Low credit limit is not generally a problem, but high utilization PERCENTAGE is. My EQ fico went from 709 to 757 just for going from 60% utl to ~ 5% in one month. Do you mind share your utilization percentage from your fico report? I think as most people on this forum advocate letting all cards report $0 balance but one card reporting somewhere below 9%. but you dont want all cards report 0%. I verifty this with my credit karma score, which so far correlates positively with my fico score.
Also, be aware that your score updates when the credit bureaus updates their reports and this generally happens after your statement cuts. So to maximize your score, pay down all balances, put about 9% usage on one card, say ~$45 on your $500 BoA card. Wait till every one of your credit card cut statement once. Wait a week and you should see an increase on your score.
Also, does your overdraft protection with BofA report as revolving credit in your credit report? If not, most likely it's not factored into the utilization part of your fico score.
7 years is moderately long credit history, what is the average age of account indicated on your fico report?
Starting Score: EQ: 703 (4/2011);Oh yea, then definitely do what I just suggested. Depending on what your end goal is though, you can go about raise your limit a bit differently. If you just want to raise your limit on your BoA card, you can request a credit limit increase on the website. You probably get to $1000 fairly easily. That should approve fairly easily with soft pull or hard pull (soft pull for me for two occasions, but hard pulls were reported by some members). That would significantly helps your ultilization.
If you want to get some new cards, defiinitely prime your credit report as I memtioned before, then go for the cards you want. I think you have a fair chance of getting to the score you mentioned in the fico simulator.
By the way, if your ultilization is indeed 47%, that means you have been maxing out both of your cards? Unless your $1000 overdraft protection is not reported to the credit bureaus... Don't do that either, ideally you want to keep each card's usage below say 50% or 25% if you can manage. If you have been carrying that high of utilizationn consistently on your BoA card, I can't honestly recommend you go trying to get credit limit increase from them now.
I am not saying that you have to do that every month, but definitely the month prior to applying for credit cards, a CLI or loans.
Make sure your credit report is updated before you go applying for a new card, you can keep track by paying for a new fico report, or alternatively, sign up for credit karma. CK doesn't give you a real fico credit score, but you can update it daily for free. It soft pulls transunion. That's how i keep track if my credit report has been updated.
Google credit pull database. The data was limited, as very few people apply for this card, but my fair guess would be ~750 on Experian fico - which you can't get. It doesn't hurt to give it a try if you get the other two scores in this range..