It’s been just a little less than a year since we’ve built the HelpMeBuildCredit credit card database and we’ve already gotten over 800 credit card results reported by fellow users. You can check it out to track real-time results coming from users. Users report which credit cards they were approved for, what credit limits they were approved for, which credit bureau was pulled, and much more great knowledge and tips.

There is so much to learn from fellow users. Let’s jump in and crunch the numbers to see what great tips we can learn from recent credit card approvals. 

Amex

Amex recently approved applicants with very nice limits, both on personal cards and on business cards. There are over 20 applications that reported getting approved on Amex cards for credit limits of $9k or more (business cards are mostly getting nicer numbers than personal ones). 

Many have also reported getting approved for two Amex cards within the same day and getting the same limit on each of the cards. That’s why if you get approved for one AMEX card then immediately jump for a second Amex application as well (Amex only pulls your credit report once per day). 

Amex is pulling Experian credit reports but is not pulling any credit report for existing cardholders (they rely on information from a soft pull that Amex does once a month for all their cardholders). 

Capital One

Capital One got much easier with approvals recently, especially on the  Capital One Spark Cash Cards. We’re seeing many applicants getting credit limits of $20k -$50k!! In order to get a nice limit on the Capital One Spark Cash card, I recommend entering a nice amount for your “monthly spend”. Credit limits often go based on the number you put in. So if you put in $30k for monthly spend then that’s the credit limit you will get (often).

The Capital One Journey card is still a great choice for users that are new to credit and don’t have any previous credit cards. We saw a nice number of applicants getting approved for the Journey even with no credit history.

Capital One is pulling credit reports from all three credit bureaus.

Chase

The Chase Sapphire Preferred was a very popular card this month due to the insane 80K welcome offer. Approvals on the Sapphire Preferred were very popular as well. Just keep note of the 5/24 rule and make sure you have a min of at least one year of your own credit history (not authorized users) before you apply. 

Overall, Chase approvals were all very nice and frequent, both on the personal card and the business cards. The highest credit limit reported this month is $60,000 on the Chase Ink Preferred!

Chase is mostly pulling the Experian credit report.

Citi

Citi approvals were mostly in the $5k-$10k range which is very normal for Citi (no major change there). From experience, we see that applicants who have a long relationship with Citibank get the best credit limits, sometimes as high as $25k or more.

Citi is pulling either Experian or Equifax credit reports (or both).

Barclays

We do not have any recent data about Barclay’s approvals. If anyone has any data to share then please submit it to our credit card database so we can include it in our next update.

Discover

Discover approvals definitely are increasing slowly, even for newcomers to credit or even for applicants who have one or two maxed-out credit cards. This is great news for applicants who carry a high balance and are looking for a 0% APR card to transfer their balance to in order to save on interest. The Discover It card offers 0% APR on purchases and balance transfer for up to 14 months. 

Discover is mostly pulling the Experian credit report unless you freeze Experian. You can then request Discover to pull from one of the other credit bureaus.

What you need to know

For those of you who don’t have the time or energy to read through all the data points, here is a great recap of what you need to know.

Are you looking for a high credit limit?

The highest credit limits are currently coming in from the Chase Ink Preferred card or Capital One Spark Cash card. Amex cards are currently also good options.

Are you looking for your first credit card?

The best results for applicants with no credit history are coming in with the Capital One Journey or the Chase Freedom Student card (only for applicants who have a Chase bank account for a minimum of six months).

Looking to transfer balance debt?

Discover It is currently approving even applicants that have high debt on other credit cards (only if the debt is on one or two cards, not if it’s on many different cards).

Do you have a low credit score?

The cards that are approving applicants with a low credit score are either the US Bank Harley Davidson card or the Capital One Platinum card (you can also try a secured card).

Did you recently apply for a credit card? Share your results in our credit card database to help users like you #creditbetter.