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Ok what's going on here. (Credit card offers question)

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SlitheryDee

SlitheryDee

Lifer
So I've been working on my credit worthiness for the last 7 years or so. I did some pretty stupid stuff in my late teens that kind of trashed my credit so it's been slow going, but I've been improving steadily. About 2 years ago I applied for and received an Amazon visa, but the credit limit was very low and hasn't gone up much. I'm not really sure why I was accepted for it, because my FICO was around 650 at the time and the only credit card offers I had been receiving by mail were poor cards from Credit One and One Main Financial, among others. These offers would be for cards with low credit limits, APRs hovering around the 30% mark, no rewards, and high annual fees. I have continued to receive those latter offers even up to this year.

Last week, I found an offer for a Discover It card in my mail box. I checked out the paperwork and it looked good, so I applied for it and was accepted. I was delighted by this because I've been looking for a good card with no annual fee if for no other reason than to lower my total credit utilization, which tended to fluctuate quite a bit due to the low limit on the Amazon Visa.

So the card came in yesterday, and in the mailbox with it was an offer for a Citi Diamond preferred card. I checked out the specifics of that card and it seems like a very good card as well. This one comes with no annual fee, 18 months zero interest, concierge service, extended warranty, some kind of automatic price matching refund service, and lots of other stuff.

I'm happy with the discover card though, and I don't think I want to apply for the Citi so recently after applying for the Discover. My main question is why am I getting all these good offers now? My credit rating has probably just crossed over 700 recently. Is that the magic number where credit card companies take notice? Would you apply for the Citi card anyway, even though you just got approved for another card?
 
I don't know what to say other than that your credit is getting back into decent territory...maybe they've noticed more credit inquiries and figure you're in the mood for more cards. Most likely the former.

Why not get a card with some rewards, though?
 
There's no harm in getting a couple cards in a short amount of time if you aren't starting a loan any time soon.
 
i get about 10 credit card offers in the mail a week. i wish i could get my name off of the list that solicits all this shit.
 
rcpratt said:
I don't know what to say other than that your credit is getting back into decent territory...maybe they've noticed more credit inquiries and figure you're in the mood for more cards. Most likely the former.

Why not get a card with some rewards, though?
Click to expand...

Well the discover seems to be a pretty decent rewards card. I'm not sure how crazy I am about the rotating categories for the 5% cash back bonus, but I'll try to take advantage of it when I can. I don't really see the need for another rewards card, or any card for that matter. I don't think I'm going for the Citi anyway. It just struck me as being a pretty good card on paper.
 
Its not only because your FICO is creeping up, but you may have been whats called "rebucketed". Bucketing in FICO is fairly well known. Its more of an expanded subset of FICO. Buckets = risk. For example...one person might have a car loan and a couple of low limit credit cards and thats it on their report. He may have a FICO of say 720. Another person could have a mortgage, 2 car loans, and 6 credit cards with low utilization (like 20%). He could also be in the 720 range. In these two scenarios the second example although has the same FICO would be in a much lower risk bucket.
 
SlitheryDee said:
Well the discover seems to be a pretty decent rewards card. I'm not sure how crazy I am about the rotating categories for the 5% cash back bonus, but I'll try to take advantage of it when I can. I don't really see the need for another rewards card, or any card for that matter. I don't think I'm going for the Citi anyway. It just struck me as being a pretty good card on paper.
Click to expand...
Ah, misread, didn't realize the Discover had rewards. Carry on.
 
purbeast0 said:
i get about 10 credit card offers in the mail a week. i wish i could get my name off of the list that solicits all this shit.
Click to expand...

I thought you could... small print on the bottom of the cover letter doesn't say something about getting off their lists? I swear that I did this a few years ago along with asking them to stop sending me those blank checks to transfer my non-existant balance from other credit cards.

It doesn't last forever, though... they eventually "forget" and start sending them again.
 
Rumpltzer said:
I thought you could... small print on the bottom of the cover letter doesn't say something about getting off their lists? I swear that I did this a few years ago along with asking them to stop sending me those blank checks to transfer my non-existant balance from other credit cards.

It doesn't last forever, though... they eventually "forget" and start sending them again.
Click to expand...

i don't even know, i don't even open the envelopes anymore. i should look into it.
 
SlitheryDee said:
Well the discover seems to be a pretty decent rewards card. I'm not sure how crazy I am about the rotating categories for the 5% cash back bonus, but I'll try to take advantage of it when I can. I don't really see the need for another rewards card, or any card for that matter. I don't think I'm going for the Citi anyway. It just struck me as being a pretty good card on paper.
Click to expand...

To answer your question, you could apply for that Citi card or try for another Rewards card to complement the Discover. Application for another card will not drive your FICO down that much nor for that long.

Discover has expanded the amount a person can get per quarter to 5% of 1500 of qualified purchases. I've had a Discover for over 15 years and their maximum totals earned used to be much lower. Sometimes only 5% of 300 or 400, which mean 15 or 20 per quarter.

I think when the Chase Freedom card came out with these bonus limits raised, Discover matched them.

I utilize both, since the type of purchases for each quarter are slightly different. For example, for the last 2 years, Chase has has 2 quarters where you get back 5% back from gas purchases. Discover has one quarter for gas purchases.

cal_no_dates.gif


https://www.discover.com/credit-cards/cashback-bonus/cashback-calendar.html
 
esquared said:
To answer your question, you could apply for that Citi card or try for another Rewards card to complement the Discover. Application for another card will not drive your FICO down that much nor for that long.

Discover has expanded the amount a person can get per quarter to 5% of 1500 of qualified purchases. I've had a Discover for over 15 years and their maximum totals earned used to be much lower. Sometimes only 5% of 300 or 400, which mean 15 or 20 per quarter.

I think when the Chase Freedom card came out with these bonus limits raised, Discover matched them.

I utilize both, since the type of purchases for each quarter are slightly different. For example, for the last 2 years, Chase has has 2 quarters where you get back 5% back from gas purchases. Discover has one quarter for gas purchases.

cal_no_dates.gif


https://www.discover.com/credit-cards/cashback-bonus/cashback-calendar.html
Click to expand...

Thanks. That's good to know. I think I'm going to hold with what I have anyway just to see how the payments work out with two credit cards. My main goal is to never pay interest, and I'm afraid that juggling too much too soon could cause the balances to sneak up on me in a bad way.
 
purbeast0 said:
i don't even know, i don't even open the envelopes anymore. i should look into it.
Click to expand...

You can "opt out" easily, either for 5 years or permanently:
link

Very effective, I opted out 4 years ago and haven't gotten a credit card offer since.


OP: I would consider opening another one since Discover isn't as widely accepted as Visa/MC, just in case something comes up.
 
kami333 said:
You can "opt out" easily, either for 5 years or permanently:
link

Very effective, I opted out 4 years ago and haven't gotten a credit card offer since.


OP: I would consider opening another one since Discover isn't as widely accepted as Visa/MC, just in case something comes up.
Click to expand...

hmmm that is all legit? they ask you for a ton of information heh.
 
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