Advice Requested PLEASE!!

[MJPEREZ77]

Seeking opinions and advice on last steps to do before 1st App Spree, as well as cards I may not be thinking of but should apply for (by the way AMEX may still have me BL). Pulled myfico.com scores tonite, EQ 691, TU 716, EX 706. Need to correct address on TU, (showing my address as that of Primary on accounts I am AU), on 10/31 EX will update my dispute on 10yo CA, and my TU inq's will be gone by Tuesday 10/28. My file is somewhat thin, AAOA is 4 to 5 yrs depending on CRB, I have personal CLs of $5k, $4k, $3k x2, $700, $600, $500, and $425 reporting, along with my Student loans. Also have 6 AU accounts between $3800 and $1k.

 

After all the success stories re: DC, I am considering applying for the Premier and Professional, any opinion on this? Also, considering the Dillards AMEX, if they are still accepting apps after 11/1. Obviously if my Chase prequals are there, I will app for those. Also going after a Personal and Business US Airways card from Barclay's. Anything that you might recommend is greatly appreciated. Thanks Again.

[david_weaver]

Scores are OK, in that range where as long as you do not overreach, you should be able to get what you want.

 

You can correct the address issue on TU, but it is likely to come back. Had a similar issue with mortgage on house with my ex. All my accounts were changed to my new address, but as we still owned the home jointly, every time BOA would update, TU would change my address. As Diner's is a TU puller, the discrepancy might make it a manual review if it pops back up after you have TU fix it. They will, however, fix it immediately over the phone, so do it that way instead of disputing online or sending a letter.

 

You gave me a good laugh to start my Sunday with your comment about your EX dispute. I hope you are right and that your request is honored in a timely manner, but...it is EX. Things stay without explanation. You get stupid form letters which delay a simple request by weeks. I would not ever count on EX to do something on the day (or within the time-frame) they promise.

 

Without knowing more about your personal situation and usage pattern, I can only give general advice on your card selection, but please feel free to explain your choices.

 

I am not sure what your plan is with Diner's? Why a Premier AND a Professional? They are basically the same card with the same rewards? And it would take a lot of spending to make the rewards worthwhile. Unless your plan it to try to get two high-limit cards without having to apply for the Elite and pay the higher annual fee?

 

I am also unsure why (if in fact you find you are not on the BL) a Dillard's AMEX would be your choice out of all the AMEX options? I would go for something with rewards, like EveryDay, or the one I have, the Gold Delta Skymiles. I and my family fly Delta all the time. In the last year we have taken 17 flights. My Delta Amex saves me a $25 checked-bag fee every time, so over$400 just in one year PLUS all the miles.

 

Chase is OK, but...

 

My highest limit, and my favorite card (yes, even above Delta AMEX) is my Chase Marriott. However, I also have a Chase Amazon which earns great rewards. When I did the prequal, I got a Slate, which ended up worthless. Yes, no interest. Lowest limit though, so what balance could I carry interest-free without maxing it out? So use the Chase prequals as a guide, but consider what they are giving you before you accept. Also, unlike a lot of others, Chase will always be a hard pull for a CLI, and they are super stingy. Most people with Chase build better limits by opening new cards, transferring credit limits, and closing old cards. Like I said, I enjoy my Marriott, but caveat emptor on Chase.

 

On Barclay's, I go back to the same question as with Diner's: why two of the same cards with same rewards?

 

The smart people I have met on here, and who I am working to emulate, have a system. One card for airlines, one for hotels, one for gas, one for groceries, etc. You want a card that has no annual fee (unless the rewards make it worth the fee). But whenever possible, you want best in class. If one card offers 5% cash back on gas, and another offers 3%, and neither is particularly valuable for rewards on anything bit gas, why would you have both? You would get the 5% card and start counting rewards. Now if you could not get the 5%, and and had to settle for the 3%, that is fine until you qualify for the 5%. But no point having both.

 

Barclay's has some nice things. They are an exclusive TU puller. Their CLIs through the luv button are softs. They are very kind on recons. If you fly US Airway enough to make that card make sense, fine, go for one. But the Sallie Mae card has a way better payback, so if you are getting two Barclay's, that should be considered before a second airline card.

 

Any by all means, please fill us in on why you were considering the cards you were? There may be details we are missing that would help give more specific advice.

[MJPEREZ77]

Scores are OK, in that range where as long as you do not overreach, you should be able to get what you want.

 

You can correct the address issue on TU, but it is likely to come back. Had a similar issue with mortgage on house with my ex. All my accounts were changed to my new address, but as we still owned the home jointly, every time BOA would update, TU would change my address. As Diner's is a TU puller, the discrepancy might make it a manual review if it pops back up after you have TU fix it. They will, however, fix it immediately over the phone, so do it that way instead of disputing online or sending a letter.

