700+, need "adult" card

[quest208]

my scores are over 700, about 700-710.

i have 3 cards but they are "toy" cards, opened in 2010, so not quite 2 years yet:

orchard bank mastercard $700 limit

best buy reward zone $100 limit

office depot $500 limit

right now my utilization is 0% - 7%

i want a real card that will be at least $1,000 but not sure what to apply for at this point.  in the past 17 months my payment history has been flawless, but like i said i have new fairly new credit.

i do have a closed chase account showing up on my tradeline, closed in good standing back in 2002, so it helps with credit history.

i was thinking applying for usaa mastercard or barclays visa.

anyone?

[Creditaddict]

USAA If full member is probably good idea

but I would say Citi Forward would be my first app... then let it report and then apply for Barclay if you want them.

Once you get one big one it's easier to get the rest to kind of follow lead, then close out those 2 household cards!

[Anonymous]

Do you want anything else out of the card besides a $1k+ limit?  Specific rewards, low APR, 0% BT (probably not, since your balances are low as it is), etc?

There are literally thousands of cards out there.

[quest208]

i would love some of the "perks" but right now i just want to get my foot in the door with a card with a limit above $1,000.  once i do that i know in the future i can upgrade to a card with perks, so right now i guess beggers cant be choosy.  i just want to be approved for a card with a better credit limit.

i have a usaa checking account and i use the usaa credit monitering, but my checking account has like $20 in it and i never use their checking account.  i dont know if that helps or hurts me.

and yes, my balances are low, paid them off in october, and yesterday i charged groceries, so utilization is very low now.

given my scores, if i can get one card with a credit limit above $1,000, and a card that i dont have to worry about cancelling in the future, i would be happy.  (i have orchard, so i dont want another orchard-type card)

thank you

[Creditaddict]

Citi Forward... seems to be the "easy" card to get from them and VERY nice rewards especially if you eat out a lot.

[drkaje]

If a full USAA member, see if anything good pops up on the "My offers" tab.

I guess it also depends upon your long term needs and goals.

[Creditaddict]

One more thought on the Citi Forward... my friend had a Cap1 with $500 limit that he has had since he was 18, never a single CLI and he had a Bloomingdales card... his scores were about 780-800 and applied for Citi Forward and got instant approval for $6k and after 3 months was give $2400 increase I believe it was.

Now he also has an Amex with $4k limit

[quest208]

in 2004 i was an AU with a citibank card that was charged off and never repayed.

is that going to affect me, does citi put people in some sort of blacklist?  i dont wnat to be denied, although i wasnt the primary.

ill try the citi, is there a second card i can try?  i want to apply for two cards, one after the other.

[Creditaddict]

Citi does black list but you won't be affected because the account was not yours and I assume is not on your credit reports?

I would do Citi and if that generates a pretty nice CL I would look at either a Charge card or a credit card with Amex... Zync or Gold for charge or Blue for credit card

[Anonymous]

Just make sure AU has been removed from your credit report before applying to Citi.

As above poster mentioned, the account is not yours, so just get yourself removed as AU, if you haven't done so already.

Hopefully you already did.

I also second the opinion on Citi Forward card.

Also, go to the Discover site. They have a pre-qual page. Plug in your info and see if you get any pre-approvals.