Graduating student- Please Help!

[twizzeler]

My credit profile:

Income for the year 16,000
751 TU FICO (Discover IT 1/14/14), 706 FAKO credit karma (2/8/14)
AAoA on credit karma: 3 years
One inquiry due to the AMEX approval last month
No derogatory marks

Discover IT                      350/1250         19.99% APR [Opened 5/11] (One hard pull CLI on 8/24/2012)
Chase Slate                    0/400                23.99% APR [Opened 9/12]
Sportsmans Guide        0/4000             24.99% APR [Opened 11/13]
AMEX BCE                       210/2900          0% APR Till May 2015 (then 12.99%) [Opened 1/14]
VS (comenity)                 0/750                 24.99% APR [Opened 10/13]

My concerns:
I am graduating in May, and have to pay for licensing fees and exams which will cost me around 1200 total ($300 check only, $700 visa/MC/amex or check, $200 visa/MC or check) and probably needs to be paid around the beginning of April. I only have $1500 on hand cash left over in my bank account.

1. Should I apply for another credit card so I can put some of the test fees on that? If yes, which one would you recommend? (Probably only MC/visa)

2. Should I try and get a personal loan through my credit union? Or maybe even a credit card through them?

3. Should I be looking to get credit line increases from any of my current cards? I am going to try for the AMEX 3x in March.

[gdale6]

Go for CLIs on all your current cards and I really like the idea of a CU personal loan, a personal LOC would even be better.

[twizzeler]

I was leaning towards doing that. I'll probably wait to ask for the increases till after the AMEX request (which is probably the most important) seeing as Chase and Discover will both need hard pulls. 

Now putting that into perspective for the credit union, I hadn't even thought about the line of credit so thank you for bringing that up! I see that it would probably be my best option with them since I can write checks off of it

I would probably have to do that before I get the hard pulls from discover and chase.

Does anyone have any personal experience with credit unions giving credit for future income? Or would my 16000 be enough for them to approve me for a line? Also... is it better to apply for it online or in person?

[longtime_lurker]

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@twizzeler wrote:

I was leaning towards doing that. I'll probably wait to ask for the increases till after the AMEX request (which is probably the most important) seeing as Chase and Discover will both need hard pulls. 

Now putting that into perspective for the credit union, I hadn't even thought about the line of credit so thank you for bringing that up! I see that it would probably be my best option with them since I can write checks off of it

I would probably have to do that before I get the hard pulls from discover and chase.

Does anyone have any personal experience with credit unions giving credit for future income? Or would my 16000 be enough for them to approve me for a line? Also... is it better to apply for it online or in person?

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I went in to my CU today to ask the loan officer that I know to use a CR from Dec and see the loan amount I could get approved for (unsecured) for a car. I asked 6500 and she didn't even blink and said yes. Told me I could feasibly push it to 7,500. My income is close to yours - though I have a fairly long positive history with my CU which I'm sure means a lot. Just a point for reference

[twizzeler]

Holy cow! That's awesome! Thanks for sharing I would assume they probably like when people go in person so they can actually talk to a real person and be more objective. I've been with them for over 7 years now with no issues or problems so I would think that is a positive relationship. I need some documents notarized so maybe I will ask them when I go in.

[longtime_lurker]

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@twizzeler wrote:

Holy cow! That's awesome! Thanks for sharing I would assume they probably like when people go in person so they can actually talk to a real person and be more objective. I've been with them for over 7 years now with no issues or problems so I would think that is a positive relationship. I need some documents notarized so maybe I will ask them when I go in.

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Yup no problem, mate! Wish you the best of luck!