Best rewards card

[dollarmenu]

So reluctantly I decided to look at my credit report.  It's not great.

Transunion-  656

Equifax- 659

Experian- 646

I do have some great things going for me like recent use of cards, zero inquiries in the past year.

I feel like I'm getting dinged for not owing on a car and not having student loans.

Some of the things it listed is 2 accounts with 60 days or later (both in 2007)

6 (I didn't know it was that many!!!) accounts with missed payments, again in 2007

Short credit history, oldest card is 10 years 1 month

1 missed payment 1 year ago

Too high revolving credit 11%, which I thought was low!

I suppose I will stop looking for the best rewards card and just start rebuilding.  Is there a forum for that?!

[SSA_2013]

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@dollarmenu wrote:

So reluctantly I decided to look at my credit report.  It's not great.

Transunion-  656

Equifax- 659

Experian- 646

Some of the things it listed is 2 accounts with 60 days or later (both in 2007)

6 (I didn't know it was that many!!!) accounts with missed payments, again in 2007

Short credit history, oldest card is 10 years 1 month

1 missed payment 1 year ago

Too high revolving credit 11%, which I thought was low!

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FICO considers 1-9% to be optimal for scoring. However, banks will approve you with only 11%. The issue is really with the lates. If you don't have any collection accounts I would apply for the Chase Freedom and Discover IT. Chase has a very good recon department and Discover has been marketing heavily lately (they have a decent recon department as well) If you get denied for them I would be honest and say that you didn't understand the importance of credit since you were around 18-20 when the accounts were late and that you have worked hard on improving. 

Edit: These FICO forums are good at rebuilding credit. I recommend this section MYFICO Rebuilding Forum. I will say that those lates are pretty old (with the exception of the one last year) and that they will fall off soon enough. Since you don't have any inqs I think you may want to try rebuilding at this point and you can burn 1-2 inqs + recon. The last thing you want is to open accounts with AFs if you can recon a decent no AF card with rewards.  

[dollarmenu]

Thank you for the great advice!!

We are in the beginning of building a house and I was hoping to purchase my furniture/appliances on credit rather than cash, but it seems as if that will have to wait. I will continue to charge my cards monthly and pay them off.

[dollarmenu]

Would it be a good time to request a CLI on my current capital one card?  $300 limit, I believe it's my one late payment in October 2012, I've had it for 2 years now.

[chnceit]

Yup thats a good start; you can try online, but if that doesnt work then I would try emailing the executive offices for an increase and maybe they could attach a reward program if you dont have rewards already. 

Also try Cap Ones preapproval page. 

[dollarmenu]

Went online, upped it another $500 to a total of $800.  Guess I'll go make some purchases this month and start paying again.

[chnceit]

Congrats! 

[SSA_2013]

Congrats! I'm glad to hear it. Capital One and GE are usually the most forgiving.