topic Re: Assistance with getting Prime CCs in Credit Cards

Assistance with getting Prime CCs

Anonymous — Fri, 10 May 2013 18:24:59 GMT

Hello All,

Firstly, I want to thank everyone on these forums that participate and take the time to write the many useful articles and responses here on MyFico. I’m a newly registered member here, but I’ve been lurking around these forums for many years. The members of these forums have helped me to recover from a low 500s (BK7 in 2008) to a respectable 680. I would be completely lost without you and I thank you.

Once again, I need your help. For the past year, I noticed that my score has been stuck around 680. I bought a new home almost a year ago (with a nice and low interest rate) and I have a few subprime cards that I PIF every month since after my BK7 and no baddies since the bk. I was hoping to join the 700 club this year, but for some reason my score remained at 680 after 12 months of no mistakes and no apps. My main goal for this year was to join the 700 club and then acquire a more prime CC (Goals: CSP, Discover IT, Barclay Travelocity) this year, but it looks like I need some more work.

In March 2013 I did some research on these forums and learned that I should get higher TLs in order to get approved for more prime cards such as CSP. So I recently app’d and got approved for Barclay (which I hear has some nice CLIs). Should I app for Discover or chase freedom as well? I’m a bit nervous and I need a game plan for the next 6-12 months. The worst case scenario for me is that 12 months passes and my score stays the same or goes down. That’s why I’m looking to this community for some guidance and advice.

Below is a breakdown of my financial profile. I appreciate any help you provide.

Financial Profile

I went through a bad divorce in 2006 and I ended up losing my job soon after the divorce. The following year, I finally started to fix my life and make a better future for my daughter. I filed for a BK7 in 2008 (was the only option at the time due to the job loss) and it was discharged on 2009. Included in the BK7 was GE Paypal, AMEX Blue & Plat Charge Card, Citi Elite World MC, Affinity Federal Credit Union (Personal Loan & CC), Honda Financial (Auto Repo), and America Servicing Company Mortgage (FC on my previous home). I got a new job, at a local Hospital, the following year in 2010 and I’ve been working there ever since. My base salary is $82k per year with an additional $5-10k bonus per year.

Credit Cards that I currently have include:

Barclay Rewards - Limit is $1000 Bal: $200

Acquired on 04/2013 - Instant Approval for $500, but recon for $1000

Merrick Bank Visa – Limit is $1600 Bal: $100

Acquired on 05/2009 - rec’ auto-CLI $500, $750, and then stopped at $750 since 2011

Cap1 Platinum MC - Limit is $750 Bal: $10

Acquired on 04/2010 and rec’ auto-CLI $250, $500, and then stopped at $750 since 2011

Cap1 Platinum MC - Limit is $750 Bal: $10

Acquired on 11/2010 and rec’ auto-CLI $250, $500, and then stopped at $750 since 2011

Orchard Bank CC – Limit is $300 Bal: $0

Acquired on 10/2010 and no auto or requested CLI

Chase Amazon Rewards Visa – Limit is $1600.00 Bal: $350

“AU only” but had it since 2007

Credit Scores:

EQ 676, TU 662, EX 680 (All Scores are MyFico scores from 5/7/13)

GOALS:

To reach 700 Fico Score and acquire the Chase Saphire Preferred card

Re: Assistance with getting Prime CCs

kimmiller112 — Fri, 10 May 2013 18:39:17 GMT

First, if I were you, I would email the executive office for Capital One (you can do a Google search for the email address) and ask for increases on both of your Capital One cards and your Orchard card. They will call you back and ask you some questions, including what kind of a limit you would like. They will also ask you if you would accept a lower limit if they can't approve the limit you want, so you may want to ask for $2000 for each of the Capital One cards since you are sitting at $750 on those and $1500 for the Orchard card since you are sitting at $300 on that one. They should be soft pulls. Then, let those report. Once they have reported, I would go ahead and app for Discover and Chase Freedom. Then garden everything for at least 6 months or even a year and you should see an increase in your score.

Re: Assistance with getting Prime CCs

09Lexie — Fri, 10 May 2013 19:41:17 GMT

Welcome to the forum! Congratulations on getting back on your feet and going through the ordeal of life after BK, divorce, job loss and a foreclosure. Definitely email the EO for Cap1. To req CLI's, AF waivers and APR reductions. Your CS isn't that bad considering the major items that hit your CR's. are you a member of a CU?

