Should I get a new card?

Anonymous · ‎08-02-2017

*New to the forums, tried posting in CC Applications but I cant seem to find it, it appears to be deleted*

Hey everyone, so in the last two years or so, I moved across country from NY to AZ. Fresh out of college, had no savings, only a credit card. Started renting and purchased a car seeing I got a really good paying (starting $50K annually) job (and a 715 CK score at the time). Now my annual salary is about 75k, until next year it will be about 90k.

Due to starting from sratch, I build up a bit of credit. I am currently at about 20k on cards, 14k on auto loan, and 27k in student loans. No other loans or house owned by me. Nothing on collections and nothing deragetory.

I was on my mothers Chase credit card as an authorized user, but after I got my own credit card I had her remove me (kind of dumb, it was in good standings, but she had a high balance ~7k with a 15K limit).

Current cards and limits:

Capital One Venture (opened 10/16): 11K/15K

Pentagon Federal Platinum (opened 02/16): 10.5K/12.5K

Amazon Store Card Synchrony; Amazon purchases only (opened 07/14): 0.0/3.9K

Barclaycard (opened 07/11): 0.0/2.6K

With my student loans and everything my CreditKarma show me in good standing on 15/15 accounts for TU and 13/13 accounts for Equifax.

TU: 655: 100% payment history, 54% CCU, 4.3 year age, 3 Hard pulls

EQ: 648: 100% payment history, 65% CCU, 4.4 year age, 5 Hard pulls

I now have built up my emergency fund so I am now able to pay more and more off multiple times a month. I tried asking CapOne if they would raise my limit seeing I know it is a soft pull, but they declined due to not paying enough per month. I have not asked any other.

I guess, ideally, I am looking to have another card for a balance transfer of the high limit cards. But I am not sure which to go with. I am (obviously) looking for a card with a high limit and not looking to carry it around for daily use. I was thinking of getting a American Airlines card due to traveling about 3 or 4 times a year. I was also debating a Chase card becuase I may possibly open a checking account with them in the next year or so. Lastly, I was thinking of doing the Amazon Visa due to how much I tend to use Amazon for shopping, but I didnt think that would be smart due to me having the Amazon store card.

Pentagon Federal is my primary bank, with direct deposit, checking/savings/$500credit.

What would you all reccommend that I do?

Anonymous · ‎08-02-2017

Please be mindful of your revolving debt. Before applying for new credit,ask yourself why haven't you been able to keep your current balances under control.
I know life happens.
I just had to get that out of the way.
Try American Express. Almost every card they offer has an introductory 12 month interest free period. With your salary excluding other factors, you should be able to pay down your debt in a years time.

Anonymous · ‎08-02-2017

Yeah I know how I got in the current situation. I moved three times in the two years I have been here, purchased furniture and other things to start a new life here. Now I'm paying for it - literally. I haven't used my cards in the past two months.

I am very tight with my money. I use Mint on my phone for everything to make sure I do not miss anything.

So American Express? Thank you.

Anonymous · ‎08-02-2017

IMO, no you should not app for another card until your utility is down.....way down....under 10%. I understand you moved cross country, but your creditors don't know the circumstances. It looks on paper, that you live above your means.

Also, credit karma is valuable for monitoring your credit profile....but not for scores. They are not FICO (mostly used by banks/creditors), they are vantage scores. I don't know of any creditors who use vantage.

Pay down your cards with balances, then apply. Also get your FICO scores. Good luck!

Anonymous · ‎08-02-2017

with that utilization, you'd be hard pressed to get anything beyond a thousand dollars (if you would even get approved for anything).

the last thing you need is more credit

UncleB · ‎08-03-2017

@Anonymous wrote:
*New to the forums, tried posting in CC Applications but I cant seem to find it, it appears to be deleted*

Hi @Anonymous, and welcome to myFICO!

Your missing thread was in the spam quarantine; that happens sometimes when a new forum member makes an edit (it's a known issue with the software). I don't think you'll have the problem again, but if you do let any moderator know and we can restore it to the forum.

Since you have a thread live here in 'Credit Cards' I've removed the other one.

--UncleB

myFICO Moderator

K-in-Boston · ‎08-03-2017

Just a quick FYI: Barclay and Amazon should give you real TransUnion FICO 08 scores in your online account, and PenFed gives you a real Equifax FICO NG2 score. Depending on your NG 2 score, since they are your primary bank/CU, I might suggest applying for another card from PenFed with a 0% for 12 months balance transfer offer and moving your CapOne balance to it. The biggest hurdle for you is going to be getting a line large enough to shuffle the balances around to save on interest and let you pay them down faster. From the stats you posted above, it looks like if you could just get your utilization down under 29% without adding too much in the way of new accounts, your scores should escalate quickly.

Gregory1776 · ‎08-03-2017

@Justagirl73 wrote:
IMO, no you should not app for another card until your utility is down.....way down....under 10%. I understand you moved cross country, but your creditors don't know the circumstances. It looks on paper, that you live above your means.

Also, credit karma is valuable for monitoring your credit profile....but not for scores. They are not FICO (mostly used by banks/creditors), they are vantage scores. I don't know of any creditors who use vantage.

Pay down your cards with balances, then apply. Also get your FICO scores. Good luck!

I got to second this. +1 👍🏽