Have Discover It & Student Loans, looking to add credit card or credit line advice please

[Anonymous]

Hi,

My current scores:

Transunion: 647 and Equifax:606

Have Student loans, just graduated this past May with Bachelor's Degree in business from major university.

Had 4 cards and 2 lines of credit (Now have 2 credit cards and no lines of credit all closed on good terms):

Current:

Discover IT ($1500 CL Open, using, I believe CL increase few years ago),

USAA rewards ($300 Credit limit, using, opent 7 years never an increase closed)

Closed 4 months ago in good standing just paid in full with checking account and closed):

1. Chase ($2,000 paid off in full and closed 4 months ago)

2. Capital One ($1,750 paid off in full and closed 4 months ago)

3. Paypal Credit ($1,250 paid off in full 4 months ago and closed 4 months ago and closed)

4. Amazon Store Card ($700 paid off 4 months ago and closed 4 months ago).

I paid off an auto loan I got 14 months ago about 6 months ago paid off about $20,000 clear and full from savings.

Currently, I have apprx $40K in public student loan debt in defferment I believe as I do not start payments for 2 months at the moment. The loans are over a 3-4 year period of about 14 total loans (One or two public government loan per semester and summer).

So I have about 90% utilization of current total $1,800 limit on two cards and want to open another card as I should have kept another open but did not like the APR. I am looking to get a credit card with best approval odds and with decent or highest credit limit I could get nothing crazy somewhere between 1,000 and 3,000 or best card with special offers. Any advice? I called Discover was turned down with soft pull convo about limit increase havent gotten paper in mail as to why yet. I have clean record just utlilizaton is high. Discover card is 3 years old, USAA is 7 years old and have banking through them. Looking for tips, recently graduated with businessd degree from great publc university. Surprised when Discover would not give me any type of increase. My credit scores were 700 3 months ago when utilization as the $1,800 was 0-30%. So, I know that is tanking my score 70-110 points just there. Every other aspect is good never late never missed never in any collection all good just high utiliztion 90 plus percent recently. Thank you in advance!

[Anonymous]

With 90% utilization, it's going to be harder to get an approval with a good credit limit. That high utilization has tanked your scores. You shouldn't have closed all those cards as they were helping with utilization. You could try applying again with Capital One or Discover and see how it goes.

[Anonymous]

Yes, agreed, I have Discover currently and they denied a soft pull increase didnt ask for amount I was going to ask for small increase. I know, I should hae just kept accounts open and stashed cards so my utilization wouldbe unde 30% even if I had higher balances on the Discover (1500) and USAA (300). So best option would be to apply with credit card company I have history with? It is all good history I had 2K limit with Chase and 1.75k limit with Capital One, I could call them and try opening a new card would that be best? Any more info needed? Besides lowering utiliation (may drop it to 0% in couple months) what should I or can I do? Whats the best company to try and apply with I had Cap one and Chase. Thank you in advance for the advice very important and apprecaited! Thank you!

[AverageJoesCredit]

Yes, please get your utilization doen before you app again. Just my opinion of course, but shouldnt close cards just because you dont like the apr. Store cards are notorious for having high apr but if you pif , the apr becomes mute. Your Amazon had great growth potential. Cap One could lead to better cards and Chase , not sure what card you had but given your current limits, 2k wasnt that bad to have. If you saw 700 once with low utilization, then you know thats what needs to happen first. Then just go for a card that works for your spend

[Anonymous]

Yepp, going to try and do that, kind of in a pinch though, is there maybe a balance transfer card I could be approved for with current scores? I am moving and some medical bills coming up so really looking to obtain more credit shortly here. Good point yes it was 710 with the utilization low so thats the only thing keeping it down. Besides paying down balances, what can I do right now? Call capital one or chase? Had Cap one platinum and had Chase Freedom with 1750 and 2000 limits respectively. What can I do now to obtain credit? Would I be approved for anything that is unsecured with current scores and info provided? I should have kept accounts open you are right then my utilization would be 20%. If anyone has any advice for the immediate future to obtain credit would greatly appreciate it, thanks!