Which is easier to get and why?

[haulingthescoreup]

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@davidsawsparks wrote:

Well I forgot where I read it (i think it was at Experian's website), but it says that a mortgage is a like a 4 star quality credit to have, a car loan/installment loan is 3 star, a major bank CC is 2 star and dept store is 1 star. That being said, it seems from what I'm reading about credit score, I'm going to have a pretty hard time trying to get a prime credit card like an AMEX Blue or Discover More... but I just got approved for a low interest rate mortgage. Seems a bit backwards that I'm able to get a mortgage but may face hardship trying to get those prime cards I want. So I was wondering if what I read was full of sh*t or if it's correct. I'm hoping someone could explain that for me.

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I'm always a bit skeptical of anything as general as this that I read on a website, especially one from the CRA's.

As others have said, it's true that with a house or a car, you have a hard asset that the lender can take back if you fail to pay (not that they'd really want any more foreclosed houses these days...) and with a CC, they can't recover that plane trip or restaurant meal that you used it on.

May I ask, why have you gotten the impression here that you'd have a hard time getting a good card? Since you did get a mortgage, can you share your FICO scores, all three? Any serious baddies, and/ or recent baddies?

[davidsawsparks]

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

May I ask, why have you gotten the impression here that you'd have a hard time getting a good card? Since you did get a mortgage, can you share your FICO scores, all three? Any serious baddies, and/ or recent baddies?

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My FICO EQ score is 681, my FICO TU score is 721 and my FAKO EX score is over 730(The FICO EX score I got from my mortgage lender shows its over 700). I don't have any collections or judgements. I have 2 released tax lien on my public record section which means it's paid off already. Any baddies I've had in the past have been from so long ago that they've fallen off the record. I've been a straight shooter since those stupid younger years. My assumption that I may not get approved is based on readings from websites like "who gave me credit" where I've seen people with higher scores get declined etc.

[Anonymous]

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@davidsawsparks wrote:

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

May I ask, why have you gotten the impression here that you'd have a hard time getting a good card? Since you did get a mortgage, can you share your FICO scores, all three? Any serious baddies, and/ or recent baddies?

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My FICO EQ score is 681, my FICO TU score is 721 and my FAKO EX score is over 730(The FICO EX score I got from my mortgage lender shows its over 700). I don't have any collections or judgements. I have 2 released tax lien on my public record section which means it's paid off already. Any baddies I've had in the past have been from so long ago that they've fallen off the record. I've been a straight shooter since those stupid younger years. My assumption that I may not get approved is based on readings from websites like "who gave me credit" where I've seen people with higher scores get declined etc.

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Do you have any open credit cards at this time?   CL?  Balances?  That is very relevant to getting the CC you want.

[haulingthescoreup]

WhoGaveMeCredit-dot-com used to be kinda-sorta reliable, but it just completely fell apart over the last few years. I wouldn't worry too much about what you read there. Most people post FAKO's, they use the wrong bureau, and so on and so on.

Although credit union cards haven't traditionally been considered status cards, there's been a big migration to them since the meltdown, and they are certainly more likely to give higher CL's that the Big Boy banks.

Another possiblity might be your mortgage lender, if it's affiliated with a bank that issues CC's.

And a third possibility might be a charge card (not a revolver, but a Green, Gold, or Zync) from American Express. The charge cards are usually easier to get, because AmEx can limit its liability more than with their revolvers. They generally pull Experian, but they sometimes also pull the others as well. They don't go by FICO scores, as they use a roll-your-own inhouse formula based on your EX report. At any rate, if you don't mind the annual fee, they might be a possibility. I don't know how they would regard the released liens, though. And they recently chopped another member here, giving a perplexing reason.

Discover seems to have become quite the TU-puller these days, and every now and then they seem to go through a period where they approve nearly everyone. (Still don't know what's up with that.)

At any rate, you might want to check out the threads here on the CC forum about who is getting approved for what. For the most part, posters are pretty honest about any warts on their reports and their scores. (Although you never know for sure, lol.) Hope that helps!

[davidsawsparks]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Do you have any open credit cards at this time?   CL?  Balances?  That is very relevant to getting the CC you want.

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I have 1 Zales Jeweler card opened since 1998 and 1 JC Penny card opened since 1998 also. They both have 0 balance. All the other credit cards I use to have are all 0 balance and closed. I closed them way before I knew about the disadvantages of closing accounts many years ago.

[MattH]

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@davidsawsparks wrote:

A prime credit card like and AMEX Blue/Discover More or a low interest mortgage? Explain please...

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Your question implies an apples-to-oranges comparison: a mortgage is a different thing entirely because it is a long-term loan.  At least in my own experience a person with a clean credit history can get credit cards and auto loans based on nothing more than (1) what the applicant writes on the application and (2) what they learn when they pull a credit history.  When my wife and I applied for a mortgage we had to provide all sorts of documentation that no other lender has ever requested, such as bank statements and verification of employment.