Question How Long Between to Apply for Quick Silver & PenFed CC Offers ?

[Barbisi]

My husband received a Capital One Quick silver offer yesterday and according to the US postal notifications we get as a daily email since the move, he also was sent an offer today from PenFed.
This question is primarily for you shipo, since you are the absolute CC rebuilding guru (no offence intended justbroke , LOL!) : How long should he wait to apply for the PenFed offer if he successfully applies to Capital One and is approved for a decent credit line, say a week or more, a month, etc? We want to maximize chances for success by not applying for 2 different offers from two different banks too close together (i.e. meaning, like within hours or days of each other.) In other words, how long should we space these applications apart?

[shipo]

I think this is a YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary) scenario; in my case I got the pre-approval letter for my Quicksilver card in early December 2020 (9 months after my discharge), and was instantly approved for a credit limit of $3,000. By that time I'd already had a small ($100) savings account with PenFed for about 3-months; in March of 2021 I applied for the PenFed Platinum Signature Rewards card and was instantly approved for $6,000.

In your shoes I'd probably pull the trigger on the Quicksilver pretty soon and then wait a month or two and then take a crack at PenFed.

[Barbisi]

Since we are only 5 months from the discharge and less than two months from the closing of our BK13, I am more than a little surprised for Zombie13 to receive these offers so quickly, shipo . However, because we didn't apply for any credit (per your advice), save for the secured card through the CU to finance the van rental and hotel charges for the final move out of Colorado and then (rather reluctantly) for an auto loan through the dealership only because I really needed a car (as you know the 2005 Sentra ended up going straight to the junkyard) and even though we could have easily paid cash and still had enough of a nest egg left over, we decided to partially finance the purchase to start rebuilding our credit, that may well and in itself explain Capital One's offer : supposedly we were approved for a car loan through them, but Toyota's financing was a quarter of a point cheaper and so that was the rate we got (or at least that's what the financing manager told us.) And perhaps, the 40k+ pay raise here and the investor sale of the Colorado house also helped us.
Of course, there is no guarantee he will be approved but he can only try and see what happens.
As for me, I still think I will need to open a secured local CU credit card in my name and see where that takes me. Trying to ride his credit coat tails will only take me so far.

[justbroke]

I joined PenFed and received two back-to-back $10K cards from them (Pathfinder and PCR). I'm still with Navy Federal, but PenFed may become my goto for credit products.

[Barbisi]

justbroke , unfortunately Navy Federal would never be an option for me and Zombie13 since neither of us have any military connections (no direct or family service on either side). I know both you and shipo are vets, so it sounds like Navy Federal would be a solid choice for you guys.
My husband will probably try PenFed, and if I get an offer sometime down the line, I'll try as well.

[shipo]

justbroke , unfortunately Navy Federal would never be an option for me and Zombie13 since neither of us have any military connections (no direct or family service on either side). I know both you and shipo are vets, so it sounds like Navy Federal would be a solid choice for you guys.
My husband will probably try PenFed, and if I get an offer sometime down the line, I'll try as well.

While I have the option of Navy Federal, last year when I ramped up my business with PenFed I noticed their rates (both for earned interest as well as for interest on credit) beat NFCU in every case. My son uses NCFU and we have compared rates a number of times since then, and with few exceptions, PenFed came out the winner.

[Zombie13]

Yknow... PenFed beats Fed-Pen every day of the week! Just sayin.