Ready for Capital One Unsecured? Or do I need to give the landscapers more time?

[NWintellectual]

Greetings all,

I am in the process of rebuilding credit. My scores were in the high 400s/low 500s back in February. Now my scores are TU 541/EQ 562/EX 576. I had about 14 collections (13 paid, settled or removed) and 5 COs (all paid, settled, sold, or removed and reporting zero balance). For positive TLs I have four: two USBank secured cards (500/300), a store account with Fingerhut (200) and just this week I was approved for an unsecured card from my CU (1000).

I would like to add one more unsecured line to my credit reports since the two US Bank cards report as secured. I had my eye on one of the Capital One cards (either Quicksilver or Platinum). One thing that should be noted is that one of the charge offs I paid (via the CA) was Capital One, which went into CO in March 2013.  From your experiences do I stand a fighting chance?

Or should I just head to the garden with what I have and wait until June when one of my US Bank cards is eligible for graduation?

INQs last year:  TU 6/EX 5/EQ 4

ETA:  I PIF all cards each month (but running both close to the limit).

[SunriseEarth]

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@NWintellectual wrote:

Greetings all,

I am in the process of rebuilding credit. My scores were in the high 400s/low 500s back in February. Now my scores are TU 541/EQ 562/EX 576. I had about 14 collections (13 paid, settled or removed) and 5 COs (all paid, settled, sold, or removed and reporting zero balance). For positive TLs I have four: two USBank secured cards (500/300), a store account with Fingerhut (200) and just this week I was approved for an unsecured card from my CU (1000).

I would like to add one more unsecured line to my credit reports since the two US Bank cards report as secured. I had my eye on one of the Capital One cards (either Quicksilver or Platinum). One thing that should be noted is that one of the charge offs I paid (via the CA) was Capital One, which went into CO in March 2013.  From your experiences do I stand a fighting chance?

Or should I just head to the garden with what I have and wait until June when one of my US Bank cards is eligible for graduation?

INQs last year:  TU 6/EX 5/EQ 4

ETA:  I PIF all cards each month (but running both close to the limit).

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Your scores are still a little low.  Cap One will let you back in with COs (I had two Cap One COs and now have two active Cap One CCs), but I'd strongly recommend letting the new CC age and letting some of those INQs age off.  Cap One will HP you on 3 CRAs (possibly Innovis, too, making it 4) when you apply.

I'd keep up with GW efforts on all paid/settled accounts, too.  

[SunriseEarth]

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@NWintellectual wrote:

ETA:  I PIF all cards each month (but running both close to the limit).

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Oh, and that.  Pay a few times a month if your usage requires it.  Just make sure when your statement date hits, UTIL is below 10% if you want maximum scoring.  

[JoshuaHolySpirit]

More time to get your scores to 6++.

[NWintellectual]

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@SunriseEarth wrote:

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@NWintellectual wrote:

ETA:  I PIF all cards each month (but running both close to the limit).

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Oh, and that.  Pay a few times a month if your usage requires it.  Just make sure when your statement date hits, UTIL is below 10% if you want maximum scoring.  

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Most months my balance has reported as zero because US Bank reports all accounts at the same time (usually the last Friday of the month). So should I let a small balance report on each card to show usage?

[NWintellectual]

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@JoshuaHolySpirit wrote:

More time to get your scores to 6++.

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True that. I'm trying to get to 620 by September/October to apply for an auto loan.

[bigblue7722]

Thats a very generous cu you have there to give you 1k line with those scores. Have you been with them long? I would suggest BOA secured it does report as secured but in a year you will have a great unsecured card.  Your scores are just too low for unsecured at the moment. Capital one secured reports as just a reg credit card but your gonna take 6 hard pull (2 at each creditbureau)   to basically get it unsecured after you try to re apply for a quicksliver card. 

[NWintellectual]

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@bigblue7722 wrote:

Thats a very generous cu you have there to give you 1k line with those scores. Have you been with them long? I would suggest BOA secured it does report as secured but in a year you will have a great unsecured card.  Your scores are just too low for unsecured at the moment. Capital one secured reports as just a reg credit card but your gonna take 6 hard pull (2 at each creditbureau)   to basically get it unsecured after you try to re apply for a quicksliver card. 

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I just passed my 1 year anniversary with them last month. I opened my checking and savings accounts within a week of moving to WA and have been using them as my daily driver ever since, running about $6000 combined inflow and outflow a month with nary an overdraft on my part. This was the first time I had tried to apply for any kind of loan or credit from them. I had to get my application manually reviewed and admittedly it was tense but I was able to document each and every one of the 13 accounts paid, settled or in the process of removal.

At this point, I think I'm gonna hold off from Cap One due to the fact that they pull all three bureaus. Instead, I'll focus on getting the paid/settled items removed via GW letters. Then in June I'll ask US Bank to graduate me (although word on the forums here is that they are a tad on the conservative side).

[SunriseEarth]

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@NWintellectual wrote:

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@SunriseEarth wrote:

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@NWintellectual wrote:

ETA:  I PIF all cards each month (but running both close to the limit).

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Oh, and that.  Pay a few times a month if your usage requires it.  Just make sure when your statement date hits, UTIL is below 10% if you want maximum scoring.  

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Most months my balance has reported as zero because US Bank reports all accounts at the same time (usually the last Friday of the month). So should I let a small balance report on each card to show usage?

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No.   Let just one card report a balance of <10% of your CL.  Let the other cards report as zero balances.

[SunriseEarth]

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@NWintellectual wrote:

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@bigblue7722 wrote:

Thats a very generous cu you have there to give you 1k line with those scores. Have you been with them long? I would suggest BOA secured it does report as secured but in a year you will have a great unsecured card.  Your scores are just too low for unsecured at the moment. Capital one secured reports as just a reg credit card but your gonna take 6 hard pull (2 at each creditbureau)   to basically get it unsecured after you try to re apply for a quicksliver card. 

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I just passed my 1 year anniversary with them last month. I opened my checking and savings accounts within a week of moving to WA and have been using them as my daily driver ever since, running about $6000 combined inflow and outflow a month with nary an overdraft on my part. This was the first time I had tried to apply for any kind of loan or credit from them. I had to get my application manually reviewed and admittedly it was tense but I was able to document each and every one of the 13 accounts paid, settled or in the process of removal.

At this point, I think I'm gonna hold off from Cap One due to the fact that they pull all three bureaus. Instead, I'll focus on getting the paid/settled items removed via GW letters. Then in June I'll ask US Bank to graduate me (although word on the forums here is that they are a tad on the conservative side).

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Excellent plan!  Just keep up with GW letters...even if they tell you "no," write again.