Hi Everyone! Today was a big day for me, and I have my first question

Question

Hi everybody, I've been lurking here for the past month or so, but I finally created an account today because this week has been a big deal for me, and I have a question which you guys may know the answer to. Little bit of background knowledge.  I'm a rising second year student, and as far as credit is concerned, I've only had one.  This card would be the Wells Fargo College Card.  I started off when I turned 18 with a $500 limit, and it was increased this spring to $800.  During the summer I decided to shop around on banks for my checking, and decided to go with PNC.  I applied for their CashBuilder card, but was denied for the typical student reasons (insufficient credit history, loan balances too high, etc.).  It did give me a credit report out of it at least (learned my Experian is 722). Anyway, in the last month, I learned that I have the chance to study abroad in France this upcoming spring, so I began research on a card with no foreign transaction fees.  I became engrossed in learning about all the different banks, cards, and options not just for my time as a student, but for (what I thought) would come after graduation.  I settled on the Discover Chrome and Capital One Journey for the immediate future.  Discover is clearly my favorite (most of what I buy is gas / eating out), but the acceptance in France is minimal, so I needed the Journey too. I was instantly approved for both.  Don't know how much my CL on the Chrome is, but my Journey gave me $2,000.  This seemed really high to me, considering I have only had one card, for just over a year, which is only at $800.  I slept on this for a couple nights, and decided that I was too curious on whether or not I should have tried for the Capital One Quicksilver first. To test this, I decided to apply for the Chase Freedom (a card that I planned on applying for next summer), just to see if I could get a 'big boy' card.  I was instantly approved for $2,500!  I was surprised, shocked, amazed, etc!!! Then I got even more curious.  I now had a great rotating category card, but what if I could get (in my opinion) the best flat cashback card out there: the Citi CashBuilder.  I had heard stories about how you need excellent credit, and years worth of history, so I figured this would be the card to get after graduation.  But, I decided to try now, because why not.  My score can take the pulls now since I don't plan on applying for anything huge.  So I pulled the trigger, and was instantly approved for $1,500!!!!  Again, I was shocked. So this week has been great to say the least.  But, I can't help but kick myself for applying for the Journey, when it seems obvious to me that somehow, I could have had a pretty good shot at the QuickSilver.  So now I get to my question. What are the chances for me to change the Journey to a Quicksilver before December.  I know Capital One gives an automatic credit limit after 5 months, and that in some cases, you can upgrade that early, but would it be possible to do it sooner?  If I wait until my 5 months, that gives a very short time for me to actually receive the card which I would desperately need. Also, I'm wondering just how high PNC's standards are for credit.  It seems really odd that I could get a $2,500 CL with Chase (who I've had no relationship with) but couldn't get even a small limit with PNC who I migrated my checking to.

Answer 1

I have the Journey card, and shortly after I was approved for the Venture and Quicksilver. Check their pre-qualifier and see if either comes up for you. I know the Venture has no foreign transaction fees and it starts with high limits. But I will say my Journey card grew as well; I started with 1k and they auto increased me at 5 or 6 months to 5k. Plus soon we can combine their cards, so I would stick with the Journey for a little while and just go ahead and app for the Venture or Quicksilver.