Hi everyone-I had posted this in the GC thread but was advised to move it to the main subforum for more exposure:
I'm new here having just applied for my first cards this week after having a BK discharged two and a half years ago. My wife and I had always meant to apply for a couple of cards but never did. Our scores are currently sitting around 680 (Mine is probably slightly worse with two apps under my belt recently) and they could have been much higher by now, but oh well... My wife is going to go for the Lowes card and the same Capital One that I just got as well. With regard to our current report it could be a lot worse. The only major "baddie" is the BK. Even though we didn't reaffirm our mortgage it's still reporting, which should be a good thing since we've never been late or missed a payment (only defaulted on credit cards), we both have student loans with no lates or missed payments, and she has a car loan that she reaffirmed, again with no lates or missed payments.
Our goal right now is simply to reestablish credit and simply get our scores up into the 700s, but also to use the cards in order to finance the addition of a bedroom and bathroom to our house. Once we finish the construction we want to do a cashout refinance to pay off the balances on the cards and get a lower interest rate on the house. I figure right now I'm in a holding pattern with my two accounts and that my wife should apply for no more than I did. Here are my questions:
- I was denied for a CL increase right off the bat by Lowes-how soon should I try again? I know SPs are not supposed to hurt your credit, but is there a limit to how many you can ask for before they do, etc...?
- Should I/can I ask for a SP increase on the Capital One card?
- How long before either of us should try to apply for additional cards?
- What is the best (and cheapest) way to monitor our scores in the meantime?
I'm so glad I found this site-I just wish I had found it a lot sooner! Thanks!
@Anonymous wrote:The other thing about Lowes is that the magic comes from calling them and saying that you're renovating the house or have a project or something, and need a higher limit to accommodate that. Members here have had success with be CLIs by providing a plausible reason why the limit might be needed.
Tried that (since it's actually true...lol), but still got denied. Based on advice I got here I asked for $25K. They put me on hold for about 2 minutes and came back and said, "Sorry, we cannot at this time." I asked if they would counter offer and they said no, and that I would get a letter in 7-10 days explaining why. Maybe I should try asking for a lesser amount?
@Anonymous wrote:
680s isn't bad by any stretch for post BK. Did you have any charge-offs? Those are going to have a bigger impact on what cards you can get going forwards. if it is just the BK in isolation, then I think you're in a good place.
Just the BK-we realized the trouble we were in early and took action, so the accounts were closed by the banks but not charged off to my knowledge. Also, if anyone can advise whether Capital One is a SP that would be great!
@OmarGB9 wrote:
Capital One is indeed a SP.
Definitely will try for a SP increase when I get the physical card then. I'll try for Lowes again soon too. I just signed up for CreditKarma and it looks like the worst part of my report is how many inquiries I've had in the last two years - 7 on TU and 5 on EQ. Those are the only areas that show up as "Poor" on my report. My TU score is 663 and my EQ score is 689, but that's probably reflecting the fact that I had two hard pulls (Lowes and Capital One) that resulted in open accounts and one hard pull that resulted in a denial (Home Depot).
Based on that, should I cool it for a while in terms of applying? I was also approved for a BoA (which is surprising because they were one of the biggest creditors wiped out in my CH7) BankAmericard-nothing special with regard to the terms, but it would be another open account which, in theory should help my gardening over time no? Should I do one more or hold off? From what I've read it sounds like BoA, like Capital One, does SP CLIs, so if I were to have two open accounts that I could grow the CL on with no risk to my score, I think that would be a win, but not if adding another HP to get the card will really tank it... What to do?
@Anonymous wrote:CK scores aren't necessarily accurate. That's why I generally only recommend using them to see how your reports change. 7 inqs isn't a lot by our standards, but it might be considered a lot based on the thinness of your file. I would try for one more, then hold off for six months.
Well BoA just denied me so I'm officially in the garden to stay for a while now...but hey, a $10K CL is not a bad place to start!