Past credit score history analyzed on hard inquiry?

[Anonymous]

When you apply for a credit card are they usually just looking at your current score at the time of application or do they go back through your past scores and see your averages? For most of 2016 and 2017 my score was in the the range of 640 - 720, most months were in the middle around 670ish. At this very moment my TU is 640 but it is all because of the high charge limits on the cards which I pay off each month and when I pay off all cards this week my score goes to the 730s. Is that history of lower scores hurting me? I really dropped the ball as this could have been avoided by just applying for new cards to increase my limit.

Second question is what would you suggest I apply for with a TU score of 734 with the main goal of obtaining 2 cards with higher than usual initial credit limit and/or cards that will allow me to increase my credit limit as much as possible to keep my utilization % low. 

By the way I am 27 years old with...

-$15,000 credit limit across all credit card accounts

- 5years of credit history

- 100% on time payments

- Recent inquries: 1 in last 2 years

- New accounts: 1 in last 2 years

 -2 collections on report, one for $487 (5 years ago) and one for $310 (3 years ago)

(Current cards: Costco anywhere Citi bank card, Capital One quicksilver, Capital One platinum, Credit one bank platinum, Nordstrom rewards card)

Thanks for any advice you might have for me!

[fltireguy]

From the way it has been explained your credit score is a snapshot AT THAT EXACT MOMENT. It has no memory, and your current profile is used to determine the score

[medicgrrl]

What are your other FICO scores?

[VipreArmed]

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@medicgrrl wrote:

What are your other FICO scores?

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+1.  

And what is your utilization?  I noticed you said you wanted to get 2 more cards to keep your utlization low.  Does that mean it's high right now?  If that's the case, you should probably work on that first before applying for new cards because your score isn't just the only thing they look at.   It's great that you've paid things on time but if a lender sees you have a high utilzation rate, they may influence their decision more than on-time payments or score.  I'd find out my other reports and then research the forum for the best card suited for you.  If your rate is high, I'd work on that first before applying for anything.

But if you are looking for a card that primarily pulls TU, Barclays is a start.  But research the forum about them because they are... odd is the word I'd use.  

[MrsCHX]

Is 734 from a simulator? That's not really reliable. Depending on your current utilization and derogatory items, you can see a nice score bump but probably not nearly 100 points.

The months of lower scores only "hurt" (not really...) for lenders like Cap one who periodically review and based CLI requests off their own SPs.

[Anonymous]

If I can see a Transunion data graph from barclays or discover they can too.

I think you should consider discover, skip barclays. Discover grows, pays cashback, great BT all year long, etc. Im happier with disco than with cap1