 

You gave me a good laugh to start my Sunday with your comment about your EX dispute. I hope you are right and that your request is honored in a timely manner, but...it is EX. Things stay without explanation. You get stupid form letters which delay a simple request by weeks. I would not ever count on EX to do something on the day (or within the time-frame) they promise.

 

Without knowing more about your personal situation and usage pattern, I can only give general advice on your card selection, but please feel free to explain your choices.

 

I am not sure what your plan is with Diner's? Why a Premier AND a Professional? They are basically the same card with the same rewards? And it would take a lot of spending to make the rewards worthwhile. Unless your plan it to try to get two high-limit cards without having to apply for the Elite and pay the higher annual fee?

 

I am also unsure why (if in fact you find you are not on the BL) a Dillard's AMEX would be your choice out of all the AMEX options? I would go for something with rewards, like EveryDay, or the one I have, the Gold Delta Skymiles. I and my family fly Delta all the time. In the last year we have taken 17 flights. My Delta Amex saves me a $25 checked-bag fee every time, so over$400 just in one year PLUS all the miles.

 

Chase is OK, but...

 

My highest limit, and my favorite card (yes, even above Delta AMEX) is my Chase Marriott. However, I also have a Chase Amazon which earns great rewards. When I did the prequal, I got a Slate, which ended up worthless. Yes, no interest. Lowest limit though, so what balance could I carry interest-free without maxing it out? So use the Chase prequals as a guide, but consider what they are giving you before you accept. Also, unlike a lot of others, Chase will always be a hard pull for a CLI, and they are super stingy. Most people with Chase build better limits by opening new cards, transferring credit limits, and closing old cards. Like I said, I enjoy my Marriott, but caveat emptor on Chase.

 

On Barclay's, I go back to the same question as with Diner's: why two of the same cards with same rewards?

 

The smart people I have met on here, and who I am working to emulate, have a system. One card for airlines, one for hotels, one for gas, one for groceries, etc. You want a card that has no annual fee (unless the rewards make it worth the fee). But whenever possible, you want best in class. If one card offers 5% cash back on gas, and another offers 3%, and neither is particularly valuable for rewards on anything bit gas, why would you have both? You would get the 5% card and start counting rewards. Now if you could not get the 5%, and and had to settle for the 3%, that is fine until you qualify for the 5%. But no point having both.

 

Barclay's has some nice things. They are an exclusive TU puller. Their CLIs through the luv button are softs. They are very kind on recons. If you fly US Airway enough to make that card make sense, fine, go for one. But the Sallie Mae card has a way better payback, so if you are getting two Barclay's, that should be considered before a second airline card.

 

Any by all means, please fill us in on why you were considering the cards you were? There may be details we are missing that would help give more specific advice.

Thanks for posting. My personal situation is somewhat "complicated". After completing DW's 1st app spree to date, she obtained numerous accounts. However, I did jump the gun in doing so, as I hadn't done any B* nor had I allowed her scores to go up to where we wanted. Yet, we were very successful IMHO. Prior to app spree, she had cards ranging from $3.2k, to $300, most of which store cards and "toy limit" re-builders. Now she has ranges from $12k (Lowe's) to the $300 Matrix (yes I know, I need to close), with major banks (BofA, Chase, Citi) in that mix. There are 3 cards at $10k+, yet, other than Chase Freedom, a NASA Visa, and if you count the very limited Virgin America Visa Siggy (yes I know, hefty AF, but they gave her $11k), she has very little in terms of Rewards Cards. She has Cash Back cards in two QS1 cards, Barclay's Arrival (non plus), Barclay's Rewards MC, and Discover. The DC Premier that she app'd for is basically for a crowbar purpose (the ol' higher limits beget higher limits theory!). We need to get her above $20, then $30, then $40, etc... She joined Alliant, DCU, and PenFed during that app spree but was not approved for any cards. So I figure after aging and the limits on cards that she has, NASA may bump her up to $20+, and the other CU's may approve her for some of their products. As by then her EQ and TU (again) will be clean. She has one negative (60 & 90 day late on same account) that may fall off here shortly due to dispute, if not it's hitting the 2 year old mark. She is pretty much done with apps for now as she will be Refinancing in the next 120 to 180 day.

 

