I'm getting ready to do the mortgage thing. I want to improve my ratios a bit. My one big CL card, Citi is charged up pretty good after that bout of unemployment earlier in the year. I'm looking at the Discover card due to their 0% BT until June 2003 offer. Pretty sweet. So, is it better to ask for the BT's on the online application or wait until approved (hopefully) and have paperwork, then set up BT? Obviously, sooner is better than later from my perspective, but does that hurt my approval chances or otherwise affect their CL decision? In addition to that, does anybody know how long Discover holds a grudge? Had a paid charge off with them about four years ago...
I think that it is better to do it on the application. When I was approved for Citibank I was offered one limit ($2,000 I think) if I did no balance transfers at the same time or $5,000 if I transfered balances.
AT APPLICATION TIME...BANK of AMERICA approved the "WHOLE" BT amount + $100... ...On the other-hand, if you put say 3 BT'S for $20,000 total...and they wanted to give you about $10,000...they MAY just DENY you!!!
NEXTCARD "LIVED" FOR BT"S... No BT...$500 limit 18.99% interest... $2,000 BT...$4,000 limit 12.99% interest... $4,000 BT...$6,000 limit 9.99% interest... OR SOME SUCH DEAL...(100% BASED ON BT)
Quix: Same here. I think that doing a bt when you apply most likely gets you a higher cl. I had that experience with Citibank, Generations Bank - they approved me for a lower amount - but offered to raise it if I bt'd. I also think that First USA (which I haven't yet received - don't ask - but that's a different post) offered me my highest starting cl (12K) because I bt'd with the application. Mark LA
That's the part that's got me wondering. How much is the "right" amount to put down on the app for BT? That may be a rhetorical question. I'm not sure there's an answer...
Got the ol' "Your application requires further processing..." from Discover, so I guess it was just a theoretical excercise. Thanks for the feedback though.
Quixote, Yesterday, I applied for Discover asking for a BT of >$6000. I was wondering if that was too high and whether that would result in an auto denial. Well, I got the 30 day wait notice, then called and found out they did deny me. Don't know the reasons, though. They checked TU and my TU consumer score was 746. The GEORGE Factor has hit again!
GEORGE shoulda kept the typo in his sig (UGYF), or maybe we should all appropriate it. It could stand for the Unless George is Your Friend factor. Every bit as nasty as the original.
