GE denied one card, approved another. Want to apply for 2 more cred cards.

[mzladyk]

I'm currently rebuilding my credit. Equifax score of 644 so far. I have 2 credit cards - Cap 1 secured and Classic. Both $500 limits. Those I applied for towards the beginning of 2014. It's been about 5-7 months since I've had them and my credit score has gone up 100 points since then. 549 since March 2014 to 644 now. I had one bad credit card account on there that recently fell off and all my student loans were defaulted until now. 

Right now most of my cards except Amazon are maxed out. ... Christmas  I plan to pay them off quickly though (by Feb) including the Amazon which has about 50% utilization. I JUST opened the Amazon card the beginning of this December and got 1K limit.

In November though, I tried opening a carecredit card because I needed it for the vet. I STILL want one for medical emergencies. I'm wondering if/when I should reapply for it again. I was just approved for Amazon so I'm wondering why I was denied for CareCredit. Should I wait the 6 mos before applying again? I don't know if I tried applying before my student loans were reported in good standing or if the one last bad credit card on there wasn't fully fallen off yet back in November. Also, I had a carecredit card 7 years ago that I never paid off. I BELIEVE that was the last one to fall off my credit report. Should I cut my losses with that card or will they ever approve of me again soon(ish)?

I only want 2 more cards to add to my list: the carecredit and a furniture store card. I'm thinking about applying for an Ashley Furniture's card, but not until I pay off my cards first. Though I am wondering if it's really worth opening one if I don't plan on using it more than 2-3 times ever...? I'm a "recovering shopaholic" so I just stress when it comes to which cards to apply for or if I should (temptation!) They are there for the big purchases and I only make ONE big purchase at a time except this Christmas season... but again, no more charging until they're paid off. 

Also, when should I wait to ask for a CLI for Amazon? In 4-6 months? I haven't made a 1st payment yet so they wouldn't let me request right now. TIA!

[chalupaman]

Definitely get your balances down before applying for anything else. 50% utilization is obviously way too much right there and I'd get that down to at least under 30% or better. Keep your priorities in check. Once you've done that and you've allowed those to report, then you can think about going for another card. I'd advise against getting too many store cards at one time because long term, having too many recently opened accounts like that will just make it harder for you to get much better cards in the future and also not all of these store cards are gonna have many useful benefits or the best credit limits either.

Sometimes the Sync Bank cards will give you an auto CLI. Best way to get a CLI on any Sync Bank card is to let a balance report (it can even be a negative balance) so a statement will generate and then PIF on it. You need about 4 of them before you can request one yourself generally.

[Anonymous]

Definitely cut it out applying for new cards, especially store ones until your util comes down drastically.

[CreditUnionFan]

---

@mzladyk wrote:

I'm currently rebuilding my credit. Equifax score of 644 so far. I have 2 credit cards - Cap 1 secured and Classic. Both $500 limits. Those I applied for towards the beginning of 2014. It's been about 5-7 months since I've had them and my credit score has gone up 100 points since then. 549 since March 2014 to 644 now. I had one bad credit card account on there that recently fell off and all my student loans were defaulted until now. 

Right now most of my cards except Amazon are maxed out. ... Christmas  I plan to pay them off quickly though (by Feb) including the Amazon which has about 50% utilization. I JUST opened the Amazon card the beginning of this December and got 1K limit.

In November though, I tried opening a carecredit card because I needed it for the vet. I STILL want one for medical emergencies. I'm wondering if/when I should reapply for it again. I was just approved for Amazon so I'm wondering why I was denied for CareCredit. Should I wait the 6 mos before applying again? I don't know if I tried applying before my student loans were reported in good standing or if the one last bad credit card on there wasn't fully fallen off yet back in November. Also, I had a carecredit card 7 years ago that I never paid off. I BELIEVE that was the last one to fall off my credit report. Should I cut my losses with that card or will they ever approve of me again soon(ish)?

I only want 2 more cards to add to my list: the carecredit and a furniture store card. I'm thinking about applying for an Ashley Furniture's card, but not until I pay off my cards first. Though I am wondering if it's really worth opening one if I don't plan on using it more than 2-3 times ever...? I'm a "recovering shopaholic" so I just stress when it comes to which cards to apply for or if I should (temptation!) They are there for the big purchases and I only make ONE big purchase at a time except this Christmas season... but again, no more charging until they're paid off. 

Also, when should I wait to ask for a CLI for Amazon? In 4-6 months? I haven't made a 1st payment yet so they wouldn't let me request right now. TIA!

---

Different cards through the same issuer can have different underwriting criteria to open or extend credit. It could be that Amazon, as a retailer, is willing to take more of a risk, than the CareCredit card. The CareCredit card is one of the few within SYNCHB that requires HPs in order to get a CLI, so I'd wait a few months. The high utilization on your current cards will likely cause a lower initial CL on the CareCredit; a lower utilization will likely lead to a higher CL. Waiting means you only take the HP once rather than twice.