What to do next...

[spartantx117]

Ok here is my situation.... 32 years old got over extended and my credit went to complete crap.... This was about 7 1/2 years ago..... Fast forward to today....

I have a unsecured Capital One Platinum 6 months ago with a 500 dollar limit. Did their credit steps program logged in ast week And bam 1500 dollar increase and was able to do a PC to the Quicksilver card however they wouldn't do away with this 19.00 annual fee. (they said to call  back in May and see what they could do...)

I have a Comenity Bank One Stop Plus card with a 450 credit limit opened in April of 2011....

I am a AU on my wives Discover it with a 1600 dollar limit.... It was opened 9/13

I have a Barclays Rewards card with a 1300 dollar limit..... Opened  10/13

All of my baddies are gone (I had a lot) except for a HSBC Best Buy account due to fall off in march that shows it went to collections and late has late payments and a hospital collection I didn't realize I had for 527 that's due to fall off in Oct 2014 and in collections....

What at I am wanting is to get a few more store cards I will use (Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, not sure what else....) and get in with Chase and Amex for sure and possibly Citi....  I was told to apply Discover card before as well but am curious if that would be beneficial since I am a AU on my wives.... 

I keep getting pre approvals from Amex green card, Citi diamond and AA online, and even Chase freedom (which is what I want) however I do understand that's no guarantee I will get the card but I know it's a positive sign... 

Basically what route should I take? Get the other two baddies off? Go ahead and apply for Discover and a couple of store cards? Go for the Chase and Amex?

My my utilization is at 8 percent and it's all one one card and my AAoA is 2 1/2 years... And I have 4 inquires on Transunion 1 due to fall off in Feb and 1 in Nov 2014 and 1 from May and 1 from Oct.... The other reports only have 1 or two inquires due to fall off next year....

Thanks for any info/help...

[notfancy]

I'd wait til at least April to apply for any thing. Let the inqs and such fall off. You can try to get a pay for delete on your bad accounts. The hospital might even recall the account from collections, let you pay them and have it deleted. I know a lot of people seem to report successes with medical PFDs. I personally had one myself this week.

That way your report can be in the best possible shape before you apply for any thing else. I've read that Barclays likes to close accounts on people if those people wrack up  new inquiries, so you probably want to have a little more time with them before you apply for anything new.

The longer you can hold off, the more likely you are to get an approval over a decline, and a usable credit limit.