Re: Assistance with getting Prime CCs

Anonymous — Fri, 10 May 2013 19:45:37 GMT

Hi kimmiller112,

I tried that today and that didn't go so well. He was a nice exec rep and he submitted my request, but he told me that the response was "A request for a credit increase is not available for your account. We are investigating this policy...." (Something along those lines). I got this same response last year when I tried. It's a bummer.

Re: Assistance with getting Prime CCs

Anonymous — Fri, 10 May 2013 19:50:21 GMT

Hi 09Lexie,

Yes, I agree. My CS isn't that bad, but I'm hoping to make it better and get out of the subprime market. Thanks for the kind words though. I'm not a member of any CU but I will be by next week. I currently bank with Wells Fargo and TD bank only at the moment.

Re: Assistance with getting Prime CCs

09Lexie — Fri, 10 May 2013 20:04:31 GMT

I would look at that CUs options for cc's. tbh, what you are missing is the larger limit but prime banks will be skittish because of your history. See what the CU offers first and then post back.

You've done an excellent job!

Re: Assistance with getting Prime CCs

qd — Fri, 10 May 2013 21:27:52 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hi kimmiller112,

I tried that today and that didn't go so well. He was a nice exec rep and he submitted my request, but he told me that the response was "A request for a credit increase is not available for your account. We are investigating this policy...." (Something along those lines). I got this same response last year when I tried. It's a bummer.

Did you email the EO office with cap 1 and get a call back, or call the number on your card? The EO office email seems to pretty much always end with success.

Re: Assistance with getting Prime CCs

Anonymous — Fri, 10 May 2013 21:38:58 GMT

@qd wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Hi kimmiller112,

I tried that today and that didn't go so well. He was a nice exec rep and he submitted my request, but he told me that the response was "A request for a credit increase is not available for your account. We are investigating this policy...." (Something along those lines). I got this same response last year when I tried. It's a bummer.
Did you email the EO office with cap 1 and get a call back, or call the number on your card? The EO office email seems to pretty much always end with success.

I called the direct EO line and spoke to someone. Do you think they will get mad if I e-mail them since I already called twice and they seemed to be getting annoyed already?

Re: Assistance with getting Prime CCs

kimmiller112 — Fri, 10 May 2013 21:55:39 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@qd wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Hi kimmiller112,

I tried that today and that didn't go so well. He was a nice exec rep and he submitted my request, but he told me that the response was "A request for a credit increase is not available for your account. We are investigating this policy...." (Something along those lines). I got this same response last year when I tried. It's a bummer.
Did you email the EO office with cap 1 and get a call back, or call the number on your card? The EO office email seems to pretty much always end with success.
I called the direct EO line and spoke to someone. Do you think they will get mad if I e-mail them since I already called twice and they seemed to be getting annoyed already?

When you email the EO, a new case is generated and someone gets assigned to it and contacts you. When you call the EO, you are speaking to people who are in the middle of working on cases and tend not to be enthusiastic about helping someone new. I don't think it matters that you tried calling in twice. Email them and someone will call you back, sometimes same day, sometimes day after. When I emailed them, I did so in the evening and got a phone call the next day. My suggestion is to make sure you do it at a time when you are available to answer your phone. Once they talk to you, they will tell you that they will need a couple of days and will call you back. They called me back two days later and I went from $1500 to $5000, which is what I had asked for - I had the card for just over a year.

Re: Assistance with getting Prime CCs

zerobacan — Fri, 10 May 2013 22:04:16 GMT

Try DCU.org is a great bank, they will listen to you

and keep up the good work... and dont get marry again!! lol Im jk

Re: Assistance with getting Prime CCs

Anonymous — Fri, 10 May 2013 22:06:49 GMT

@kimmiller112 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I called the direct EO line and spoke to someone. Do you think they will get mad if I e-mail them since I already called twice and they seemed to be getting annoyed already?
When you email the EO, a new case is generated and someone gets assigned to it and contacts you. When you call the EO, you are speaking to people who are in the middle of working on cases and tend not to be enthusiastic about helping someone new. I don't think it matters that you tried calling in twice. Email them and someone will call you back, sometimes same day, sometimes day after. When I emailed them, I did so in the evening and got a phone call the next day. My suggestion is to make sure you do it at a time when you are available to answer your phone. Once they talk to you, they will tell you that they will need a couple of days and will call you back. They called me back two days later and I went from $1500 to $5000, which is what I had asked for - I had the card for just over a year.

