Ed Janowsky

Last year I waited two months and 27 days between Chase business card applications and was denied. I waited four more months and was approved for the Ink Plus and the CSP on the same day.

RNE

Good. Hard pulls are nothing substantial or longlasting. Folks with robust FICOs should fear them not.

If you can wait a year longer, yeah.

Probably not. Your card gestalt is indicative of a rewards chaser. Just saying.

Dunno.

Despite my foregoing doom and gloom, if I were you, I'd apply on August 25 as planned. You might beat the odds.

RNE, pointing out: had I gone with the odds, I never would have met or married TSMRSRNE.

joscofra

I could wait if I get the AmEx now. I just want to make sure I don't run out of avios since I need a 9000 pt RT every month. Would rather not have to pay, although it I had TY pts it wouldn't be a big deal with the 1.6 deal on AA.

guilty as charged. though I don't do any MS and so justify it to myself. Big bad banks, y'know.


thanks for your opinion, no real harm in trying, right? If it doesn't work, I'll just wait the year or so...

sdsearch

What are your credit limits on your existing Chase cards? Do you need them to stay that high? Can you lower them in the meantime (ASAP, so it's as long as possible before your Aug 25 application attempt)? The most success is had with "instant" approvals, and lowering your credit limit ahead of time might help with increasing the chances of that (though your track record for "instant" approvals so far doesn't seem so good based on what you wrote).

joscofra

total CL over the 3 cards is $26K. I thought about lowering that, but I don't want to right now since I'm in the middle of making min spend on 2 of them - don't want utilization to be >50%. If I decide to wait until next year to apply then I'll probably lower the Freedom limit later this year, but I don't think I have time for it to make a positive difference if I apply for the Ink+ in the next couple of months. Not sure what Chase's max CL for me would be. Hopefully I haven't hit it yet, although them making me close the BA card indicates I might be there or close...

edit: should also say that I have another 3 cards that are much older - BoA from 1999, Chase Amazon from 2009, and Cap1 Quicksilver from 2011. That's what I meant about the 3 Chase cards, not the closed BA one...

edit #2: well I took another look at my accounts and I could actually lower the Freedom limit now by 7K. So the question is should I/shouldn't I? Could maybe apply a few months later and save the AmEx for fall 2016...hmm...

CRNA

I am looking for advice on how to apply for the CSP/Freedom cards. I first started researching Churning/MS back in May and got too excited about how awesome the CSP card is I applied, but got denied. Reason stated income too low. I did not think that calling back for a reconsideration would help until it was too late. Now I know I can add my scholarships and other forms of income not on the books when I can them. Since I am a full time student I only rack in ~11k on the books per year.

I am 20 now, and I started my credit when I was 16 pretty good history for someone my age. When I applied for the CSP my credit score was 740-770, but a month after I bought a car and did not go to the bank first to pre approve so they kept running my score lower and lower with credit apps to the banks. My score was 747 when they came back so still not too bad, but I also applied for two credit cards from the bank I actually use (CL of 28k total). I believe I am around 720+ now which I am sure is going up. I wanted to wait 6-12 months before applying for these to get my credit score back up and stand a better chance. With Chase’s new rules on applications with the 5 CC limit in the past 2 years I technically have applied for 3/5 even though I was approved for only 2.

I plan on applying for the CSP before the Freedom as it is harder to get. I have since then opened a checking account with Chase and will soon be opening up a savings as well to help myself be a better candidate, but I still use my primary bank instead of Chase because it is so much more convenient (which I can use as a persuasion point to Chase since they are right across the street).

Some things to help me for next time even if I get denied and call back the reconsideration line:

Salary: 11k/yr plus an extra 1-2k/yr from other jobs off paper, ~40-50k in scholarships and awards = 50-60k

How I want to give them my business instead of my bank I am currently at. They are right across the street from each other.

I also plan on moving to Texas within the Decade. I am going to be studying Anesthesia and the plan is to open up my own practice. Coincidently Chase has the biggest footprint in Texas and would be awesome to be connected with them. Again with the “I want to give you my business” approach.

I would try to play it off as I am not interested in the rewards part, but talk about how they have a 5k bonus for an AU and can then talk about how that would then combine Salary into household income.

