Bankruptcy Discharged in March. Made a mistake question

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone. Long time lurker and first time poster. I filed BK7 in December and discharged in March. Prior to BK, was rebuilding and went over zealous not knowing anything about credit or scoring. Needless to say racked up tons of debt and boyfriend got really sick and couldn't work anymore. I had to let everything go. The garnishments started rolling in so I filed and am starting over much more educated. Made a few mistakes right out of the gate. I didnt start researching and reading forums until I had already gone on somewhat of an app spree on top of buying a new car before discharge and including old car in CH7. I had a predatory loan on a 14 Toyota with 50k miles, on time for 2 years before filing. 29.99% interest and 500$ payments. I jumped on a 19% interest 400$ payment for a 16 Nissan. Now i'm kicking myself but still in better shape than before on first loan. I had to have a car. I burned Cap 1, Credit 1, First Premier, Indigo, (all the predatory cards), Synch, Commenity, all small limits low balances. After discharge I went on an app spree of sorts and have racked up 12 inquiries including the car loan ones which are 4 months old. I was approved for capital 1 credit builder 300$ card and a Surge card $500 through continental finance. (I know but I couldnt get anyone else to approve me). I started in the mid 400s. I thought I needed to use my capital one and pay off every month which i'm going to do as soon as I get paid this week. First payment due in May. What I didn't realize was that it would report the card account with the balance on it now of 297/300 and the surge hasn't started reporting yet. I'm showing 99% UTI. My scores are TU 574, EQ 559, EX 596. I have student loans in good standing and car loan and one other installment loan reporting. Everything else shows 100% on time payments only bad is the BK showing discharged etc. If I pay off the balance on this Cap 1 will my scores go up considerably? I also have used the Surge card because I thought I needed to show I was using it responsibly. So that also will be paid on payday. What is the trick for making sure that it doesnt show the max limit even though I plan on charging and paying off cap one at least 1 to 2 x per month? I have read that cap 1 likes lots of money pushed through their card. I am hoping for CLI to good amount and I want to create a good relationship with cap 1 so i can apply to refinance auto loan in 6 months to a year and lower payments and interest. I also want to get my Kohls card back. That was the 1 card I hated burning. I loved that thing! I know I am done apping for now, and need to nurture the 2 cards I have, but I also show a thin file and need to find a way to open more lines, as now i'm showing 3 but have 4. Any other suggestions? I thought about trying for a secured card to round things out but for some reason cant get Discover to tell me I qualify for a secured card. And I dont want to bother with a card that wont help me.
Sorry so long winded but final question is that my report shows oldest account at 9 year. Is that my student loan? And does that factor in to my score?

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If you want to be sure that your utilization is reporting less than 10%, you need to pay in before statement cuts. Look at your statement and look for when the statement ended. Pay your balance before that statement's ending date. Make sure you give a couple days before the end date so Cap1 have time to clear your payment. Your scores will go up considerably after bringing down your utilization, yes.

As far as I know, there is no limited number of payments to pay towards Cap1. You have $300 line, that is a small wiggle room. But if it was me, I'd use the card as much as I can then PIF and reuse until couple days before end date, stop using the card. Then on a new statement cycle, start using it.

I can't comment on Surge as I do not know what that card is. But if it was me, I'd try to use it once a month and PIF.

See if you can use this thread to guide you through in your rebuild: https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Bankruptcy/HOW-TO-From-BK7-discharge-to-700-in-24-months-or-less/m-...

You were recently discharged, don't worry about the mistakes you made. Let things settle, let things grow. It takes patience. 

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your response. I will check out the thread. Surge is just another company for bad credit with lots of fees! I'm hoping to replace in a year and close out. Thanks for the good tips! I found the statement dates for both cards and will be more careful going forward.
I used the credit wise function in the Capitol one app and did a simulation for paying off the full balance showing on my capital one. It gave me projected scores going from 574 to 680 with just that one move. That seems a little bit overshooting but I'll keep you posted on how it lands. My next statement posts on May 4th. Guess we will see!