Thanks for the advice kimmiller112. I sent you a PM. I'll give it a shot.

If the Cap1 efforts doesn't end well, does anyone else have any advice outside of getting a CU account and applying for a CC?

Re: Assistance with getting Prime CCs

Anonymous — Fri, 10 May 2013 22:10:50 GMT

@zerobacan wrote:
Try DCU.org is a great bank, they will listen to you

and keep up the good work... and dont get marry again!! lol Im jk

I'll check out DCU tonight. Thanks for the advice.

Marriage is bitter sweet to me. I miss it, but I don't. lol. I'm concentrating on my own life for now, and my daughter of course. Once I get my life to where I want it to be, then I'll be more inclined to share it with somneone if the right person comes along.

Re: Assistance with getting Prime CCs

09Lexie — Fri, 10 May 2013 22:17:01 GMT

DCU may do a secured cc but idk about unsecured. Bk, foreclosure and repo is a lot for them to look past even with your CS

Re: Assistance with getting Prime CCs

Anonymous — Sat, 11 May 2013 17:20:36 GMT

@09Lexie wrote:
DCU may do a secured cc but idk about unsecured. Bk, foreclosure and repo is a lot for them to look past even with your CS

I agree. That's how I feel about any bank even if it is a CU. Getting turned down is so painful. I never do get used to it.

Re: Assistance with getting Prime CCs

ztnjpv — Sat, 11 May 2013 18:40:11 GMT

Question to the OP:

Just curious about the other mechanics of your credit report. Trying to get a feel for possible options.

What derogs do you have besides the BK?

How many INQ's on each report? How many are less than 1 year old? less than 3 months old? How many will hit the 2 year mark soon?

What's your Average Age of Accounts on each report?

Finally, do you PIF before or after your statement generates? This last question is to see if your reported utilization can be improved by paying sooner and thus lowering your utilization and improving your score with a little better timing of payments.

Re: Assistance with getting Prime CCs

Anonymous — Sat, 11 May 2013 19:47:58 GMT

@ztnjpv wrote:
Question to the OP:

Just curious about the other mechanics of your credit report. Trying to get a feel for possible options.

What derogs do you have besides the BK?

How many INQ's on each report? How many are less than 1 year old? less than 3 months old? How many will hit the 2 year mark soon?

What's your Average Age of Accounts on each report?

Finally, do you PIF before or after your statement generates? This last question is to see if your reported utilization can be improved by paying sooner and thus lowering your utilization and improving your score with a little better timing of payments.

I have a BK in 2008 that included a FC and also a Repo. I've been good standing since that and I have never been late again. I got a new house last year and then I app'd for the Barclay card last month, so I should have only 3-4 Inqs within the recent 1 year. My AAOA is 5 Years old as per myFico report.

I only recently understood how the statement dates worked, so I believe for the past 1-2 years I was not PIF before my statement cut. I always paid in full after I got the "Due date" notice. Going forward, I plan to PIF before the statement date. DO you think that is the key to getting a higher score each month?

Re: Assistance with getting Prime CCs

boomhower — Sat, 11 May 2013 19:55:17 GMT

Your BK is going to eliminate a lot of prime cards right off the bat. If memory serves Discover is BK friendly. I also suggest DCU, a 680 is certainly good enough for an unsecured but not 100% sure how they will treat the BK. Visit the BK section to find some BK friendly lenders.

Re: Assistance with getting Prime CCs

ztnjpv — Sun, 12 May 2013 17:44:11 GMT

OP,

Yeah, as to the PIF issue, I was going to suggest controling how your balances "look" on your credit report. In my own experience, the sweet spot seems to be having less than half of my accounts (including loans) report any balance at all and keeping the reported balances around 1% or less of my available revolving credit. I personally have noticed that when more than half of my cards report a balance, I seem to suffer a small reduction in points.

Likewise, when my total utlization goes well above 1%, my score drops as well. I know the running logic is to show 1%-15% but honestly, these percentages are not treated equally in my experience. I accidentally showed a super high balance on my US Bank card in early April and my score dropped. I was more prepared next month and showed no balance and score increased. Granted, other factors in play as well so it's hard to attribute it all to that one thing. But still, seems to to matter.

