Help getting a better credit card.

[ssdc1980]

I have been on a mission to rebuild my credit for about the past 2 years and have recently kinda hit a wall. Everywhere I read seems to tell me that credit cards are a vital part of building and maintaining a good credit history and fico score... Correction I mean the responsible use of credit cards is vital. When I began this mission my scores were in the mid to low 500's and I had a few unpaid collections. My scores are now EQ647 TU667 and all but one of the 6 collection accounts are pif(3 of which are scheduled to fall off in the next 8-14 months). I know I have a long way to go but I'm happy with the progress so far. My questions for the forum are these: Taking into account my current fico scores and credit history is there any prime credit card out there that I would have a better chance of being approved for? Should I get rid of any of the cards I currently have before acquiring another one? And is there anything else I should be doing to boost my fico score? Having one credit card with a good sized limit would make traveling and day to day expenses much easier to manage, Paying one CC bill a month sure beats six.

The credit cards/balances I do have are as follows: Cap 1 (secured MC) $1300/$125---Cap 1 (no hassle rewards MC) $750/$65--- Orchard Bank (platinum visa) $400/$0--- Credit One Bank (platinum visa) $400/$100--- Amex Zinc $500/$0--- Walmart card $800/$50.... My oldest CC's are my Cap 1 cards @ just about 2 years everything else is just less than a year, most recent being Amex @ 2 months.

My credit report shows 6 collection accounts (5 pif /1 I'm making payments on), 1 public record due to fall off in 9 months, 1- 30 day late on my current auto loan (2 years ago) 6- 30 day late payments on my last auto loan (6 years ago),and 4 INQ. Nothing bad other than INQ reported in the past 2 years.

Any Advice would be much appreciated.................Thanks

[jamie123]

Have you ever called for credit line increases on your cards?

If you haven't, that's where I would start. You really do have enough cards now to rebuild your credit, you just need higher CLs.

It looks like you have done an outstanding job so far! Don't get discouraged! Sometimes the only cure is a bit of time itself.

This is what I would do if I were you:

1. Get ALL the cards paid to zero except 1 card reporting about $30. Make sure they are reporting as such. Then...

2. Call for CLI for ALL the cards on the same day. Then...

3. Perhaps close the Credit One card. Are there high fees associated with that card? If so, close it before you pay any additional fees. Then...

4. Use all the cards GENTLY every month and make sure they are all PIF a couple of days BEFORE the due dates.

Between some of your baddies dropping off and the GOOD accounts you do have you should see a pretty good gain in the coming year. Those collections are KILLING your score. You should try everything and anything to have them deleted if at all possible.

[CruzImperial]

+1 to delete the collections you can.

[ssdc1980]

All of my collection accounts are handled by the same collection agency. I called them to ask if they would do a PFD and they told me that their company does not do that. I then read a couple of postings here that suggested writing them a letter to request a PFD and judging by the lack of response I'm assuming that didn't work either. I  guess I just have to wait it out. As far as the credit one card goes- 22.9% interest rate and $75 annual fee.

[ssdc1980]

I called Capital One a while back but was told that CLI's cannot be customer initiated. She told me that my accounts are periodically reviewed for CLI's, but seeing as how I've had these cards for just about 2 years with perfect payment history and have still not been offered a cli, I find it rather hard to believe.

[Anonymous]

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@ssdc1980 wrote:

Paying one CC bill a month sure beats six.

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WELCOME to myFICO® 

Pay off ALL the cards and only use your secured Capital One with the $1,300 CL.  Do this until your credit reports are spotlessly clean.  You can add $1,700 more onto your secured card for a maximum CL on that card of $3,000.  I'm afraid if you keep applying for other credit cards with your current credit profile you will only continue to get low limit cards.  Creditors like to see you handling limits in approximately the $5,000 range in order to issue cards with a starting limit of $5,000.  Also, you need to scrub your credit reports as clean as you possbily can. 

In my own situation, my husband and I funded our secured Capital One with $3,000, then we funded our secured USAA American Express card with $5,000 as well as another $5,000 on our secured US Bank Visa card. It seems this greatly helped us to get starting limits of $5,000 on the unsecured cards that we now have. 

NOW, if you have a way to join the Navy Credit Union -- you can pretty much ignore everything I've said because they will give you a credit limit of $5,000, or more (it seems like), no matter what your credit report looks like -- they're amazing! 

But, for getting a credit card with a starting limit of $5,000 from any well-known bank, they want to see a clean credit profile, a low amount of inquiries and, cards with existing limits of $5,000. 

I wish you the best!

[CruzImperial]

That´s the same old story with CapOne everyone gets Try to get rid of every baddie you can, the less the better.

If I were you and wanted another credit line, I would try getting a JCP card with GE as store cards are easier to get.

[jamie123]

Call for CLI on your other cards after they turn 1 year old. You should get some increases there.

Go to the Rebuilding forum and read all you can about GW letters. Start sending those out every week until they delete those paid collections. Your score might not move out of the 600s until the collections are gone. Use some leverage! If all the collections are from the same CA I would call them and ask that they delete the paid collections in return you will continue to pay-off the final collection. You NEED TO DO something every week to get those collections removed!

Look at it this way...Your score could rise by 100 points if those collections go away. What is that worth to you? How hard are you willing to work for that? Don't take no for an answer!

Good luck! I know you can do it!

[ssdc1980]

Thank your very much for the advice. I'll see what I can further do to get those baddies removed. As far as a jcp card goes unless they sell carhart it would literally never get used ( way to fancy for me), but thanks for the suggestion.