Great Milestone on a Long Road to Recovery...Still need some Help!!

[sobeprince]

Hello  to all the experts and Gurus on this website

First, I want to thank everyone on this amazing forum for taking the time to share their experiences and tips on how people like me can get our credit in shape. Honestly this forum is what motivated me to get started on the credit rebuilding process which I had completely given up on.

My Story

Like a lot of people here I am on a long road to recovery after the hit my credit(& Liver) took during college. All it practically took was a free T-shirt to get me into applying for cards and things quickly went downhill from there.In five years I landed up with 3 collection accounts and 2 Seriously delinquent account out of the 6 credit cards I had.

With such poor history I could only manage a car loan at a seriously high loan rate when I graduated.

Repair Process

Up until 2011, The only positive I had on my credit was a Car Loan that I paid off with maybe only two 30 day late payments.

Having stumbled across this forum in  Oct,2011.I started rebuilding my Credit Score of 550 with the following cards

Cap One -$500

HSBC Orchard Bank - $300

Barclays Reward - $500

I also hired  a Credit repair firm who were very successfully in getting the collection accounts & Negative history removed from my history.Till date they have removed around 27 negative items from all three bureaus.

Right Now

My credit score stands at 770 & I  very recently got approved for a Chase United Explorer card with a $16k Limit!!!

Having reached this milestone I would like to  get some suggestion on the Secured Credit Cards I have and maybe see if its advisable to close them and  applying for some other cards so I can free up some of the money I had  tied up in these cards

My Current Portfolio

Capital One Secured - Start $500/ Added $1500 Total Limit $2k

HSBC Orchard Bank(Now Cap One) Start $300 / Currently $300

Barclays Reward -Start $500/ Now $1000 (Hard Pull this month)

Chase United Explorer - Start $16K Limit

Auto Loan - Bank of America- 40K - Started 12/12

No Mortgage as I am currently Renting

.

My current utilization is ~5-6%(without Chase Explorer Card) and I have never missed a payment in 2 Years.

Need Help 

1.I would Ideally like to close the Secured accounts since they have never once increased my credit limit and are not interested in converting these accounts into unsecured cards. Would you guys recommend closing these accounts? or stashing the cards in the drawer?. If I do decide to  close, will this have any impact on the 2 year History I have with these cards and will it affect any future approvals. Both these cards come with a $29 & $59 Annual fee.

2.Since I am a road warrior, I would like to Apply for a Hotel Card(Marriott, Hyatt or SPG) to maximise my travel benefits and maybe a  couple other cards with either a No annual fee or Low Interest Rate.

3.Having recently gotten a new card and  also a Hard Pull for a credit limit increase , can I still go ahead and apply for these new cards or should  I first wait to  close these  Secured Cards and then maybe apply after?.

Would really appreciate some input/suggestions from members on this

Thanks

[09Lexie]

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your credit recovery.

1.I would Ideally like to close the Secured accounts since they have never once increased my credit limit and are not interested in converting these accounts into unsecured cards. Would you guys recommend closing these accounts? or stashing the cards in the drawer?. If I do decide to close, will this have any impact on the 2 year History I have with these cards and will it affect any future approvals. Both these cards come with a $29 & $59 Annual fee.

Yes, close these accounts. The closed accounts may remain on your cr for up to 10 years and the sm limits will not hurt your util.

2.Since I am a road warrior, I would like to Apply for a Hotel Card(Marriott, Hyatt or SPG) to maximise my travel benefits and maybe a couple other cards with either a No annual fee or Low Interest Rate.

The cards you are suggesting have APRS of 15.24 with no 0% periods. Depending on your hotel of choice would depend on the loyalty/hotel card. Ritz, Marriott, Hyatt or a Hilton. Of course you could add the CSP if you dine out a lot. Amex is an excellent choice for travel related expenses. PRG, SPG would fit nicely.

3.Having recently gotten a new card and also a Hard Pull for a credit limit increase , can I still go ahead and apply for these new cards or should I first wait to close these Secured Cards and then maybe apply after?.

You would not have to wait until your secured cards close. You may want to however because the CL may help your chances of a higher CL

Do you fly or just drive? Is their an airline you prefer?