Now, what this will do for you remains to be seen. I would suggest preparing yourself and showing a couple cards with small balances and the rest at zero, After you do this and are sure the balances have been reported (CreditKarma is a free way to check TU and they are usually the last ones to update IMHO), see if your score was affected. That could be a small way to get you closer to 700.

As for inquiries, I was curious if you maybe had any falling at the 2 year mark. Also, after 12 months, they supposedly have no scoring effect at all. They also diminish every few months from the orginal date. Time is all you can do there. Moreover, the inquiries are probably not spread evenly. The report with the fewest inquiries...all other things equal...will probably yield a better score. Likewise, if the report with the highest AAoA is also the one with the fewest inquiries, that will probably be your best score and, thus, may be the report you want to use to get a better card. Knwoing who will pull that report can help influence a possible card candidate. It also allows you to plan ahead. Knowing when your inqs will fall off or pass the one year mark can allow to plan on a certain month seeing a score increase. You can then be ready with your balances being super low to coincide with that month.

Your BK and Repo still have some time but the effects drop as time goes on.

Re: Assistance with getting Prime CCs

Anonymous — Mon, 13 May 2013 13:00:50 GMT

@ztnjpv wrote:
OP,

Yeah, as to the PIF issue, I was going to suggest controling how your balances "look" on your credit report. In my own experience, the sweet spot seems to be having less than half of my accounts (including loans) report any balance at all and keeping the reported balances around 1% or less of my available revolving credit. I personally have noticed that when more than half of my cards report a balance, I seem to suffer a small reduction in points.

Likewise, when my total utlization goes well above 1%, my score drops as well. I know the running logic is to show 1%-15% but honestly, these percentages are not treated equally in my experience. I accidentally showed a super high balance on my US Bank card in early April and my score dropped. I was more prepared next month and showed no balance and score increased. Granted, other factors in play as well so it's hard to attribute it all to that one thing. But still, seems to to matter.

Now, what this will do for you remains to be seen. I would suggest preparing yourself and showing a couple cards with small balances and the rest at zero, After you do this and are sure the balances have been reported (CreditKarma is a free way to check TU and they are usually the last ones to update IMHO), see if your score was affected. That could be a small way to get you closer to 700.

As for inquiries, I was curious if you maybe had any falling at the 2 year mark. Also, after 12 months, they supposedly have no scoring effect at all. They also diminish every few months from the orginal date. Time is all you can do there. Moreover, the inquiries are probably not spread evenly. The report with the fewest inquiries...all other things equal...will probably yield a better score. Likewise, if the report with the highest AAoA is also the one with the fewest inquiries, that will probably be your best score and, thus, may be the report you want to use to get a better card. Knwoing who will pull that report can help influence a possible card candidate. It also allows you to plan ahead. Knowing when your inqs will fall off or pass the one year mark can allow to plan on a certain month seeing a score increase. You can then be ready with your balances being super low to coincide with that month.

Your BK and Repo still have some time but the effects drop as time goes on.

I actually did notice this month that when I decided to carry a small balance (<6%) but I had a balance on most of my CCs, it managed to bring my score down a few points. For this next statement, 'm going to try what you suggested and only carry a small balance on just 1 card and PIF everything else. Thanks for tip, ztnjpv.

Re: Assistance with getting Prime CCs

Anonymous — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:20:33 GMT

@kimmiller112 wrote:
First, if I were you, I would email the executive office for Capital One (you can do a Google search for the email address) and ask for increases on both of your Capital One cards and your Orchard card. They will call you back and ask you some questions, including what kind of a limit you would like. They will also ask you if you would accept a lower limit if they can't approve the limit you want, so you may want to ask for $2000 for each of the Capital One cards since you are sitting at $750 on those and $1500 for the Orchard card since you are sitting at $300 on that one. They should be soft pulls. Then, let those report. Once they have reported, I would go ahead and app for Discover and Chase Freedom. Then garden everything for at least 6 months or even a year and you should see an increase in your score.

Cap1 called and gave me a CLI on only one card but the declined the other 2 cards for a CLI. They said it was because I do not have enough experience with high limits. So my one card is going to be $1500.00, which I am very happy and grateful for. Do you think that is enough for Discover and Chase or do I need higher limits still?