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Chase Freedom Credit Card Requirements
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Review: Chase Freedom Flex
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Chase Freedom Unlimited® is one of the best credit cards on the market, especially if you're looking for a credit card with no annual fee.
It offers a variety of special bonuses, the ability to earn great rewards on various purchases and travel and shopping benefits such as trip cancellation and interruption insurance, purchase protection and extended warranties.
Upgrade The Freedom Cards To The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card
Surprisingly, this credit card is not as easy to get approved as it sounds, despite being an annual credit card.
So in this guide, we'll take a look at the requirements for the Freedom Unlimited card, including your credit score, approval tips, and what to expect if you can get one of these cards.
The FICO score is the most common type of credit score used for consumer credit. Currently, there are 5 main factors that affect your FICO score.
For starters, payment history is the single most important factor. In short, your payment history is determined based on your reliability in paying your debts on time every month, even if you don't pay your bills in full.
Chase Freedom Flex Vs Freedom Unlimited: Rewards & Bonuses
Your debt-to-income ratio refers to a number known as your debt-to-income ratio. To determine this number, you can add up the amount of money you have. Then, add up the total monthly balance on these cards. Finally, divide the total balance by the total number of loans available. If you have $10,000 in credit available and spend $2,000 each month, you have a credit utilization ratio of 20%.
The length of your credit history simply means the length of your credit cards. So if you have 2 credit cards, 1 with 5 years of history and 1 with 20 years of credit history, your average credit history is 12.5 years.
Consolidation is a term used to describe the different types of credit available to you. It will be more beneficial to you and your credit score if you have other credit items than credit cards, such as car loans, home loans, student loans, HELOCs, personal loans, etc.
Finally, applying for new credit is generally defined as the number of inquiries found on your credit report.
Card News: New Chase Freedom Flex & Updated Freedom Unlimited
As we mentioned above, the best credit score (and the best credit score for most lenders) is your FICO score. There are other scoring models available, such as VantageScore, but these are unreliable and sometimes misleading.
Be sure to look for your FICO score instead of your VantageScore when evaluating your chances of getting approved for a credit card.
Fortunately, it's easy to check your credit report (and your credit score) for free with all 3 bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion).
To monitor your credit report and be notified when there are significant changes, you can sign up for a free Karma account, although we don't recommend trusting Credit Karma's score because it's VantageScore-based.
Ways To Check Chase Credit Card Application Status (sep. 2023)
As a general rule, Chase requires you to have a good credit when you apply for the Freedom Unlimited card. This is not surprising, considering the fact that most people combine cards with no annual fee as it is suitable for those with low credit. However, the Freedom Unlimited card offers better rewards as an annual credit card than other cards.
Annual fee. Chase likes to reserve these special benefits for customers with good credit history, which is why Chase offers a few deals here.
You'll want to have a FICO score of at least 670 before you apply, but a higher score doesn't guarantee approval while a lower score doesn't guarantee a decline. If you've opened 5 or more new credit cards in the past 24 months, Chase will automatically decline you for new credit card applications. This is called the 5/24 rule. So for example, even if you have over 800 points, you will probably be rejected for the Freedom Unlimited card if you have opened 6 new credit cards in the last 2 years.
Chase also pays close attention to how many credit cards you've opened in the past few months based on their approval criteria. For example, if you've already opened 3 new credit cards this year, Chase may choose to turn you down for a new card. However, Chase generally does not care how many inquiries are made on your credit report.
Chase Freedom Student Credit Card Review
Another factor that can affect Chase's decision is the total amount you've been charged on all of your Chase credit cards. If the total available credit on your current Chase credit cards exceeds 50% of your income, you may have a hard time getting approved for any new credit cards.
Chase also evaluates your previous relationship with the provider. For example, you can often be approved if you already have multiple Chase credit cards. On the other hand, if you have past delinquencies, late payments, or fees with Chase, you will have a very difficult time getting approved for new Chase cards.
We recommend that you have a good credit history before applying for the Freedom Unlimited card. This includes at least 2 years of accuracy and timely payments on your credit report. If you have a limited credit history, you may have a hard time getting approved.
Hot tip: Another way to tip the odds in your favor is to apply for a new personal checking account at a Chase branch and check for pre-approved offers immediately after opening a bank account with a banker. If you qualify for these offers, you can apply immediately for a higher chance of approval.
Chase Freedom Unlimited Vs. Freedom Flex Card [2023]
Chase will generally only pull 1 credit report when you apply for the Freedom Unlimited card, so make sure your credit report isn't frozen before you apply.
With all that being said, here are some top tips we recommend you follow if you're serious about getting a Freedom Unlimited card:
If you are still new to credit and have limited/no credit history, you need to start applying for a "low level" credit card to build your credit history before you consider applying for the Freedom Unlimited card.
If you have a trusted family member with strong credit, you can ask him/her to add you as an authorized co-signer on one of their credit cards. This way, you can get that great credit history without investing years to build your history.
Chase Freedom Flex Vs. Chase Freedom Unlimited
If you check your credit report for the first time and see some accounts or activities that you are sure do not belong to you, you need to dispute these errors with the credit bureaus. Even if you have a perfect payment history up to this point, there is no telling what will happen in the future, assuming that a fraudster has opened a credit card in your name.
The maximum credit limit you will be approved for is $500. And most people agree that the maximum credit limit you will be approved for is $30,000.
It is possible to reinstate credit limits from existing Chase credit cards and combine them on your Freedom Unlimited card, but that may require additional research.
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