Hi everyone,
I've taken to lurking around this forum quite recently, and have read up on a lot of posts and have picked up on some great tips/info!
A little background on myself: currently 20 years old. I'm currently a college student and am employed as well. Got my first credit card from Capital One at 18 with a limit of $300, which was increased to $500 a few months later and has stayed there ever since. I'm not particularly fussed about calling them up to ask for an increase, and have every intention of relegating this card to my sock drawer with only a small monthly subscription charged on it. This past July I applied for a Visa Classic with my credit union (2 year difference between these cards!), and was approved for a $2,000 limit (you can imagine how happy I was!). I plan on requesting an increase on the card to $5,000 (the max available for this particular card) next summer, close to the 1 year mark.
I have never missed a payment, and although the first year I ran high balances on my Cap1 card, I now have a much lower utilization % (less than 10). Current scores are: Transunion 703, Equifax 647 (factored in new Visa from 2 months ago, and high balance from last statement)
Now the part where I would love some advice on: I'm currently looking at applying for some of the Amex cards - I know there are people here on both the pro/con sides for Amex, and was wondering if they would be worth the risk for me to try to get a card from them! I like the look of their Hilton HHonors card - I've stayed at their hotel brands in the past, and am more familiar with the names when compared to the SWG card (where I've only heard of 1 hotel under that brand), but I haven't been able to find too much about the card specifically. Is there anyone here who has had experience with them and the rewards/point program? I don't know TOO much about these programs in general, and am not too fussed about redemption rates and what not - should I be?
Since I'm not sure exactly what my chances are on getting approved for the Hilton card, I was also considering applying for one of their charge cards first - either Zync or Green, since it seems like they are the easier approvals around at the moment. Is that a good idea? I'm waiting for my Visa statement to close and report in before I apply, as my scores took a bit of a hit with my high balance on the card (purchased a new laptop with it), but I have a pretty good feeling that I could get an approval for at least the Zync. I like the idea of the Green card as well, since it seems I can transfer those points over into the Hilton rewards program - is that true?
Terribly sorry for the long essay, but kudos to all that get through this and thanks for your time in reading this- thanks in advance for any of your thoughts!