I am also a dual citizen and will be traveling so if they ask why I want this card specifically I can say that it has no foreign transaction fee which is what I am looking for, plus it is a Visa which is more widely accepted abroad (especially my country of the Philippines) compared to my AMEX.



Any suggestions/feedback/comments helping me get approved would be greatly appreciated. Like I said above, I believe I will apply again for the CSP first and then the freedom. Would it be beneficial to do it both at the same time and only take one credit hit? Would it be better to apply for it in branch? Thanks

desertdwelleraz

Update: Just called automated application status line and got the message that I would hear something in "2 weeks". I believe that it typically says "7-10 days" in the case of denials, so I am still holding out hope and not calling recon. I am 2 days out from the application at this point.

knowledgeispower

In my honest opinion Chase requiring you to close a card to open a new one means you've hit their max limit. I would not hesitate to lower your credit limit on the Freedom because we don't know how early is early enough, so the earlier the better. (If you read my post a few pages back I lowered my CL just an hour before my application, and even though it shows on my Chase.com account as lowered it didn't show in their system when I applied, and even when I called they stated my max limit and quoted for me the previous CL number before I did the decrease).

That being said, it may be at least a month if not longer until it registers in their system. It could be 24 hours but there are no real data points I'm aware of. I would lower it either way because if it doesn't help you for this card it will help you for a future application with Chase anyways. In the past lowering your CL was a bad idea because you could always use that CL as a "bargaining chip" to transfer from 1 card in order to open another, and for that reason people recommending maintaining your limits, even when closing accounts.

Unfortunately now with this "new policy", having to call a representative which in the past would have just required a moving around of credit is no longer a good path to take because they are applying more stringent criteria and are less likely to approve you.

YMMV.

joscofra

yes, you are probably right. I should do this and then maybe wait until late Nov/early Dec to apply for the Ink. If it's denied there's still time to apply for the AmEx biz gold for prop tax season, and if approved against all odds, that can then easily wait until next fall. I should probably get an Everyday to replace the PRG when AF hits anyway.

thanks for your pov!

DeaconY

Anyone get a call from Chase at 302-427-3930? Tried my Cell and Office but didn't leave a message. Tired calling the number and it is a recording referring me to the number on the back of my card.

Seemed very odd to me and is just a little over two weeks since my Ink app. Didn't get an instant approval and the automated line initially said I'd get an answer in 2 weeks. Now the message is a little different and says 30 days.

Have been avoiding calling the recon line. Don't expect any trouble getting approved, just didn't want the hassle or the grilling so many have recounted. Long standing Chase customer (12+ years), 800+ FICO, only 2 cards in the last two years, sole proprietor, high household and side business income.

Does the change in automated message mean a decision has been made (+ or -)?

knowledgeispower

It probably means they are waiting on you to provide them more information about the business which is why the app is being delayed because they haven't been able to reach you.

I would recommend you call because if you really only had 2 cards in the last 2 years and a 12+ year relationship with Chase you have absolutely nothing to fear. You probably will be approved they may just need to verify some information.

aradisc

Of course; I didn't mean to imply otherwise. I don't think that someone that exclusively uses cards for bonus categories will have any sort of trouble without other aggravating factors.

I was just replying to the claim that:

And my point is just that it can be a part of the picture when a human is interrogating your profile.

jjmiller69

My suggestion is wait until you get a full time job. The CSP is considered a premium card and thus they look at income and other things not just strictly credit scores. Example car payments and length of credit history. Get the Freedom card and use the 5X spends to build up a point total and then get a CSP later. It seems all the banks are getting tougher on CC approvals.

2Tall4Y

Chase is emailing & snail-mailing me weekly to increase the limit on my Freedom card (had awhile) with no credit check. Card limit is only $4,900 so I'm guessing there is some financial benefit for Chase to move me into a VISA Sig card?

fobster

I have an old UA CC, Mileageplus from 15 years ago and stopped using about 4 years ago. I recently closed another MileagePlus Explorer (I believe it was Continental when I opened it). I kept the Mileageplus card for the history and overall CL purposes.

My understanding is typically it takes about 24 months after you cancel to get a new card for a sign-up bonus. Do I need to cancel this old MileagePlus card in order for me to open another one (2yrs from now) to get the bonus? Or will this cc make no differnce? Thanks in advance.

I posted this on the MS side. But it might be more applicable here.