topic Re: Wanting to apply for an Amex Costco card with higher balance- tips? in Credit Cards

Wanting to apply for an Amex Costco card with higher balance- tips?

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 21:04:22 GMT

Hi all,

I got my first credit card a few years ago when I was 20. I had literally no credit (still had to have parents co-sign on utilities and the like in college), so my limit was $250 and increased to $500 a few months later.

A year later I opened up a B of A student account and was signed up for a credit card with a $900 limit.

Both my credit cards have very low limits, so I would like a card with a higher limit as a backup for emergencies, so I want to apply for an Amex Costco credit card. If the limit is high enough, I'll ditch the B of A credit card the next time it's paid off.

If I applied today, how likely do you think it'd be that I could get approved for a higher limit ($2k-$5k is what I'm hoping for)? Here are some additional details:

Capital One card- $500 limit, currently owe about $300 on it, pay it off every month

Bank of American card- $900 limit, currently owe about $600 on it, pay it off every few months, but usually has a balance of $200-$300

Victoria's Secret card- $1000 limit, currently owe about $300 (embarrassing, I know!), pay about $75 toward this every month, and haven't used it in about 4 months. I'm going to pay this one off and close it, because it has high interest and I shouldn't have signed up for it to begin with.

I also have an $18k car loan out (does this affect my credit?), I've had it since October, and have always made the payments on time. The last thing is that my grandparents gave me a "business" credit card with my name on it, but it's linked back to their business, so I don't think that it actually has my credit information on it, just my name.

I've applied for a couple other credit cards- one with my main bank, Chase, and was denied for having limited credit (about 9 months ago).

Any thoughts or tips? Any idea how likely I would be to get a higher balance if I applied for the Amex? I don't mind waiting a few more months, so if there are any tips on how to increase my odds to getting approved I would love to hear them!

Thanks for your help,

Chelsea

Re: Wanting to apply for an Amex Costco card with higher balance- tips?

android01 — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 21:16:10 GMT

Do you know your FICO scores?

Re: Wanting to apply for an Amex Costco card with higher balance- tips?

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 21:26:33 GMT

I don't. Should I do that?

Re: Wanting to apply for an Amex Costco card with higher balance- tips?

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 21:39:37 GMT

Okay, I just ran my FICO...

My score is 678.

Payment history is "great"

Amount of debt is "not good" (in debt about $19k including my car loan)

Length of credit history is "not good" (3 years)

Amount of new credit is "good"

What hurts my score is short account history, high credit usage, seeking credit, and accounts with balances. What is good is no missed payments and few new accounts.

So should I pay off my VS credit card, and one of my other ones and keep them at $0 balance before I apply for the Amex?

Re: Wanting to apply for an Amex Costco card with higher balance- tips?

android01 — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 22:47:44 GMT

It's nice that your payment history is good as that's the biggest determining factor in your score. Paying down your balances is the fastest way to give your score a nice bump, although 678 isn't a bad score. Keeping your revolving credit utilization under 10% probably gives the most bang for the buck score wise, and is the only component you can really do anything about in a short period of time. Try to keep a balance (for reporting purposes), on one card only, and have the others report as zero. Many people report lower scores if they report zero balances an everything. The age of your accounts gets better only as time passes and you keep your applications to a minimum because every new account lowers your average age of accounts. Be thoughtful and careful when applying for credit and try not to get sucked into the "app trap". CCC's watch us, and as many here have seen, to many applications and new credit can cause unforeseen consequences like card cancellations, credit line decreases, and low credit lines to start.

IMO, I'd pay down your credit cards first, until all the credit bureaus reflect these payments and then apply for your AMEX card. Watch your credit scores. There have been people here who got AMEX cards with similar and lower scores, but the CL's (depending on if you get a charge card or a revolver) were pretty low. Paying down your existing debt will position you better to get the kind of CL you mentioned.

Re: Wanting to apply for an Amex Costco card with higher balance- tips?

Ron1 — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 22:58:27 GMT

You may want to get Amex Zync instead and try to apply for Amex Costco Card after six months. It may easier for you to get approved. It's what I did. First I applied for Gold Card and got approved. After six months, I applied for the card at Costco and I got approved for 2K. It was almost 2 1/2 yrs ago.

Ron.

Re: Wanting to apply for an Amex Costco card with higher balance- tips?

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 02:43:11 GMT

I would hold it off for a few months since AMEX's revolvers are harder to obtain.

Good Luck !!