Length of Credit History and being able to get a CC

[Not_the_Point]

How much of an impact does length of credit history have on being accepted to get a CC?

My credit history is only 14 months old.

I have two secured CC and one unsecured store card, my FICO's are all in their lower 700's, but when I applied for an AMEX and Discover card, I got turned down. The only negative I see on my account is my short credit history... is there a cut-off point of x-amount of time where I won't be shoved off to the side despite my good credit scores and perfect payment history?

Message Edited by Not_the_Point on 10-05-2008 12:56 PM

[llecs]

What were the denial reasons for the Amex and Discover?

[haulingthescoreup]

As llecs posted.

Plus I think it's a combo of short history and the fact that your cards are secured. You haven't yet displayed your ability to handle temptation with larger-CL unsecured cards. (not trying to be ugly; I'm just guessing that this is what they're thinking)

Normally, I don't think that secured cards are a problem, under the theory of everyone has to start somewhere. I think that with your unique situation, they think that you're still a bit too close to "start."

In this wildly unstable credit climate, the CCC's all seem to be fighting over what they think are sure bets. A lot like college applications and financial aid grants, for any who have gone through that fun process.

[Anonymous]

Aren't AmEX and Discover two of the hardest CCC to get approved through anyway?

I managed to get a Discover card with a $3000 CL about 10 years ago with a "lower than average" score (about a 650) and short credit history - but the economy was very different then. They also closed it the first time I was late.

Your FICO score is only one requirement credit cards use to decide who gets approved and who gets denied. It is possible, for example, to have a good FICO score but have so much debt that the credit card company will not give you more. So your short history could be affecting you. You also didn't mention what your CL was on the 3 cards you have. If you have a lot of credit available to you they may want to give you more time to see how you handle what you have before offering you more.

If you really want those two cards you could always send them a reconsideration letter. Or if just any card will do you can always go to a site that lists credit cards for you to compare based on your credit score. Perhaps you just applied for the wrong type of Discover or AmEx. Here is a site where you can compare cards based on your credit score.

http://www.arrivefinancial.com/fico-score-requirements-for-credit-card-approval

IMO right now is not the best time to be applying for credit willy nilly. Are you applying for the credit just to raise your credit score or to lower your utl? Perhaps you would be better off to let time work on your side for a bit.. at least for the next couple of months. My EQ score just jumped 20 points in the past month for no other reason than that my accounts got 1 month older (no specific anniversaries) and I paid all my bills on time.

[Not_the_Point]

AMEX sited my length of credit history in the denial.

Still, since everything else is pretty much spotless and my FICO score is fairly high I thought they'd be willing to overlook that detail. I've read about people on here, who are in the 680+ range getting AMEX cards.

I never got any word back from Discover at all, and this was about 3 months ago.

Message Edited by Not_the_Point on 10-05-2008 12:57 PM

[Not_the_Point]

AmyBoo,

When I applied for the cards, I was at about 5% utilization. I thought maybe if I stopped PIF and allowed a balance to carry it would help so that's what I've been doing.

My total credit available is $2900, of which I currently have about $600 on my cards... so somewhere around 20% utilization of my total credit, with 35% on two of my cards and 0% on the third.

I have payed all my bills on time, no lates in my credit history, and I always pay more than the minimum. I used to PIF but I'm trying a different approach to see if it helps my luck with getting my WaMu card with a $1000 deposit Unsecured so I can get that $1000 returned to me.

The reason I'm applying is I to have more open accounts. I only have the two secured cards, one store card and an auto loan for a total of 4 accounts. I read that having about 6 accounts is the ideal, but I'm planning on buying a house in a couple of months so I really only want 1 more account. I don't have a Charge Card so I had wanted to get the AMEX for that reason but I'm kind of scared with how unpredictable they are. Getting the Discover Card was really just to have all the various credit cards... VISA, MC, Discover and AMEX.

Am I being too literal with some of the advice on this forum?

Message Edited by Not_the_Point on 10-05-2008 12:53 PM

[Anonymous]

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@Not_the_Point wrote:

When I applied for the cards, I was at about 5% utilization. I thought maybe if I stopped PIF and allowed a balance to carry it would help so that's what I've been doing.

My total credit available is $2900, of which I currently have about $600 on my cards... so somewhere around 20% utilization of my total credit, with 35% on two of my cards and 0% on the third.

I have payed all my bills on time, no lates in my credit history, and I always pay more than the minimum. I used to PIF but I'm trying a different approach to see if it helps my luck with getting my WaMu card with a $1000 deposit Unsecured so I can get that $1000 returned to me.

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I am new to learning about credit as well and also have a short history - but I wanted to chime in that EVERYTHING I have read has said there is ZERO benefit to carrying a balance on a card - so you should save yourself from having to pay those interest charges.

Also, for the best scores you should be using at most 9% utilization (total and for each individual card) so the ~30% balances you are carrying may indeed be hurting your credit scores (and costing you interest charges on top of that!).

Hopefully the experts will chime in with more info!

[haulingthescoreup]

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Not_the_Point wrote:

AMEX sited my length of credit history in the denial.

Still, since everything else is pretty much spotless and my FICO score is fairly high I thought they'd be willing to overlook that detail. I've read about people on here, who are in the 680+ range getting AMEX cards.

I never got any word back from Discover at all, and this was about 3 months ago.

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If I understand correctly, 3 months ago your credit history would be 11 months, or less than a year.

I think you're shooting for the wrong cards. Again, I'd get WaMu to unsecure that card, open an account with a credit union now, wait for the BofA to unsecure, and then you're going to look much more attractive to creditors.

It's way more than scores. It's even more than the absence of baddies, although that's very important that you have that going for you. They want to see a sustained track record. Right now, you've got a good race or two going, but there's not enough there yet for them to feel comfortable predicting how you'll do over a long period.

(Please excuse the labored metaphor. I'm enduring NASCAR alternating with pro football today, and the sportscasters are taking over my brain. )

[Not_the_Point]

Sounds like a plan.

I called WAMU today and e-mailed them on the wamucards.com center and they say that they review their accounts periodically but they do not take requests for an account to be reviewed. I asked the representative when my account would be reviewed and he said he couldn't say.

I guess I'll just have to wait until they feel like reviewing it. Until then looks like I'll be taking a trip over to one of the credit unions or check out PenFed. PenFed looks awesome

[Not_the_Point]

jacred,

Yeah that's why I had kept my utilization low in the past... but I read somewhere on these forums where if you always keep your utilizations low, it's more difficult to get a CLI.

Whether or not that's always the case I'm not sure, that's why I was trying to up my util a bit.

Must depend on individual circumstances or something.