It’s been a while since I applied for a round of credit cards, that all changed this week when I decided to apply for a few offers.
Since Chase offers some of the best credit card sign-up bonuses I almost alway apply for an new Chase card when I am doing a round of applications. The problem is it is almost to easy to build up a collection of 5 or more Chase credit cards because there are numerous greats offers available at any given time. Playing it fairly safe with Chase is important because they offer some of the best deals, and you do not want to get blacklisted by abusing their sign-up offers. Moderation is key when dealing with Chase and although its possible, I won’t apply for more than 2-3 new Chase credit cards a year.
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Instead of canceling a card and applying for a new one with Chase, the best strategy is to apply for a the new card and then if you are not instantly approved calling into the reconsideration line and asking to transfer some existing credit to open up the new account.
I currently have 4 personal cards and 1 business card from Chase, and applied for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card this week. The application was the first I submitted out of 3 and I was not instantly approved. I almost expected this. If you have several accounts open and a high total credit line from Chase, there is an unlikely chance they will approve a new card.
This can work to your advantage. If you are not instantly approved for a new card, you can call into the reconsideration line right after you submit your application. Ask the representative to pull up your pending application via your social security number and submit it for review. It is important to mention that you would be willing to move around some of your existing credit line to open up the new account. Since Chase is just moving the credit around this has the benefit of not closing an account and then opening a new one, which would post to your credit report. This way your total credit line stays the same throughout the process, and you get a new card bonus!
Since your credit score can be impacted by a drop in your total accounts and credit line this will have less of an impact on your credit score. Combined with applying for multiple cards on the same day, this strategy when applying for a new Chase card is the best ways to limit the impacts to your credit score.
This has worked every time I have applied for Chase credit cards while already having 3-4 active cards.
Here basically how my call went when I called into Chase’s reconsideration line:
Me: Hi, I recently applied for a new credit card and would like to check the status of the application.
Chase Representative: I can help you with that, can I get your name and your application reference number?
Me: My name is Rand, and sorry I don’t have my reference number available (since I just applied several minutes before I did not receive one yet). Can you look it up using my social security number?
Chase Representative: Sure, I can do it that way.
Me: Great, my SS number is xxx-xx-xxxx.
Chase Representative: Alright let me pull that up for you…It looks like you applied for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card.
Me: That is it!
Chase Representative: Alright I’m am just going to put you on hold while I submit this to processing. I will be right back.
Me: Great thanks, and if it is possible to approve me for this new card I would be willing to move some existing credit from card I already have. Maybe you can close the Marriott Premier Credit Card and apply that credit to the Sapphire Preferred?
Chase Representative: Alright I will look into that…(1 minute later)..Hi Mr. Shoaf, it looks looks like you were approved for the Sappire Preferred. I went ahead and closed your Marriott Premier card and transferred that credit line over to open up your new Sapphire Preferred card. Is there anything else I can help you with this evening?
Me: Thats it! Thanks for being so helpful.
Bottom line
If you have several open Chase credit cards, don’t cancel one before you apply for a new one. If you are not instantly approved for a new card, use your existing credit lines to transfer some in order to get approved for a new card and bonus.
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As I type this, I am literally on the phone with Chase, reading almost verbatim from your script (including the Marriott card, which I want to close), and it is working (at least, they are putting an application in to transfer the credit, it’s not finalized). You, sir, are a genius, and I’m literally laughing out loud that this is working for me just as you describe.
Eric, glad you found it useful and it worked for you!
How often Chase offer a new credit card.
I typically get a new card or two from Chase every 4-6 months, but it’s definitely possible to get a new card every ~91 days.
Lets say you closed as an example a Marriott Chase CC and paid off the balance meaning you have 0 on it. How long can you wait to reopen a new one. Not that I have done this but I was annoyed that Marriott raised the categories so I closed the account a week before my 1 year anniversary because I didn’t want to pay the 80 dollar fee because the voucher get’s you a extremely weak hotel room.
charged99, you could potentially reopen a new one sooner but Chase generally has a 2 year rule for earning the bonus on the same card product. I would look at one of the other Marriott cards in the meantime.
Out of curiosity how much do you wind up paying in annual fees?
I usually pay around ~$200-300 in annual fees, but it really comes down to the benefits of the card and the anniversary bonus. If the card gives me a free night worth $400+ then I can easily justify paying the annual fee, if there is little incentive to keep the card or the benefits don’t fit my needs then most likely I will cancel and look for a new card.
do you agree the problem with the hotel credit cards is that they are lowering the rewards, meaning like 3 years ago these promotions were just to good to pass up like solid gold but today many of them have been so watered down that it defeats the hassle of opening up a new credit card.
charged99, I think we can say there is one thing for sure about hotel (and airline) points: eventually they will get devalued. That’s just the name of the game, and similar to almost any other currency in the world (i.e. inflation). There was definitely a good run a few years back and offers were amazing, who knows when we will see this again. In the meantime I’ll take what we can get, and there are still some valuable hotel cards out there and when I launch a round or card applications I’ll still always try to throw hotel cards into the mix.
Does this work for Business cards as well? I was declined for the Southwest Business Visa but my Ink Bold is up for renewal.
I can’t provide much personal experience for this strategy with Chase business cards, but I would assume it is similar. It’s always worth a shot.
I just tried this – have an Ink Bold and opening a Chase Sapphire Preferred. They said they cannot transfer credit from an Ink Bold. Oh well!
Well you got approved anyways! I assume that you can only transfer credit lines between accounts of the same type–between 2 personal accounts. I am doubtful that Chase will transfer credit from a personal account to a business account, vice versa.
Thanks for the post. I always have hard time understanding the logic behind this strategy. What if you closed the an account prior to applying the card to lowered your available credit. Do you think there was a chance of getting your cc approved instantaneously? I would really appreciate your response and love your blog!
You could close a card before applying for a new one, but I think the strategy of moving a credit line around works better for several reasons mentioned in the post. Although you might have a higher chance of getting an instant approval your credit score might also drop a few more points because the decrease in total credit lines (of course if also might rebound after the new account is opened). However I really haven’t found a drawback to applying with multiple cards open and then just calling in and having them move some credit around to get approved.