Credit Card Chances

[Anonymous]

Wmarat,

Wow 16? Wow. That number makes me DIZZY! I think what I will do is apply for an American Eagle or Amazon.com card since I actually would use the card from one of those stores a few times for the year without making a huge purchase on it versus say a Walmart card that I would spike, as well as a BoA card and a CU card. That would put me up to four which is enough for me to handle. The only thing about that is that that would shut down the average age of my accounts. I guess it would pay off it in the long run.

Oracles,

Will do! I need to buy a book on amazon.com so I'll just put that on it.

Thanks again you two!

[oracles]

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@score_building wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Oracles,

Thank you as well for your quick response. Here's the thing, I graduated in May and had a very hard time finding a job  (finally struck Bronze in October lol) so I had to depend on the credit card alot. I had a high balance ($440) that I had been paying down and I zeroed it out on Sunday. My next statement cuts on Feb 3rd. Are you saying I should charge something on it now even though it's paid in full or just let it report a zero balance and then charge something on it for my March statement? I will try a BoA unsecured card and see how that works out since you said if I get declined I'll probably be offered the secured card. As for the CU card do you think I should wait till March to apply for it or apply right as I join. I haven't heard very good things about Orchard so I'm hesitant but I'll definately research Chase though. Thank you so much for your advice! I appreciate it!

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and with good reason, imho you needn't bother with orchard, unless you find you are short on other options.  a local cu, boa and a gas or store card should suffice.

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Actually i agree with Wmarat and Score,

When you said short credit history, i was thinking less than a year. I dont think you need Orhard with 30 months of history. Definitely try for the CU cards. Wmarat gave some good suggestions as to what CU cards to go for. Also definitely get a store card that you shop at or a gas card (only if you have a car).

[oracles]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Wmarat,

Wow 16? Wow. That number makes me DIZZY! I think what I will do is apply for an American Eagle or Amazon.com card since I actually would use the card from one of those stores a few times for the year without making a huge purchase on it versus say a Walmart card that I would spike, as well as a BoA card and a CU card. That would put me up to four which is enough for me to handle. The only thing about that is that that would shut down the average age of my accounts. I guess it would pay off it in the long run.

Oracles,

Will do! I need to buy a book on amazon.com so I'll just put that on it.

Thanks again you two!

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No problem

keep us updated

[smallfry]

OP in this credit climate I would not go nuts on the applications. I would look on the BofA to see if you are preapproved for a credit card there. If you are interested in a credit union pick one. Don't try to do this all at once it will make it appear as if you are in dire need of more credit. Easy does it. Try BofA. Too many new accounts at this time is a major red flag. BofA.

[Anonymous]

Do you ever feel like there is just madness and no method?

Thank you SmallFry for your advice. I can appreciate the myriad of opinions in these forums. Certainly makes for good discussion. I totally see where you are coming from SmallFry. I think what I'm going to do is just apply for a BoA card and an American Eagle Card. That way it will only be two new accounts. After my Capital One account has aged to three years in July I'll try to get a credit line increase. I'm going to check out the credit union tomorrow. Let me know if there are any flaws to this plan guys. Thanks again!

[Creditaddict]

I would call back door number NOW for capital one, 3 years, no increase is crazy, and right now while balance is $0 would be great time.

as for Bank of America, you can do the pre-qual and see if there is a good chance they will give you a card, if they don't offer you something you have to decide if you want to go secured route with BofA, otherwise probably not worth the application.

American Eagle should be a 100% approval, it's GE, won't be that great probably, but will do the trick!

CU - sounds like a very good option. they might give you car loan too!

[Anonymous]

I pulled my scores and reports today...I feel this is the start of an addiction! My reports are clean, absolutely no baddies! Hurting my scores are:

1. High balance (PIF'd on Sunday but will get it up to around 6% this week...should impact scores Feb 3rd)

2. Short history

3. Two few accounts (Conspiracy!!!)

Scores are:

TransU 673

Equifax 681

Experian 703

With those scores do you think BoA is far fetched? If not, should I apply for the AE card first of second? I will definately by calling Capital One about that CLI!

[Creditaddict]

bank of america has a pre-qual that just does a soft pull... you can check that anytime to see if they offer you a card.

[haulingthescoreup]

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elixandrea wrote:

I pulled my scores and reports today...I feel this is the start of an addiction! My reports are clean, absolutely no baddies! Hurting my scores are:

1. High balance (PIF'd on Sunday but will get it up to around 6% this week...should impact scores Feb 3rd)

2. Short history

3. Two few accounts (Conspiracy!!!)

Scores are:

TransU 673

Equifax 681

Experian 703

With those scores do you think BoA is far fetched? If not, should I apply for the AE card first of second? I will definately by calling Capital One about that CLI!

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Do not budge until the new balances have updated! And a Cap1 CLI should help as well.

Never app for anything until you have your credit profile as spiffed up as you can get it. Not only does it increase your chances of approval, you're likely to get a better deal: lower APR, higher CL, lower or no fees, all the goodies.

Be strategic; be a tactician.

Good luck!