How long should I wait before applying for a prime card

[rtw]

My current utilization is at 45% and I have one paid collection that is listed as 4 months old (Midland won't remove). My most recent late payment is from 2 years ago on a student loan. How long should I wait to apply for any prime cards? Which cards should I try for? I currently have a citibank (5K), credit one bank (1K), hsbc/capital one (2.5K), merrick bank (750).

[SwiftTone]

In my opinion, your baddies are too recent, your FICO scores are below borderline, and your utilization is too high. Now is not a good time to apply. I'd let the collections age for atleast a year before applying for anything. In the mean time bring you utilization below 10% and let everything age.

[OilFieldEngineer]

I just opened a couple of prime cards with similar scores but no baddies and my util was about 5%. I would definately wait for the baddies to age. 

[trumpet-205]

You should wait for at least a year, preferably two year, before applying for any more credit.

[Jlu]

With those scores you really need to get rid of that Credit One card... no grace period with outrageous fees is not something a mid to upper 600'er needs in his/her wallet.

[rtw]

Thanks for all of the advice. I haven't applied for anything in a year. I have just been paying down my debt and working on removing baddies. Just really interested where I should begin to look once I am ready to begin applying.

[Repo-ed]

---

@OilFieldEngineer wrote:

I just opened a couple of prime cards with similar scores but no baddies and my util was about 5%. I would definately wait for the baddies to age. 

---

Get to this guys ^^^^ #s, and THEN you might qualify for a Zync or something.  Even then, YMMV