building a relationship with chase before applying?

[Anonymous]

You don't need a relationship with a bank to get a card unless your scores aren't very good.

I got a Chase United MileagePlus Explorer last month with a $10,500 limit and didn't even show up on Chases pre-qualify page. Granted, I have really good FICOs, but it still didn't change the fact that Chase had never worked with me before. They were going on the word of Wells Fargo, Discover, Citi and Barclays.

The only way you can know for sure is to apply.

[MTSN]

While I don't you think you "need" to build a relationship with them, I think it's a great idea if you want multiple products with them. I got a card from Chase for $200 if I opened a checking account and made a direct deposit a few years ago, and I figured why not. I didn't intend to use it as my main bank since I have accounts in several credit unions I was happy with at the time. I started liking Chase, so when they sent me another card for $50 or $100 to open a savings account I parked $20k in the account and kept using the checking as my main account. At the time my credit wasn't amazing due to 2 late payments that were still impacting my score, so I didn't apply for any cards for a while.

I decided eventually to app for the SW card and got an immediate approval. Then the Slate and the Freedom and got each of those approved immediately as well. Then I recently applied for an auto loan for $30k and even though the message after you app says it takes 24-48 hours I received an approval within 20 minutes at the lowest rate they offer (2.84%). My scores and overall financial situation have improved greatly in the last 3 years, but I have a strong feeling that my relationship with Chase was why working with them has been so painless and actually quite enjoyable. If you have a desire to get more than 1 product wtih them, I would suggest building the relationship because after 3 years with them I honestly don't have any complaints (and I'm hyper critical of banks - in fact I work with commercial banks daily for my profession).

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

People seem to be making a bit of a logical error here.

The OP is hypothesizing that if you have a preexisting relationship with Chase that you are more likely to get approved. People posting Chase approvals that they've had without a preexisting relationship doesn't disprove or even weaken his original hypothesis. This is a logical fallacy -- namely denying the antecedent. To clear this up, here's an analogy.

Assume the following: If your name is Jonathan you are likely to be male. By almost everyone's logic who has posted so far, that means if your name is not Jonathan you are likely to not be male. I am sure there is no shortage of male myFICO members whose name is not Jonathan.

To the OP, a Chase account will likely help you a little bit, especially if a recon is required. But it is not a sufficient condition, unfortunately. And it certainly isn't a necessary one, as almost everyone so far has been pointing out.

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OK, so good post on logical fallacies, but then, out of the blue, an unsupported assertion!

I would say that the fallacies are on both sides, those who got the card with a Chase bank account seem to assume that that played a big role.      Since people both get cards and get denied,  and in both cases some have Chase accounts and some don't, we don't really have anything like evidence one way or another.   

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Um. Well, obviously it would be difficult to prove. Pointing that out is trivial. The evidence would have to be anecdotal unless anyone here works for Chase underwriting. I do base my educated guess, which is really all anyone has to go on from what we know, based on what people here have reported. 

[Cookie2120987]

Wow, thanks for all the replies everyone, I disnt expect this thread to get this many replies. I have seen both sides say thag it does and doesn't and I was curious about personal experiences which it seems to at least a few it has helped them with getting in to the credit. Like I said,we have a mortgage we plan on getting as well as probably another checking account and if it does help it would make sense to get my foot in, not to mention I visit there bank twice a week for work. 

[jamesdwi]

Not a chase banking customer, they seem to like me well enough without a checking account with them. 

I don't think a simple checking account and a saving account won't help you get a better result with a credit card. New auditing and private regulations all but forbid anyone outside of one division to see the data from another without a good reason. So an underwriter won't see your checking  or savings account(s) with Chase, they don't need to see them. 

The time a banking relationship with chase cound really help is if you had the deposits in Chase that qualified you for a personal banker, typically  250k in assets plus, then the banker at your request could put in a call to the credit side and get them modivated to get you a credit card with the best terms. 

[Ghoshida]

Having a Chase banking account is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition to get Chase credit cards. You heard all about why it's not necessary. I'll tell you that it's not sufficient. I had their checking account as primary, along with direct deposit for 1.5 years before getting the Freedom and that too for the worst terms and limit. When I got denied within that period, the banker did try some recons etc but to no avail. During the same period I got cards from Cap One, Citi, Discover, AMEX, and US Bank. No derogatory items, just thin file and moderate utilization.

That said, people have claimed success in depositing 10k and getting a 1k Freedom. If that works for you, great. But nothing for the regular customers.