BofA application declined and looking to make the best use of the hard inquiry

[Anonymous]

I currently have 2 BofA cash back cards and thought I'd add one more to my collection. Well, I thought wrong as I was immediately auto-rejected. I tried to recon with three attempts to no avail. I'm might call back one or two more times but the result will probably stay the same.

The reason why I wanted to open another BofA Cash back card? I need one more 0% apr card and BofA's Cash Back card is having a $200 offer. Besides, their 3% back on online purchases is a sweet deal. 

With my plan to add another BofA card to my collection gone down the drain, I would like to salvage my meaningless hard inquiry for something else. 

My main objective in a new card is the 0% apr but I can also use an increased overall credit limit. With that said, I received a letter in the mail from Citi for their Double Cash. If all else fails, maybe I'll just get that card and throw it in my drawer. 

I also have my eyes on US Bank Cash+. Their website shows that it no longer has introductory 0% apr period but a thread here had people saying otherwise. 

What am I talking about, the reason for this thread isn't to ask for credit card recommendations!

THE MAIN REASON WHY I CREATED THIS THREAD IS TO CONFIRM WITH YOU GUYS IF I CAN APPLY FOR MORE CREDIT CARDS WITHOUT GETTING ADDITIONAL CREDIT SCORE DING. I heard multiple inquiries of the same category within a short period of time counts as one. 

Please confirm, thank you!

[FinStar]

Sorry, but whenever you apply for additional credit cards, all those inquiries will be scored separately and will not counts as 1.

Depending on your profile and the CRA(s) being used for the HPs, the score "hits" may be negligible but the outcomes may vary (thick vs. thin profile, etc.).

[gdale6]

Only Auto and Home Loan inquiries made over a two week period from the first one are counted as one in Fico scoring and only if they are properly coded as such.

[mikesonthemend]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I also have my eyes on US Bank Cash+. Their website shows that it no longer has introductory 0% apr period but a thread here had people saying otherwise. 

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DW just received 15 months 0% US Cash+ about 10 days ago. Hate that you must have just missed.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

I think the bigger question that should be asked is why did you get denied? 

Is it a huge balance holding your scores down which could be assertained from your chasing the 0% APR ?

If you're looking to expand your TCL then we need more info like what cards you have, where you have applied/been denied, and so on and so forth.  Scores, INQ, etc.

[Anonymous]

I have 715 on transunion and equifax on credit karma. However, they were recent bumps (rather big bumps of 20s) within the last month so I'm not sure if this is what the companies see right this moment. 

I have 25% overall utilization, which is not good but not bad, imo.

I do have a huge balance on one of my BofA cards, though they did not mention it as one of the reasons for denial. 

I used to have a BofA checking before, but no longer do as of about 3~4 months ago.

I had a spree last year and according to the BofA UW, I had 5 inquiries from back then. I believe they said I have 1 inquiry this year. I've been more careful and stayed in the garden for a bit.

The reason for my denial according to BofA UW is due to the number of inquiries, credit history (only 5 years long), no deposit accounts with them, and that I already have a large credit line from them ($18,000). 

[Anonymous]

Ok... so CK scores dont' matter at all!  You have a BOA account and Disco account so, therefore you have your real FICO TU available.  You can pick up your Experian FICO from them directly and if you sign up for their trial for $1 you can get all 3 of them.

25% isn't totally out of line for a typical non-fico consumer.  We get a little aggressive at keeping things under 8.9%.

Well, a 0% card from BOA wouldn't allow you to transfer to/from them.  So, looking outside of BOA is a goal.

-- What's the amount of the balance?  There are certain limits w/ lenders that you might run into a wall with.

5 inquiries isn't a big deal... I wouldn't go apping for Cap1 though since you get 3 of them per app.

5 years of history is plenty.

You don't need a relationship to get a card.  In fact I don't have a relationship w/ any of my current accounts and it hasn't been an issue.

18K is respectable 

What other cards do you have in your lineup?

[Anonymous]

My BofA score is 714 (6/19/19) and Discover 693 (4/30/19). You're saying these are the real numbers the lenders look at?

2x BofA Cash Back card ($5,000, $13,000)

1x Capital One Quick Silver ($1,000) 

Chase Amazon Prime ($5,000~)

Chase Freedom ($5,000~)

Amex BCE ($10,000)

Amex Cash Magnet ($1,000)

Discover ($1,000)

Fifth Third ($4,000)

Barclay Uber ($2,500)

[Anonymous]

Yes, BOTH are FICO TU scores. 

Since you have Amex you have your Experian score as well. 

https://online.americanexpress.com/myca/creditscore/us/viewScore?request_type=authreg_acctCreditScor...

The only one missing is EQuifax and that's harder to come by but, w/ 2 out of 3 it's a good guess what it is w/o getting it.  Citi offers the Bankcard 08  version if you have an account with them which you currently don't.

So, you have most of the major banks already.  This is where things get tricky w/o hitting some DTI calculation where you estimate a max exposure with a single lender of about 50% of your income.  I don't think you're nearing that w/ any of your current holdings and there's room for growth with all of them.... 5/3 and Cap1 are not as likely to grow.  BOA already told you they want to see more experience but not in those words exactly.  

Chase, It's easier to app a new card to get a higher limit from them than it is to deal with their CLI process... sometimes there's an exception to the rule where they actually cough up some dough through a CLI but it's not often.

Depending on when your last Amex CLI was you could potentially bump BCE to 30K fairly soon.

Disco expands w/ use and SP CLI's are easy enough to just hit the button eveyr month or 3-6 months depending on how much progress you're making with them.

Barclay's if your profile supports it then you have to think about a HP CLI and ask for the moon and let them counter back.

So, back to the original issue of expanding things.. I think strategically it's best to focus more on CLI's for a little while to let things grow w/ time and your scores will rise each month that passes w/o adding new accounts to the mix.  For instance taking into accounts from BOA, Chase, Amex, Disco, Barclay's my combined CL w/ them comes in between 250-275K. 

So, if you stopped the clock where you're at right now and just did CLI's there's tremendous potential already in your portfolio.