It does not matter. Many posters have received targeted offer, applied, only to be rejected.

I am not sure about jgstecker. Have you checked all three of the credit agents? Depending on which part you are located in the US and which card you are applying, the same financial institution will pull from different credit agents. In another thread, posters are saying they even get hard pulls just to open a plain checking account. So it would be interesting to know that a credit card application does NOT trigger a hard pull, which will stay with you for two years. I for one will NOT risk my credit history/score as it is too valuable to me. Then of course, if you decide to take the risk and luck out, then good for you.