Credit Unions Credit Cards

[black_citi]

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@Anonymous wrote:

May I ask, what is BOAM?. I googled boam, came up empty. I checked common abreviations for credit, came up empty.

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 Bank of america I believe

[Anonymous]

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@black_citi wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

May I ask, what is BOAM?. I googled boam, came up empty. I checked common abreviations for credit, came up empty.

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 Bank of america I believe

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thanks

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Amex (Costco) - $4,700/$5000

BOAM Visa 1 - $5,500/$6,000  I think that the limit was lowered on both BOAM cards after I lowered the balance by $2K, but was not reported yet.

BOAM Visa 2 - $4,900/$5,200

BOAM (AAA) - $300/$500

Comenity (BJs) $600/$1,030

Line of Credit 12K (which I will bring the balance to zero on Thursday, hopefull hopefully in time of the reporting on Friday.

If I get a score boost from reducing the line of credit I'll try to apply to cards on Monday and want to figure which to try, especially since I have a good relationship with the CU that gave me the line of credit.

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This is a lot of carried debt, and the Amex and BoA Visas are going to be killing your utilization. I would start with Slate, then look at Ring and anything with a 0% intro rate (Amex Everyday comes to mind). The BT fee will be worth it to get out from under the high APRs of most cards.

What is the APR of the LOC? It might make sense to transfer some of your debt to the LOC, if the APR for the LOC is less than that of the CCs.

[takeshi74]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have high utlization (83%) that hurts me but I hope to lower it in the next few days to around 60% and then try and apply for cards.

I want to get a balance transfer of about $6 to $10K to get rid of my BOAM balance.

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I'd suggest getting it even lower than 60%.  You might get an approval but with high utilization you're likely to get low limits and high APR's.  I know you want it for a BT but that's the catch 22 that tends to pop up with those looking to BT.

If you need to BT 6-10K keep in mind that utilization matters on the card you're BT'ing to as well.

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@Anonymous wrote:

Also, Is it true that it is easier to get a CC from a credit union? 

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Depends on the credit union.  They're not all identical just as not all banks are identical.  PenFed, for example, is known for being very picky.

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@Anonymous wrote:

Moreover, Chase tends to be stingy with limits for first cards

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Limits with any creditor are based on credit and income, not on generosity or stinginess.  My first Chase card did have a low limit but my utilization was at least 60% at the time.  Next two were instantly approved significantly higher limits each and within a day of each other,  That had nothing to do with Chase's generosity and everything to do with getting my utilization in check.  The rest of my credit profile qualified for such limits but I was significantly constrained by the high utilization.

Like the OP I was looking to find a card to BT to with high utilization but Chase would only approve $2K on a Slate.  The other 2 cards I mentioned above started off with 5 digit limits.

[Anonymous]

I currently think to start with my credit union first, let them pull my credit first, they gave me the 12K LOC when I was in a much worse shape last year, so worth to try with them first (and will also see if they will increase the LOC).

After that I'll try Chase and see what they offer.

What about discover IT? or Cap One? I'm also prequalified for their cards, is it worth a try? how are their pre-qualified offers?

[CreditDunce]

Assuming you have had high utilization for some time, you may be balanced chased down.  Every time you get your utilization down, the CCC drops your limit.  You may not have much choice but to app with high utilization or pay off most of the balance first.   If you could transfer the balance to a installment loan of some type, it would help your score.  But you really need to start paying down the balances.

In regards to you question about Discover and Cap1, pre-qual sites.  Discover's pre-qual is mostly a marketing site.  Cap1's pre-quals are fairly good.   If possible, you may want to talk with a loan officer at your CU to see what your chances of approval are before applying.   Sometimes a local CU will tell you how likely you are to be approved before applying.   Bring your credit report in with you.  If all else fails, you can apply for two or three cards at once and hope the combined limits will work.   But I wouldn't want to count on that.  Plus multiple new CC's may upset your existing CCC's.

[Anonymous]

I am balanced chased by BOA, I brought BOA down by about $4K in the past 12 months but my limits with them keeps getting lower as I pay, resulting in higher util.

Will certainly continue to try and lower it and hopefully will get to a point where the risk does not seem great to other lenders.

I did take a few baddies off this month which helped my score go up by about 50 points, so hopefully it will allow me to get something approved by other issuers. 

