No credit card required
Browse credit cards from a variety of issuers to see if there's a better card for you.
Hi, Kind of a new guy here, been reading a lot lately though...
Had an AMEX Optima (Oasis) card for the past 7 years (900 Limit). Never missed a payment. Cleaned up all my credit that turned to crap during a bad divorce. ( I had perfect credit, got married, got divorced, got stiffed by ex big time for 30k. )
Pretty much, the Optima has been my only credit while fixing things, and waiting for bad things to drop. but pulled a CR and it looked good! Time to ditch the Optima.
Learned the hard way I have to cancel the Optima before trying for another AMEX. Declined for a BCE before cancelling the optima (Recovery product decline)
Cancelled. Tried again. Decliend. Credit score too low. Mailer said my Credit score of 664 was too low. Now I have NO credit. Called and asked for a recon. Stated I've had perfect history for 7 years, and now a very clean credit report. Declined. Lack of revolving credit, Low score. Won't reopen the Optima. Bah.
And Amex was nice enough to triple hard pull... Twice during this.
Had an offer from Merrick Bank in the mail. No fee 700 CL. Went for it since I had nothing else.
Same day, figured I'd try a couple online apps, not expecting any success, but why not? Let's try one not quite sub prime, but not quite prime...
Cap 1 Cash Rewards MC ( 39 fee one) - Approved for $1000
And finally, decided to try a prime one too...
Discover IT - Approved for $5000 (Whoa! Wasn't expecting that.)
I almost want to cancel the Merrick, but I get a free Fico score with it.
So time to sit in the garden and let these report for a bit, and let me score grow.
Amex reported my account closed, none of my new accounts are reporting yet. My latest score dropped 19 points because of that, but we'll let time fix that.
Thanks for reading. I'm just happy I've been approved for a real card recently! Hasn't happened in years!
Maybe someday I'll try again for Amex.
Congratulations on your approvals and for turning your credit around! You're doing a great job!
Awesome! Keep it up!
@SnackTrader wrote:
Another recent example of a huge Discover limit without previous limits in that range. Amazing!
I need to get that card if they keep this up.
Congrats!!
If that Merrick card has no AF, what the harm in keeping it just to boost your util?
Maybe stick it in a drawer and just let it marinate.
and...I am with you Snack!! If they keep that up I will need to move on them as well. Thats like the 3rd I have heard of in the past couple days.
Hey Lion, What do you think the lower limit for the BCE might be? I know things like this vary but I have been just wondering on this particular card.
is it lower than the Amex Delta Skymiles one?
@Pilotdude wrote:Hey Lion, What do you think the lower limit for the BCE might be? I know things like this vary but I have been just wondering on this particular card.
is it lower than the Amex Delta Skymiles one?
Well for me it was 680 on TU after a triple-pull. Included some paid CO's, and a settled mortgage (short sale) from 2009/10. ~10yr AAoA + positive previous Amex history from 95.
Pilotdude: Good point, I'll let it meranade a bit, plus it's worth keeping for the free FICO score monthly. CL will double in 7 months if I don't miss any payments.
LionLaw: I thought about the green/gold, but didn't bite. Now that may score dropped because the original optima is now showing cancelled, I may put one on my to-do list in 6-12 months. Since all my stuff is now new, and the 7 year AMEX acct is cancelled, I believe that puts my AAoA at zero, so want to build that before trying for anything at all.
SnackTrader: Yeah, Even I thought 5K was crazy. Very Unexpected, but plan to baby that card (Actucally all of them as a matter of fact). I would have been surprised with 1K. Heres the odd thing, My fiance' has wonderful credit. Score around 770, barely any utilization, and a car loan. (has about 6 credit cards total, not sure of the total amout of credit though ) She liked the perks of the IT. Applied... $2000 limit.
Anyway... I plan to do the same with the IT as I did the Optima. In my job, I get paid once a month (I hate it) - I pay all my bills on my card throughout the month, and PIF on pay day. Rarely run a balance unless a big expense like a major appliance breaks, etc. comes up.
Thanks for the congrats all, Feels good to have my life back. It took a long time to fix things, but it's finally starting to pay off, and I've learned some hard lessons along the way.