Boosting credit limits for next 6 months

[enjoimorenow]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Got it, no more new credit cards
So Installment loan will help me a little bit?
For how many months and what amount of loan?

Thanks

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Yes, but there is no point in taking out a loan and taking on debt just to take out a loan.

That's why I suggested a secured loan.  For example, you put $250 in a savings account at a credit union.  You take out a secured loan against the balance.  They hold the money in your savings, and then deposit the $250 loan into your checking account.  You then make 6 payments of approx $42.  When the 6 months is up and you have paid off the loan then they release your $250 back into your savings.  

Basically this is an easy way to add an installment loan at little cost to you (maybe $2 in interest).

You can take out a larger loan or for longer terms, but there is really no point as you are essentially borrowing against your own money.  If you take out $5,000 then you have to tie up $5,000 in a savings account for the term of the loan.  You aren't going to get more points for taking out a bigger loan, in fact it would probably hurt you a little because your debt to income ratio would be worse with a larger loan.  

[Anonymous]

Cool, That's what I'm gonna do next
Thanks a lot guys

[dlm0820]

Inquires don't matter.

[Anonymous]

I would get rid of Credit One today. Merrick is a starter but at some point needs to go.  The AA of accounts and number of inq are what are holding you back.  I would sit and garden and watch them grow and my scores grow.

[HeavenOhio]

Given that the OP has had his AMEX for five months, is there any reason why he shouldn't be requesting a 3X CLI to $1500?

Here's the link to the thread that discusses the share secured loan that's frequently recommended here:

Adding an installment loan -- the Share Secure technique

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So now i got
1. BofA Secured 10mon old, 600$ limit
2. CreditOne Plat 5mon 700$
3. CapitalOne Journey 5mon 500$
4. AMEX BlueCash 5mon 500$
5. CiTi DoubleCash 1mon 700$
6. Merrick DoubleBal 0mon 1400$
+PayPal Credit 1500$ but it's not on report

Main problem is inquiries. About 5-7 on each credit bureau. I already sent letters to remove unauthorized inquiries to all banks and waiting 30day to start calling them

Now credit score is 676 TU, 691 Eq
I need advice for next steps, friends

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@Anonymous a few questions...

1.) Scores? Are those FICO or from Credit Karma? These are vastly diffenent scoring systems. Would help in terms of what to do next.

2.) If they are Credit Karma, do you know your FICO 08 scores? Amex gives you your Experian Score for free & usually updates each month.

With that out of the way. You should request a credit line increase on your Amex Blue Cash asap to $1500 this will be a soft pull so no additional inquiry.  BofA, call and see if you are eligible to have the card graduated to an unsecured version.  Capital One Journey, request a limit increase online asap, if it's more than $300 go ahead and accept the increase and you may get another bump after your 6th statement cuts. This wil also be a soft pull so no additional inquiries. CreditOne, you don't need this card and the associated fees, they are predatory. Pay off any balance on the account + call and close the card and verify that you will not have any additional fees charged by them to the account. Get a letter from them stating the account was closed with a $0 balance. Merrick, hold on to it for a little bit, you already have better cards but it's your highest limit right now.

EDIT: Join Navy Federal Credit Union - will be a TU HP but don't app for any credit cards yet, just open the savings account + checking account. There is a little known way to get in if you search online or this forum you'll find it. Also Join PenFed (Pentagon Federal Credit Union) anyone can join, open the savings and checking account. This will be a single EQ pull. Don't apply for any credit cards yet. Both of these Credit Unions are well known for the big limits they give out, but with your younger file an recent apps your approvals won't be ideal. Better to wait.

GARDEN FOR 6 MONTHS!!! No apps, not even preapproved offers. Use the cards you have and pay the balance down to zero before your statements cut. Do this on all but 1 card, leave a $2 balance on 1 card (preferrably) the same card each month so that only 1 account is reporting a balance and that balance is the absolute lowest number.  Less than $2 will get rounded down to $0.  This is a trick to maximize your score(s) while your profile ages.

6 Months from now all of your inquires should be over 6 months old if not a year old and this will give you a nice score boost.  Request another increase on the Amex & Capital One Cards, on those two you can request an increase every 181 days.  Apply for a credit card with PenFed, this will be another EQ pull. Then that same day, apply for a credit card with NFCU, they are far less inquiry sensitive then PenFed, will probably be a TU Pull.  Both at this point should be good approvals. Your limit(s) are going to be partially determined by the income info your provide on your applications.

[Anonymous]

Applying for more credit does not benefit you in any way.  What good is another $300-$500 card?  Your credit score is not determined by how high a limit you have on each card except for utilization purposes.  You can get a near 800 credit score with (4) $500 CCs.

Once you get in the high 700s you can begin strategizing to increase the limits on your cards.  I did mine through cancelling low limit cards, combining limits with Chase, and getting cards like Lowes.  Once you have a high limit card you are more likely to get another high limit card.

It will just take time in the garden.

[Anonymous]

Give it a month and then call the credit bureaus to make sure they didn't put a fraud alert on them because of the inquiry removal.  They did that to me before without even asking me, then I went on apps sprees and kept getting denied over and over again wondering what the hell was going on.  I racked up a ton of inquiries at the time all denials because the credit bureaus had fraud alerts on them without even telling me.  I even called when I got my inquiry removal done, the lady on the phone never said a thing.  I was a newb and didn't know any better or what fraud alerts were, etc.  When I was finally denied secured cards I knew something was up.

Yeah you got enough cards now, let them age and grow. Give it at least 6 months, then from then on only apply for cards that you really want.  You are good to go.  Also don't worry about 5-7 inq on each report you are ok.