This is maybe my second time posting on these boards, but I wanted to share my story for others who are looking to get new credit. I'm a recent college grad making 50k a year with about 16k in loan debt. I have 3 credit cards - one secured Cap1 with a $450 CL (started at 300, was increased about a year ago), one student Cap1 Journey with a $750 CL (started at 500, was increased about 6 months ago), and one Macy's card with a $100 CL (-_- cannot buy a thing). My credit report is less than 3 years old, and my AAoA is probably around 1.5 years. I have 1 60-day late about a year and a half ago from a mess-up on Macy's end that they refuse to correct and I'm done battling. I was just approved for a Cap1 Venture card - generally for people with 'excellent' credit - with a $5000 limit, 20 minutes after being denied CLIs on both Cap1 accounts. While my Experian was 710 (just entered the 700 club this month), whatever co. CreditKarma pulls put me at 687. So excellent by no means.
I think a few things helped me:
- my credit history with cap1. Even though I knew I had a better chance applying for other cards (CKarma said I had very poor chances and I read countless internet reviews), I figured that I'd never been late with Cap1 and infrequently carried a balance. If anyone was gonna go out on a limb for me and give me a 'big kid' credit card, it should be them.
- my utilization. It'd dropped down to 3% from about 30% 6 months ago. That is to say, I said eff credit, set up my cell phone bill to one card, put the cards far away and didn't check my scores for a long time.
- my inquiries. In line with saying eff it, I'm pretty sure I'd been unintentionally gardening for almost a full year. There would be one inq on my account from September 2012 (shxtty opaque apartment leasers hard pulling my credit), but that's it.
Moral of the story? Sometimes Cap1 isn't the devil, and sometimes it's okay to just close your eyes, go for a reach, and press submit. Consider your relationship with the company and remember: the worst they can say is no.
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Very quick question: I want to irresponsibly (but I deserve it!) book a $1500 international trip in June. This card is great for mileage and would obviously help, so I'd like to buy the trip entirely on the card and pay off half immediately and the other half a couple weeks later (obviously without carrying a balance). Do you all have any thoughts/ideas about how far this will set my scores back? Will the rebound be difficult enough to make my strategy not worth it? I'm not planning on applying for anything in the next 6 months. Thanks!
Starting Score: TU 604
Current Score: EX 719
Goal Score: All CB 800 (07/2018)
MY WALLET: AMEX BCE 13 K | Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card 9 K | CapOne Venture Rewards 5.5K | CapOne QuickSilver 3.7K | Discover IT 3.2K | AMEX HH 2K
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