Hello mates,
First post here and I've got to say I love this site.
I had a bankruptcy due to poor credit decisions that finally dropped off about 6 months ago.
Prior to that drop off, I signed up for a secure capital one card with a 200 deposit. It eventually raised to 500 automatically. Around the same timeline, I got a unsecured from my credit union for 500.
I've also had a car loan going on for a year and a half that adds to credit reporting. Currently, the only thing that's a downside to the report was a delinquent credit card that was closed years ago. I eventually reached out to the collection agency and paid thema settlement. Unfortunately, I didn't negotiate a deletion.
That being said, as soon as the bankruptcy was discharged, I applied for one store card and was approved in store. The last 6 months I have been paying all 3 cards off monthly and never utilizing above 30% on any one card.
Very recently, I ran a soft inquiry pre-qualifting check for Chase Freedom because I'm atrying a point where I want to start earning rewards and points. To my surprise, I was approved for a 3,000 limit Freedom card. One week later, I took a risk and decided I wanted to apply for 2 other good/excellent cards and get the most of cash back rewards. I did a risky move and applied for a Discover It and Capital One Quick Silver the same night. No immediate response. Next day, during business hours I called both recon lines and said I was checking on the status as I didn't receive an immediate response. I conveyed confidence and my tone was that of expecting approval. Given approval for 5,000 Discover It and 10,000 Capital One Quicksilver. Simulations suggest that the higher limits and low utilization should give me a decent bump of close to 20 points
and offset a few points dropped.by the inquiries.
I do not plan on applying for any new cards soon, but wish to apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Amex Blue Cash Preferred, and the new Citi Costco card down the line but I'm going to wait.
My transunion reported 660s prior to bankruptcy dropping off and now is near 720. I'm looking forward to the future. Currently, I'm in a vehicle loan at 6.99 but finding I should be eligible for 3% April (number is from actual lender where I originally signed up at 6.99. I'd save about 1800 in interest if I refinanced, but don't want any more hard inquiries.
I want to highlight how important it is to follow up on the recon lines and not to just leave it up to the automated system. The limits were higher than I expected and just wanted to share the success. My goal is eventually to hit an 800 score.
