Chase Airline Credit Cards: United MileagePlus Explorer Card Arrives and Credit Score Mania!

I was able to get the card expedited and one day later, 5:30 pm today, it was in my hand. Behold the glorious UA Explorer card!

Funnily enough, Chase sent me an e-mail at 8pm informing me my card will arrive in 7 days. That is efficiency!

I was speaking with Julia, a friendly rep from Chase, to activate my card and she confirmed the 50k bonus miles. She told me that the miles should post 6-8 weeks after my first spend and that the statement does not need to be closed.

I already made my first purchase; my Experian credit score. It cost a total of $1.09 for a 7 day trial.

My United Explorer and Delta AmEx cards did pull from Experian . Now my Credit Sesame’s proxy (FAKO) Experian score on 12/12 was 771.

My Credit Sesame has not updated yet but I did get my genuine Experian score from enrolling in the 7 day trial. The Experian score is 743.

Yup not too shabby because 740 and above is considered excellent credit.  I just stayed above that important threshold by the smallest margin.

12/21/2011 UPDATE: I got a congratulatory letter from AmEx today and in it they told me my Experian Score they pulled was a 757!

It is a bit odd that my Experian should drop by 14 points for just the two applications. However, it is manageable and I shall be in a position of credit card dominance once again!

Barclay’s ‘Cross the Pond

50% of the reason I applied to the Barclay’s US Airways Card is because it is well documented to pull from TransUnion. OK maybe more than that. haha.

I’m not knocking the 40k bonus miles but by pulling TransUnion, my least utilized credit agency, it gives some relief to my other credit scores.

My Credit Karma score was 750 on December 6th and remains the same after the inquiry from my US Airways card.

Abstract:

As you can see my Credit Karma scored did not dip at all.

My Credit Sesame needs to be refreshed so I can get a good barometer to see how much I really dropped .

I did not have my genuine Experian before my app run but now I do.

If both my Credit Sesame and Real Experian scores are accurate than my Experian has dropped by 28 points.

But my Credit Sesame score predicted a point loss double my genuine score.

It is what it is.

The accepted wisdom is that each inquiry drops your score by ~5 points.

It seems I did take a bigger hit than normal.

Where I was expecting a 10 point drop it was 14 points. Nothing outrageous but a bit more than my highest forecasts had projected.

I know my score will recover because I always pay off my balance in full each month.

I never apply for more cards than I can manage and I always track my credit score.

I like to think of my mile/point accounts as a part of my financial health.

I create a financial plan and make sure I stick to my mission statement.

If you have a goal you are focused on and manage your assets properly you will see very lucrative returns!