I have a secured Cap1 card that has been open for almost 15 months and a QS1 card that has been opened for 9 months. Both accounts have been paid in full about 90 % of the time, but only have 500 CL each. My score is 596 Fico 8 after battling with alcoholism. I'm 3 years sober and trying to clear the wreckage of my credit. I understand that the secured product is never going to upgrade so I applied for regular Platinum Cap1 yesterday. I got the email today with info about my denial and it says that I have too many cards open. So am I really supposed to close one of my accounts and shorten my credit age in order to apply for the unsecured card? After almost an hour on the phone with them, that seems to be the case. Is this standard procedure?! I don't see why I can't apply and if approved, close one of the accounts! Someone please help me understand this box that I'm being put in. Thanks.
Starting Score: 492
Congrats on your sober journey.
I would not close anything.
Find another bank if needed.
Under 600 is a tough score for any bank.
Time should help.
Check Discover prequal.
Once your score is closer to 650 some doors should open.
GL!
Cap1 will allow you to have 5 prime cards and 2 sub-prime cards. The Platinum is a sub-prime card and you already have your two slots filled. Close the secured because it will never grow. The account will report for up to 10 years. The 6 month difference in age will be negligible by the time that happens.
Also, congrats on your sobriety from another recovering addict. I went down the same path as you more than 20 years ago.
First off, congratulations on your 3 years of sobriety! That can be a tough road to walk as I understand it. I would recommend going to https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action and pulling all three reports and go through them with a fine tooth comb. Dispute any inaccuracies on them and work on the what ever negative information that’s on there and accurate. I’d pay the smaller balances off then on the next just let it snowball and you’ll be in a better place credit wise before you know it. Most negative info can start coming off after 7 years and it could take up to 10 years. I wouldn’t suggest going to a credit repair service and paying them 100’s or 1000’s. All they do is dispute everything (which you could do for free if you wanted to go that route) in the hopes of the lender/collection agency doesn’t respond within the 30 day window. I’ll caution you though, if you use the credit repair services method of blanket disputes on all the baddies and get lucky disputing a valid negative account off your reports it can always come back.
Well first, closing accounts won't shorten your credit history age, the closed account will remain on your reports for up to 10 years. Secondly, when they said you have too many accounts, they meant you have too many of *their* (subprime) cards. You can only have 2 subprime cards, and since you already have a secured and a qs1, that's the 2 slots. Therefore, if you wish to try again, I'd advise you to close the secured card, get your money back, wait a month or two for your reports to update, and then try again for a quicksilver or another platinum. However, I'd still suggest waiting more and addressing any negatives you may have on your reports, because something is suppressing your scores.
Congrats on your sobriety; I have many friends on that path.
I feel like you're describing a symptom of a problem. Your score probably isn't being depressed by a lack of credit cards, but by something else.
Can you share more information about your credit situation? Foreclosure? Bankruptcy? Collections? The people in these forums have a wealth of knowledge that can help you rebuild your credit; they took me from 494 to 714 in two years.
