Cap One/Orchard

[AZHeather]

Two of my rebuild cards are Cap One $1,000 and Orchard $300 (my third is a PayPal MC $400).  I got both of those at the beginning of my credit repair journey, so at the time I apped for them I had several baddies on all my reports.  Since then I have gotten all the baddies removed except for one on EX and some lates that will fall off later this year.  The EX baddie has been a tricky one that doesn't even belong to me, but that's another topic.  

Anyhow, I plan on gardening these two cards until June of next year.  My quetion is, come June 2013 (when I come out of the garden) should I leave those two alone and just focus on an Amex and maybe a Chase card, or should I also contact Cap One and see if they will switch my Platinum to a prime card (since it is my understanding that you can only have 2 Cap One cards and Orchard is now Cap One)?

Just trying to get together a game plan and would appreciate your thoughts.  Thanks in advance!

[Revelate]

I think your timeline is good for the most part, and I think your plan is pretty reasonable too.

A few suggestions though:

- Wait and see where your score is come June next year, you may be in a much better spot than you think if you have a clean sheet at that point and more than a year of positive tradeline history.

- Consider tossing a random application at Amex for a Zync or possibly another of their charge card products this December.  You'll have 6+ months on your tradelines, and if your report is clean at that point, you'll be in a good position to be approved for their entry-level card.  The reason for this trial application instead of waiting is if you want Amex as one of your credit card partners going forward, you're better off getting that tradeline this year ('12) than next year ('13) for future backdating purposes.  Even if you don't get it, it's no big deal and just apply again in June as you originally planned.

Other than those two potential refinements I think you've set yourself up well for your credit building.

[AZHeather]

Thanks Revelate.  I see what you are saying about the Amex in Dec.  I will see where I am at by then.  I know that they will likely pull EX, so I have to make sure that between now and then I can deal with the remaining baddie.

What do you think about the Cap One card in a year - leave it or ask them to switch to a prime card?  Will they even do that?

[Revelate]

I don't really know re: C1 so I didn't answer that one; however, I've read that they will do product changes but it's not available to everyone and seems to be very much a YMMV situation.  They may also restructure some of the Orchard acquired customers too at some point in the future but I'm not counting on that personally.

I suspect it would be a hard pull regardless and with where you *might* be in 6/13, you may not need C1 at all except as just another random tradeline building history.  If it's a hard pull to PC a C1, I might be tempted to apply for something entirely different if my scores supported it but I don't view C1 as a long-term lender for anyone unless you can get one of their white elephant prime cards.

Like you, I have an Orchard now C1 card (but my derogs are going to be there for quite a while in some cases), and I was planning to just close it at the 23 month mark; however, if it's possible to PC it to something a little more reasonable on the AF side, and to continue to build history on that tradeline, I may try that as well.  I'll be interested to see what others have to say on it.