DLM,
Just from reading your posts, it sounds like you and I are in the same Fico Score Club mid 600s. I just received an offer from Wamu the other day, which means that I will have to apply for their card in order to consolidate my higher interest rate cards over to them. The offer is pretty good $30,000 credit limit, 0% interest rate til May 2008, no annual fee. Since I already have a card with them, I am about 90% sure that I would get approval especially since I h ave a B of A signature line of credit with a $22,000 credit limit. But again do I want to be dinged as well as have a new account on my credit report REDUCING THE AGE OF MY HISTORY.
But if you are looking to get a better card at a better rate, I would wait until they send you either a pre-approval offer or when you have gotten all of your Fico scores above 680. If they send you an offer to apply for credit, you may want to wait until then too, the odds of you getting a card with them may not be as good if Chase just turned you down.
I sometimes ask my credit cards which CB (if not all ) that they use in their credit card approvals. Some of the reps know and some don't. You can call Wamu and ask the customer service rep if he or she knows, and once you find out which CB they will run when you apply for their credit card, you can at least know where you stand score wise to decide if you want to gamble with a new inquiry as well as reducing your average age of your credit history from acquiring a new credit card.
In this stage of this Fico score credit game, we have to be very careful and patient before we end up dinging ourselves out of points we have worked so hard to get.