What is the best strategy for Splurging?

[ScarletFever]

I don't need the credit, but want to expand trade lines/credit cards and the amount of credit available whiich is pretty low. Is it best to apply for sevaral simultaneously? One a day? Three in a quarter? 4 in one week?

[Anonymous]

I did 3 Amex's in a month and got the F/R, so I think that might be excessive.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I did 3 Amex's in a month and got the F/R, so I think that might be excessive.

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Amex is funky and they are the exception, imo.

Scarlet, imo, it depends on what your FICO scores are, and what is on your cr. Any baddies? Collections? How many lates? Anything in public records?

I did 5 cc's in one months time last November. Got every one I applied for. But had no collections.

Does that help?

Message Edited by Sylviatob on 02-28-2008 11:46 AM

[ScarletFever]

Syl,,thanks, yes it was a help.

I think I have a thirty day from about two years ago, a collection from Verizon that came up in January for $130 that I am fighting tooth and nail with them on and am considering writing their VP's to express my disgust. All my collections are paid. One public record that I am working on having deleted. EQ Fico 630 and trending up...should be around 650-660 by May...

How long did you wait in between apps?

Thanks

[Anonymous]

One 30 late from 2 years ago???? Wow! I wish I could say the same! I have about 24 spread over 5 cc's dating back 7 years. My youngest 30 day late is a lil over a year old. I too have things in Public Records. 7 of them(brrrrrrr) 4 tax liens and 3 releases. I pray that several will drop off naturally this year, as several cancel each other out(liens vs. releases).

I started my app frenzy right at the very very end of September, with 2 apps the same day(WaMu & Juniper), and 1 about a week later(BoA)....Then another one at the end of October(Best Buy). Then another 2 at the end of November(Macy's & QVC)...like 3 or 4 days after Thanksgiving.

These apps were impulse applications. Like my shopping! LOL. Spur of the moment things that struck me when I was in the mood. The Juniper & WaMu were pre-approvals in the mail. The BoA was a counter offer online.

How long should you wait? Heavens don't ask me! What have you considered applying for? Do you have any mailed pre-approvals? How about checking online to see if you can be pre-approved? Golly, we could sit down over a cup of coffee and talk about this tomorrow. LOL. j/k.

Gads, I'm a chatty cathy. sorry 'bout that!

[ScarletFever]

No worries on the chatty part, it's all good.

I meant to say that my latest derog on current accounts was just under two years ago. I have many other "baddies" that go back several years, but those accounts were paid off and closed by myself or the credit grantor. I have had some success with deletes, but have about as many lates from the aforementioned accounts as you have.

My thoughts are that if I am going to try splurging, it would be for an Amex Green/Delta, WAMU (Have four pre-approvals sitting on my desk..) BOA, perhaps Chase ( I have an auto loan with them, and am transfering consolidated student loans over to them..) and perhaps Hooters. How to I get "pre-approved" online? What was your BOA counter-offer about?

I am a coffee-addicted...

[Anonymous]

Oh! I'd go for the WaMu in a heartbeat! I've heard that Amex does NOT like collections...most cc's don't, but at least some ccc's will approve you WITH a collection.

BoA has a section on their website for you to check and see if you are pre-approved:

https://preapproved.bankofamerica.com/cc/SelfInquiry.aspx

If you fill out the form....don't worry. at that stage it's a soft inquiry.

I have to back up and explain about my BoA card. I was curious about their 99/500 card. You put up $99 as a security deposit, and they grant you a $500 cl. It's not in their regular cc offerings, but comes as a counter offer if you are declined for their Visa Platinum Plus. When I asked the online CSR, she said go ahead and apply for that one, and if declined, they may come back with the 99/500 counter offer.

I did....was declined for the Visa Plat.Plus, and right there on the decline page was the counter offer for that card. I snapped at the opportunity....applied and I was approved. Later, I found out that with spotless pay history, never going over the limit, in 1 years time they will move me into an unsecured Platinum Plus card, AND return my $99.

Several months back, a LOT of people applied for the Hooter's card, and got them. Might want to search for that one.

It seems Citi cards have been getting a lot of attention lately. I applied for one Tuesday, and was instantly approved...to my surprise.

Same with Discover.

[haulingthescoreup]

When I did my 5 apps in 8 hours, I thought I knew which CC would pull which report, but I was wrong on 2 of them. So it was really fortunate that I app'd in a certain order.

I went for the most important ones first (PenFed gas card, PenFed loan) so that they didn't see any other inqs going on. They pulled EQ, which I expected. After I got them, it was BofA, to get a BT card, and then pulled EX, also expected. So BofA wasn't aware of the PenFed apps. Then came Home Depot store card (Citi), which I thought would be TU, but was EQ, suddenly making 2 inqs on EQ. (PenFed just does one hard in 60 days for as many products as you want to go for.) And finally, I app'd for Borders Visa (Chase), which I thought would be EX again, but nope, they also pulled EQ. Still haven't heard from them.

So if you do it all at once, do it in order of importance of the card to you, and try to do it according to which report they'll pull. They won't see if you've gotten other credit, and least not when you're app'ing, but they'll certainly see the previous inqs.

[ScarletFever]

Thanks Syl and Hauling, that is great information. There are so many ways to think about things that make it difficult to sift through all the possibilities...

[ScarletFever]

Syl; was your BOA 99/500 secured or unsecured? Which Citi card? What were your Fico's at the time?How much of a hit did you take on the inqs?

I'm enjoying an extra-large cup of coffee right now, how about yours?