Any advice on the order of credit rebuilding steps?

[Jamex]

Hi team,

Thanks again to everyone who's helped me here so far. I'm at the point where it is time to seek a few new lines of credit, and wanted to see if anyone might have any thoughts on the best "order of operations" with a focus on keeping my score as high as possible throughout the process.

Here's what I need to do between now and June:

- Get one more credit card (I currently only have one, with a $2500 limit; I'm looking at the Cap One QuicksilverOne and the Barclaycard Aspiring Prime. I know that CapOne puts INQ's on all 3 bureaus, whereas Barclay only uses TU. My goal is to get the card in time to earn a CLI prior to September 20th, when I have to travel abroad for a few weeks)

- Apply for patient credit through Springstone (I need a fair bit of dental work, and estimate that I'll need a line of approximately $7,500 - 10,000, with the ability to access it by 4/15. My plan is to then pay this off over the next 48-72 months, depending on the interest rate offered)

- Secure a new apartment (my girlfriend and I are looking to get a new place together, and I'll need to apply and be approved by either mid-May or early June)

Here's what I'd like to do if possible:

- Refinance my car loan (currently am 24 months through a 72-month loan with Consumer Portfolio Services, balance is $11,000 at 19.95%, monthly payment of $339. I'd love to get that payment down to around $225 if possible)

Here are my credit and income stats currently:

EX: FICO of 649 (3 hard inquiries total; 1 from this January, other 2 are due to fall off in April)

EQ: FICO of 668 (1 hard inquiry from 2012, due to fall off in April)

TU: FICO of 659 (1 hard inquiry from 2012, due to fall off in April)

Income: $74k

Last reported util on Citi card: 58%

My current thinking is that I'll apply for either the CapOne or Barclay card late next week after my updated balance reports from Citi (which will drop util to 9%). Then next would be Springstone, then the apartment, and then maybe the car refi. My reasoning is that it's probably the CC companies who would care the most about inquiries, right? I also want to give myself enough time to earn an initial CLI before my trip abroad (which I think takes 4-6 months, right?)

Assuming worst-case that each of these results in INQ's to all 3 bureaus, by the fall I'd have 4 new INQ's that then hang around for 2 years. Does that mean I'd then need to basically take 2015 "off" as far as general credit re-building goes? If so that's fine, just want to know what the medium/long-term consequences of this approach would be.

As always, thank you all so much for any insight you can offer. I'll continue to keep an eye out for any threads where I can chip in with help of my own.