[Anonymous]

I just put another $1,500 towards one of the Bank of America accounts that seems to report on the 1st (I checked past MyFico alerts for this card and they seem to be mostly on the 1st), hopefully they will report the lower balance (but before Bank of America response with a Balance Chase....yuck... )

[CreditDunce]

I am sorry, it is a tough spot to be in when your major creditor balance chases you.  I don't know if there is much you can do about it.  If you have home equity or a 401k, you could take out a loan.   Utilization on a home equity installment loan is counted differently.  401k loans are normally hidden loans, but very dangerous to your retirement.  Selling stuff may also be an option.   If you have a business, you could think about applying for a business credit card.  Business credit cards normally only report negative information to your personal credit file. 

One more thing to think about is new CC's look at your existing limits when setting your starting limit.   If you are balance chased down to $500-$1000 limits, it might reset the base starting limits of any new cards you get even after you get everything paid off.   I guess what I am saying is if you are going to app for new cards, it probably doesn't make sense to wait very long.  If you are going to wait, you may want to just pay BoA 3x the minimum and direct all you can to your other creditors hoping they will not balance chase you.   Obviously, if you have a really high interest rate on a card, it doesn't make financial sense to not pay it off as soon as you can.

If you are going to app soon, you might want to add the Citi Simplicity to your list of cards to look at.  Citi is INQ sensitive for at least the last 6 months.  The will not approve if you have too many INQs on the CR they pull (probably EQ).   I think their pre-qual site is fairly accurate, but the SP they use can be old.   It is certainly not to be trusted if you have recently incurred several HP/INQs.    It does have a 3% BT fee, but it also has a long 0% intro period.      

It will probably take several cards with toy limits to give you a big enough limit to do much. I wouldn't be too worried about the INQs (it will take time to get everything paid off, the INQs will go away after 2 years).   The AAoA will hurt more in the long term.   

Hopefully, your credit union will be willing to give you a decent limit on a credit card.  It would make life much easier. 

[Anonymous]

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@takeshi74 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have high utlization (83%) that hurts me but I hope to lower it in the next few days to around 60% and then try and apply for cards.

I want to get a balance transfer of about $6 to $10K to get rid of my BOAM balance.

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I'd suggest getting it even lower than 60%.  You might get an approval but with high utilization you're likely to get low limits and high APR's.  I know you want it for a BT but that's the catch 22 that tends to pop up with those looking to BT.

If you need to BT 6-10K keep in mind that utilization matters on the card you're BT'ing to as well.

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@Anonymous wrote:

Also, Is it true that it is easier to get a CC from a credit union? 

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Depends on the credit union.  They're not all identical just as not all banks are identical.  PenFed, for example, is known for being very picky.

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@Anonymous wrote:

Moreover, Chase tends to be stingy with limits for first cards

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Limits with any creditor are based on credit and income, not on generosity or stinginess.  My first Chase card did have a low limit but my utilization was at least 60% at the time.  Next two were instantly approved significantly higher limits each and within a day of each other,  That had nothing to do with Chase's generosity and everything to do with getting my utilization in check.  The rest of my credit profile qualified for such limits but I was significantly constrained by the high utilization.

Like the OP I was looking to find a card to BT to with high utilization but Chase would only approve $2K on a Slate.  The other 2 cards I mentioned above started off with 5 digit limits.

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I got my utilization down from 83% to 55% and EX rasies from 679 to 686 by paying down all my LOC - From $7.7K (Limit of $12K)

Still not reported - 

Got my BJs MasterCard (Commenity) from $1030 to $150 (Limit $1230) - Reporting on the 11th

Planning on lowering my Amex from $4,700 to $3,500 (Limit of $5000) - Reporing on the 16th

Although I have to hold myself, I will should probalby wait to the 16th to apply to my FCU for a BT card and then apply for another card or two (assumign the FCU has higher chance of success).

I do have some recent inquiries on each report, one or two on each, but EX is the cleanest and that is what the FCU will use. 

My only hesitation is that I will actually use the LOC to pay down Amex, so the FCU will see the LOC increase to around $3K (although not on the report), but from score purposes I hope to see an increase, I still think that a higher score will help more than the increase in the LOC.

I also am concerned from a balance chasing by either Commenity or Amex after I pay down the balance, so perhaps better to apply before they report.