Which Credit Cards to Apply for to Boost Score?

[cbo941]

Hello,

I apologize ahead of time for my lack of knowledge but I have recently started a campaign towards repairing and rebuilding my credit after years of neglect. I am 28 and I need to improve my credit score as quickly as possible. So I am just looking for some guidance and some information on what I should and shouldn't do to improve my credit scores as quickly as possible.

Here is what I have so far.

1. Capital One Platinum Secured Card (Mastercard) - CL = $500 (had for over 6 months)

2. Just opened an account with State Department Federal Credit Union with a Secured Credit Card with $5,000 on it (based on advice from a colleague)

3. My credit history is 10 years

4. My debt (with Student Loans and Auto Loan) is $70,000

5. CC Utilization Ratio is 5% as I pay off my credit card every time I use it - which is sparingly.

Someone advised me of going to Rooms to Go and applying for financing (they use GE Capital Retail Bank) for $1,000. Is this a good idea or not?

They also advised me to go to an appliance place like Best Buy and apply for financing (they use CitiBank) for $500. My question is, are these good moves or are there better moves to make? (ie HH Gregg, Macy's, Amazon, etc.). I think I understand that revolving credit seems to move credit scores quicker than anything else so what should I do?

Thank you so much in advance! This is very important to me as I am trying to improve my life for the benefit of my little family.

[user5387]

It would be helpful to know more about your situation.

What are your current scores, and do you have any overt negatives on your reports?

[coldnmn]

Getting any new card will be a ding to your credit score. One with the new TL if approved and at least one for inquiries.  You could possibly lose 10 or more points. It could take 6 months or more to recover. Every inquiry dings your credit score so keep that in mind before applying. There is one way to improve score pay on time and have one card report <9% utilization. Reporting zero your score reports lower. Credit is a journey not a race length of positive history is key. Welcome to the forum.

[Creditaddict]

When you ask about Rooms to Go and Best Buy, have you done that already and that's what you got approved for?

You currently just have those 2 credit cards? has the state department started to report yet?

Have you checked any of the pre-qual available at Chase, Citicards, Discover, Barclay?

Do you need furniture? GE will most likely approve any acccounts they back if you have a 657 TU... Walmart, PayPal MC, Chevron, I just got 76 Card, the list is endless.

[Swapmeet]

Once your secured card has reported for sure, call the EO at Capital1 and ask them to match it, perhaps even with a pc to the Quicksilver so you can start earning cash back. Maybe add a walmart card for the free tu fico and credit mix--also when you are sure that your secured card is reporting that 5k limit. Other credit grantors will use that as a guide when deciding the limit to start you at..... My $.02. Some will surely disagree...lol.

[Creditaddict]

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@Swapmeet wrote:

Once your secured card has reported for sure, call the EO at Capital1 and ask them to match it, perhaps even with a pc to the Quicksilver so you can start earning cash back. Maybe add a walmart card for the free tu fico and credit mix--also when you are sure that your secured card is reporting that 5k limit. Other credit grantors will use that as a guide when deciding the limit to start you at..... My $.02. Some will surely disagree...lol.

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The issue is the capital one is secured and I believe from reading that op will have to apply for unsecured before they can start asking EO for things... Cap1 Secured can't be unsecured right?

[myjourney]

A lot more info needed 

Scores, other TL's, INQ's the last year, Baddies,

You have 2 secured cards now which could do the trick for rebuilding purposes so just what are you looking to do?

[Swapmeet]

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@Creditaddict wrote:

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@Swapmeet wrote:

Once your secured card has reported for sure, call the EO at Capital1 and ask them to match it, perhaps even with a pc to the Quicksilver so you can start earning cash back. Maybe add a walmart card for the free tu fico and credit mix--also when you are sure that your secured card is reporting that 5k limit. Other credit grantors will use that as a guide when deciding the limit to start you at..... My $.02. Some will surely disagree...lol.

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The issue is the capital one is secured and I believe from reading that op will have to apply for unsecured before they can start asking EO for things... Cap1 Secured can't be unsecured right?

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Oh, you're right--my fault. I glossed over it too quickly and thought it was their platinum unsecured.... My opinion on the wal mart still stands, but don't bother calling Cap 1...

[cbo941]

Wow thank you guys for the great input!

Sorry for not providing this earlier but I will try to answer some of your questions:

1. I do not have the Rooms to Go or Best Buy cards but I may go today and apply because I need to do something

2. The Credit Union has not started to report yet as I just recently got the account with $5,000 Secured Credit Card. That will help according to Swapmeet.

3. My current scores:

EX: 639

EQ: 668

TU: 624

The have 4 negatives on my account, 3 of which are from my student loan being late a few years ago and 1 is a collection which I paid off back in August and currently working on removing (if I can).

So how do I get Capital One to increase my limit, just call them and ask? My limit is only $500 right now. Will they ding my score by asking?

I basically just want to figure out if the Rooms to Go and Best Buy cards are a good idea to help my credit along with the 2 secured credit cards I have? I don't mind the ding in my score because I feel that with the 2 revolving credit accounts + my low utilization that my score will move faster than before. Correct?

Thanks for the help!

[cbo941]

Ok, so don't ask for a bump in my secured card CL? That's fine. My goal score is 700 so I am very close but I just want to ensure that I will get there quickly and keep going, that's why I was wondering about getting these cards.