need help

[Anonymous]

so my credit score is at 620 ish now.. after paying off all collections. i will be paying off all my credit card debts within the next week.. all utilization are roughly 95% plus... planning on calling to cancel my two first premier card and one credit one, leaving me with two capital one cards $300 and $500, citi dc $1000, and walmart store card $800. how should i start managing my profile to larger limits/cards? annual income is $60k @ 40 hours a week..but usually do about 50-60 hours a week so annual income varies

[Anonymous]

You're doing the right steps in paying down uti and closing 1st premier and credit one. The only other things that I feel are critical: garden to let you current accounts age and get regular cli AND keep your utility below 30%. 

[Anonymous]

As a fellow rebuilder I would highly recommend that once you get your util down to a manageable number just work on getting your credit score higher. Once the util goes down then your score should easily jump to around 640-650 I'd think. At that point play the prequalification link game and check out capital one, amex, and chase to see if there are any solid offers out there before you go out and start cold apping. When I did that I got prequalified for a chase freedom card with a micro limit (500) but a year later I've gotten just about every single card that I could have ever wanted. My advice is try to be patient and wait for solid prequalifications

[Anonymous]

Congrats on working in the right direction.  I agree with what has already been said.  Patience really is a virtue. When starting my rebuild Capital One wouldn't approve me initially due to burning them in my BK.  Discover also said no and I knew not to try any of the other big boys right away.  I was getting mail from Credit One and Merrick and while I know they have helped plenty of people get started or re-started I really didn't want to get into a fee based card.  So I waited 6 months and then got approved from Cap One.  It's just a platinum card, but it will get better in time.  Thats where I have to tell myself to be patient, but that is not easy.  Good luck on your journey.

[Anonymous]

what do you mean by gardening?

[Anonymous]

thanks for the input, i will be patient and let things happen. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

what do you mean by gardening?

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Gardening is when you stop applying for any type of new credit and allow the cards that you do have to age and allow  your overall profile to age also.   In this forum is more information on gardening.

[wilmer007]

you have to keep your ultilization at less than 10% so if you have a total available credit of say $3,000 this means you need to have your total balances be less than $300 per month. when you have toy limits or small total available credit it is important to make multiple payments per month  (if you are constantly using the cards) to keep total balances at less than 10%.

when i had toy limits less than a year ago i was constantly making 2-4 payments per month to each credit card. but now a days with $47.5k total credit i simply set all my CCs to autopay and let the autopay make the payment once a month.

[Anonymous]

Just paid all cards to 0 balances.. now waiting for the payments to post so I can close the credit One card and the 2 first Premier cards.. oh and I didn't mention a secured card with Wells Fargo either

[Anonymous]

Update.. my Fido score is 571!.. not good at all.. 620 was thru credit karma.. I have a long way to go..