What's up with waiting?

[Anonymous]

On June 25, I took the plunge and applied for 3 new cc's (chase freedom unlimited, capital one platinum and bank of America) With an average credit score. I got instant approval with chase of 3k and on the other 2 companies got told further investigation needed. Well on July 4 I got email from Cap one platinum approving me ( I have no idea the limit) and still waiting to hear back from Bofa. I have 3 other cards with Citi limit 7300 bal 7k, Lowes limit 6k bal 1800 and cap one silver 1 limit 1250 bal 600. Should I be worried on getting denial from Bofa since it has been almost 2 weeks tomorrow?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
On June 25, I took the plunge and applied for 3 new cc's (chase freedom unlimited, capital one platinum and bank of America) With an average credit score. I got instant approval with chase of 3k and on the other 2 companies got told further investigation needed. Well on July 4 I got email from Cap one platinum approving me ( I have no idea the limit) and still waiting to hear back from Bofa. I have 3 other cards with Citi limit 7300 bal 7k, Lowes limit 6k bal 1800 and cap one silver 1 limit 1250 bal 600. Should I be worried on getting denial from Bofa since it has been almost 2 weeks tomorrow?

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Welcome to the forums!

Why don't you give them a call next week and ask them?

What I'd say for sure is that worry is definitely the wrong response.  You already have five other credit cards, so you certainly don't need this one.  There is so much inescapable anxiety in the world that electing to worry about this seems like a bad move.  Worst case scenario is you won't get the card.

PS.  Remember that many Americans took vacation days off around July 4th (e.g. the Fri and Mon before and the Wed after) and the new accounts dept at BOA is surely no exception.  In many ways, therefore, fewer effective business days have elapsed since your application than you think.

[Anonymous]

Well, my deal about the "worry" is because, like many other people, I have been working on raising credit score (which has been a struggle), I just hate the idea of having a hard hit for nothing. My goal is trying to lower utilization and raise overall cs. I know keeping balances under 30% is key, I was just trying to raise my Credit limit score up by adding more cards to my mix. Atm I'm in the "avg" category for overall Credit limit. On top of that, I have some baddies on my CR from school loans from around 7 years ago. I did not pay any monthly payment on loan at the time and was struggling. ... but since then have the loans on deferment IBR and been making sure I keep all that in order until I can pay that huge payback. And keeping everything paid 100% on time.

[Anonymous]

Hello Tryin!  My comments below in blue.

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@Anonymous wrote:
Well, my deal about the "worry" is because, like many other people, I have been working on raising credit score (which has been a struggle), I just hate the idea of having a hard hit for nothing.

A hard inquiry is not a big deal.  It only affects the bureau it was drawn on, it's a typically small impact (5 points?) and the impact vanishes after one year.

My goal is trying to lower utilization and raise overall cs. I know keeping balances under 30% is key, I was just trying to raise my Credit limit score up by adding more cards to my mix.

That was a great idea, when you only had two cards.  Once you have three, then you don't need any more to have an ultrahigh score.  Many people have scores in the 830s with only three cards.

The best way to lower your utilization is not to expand your credit limit but to pay off your CC debt.

BTW, the mark you want to shoot for (for maximum scoring benefit) is < 8.99% -- not 30%.  You don't need to keep it ultralow every month, but in the 45 days before an important credit pull, you want to have all your cards reporting zero except one (AZEO) with the remaining card reporting a small balance, like $20 say.

Atm I'm in the "avg" category for overall Credit limit.

There is no FICO scoring benefit from having a bigger credit limit.  EXAMPLE: suppose Bob has four credit cards, each with a $500 credit limit and a total utilization of 7%.  The next month his CC issuers each give him a credit limit increase to $20,000.  He will not get even one extra FICO point for that.

There is (as I mentioned) a scoring benefit for low utilization, but a person can have one $500 credit limit card, spend $2000 a month on it, and have a reported utilization of 3-4%.

On top of that, I have some baddies on my CR from school loans from around 7 years ago. I did not pay any monthly payment on loan at the time and was struggling. ... but since then have the loans on deferment IBR and been making sure I keep all that in order until I can pay that huge payback. And keeping everything paid 100% on time.

Glad you have been keeping your accounts paid on time.  You may want to swing by the rebuilding forum.  They have tips for how to get those derogs removed from your reports.

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[Anonymous]

Thank you, Where can I find the rebuilding forum? I tried to do a search but could not find the actual forum.

[Anonymous]

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/bd-p/rebuildingcredit

[Anonymous]

One thing worth mentioning here to the OP is that his utilization is not in a very good place currently, so fixing that should be Top Priority.

Your Citi card is sitting at maxed out 96% utilization and that's your biggest credit line.  I believe your aggregate utilization is at 64%.

Any time you apply for credit cards you want your aggregate utilization below 30%, otherwise it severely impacts your ability to get approvals and/or favorable limits upon approval since you are seen as quite a risk.  It's great that you were approved for the Chase card, but had your utilization been lower that $2k approval may have been $5k, for example.  If you get denied ultimately for the BoA card, I would venture to guess that the reason will be utilization-related.

If I were you I'd do whatever I could to get that Citi account out of maxed out territory at least to below 50% as soon as you can.