The tendency of credit card issuing policy differs from bank to bank in America. Even customers with very high credit scores might sometimes face a rejection: what is going on? Which bank should we try if we are looking for a high credit limit? Which bank offers the credit card that is the easiest to get approved? In order to find us the right credit card and to determine the optimal order for card applications, it is vital to understand their characteristics beforehand. The following rankings of banks are based on my personal preferences.
AmEx
Easy to get approved. Hard Pull (HP) is not a major concern for AmEx. But note that one cardholder can only hold 4 cards at most at a time (not including charge cards like PRG or credit cards on AmEx network issued by other banks like FIA). Usually high credit limit. Outstanding services. Financial Review (FR) will be triggered if your account has some suspicious transactions. FR is usually due to Manufactured Spending (MS, i.e. artificially creating a large amount of transactions to earn points).
Chase
[New policy released in June 2015] If you have opened 5 or more new revolving accounts (all new accounts are calculated including either Chase or non-Chase accounts, even including the accounts that you are an authorized user by default, but you can persuade them to omit the latter when you call to reconsideration), he or she will not be approved for any Chase branded credit card (e.g. Freedom, CSP), but co-branded credit cards (e.g. UA, IHG) are not affected by this new policy. Chase also don’t care about number of HP. As long as your history is longer than a year, your application will be very probable to get approved. High credit limit. Nice services. Extremely sensitive to suspected money laundering. Any suspicion of money laundering will end up in closing all your chase accounts (canceling every one of your accounts at Chase and dragging you into the blacklist immediately). Chase is quite sensitive to MS, large cash deposit (over ten thousands of dollars), large regular cash deposit (over thousands of dollars per month) and transferring UR points to other people. Staying clear of these actions is highly suggested to avoid all your accounts being closed.
Citi
Hard to get approved. Citi cares very much for the number of HP in the past six months. The criteria of approval is different between automatic and manual review. The chance of approval will be much better with a manual review. Generally high credit limit. Nice services.
Discover
Easy to get approved. Low credit limit and hard to increase it. Nice services. If you misuse Discover Deals your account will possible get closed.
BoA
Easy to get approved. Low credit limit. If you ask for a credit limit increase (CLI) by yourself, you will definitely get a HP. Bad services. They will possibly close your account if it is inactive for half a year.
Barclaycard
Hard to get approved. Low success rate of calling for the back door number line for a reconsideration. Barclaycard cares very much for the number of HP in the past six months and the number of new accounts. If you apply for 2 credit cards from them in the same day, your second application is highly possibly get rejected. Low credit limit, and if you ask for a credit limit increase (CLI) by yourself, you will definitely get a HP. Nice services.
US Bank
One of their gimmicks to attract customers is to promote some really good cards like Cash+/Club Carlson, which are really hard to get. Most of the customers applying for such cards will end up getting downgraded to a barely satisfactory one. This bank even modifies the card rewards from time to time, causing the value of credit card to drop overnight. It is said that they make contacts via paper-based letters only and never send emails. Bad services.
Capital One
They will do hard pulls from all three credit bureaus for one application. It is also possible that they do three hard pulls without your consent if you asked reconsideration. I was demanded to verify my filled revenue during the application, which was the only one among all the banks that I was simultaneously applied for credit cards from. They make contacts via paper-based letters only and never send emails. Bad services.