Which brings the story to me. I have figured that since we have good HHI ($350k +) and Individual ($185+ and DW $155+), that we need to focus on Rewards Cards and getting higher limits. I personally am S/E but a W-2 Employee. I have State and Federal Tax Liens that I am working on straightening out with both State and Feds (business ventures with partners where I got screwed), so these show up on all my CRB and therefore I do not want to get FR by AMEX where they request a 4506-T. That is why I am very gun shy with regards to AMEX, though I truly want their cards. At the same time, I want to build my business credit as well, so I have looked at a few "rewards cards" that I probably can qualify for, Barclay's US Airways Business and Cap1 Spark (Miles or Cash), would have loved the Chase INK but I am not sure I would qualify and risk the HP even though it would be a TU Pull (I have a list of apps for ea bureau that I am hoping to apply for). I feel that DC would also fall in the same category as Barclay's with regards to "killing 2 birds with 1 stone" so to speak. If approved they would hopefully take me to or above the $10k CL and also help with my Business Credit, assuming they report for Business purposes, even though that all the chatter seems to say the Professional Card is a Hidden TL with regards to personal, if I understand correctly. Because my file is somewhat thin and new, I don't want to waste HP on denials because I will be truly APPING, On DW I did over 20 apps and she obtained 14 new accounts with over $65k in new credit. And even though they say business credit doesn't affect your personal, when app'ing they will see my personal so I don't want to hold off on these apps since I am adding (hopefully) quite a few new accounts. I have ran the Chase and Discover Pre-qual, Chase shows the Freedom and Slate, and Discover says I have an offer for the it card. Citi, AMEX, and BofA don't show any offers at all. I have read that you can app for a 2nd Citi card after the 1st approval, if I do get one, then I will app. As for CU's, I will be app'ing for NASA (soft EX), DCU, Tobyhanna?, Alliant?, unless I get any other good recommendations. So, I have thought this out, maybe not the most logical nor the smartest way, and like you I try and emulate the method others use on here, I spend hours reading and browsing, probably close to 15 per week. I know I have so much to learn and I am anxious to have the success I was able to achieve for DW, hopfully I can get close.

 

So that is my story, as much as I'd luv 2 AMEX cards, 2 Citi AA Cards, PenFed, NFCU, etc, I am realistic of where I am AND where I am trying to go. I by no means want to limit myself in any scenario, so if anyone sees or knows of an opportunity I am not considering please let me know, or if I am completely off my rocker, feel free to tell me that as well (you wouldn't be the 1st, lol). This CB Community is a GREAT place, I hope in the future I can add some substance to the post here and help those who will be where I am now. Thanks to all!!

[frais2011]

I'm a newbie so I'll wait for the experts to chime in but wanted to say that Alliant and NASA were a no-go in the past for me with a Federal Tax Lien, sole reason for denial. Best of luck with your app spree!

[MJPEREZ77]

I'm a newbie so I'll wait for the experts to chime in but wanted to say that Alliant and NASA were a no-go in the past for me with a Federal Tax Lien, sole reason for denial. Best of luck with your app spree!

Thanks for the info!. I really didn't think of that, as I have only heard PenFed is a stickler for clean reports. By chance can you either PM me or list here, if you don't mind, what your profile looked like at the time i.e. derogs, scores, util %, etc.

Thanks

[frais2011]

 

I'm a newbie so I'll wait for the experts to chime in but wanted to say that Alliant and NASA were a no-go in the past for me with a Federal Tax Lien, sole reason for denial. Best of luck with your app spree!

Thanks for the info!. I really didn't think of that, as I have only heard PenFed is a stickler for clean reports. By chance can you either PM me or list here, if you don't mind, what your profile looked like at the time i.e. derogs, scores, util %, etc.

Thanks

 

 

I don't remember what it looked like when I was denied for Alliant (2011) but I'm sure it was very thin. I would have had a new auto loan reporting from NMAC, 1 secured card from FirstTech Fed, an Amazon store card and a Bryant State Bank mastercard with a $3000 limit.

 

Nasa is more recent. The only Derog was the tax lien, 12% util, 703 EX Fico and the NMAC auto loan was paid off.

 

On a more positive note, I just completed an unplanned app spree after getting approved for a new auto loan from DCU. My file was just as thin as I had not added any new cards since 2010 but my AAOA had increased. The tax lien is still reporting on all three reports and I have one paid collection on Ex (705) and Tu (699). Income is just over 100k.

 

I was was able to get a DCU Visa (won't get much use) with a $5000 limit on the same pull as the auto loan. I was approved for a Green Amex while testing to see if I was still on the blacklist, Barclay Rewards MC ($2500), Chase Freedom ($4500), Chase Slate ($2500), FirstTech Fed Rewards Visa ($2500), Dillards Amex ($1000). I regret applying for the Dillards card and would have selected the PRG instead of Green if I had any clue I was no longer on the blacklist so I would definitely caution you towards planning before pulling the trigger.

 

Last week while purchasing a ticket from Delta for Thanksgiving I got a pop-up for a Delta Skymiles Visa and accepted the offer. The temporary limit was $2000 and I don't expect it to go up much given my history with Amex. I app'd for the new Everyday card after my success earlier this month and was denied for that card online and also after a recon. Last week I received an invitation for a Blue Cash Everyday but think I'll just way until next year after I work on CLI and apply to have the tax lien withdrawn. I'm not sure why I've waited to do that since I have a direct debit payment plan but I'd like to try Nasa again next year so now I have a greater incentive to get it off of my reports!

[hegemony]

the times I've given amex a 4506t I've gotten extremely good credit limit increases.