Thread: How long should I wait to apply for a card after being denied?

I recently viewed my credit reports at annualcreditreport.com and looked at my actual credit score with TransUnion at CreditKarma.com. After looking through them I thought maybe I had a shot at a card that Poor/Fair scores could get. My Transunion score is 623 so it sits around the Poor/Fair borderline depending what agency and website you look at.

I applied for the Capital One Platinum card (I know the APR and other %'s are high, but as long as I paid my balance off every month I wouldn't have to worry about those. The annual fee was waived the first year and only $19 a year after so much cheaper than the Classic Platinum card they offer.) Anyways I was denied.

I will know why in 7 to 10 days. I'm guessing its because I have 2 medical bills in collections and only one line of credit on my report that I actually never used. It was a Rogers Jewelers card that I got 6 years ago. Its since been closed.

So my question is how long should I wait until I apply for something else. If I get approved for a bad credit unsecured card like Orchard Bank do I go for that or do I just go after a secured card? My bank, US Bank, offers one?

Thanks for any advice.

Since you already used the inquiry, I would call Capital One for a recon (reconsideration of the denial). You have nothing to lose and maybe after you share with the agent the reason for the medical bills they will agree to open the account. Capital One also offers a secured or partially secured card that you can look into. Try 800-707-0489 or 800-889-9939 for a recon.

If you have never filed a bankruptcy you may also check out Citibank and BofA's secured cards as well as a secured card from your credit union or as you say, US Bank. You will have to pony up the cash for the deposit, but in the long run, these cards are much better than anything else you will qualify for right now. (Don't go this route if you have ever defaulted with Citibank or BofA or any of BofA's legacy banks like MBNA or Fleet).

If you don't have a lot of inquiries, there really is not a time limitiation in between applications. I would not go crazy and apply for every card under the sun though. I would strongly recommend calling Capital One to have them reconsider the app and if that doesn't work, you may need to go the secured route. Citibank pays interest on your security deposit but they have a long secured time of 18 months. BofA is usually 12.

The only other recommendation is to app for the Walmart card (if you go there often enough to justify opening it). GECRB, the issuer, is usually pretty good about approving to lower credit scores. Your initial limit may be small, but after 4 months they typically increase it or you can request an increase online. Walmart also offers a free Trans Union 08 credit score with the card. Be careful with GECRB though, if you go too long without using the card, they lower the credit line to $124.

Good luck with the recon and let us know what happens.

Its funny that you mentioned Wal-Mart because earlier today, before I read your reply, I was shopping for some Christmas gifts there and saw the advertisment for their credit card. I decided to apply when I got home just to see what happened. They said they would give me a decision within 7 to 10 days. While not the most encourging of messages at least I didn't get a instant denial. I read a good amount of reviews saying they got the same and when they called a day or two later to check on the app status they answered a few questions and got approved. I guess I'll give them a call in a couple days and see what happens. If I do get rejected again then I think I'm going to apply for a secured card when I get my income tax return. I don't want to keep applying for all these cards to just keep getting rejected and hurt my credit score. Hopefully the Cap1 and WalMart apps don't hurt it too much. I'll update once I hear something.

Um...if you know you have medical bills in collections, why did you apply? Pay those off first, wait at least 6 months during which you pay everything on time and maintain healthy checking account balances. Then apply. You will just be digging a deeper hole if you try to get credit now.

Originally Posted by DoingHomework

Um...if you know you have medical bills in collections, why did you apply? Pay those off first, wait at least 6 months during which you pay everything on time and maintain healthy checking account balances. Then apply. You will just be digging a deeper hole if you try to get credit now.

+1 on the 6 months