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It's been a very long time since I posted anything in a while here. I haven't checked my credit in 3 months, until today. Seems like I'm stuck at 694 (3 months later). I've been posting little balances on my 2 credit cards, and haven't applied to any credit cards since May (EQ. Report). The only thing I took out that posted on my credit report was for At&t last month. I just turned 1 year of official credit history with my Capital One card this month and no CLI. I was thinking of trying to apply to another credit card, but I'm stuck with decisions. I don't want to go apply to many credit card because I know that it will just decrease my credit score. At glance, I'm thinking a store card, or applying to an American Express gold card and hope that my credit will increase. But I'm no expert on what makes credit scores go up or down.
i would try asking for a cli first on your cards...capone website first, then if no go try the eo...how's the rest of your file look like? baddies, etc?
I wouldn't worry about 700+ immediately, that'll come with time and a credit score isn't much use if you don't actually, well, use it sometimes.
If you have a year on a secured card, you can upgrade your cards to longer term ones which is what I would personally do; however, if you're just looking for a quick boost, if you don't have any installment loans on your report, get a secured loan, credit builder, or similar, and that'll probably give you a small pop on your score to get you over the 700 hump from the mix of credit portion of the algorithm.
Also, only leave a balance on one card, not both: you'll want one to report zero if you're not already doing that. Pay early on one of them.
Beyond that there's not a whole lot you can do except wait; a third card would likely help your file as really you want around 4 open tradelines on your credit report, but as long as you keep paying on time and managing your balances, you can get above 700 with your setup now, but it sounds like your file is a bit thinnish and that'll quite likely hurt you from an underwriting perspective later as not all credit reports which score at 700+ are created equal.
Revelate is right. A thin file and reporting balances on both cards will hurt your score. If you had more cards you would have more cushion on your cc usage utilization, eventually a better AAoA, and a thicker file. Inquiries and new accounts hurt a little for a little while. After awhile (6 months = slow improvement) and one year anniversaries are even better! The thicker your file is, the less things 'hurt'. I've found this out from personal experience. I also found that while rebuilding credit, that outweighing the bad with the good helped.
Are you looking at your Equifax FICO score from MyFICO.com? If so, it seems that the 04 version penalizes short credit history and having balance on high percentage of cards (in your case 100% because you have balance on 2 out of 2 cards you have). I too have a thin file with 2yr 3mo history and AAoA of 9months. However, it seems that the 08 version of the FICO score loves my credit profile. I carry balance on a lot of my cards (I PIF on due date each month but show balance on statement end date).
Last I checked, my 04 Equifax was in 600s while my 08 EX and TU are both 750+.
You might want to check your EX score on MyFICO.com. That one is 08. TU is 98 and EQ is 04.
Every lender uses different versions so EQ 04 isn't the only one that matters.