"Preselected" for a BofA card?

[Anonymous]

I'm trying to repair my credit. My credit history is not very lengthy, but most of what's on there are charged off accounts because I spent a good portion of my young adulthood living paycheck to paycheck and not realizing how much damage I was doing to my credit. I was able to raise my score quite a bit in the past few months with a fingerhut account that I have almost paid off as well as a secured bank card that I don't keep a balance on. My score is hovering around 540 and I really need to raise it to qualify for an auto loan. Currently the aforementioned two accounts are the only ones that are open and I have seen on this forum that it is better to have 3+ open accounts to maximize your score? When I went to Bank of America to cash my paycheck the other day they told me I was "preselected" for their secured rewards credit card. I am curious what that really means as I'd hate to apply for the card, have a hard pull done and not get approved for the card. I'm working so hard to get the score up that I'm afraid to do anything that might lower it! What do you all suggest I do?

[Anonymous]

I would go for it. I've heard a few times of people being preselected for an offer and getting approved for whatever the offer was for. If you get denied for some reason, I wouldn't so much as worry about the HP. Yeah, it would suck, but you're taking the necessary steps to keep building your credit.

[Anonymous]

Similar situation happened to me when I was a little further along. My full story is here: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Alaska-Air-Visa-Signature-strange-situation/td-p/489762...

The short version is that BOA will likely honor it, in my humble opinion. It worked well for me. YMMV, but I'm a fan of their "preselected" offers. We're talking about a secured card for a current customer - a nobrainer for them. These cards graduate at 12 months and there are those who report them graduating earlier. It's better than most other secured cards from what I've read and it would make a great 3rd account in your car quest.

I found my "preselected" offer online. Perhaps log in and see if it's there as well. I did it and called for recon immediately after getting the 7-10 day blowoff. Tell them your situation. Mention that your plan is to finance a car, possibly through them, as soon as your credit is rebuilt.

I'm biased because they gave me my best card and highest SL. Perhaps more seasoned members will tell you otherwise, but my recommendation is to go for it. The only question, from my perspective, is whether to do it in person or online. I'd think in person improves your chances but then again I've only done things online.

[Anonymous]

Welcome to Myfico.  The folks here can really help you reach your goals and rebuild.  Many here have been where you are and have been successfull in rebuilding credit in a fairly short period of time.  I strongly suggest you post all of the details of your credit situation to the rebuilding section here.  The folks that frequent that section can help you come up with a comprehensive plan to build your scores through a variety of strategies.  If your scores are as low as your reporting there are issues to tackle.  I had given up on credit for several years after a foreclosure and some chargeoffs as well as an IRS lien.  I thought we would have to live off of cash for the rest of our lives and I stumbled upon this site after struggling to get a car loan.  Since starting my rebuild our lives have changed for the better, we have access to all of the credit we need to make life easy and have two low interest auto loans to boot.  We started in the low to mid 500's and are now pushing for 700 by the summer so it can be done.

On the CC I am sure they wlil honor a preapproval on a secured card, its probably a good idea to take it and manage your accounts because they will report positively and start to get your scores going in the right direction. 

Best of luck

[Anonymous]

From what I understand (I read up a bit on this last night), being "preselected" indicates better odds of approval for a credit card (secured or unsecured) than "preapproval", because "preselection" indicates that the issuer has actually researched your credit history; as one site put it, "preapproval" basically just means you've been approved to be offered a card and you have to dig into the details to see whether or not you'll actually have a good shot at getting it. Example: if the issuer quotes a range of APR's at you, that often means it's going to be a crapshoot as to whether you get the nod. If you get a single, solid APR quoted in your preapproval offer, that's generally a very good sign. I noticed this this week when I got my Discover It card - when I went to their prequalification site, I got a solid APR quote of 23.49% after the first 14 months (at 0%), pulled the trigger on the application and was approved. Contrariwise, BoA is only "recommending" cards at this time with a 13.49% - 23.49% APR range, so as far as they go, thanks but no thanks (even though that's where I have my checking account).