I have a lot of inquiries on my report right now due to mortgage shopping.  I am not willing to keep keep paying this 2 more years while they all fall off.

[laz98]

they only count against your score for 1 year.  so you wouldn't really have to wait that long.

[Anonymous]

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@laz98 wrote:
they only count against your score for 1 year.  so you wouldn't really have to wait that long.

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do credit card inquiries fall off after 1 year too? or do they have a different time period than mortgage inquiries? how about line of credit inquiries?

[laz98]

no, they stay on your reports for 2 years, but they only count against your score for the first year.  all inquiries are the same.

[BungalowMo]

I'm guessing that since you got a mortgage, you don't have any recent baddies on your reports.  Are the mort. inq's the only recent ones showing too?

I think you'd be fine with those scores getting a Chase card. 

Do you live near one of those "BP" gas stations?  Do you go through much gas?  I ask because I have a BP Chase Visa with 5% cash back on gas...I drive 500 miles each week for work, so this has proven to be a pretty nice card for me.  Two months in...they gave me a $500 limit increase too.

With the new laws...no chances in anything recently too...no apr increase or limit drop.

[blacklotus]

My Fico scores now are T/U 708 and E/F 696 after I financed a new car in Dec.  I was approved for the Chase Freedom card in Dec (before I bought the car).  I had received a "preselected" letter from them in the mail and apped that way.  I was approved with a CL of $3000 at intro 0%.

I noticed on the website that there is a button to "enroll" in ultimate rewards (3 catagories)- do I have to actually press this button to enroll because I noticed I already have some rewards cash?  

[Anonymous]

Inquiries stay on your credit report for two years. they stop affecting your FICO score after one year. Inquiries for rate shopping (multiple inquiries that happen within a 14 day period--though i believe this has changed to a 45 day period) are weighed as just one inquiry for FICO SCORING PURPOSES.

please note that although FICO takes this approach to weighing inquiries, lenders don't always use FICO scores to determine who to lend to. several of the major banks use their own internal scoring model and many (including the prime banks) will count every single inquiry no matter how long ago it was (even if it was 1 year and 11 months ago) or for what purpose (even if it was rate shopping, they'll weigh all 5 or 10 inquiries that happened within the alloted window period).

[blacklotus]

Correction on my last post- I financed a "pre-owned" car (2009).  Financing a car adds a heck of alot of inquiries to your credit report.  I am going to have to stop applying for credit and harvest for awhile.

[Anonymous]

Chase is by far the worst bank ever. They just cld me ($4000 to $1000) couple of days ago and I haven't even recieved a letter from them yet. I have scores of over 750+ and a perfect credit and payment history.  It's nothing new as they previously cld my wamu account and then few months later closed it and now this. I didn't bother calling them before and am not going to do it this time either. They only want to do business with people who carry balance or pay other ridicolous fees so their ceo's can fund their private islands or jets..

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the info.  

Basically, I am looking for a card to replace the one I got a year and a half ago.   I'd prefer not to have a yearly fee but I suppose a small one is ok - for now.  I currently pay fees out the wazoo. 

My report is as clean as it's gonna get til things fall off.  My latest baddie (only on one report) is a paid collection for $25 for a missed dr appt from 2005 that showed up 10 months ago.   Otherwise I haven't had a baddie since 2006 when I finally got a job again.   Except for my car (bought 05/09) and my one cc and the mortgage that isn't reporting yet, I don't have any debt.    I let the monthly fee report on my cc ($18 on a 500 available credit)   I PIF every month before statement. 

I don't carry balances on credit cards if it can be at all helped.