It appears you are allowing your balances to report and then paying them in full. With such low limits and using almost all of it you need to pay the bances before your statement closes. That may require making multiple payments through out the month. Otherwise, your utilization will continue to pull your scores down. You haven't provided details about your latest applications, average age of accounts, etc, but with such low limits, I’m going to guess you have a new credit ‘thin’ profile that needs more age before applying for more credit. I would work with what you have for now and allow responsible use and time to lift your scores and overall credit profile. Maybe down the road, 6 months or more request a few CLIs to help with utilization and total credit limits (TCL). Good luck.
@jackhughes wrote:Hey, i'm looking at doing a lot of home improvement later this year and will be ordering a lot on amazon so on my search for the best cashback card i obviously found the amazon prime visa. I currently have the Chase Freedom Unlimited $1,000 credit limit, Capital One Quicksilver One $300 (looking to get a CLI), Curve Card $500 credit limit, Chase checking and saving account and also a AU on a Chase Freedom Unlimited with a $500 credit limit.
I nearly maxed out my Chase Freedom card for 2 months in a row because its not enough to be honest however i've paid it off on time every month without problem from my chase checking account with autopay enabled.
This with my such low credit limit with quicksilver one has completely ruined my usage % currently at 76% which took my score from 720 to 690 even though i pay it off every month on time.
So i'm not to sure of my next steps on how to improve this or if it really even matters because i'm paying it off every month and its okay to apply for the card.
Thank you!
No it's not ok that you're paying them off, it also depends on WHEN you pay them off. FICO utilization is based on the reported balance, which is usually the statement balance. So if you use almost all of the limit, and pay it off the day after the statement, you're still showing very high "utilization" and tanking your scores.
You should pay off, or at least pay down, Capital One and Curve cards BEFORE the statements cut.
With Chase there's something a little different. Although the statement balance is reported, if mid-cycle you pay the balance down to zero, they will report a zero balance. However, if you just pay it down, but not to zero, that will not be reported.
My advice to you is to pay off the Curve and Chase cards immediately, and to pay down the Capital One card to 28% or less of the credit limit. And only after all 3 balances have been reported, should you apply for the new card.
If you use Amazon often its a pretty useful card to have with 5% back. You can also use it for anything that you can get a gift-card for to extract the most points. For example I used it to purchase an airbnb gift card.
Your credit profile is pretty thin like others mentioned, your low limits are likely dragging you down by causing high utilization. As a workaround you can request at CLI from both chase and capital one which should only be soft pulls. For chase you will want to call up and ask first to confirm theres no hard pull. This will increase your score by raising your total available credit and also help lower your utilization. Then if you really want and dont mind the hard pull, you can try for the Amazon card.
Just as a data point, I think I was around the 700-730 range when I applied and got approved for 4k with the Amazon card
Anecdotal evidence (my experience) is using a Chase card hard, but not maxing it out, tends to get a cli. Happened with my Freedom (now FU) and Amazon Prime Visa, but this was pre/early pandemic
-j
@joltdude wrote:Anecdotal evidence (my experience) is using a Chase card hard, but not maxing it out, tends to get a cli. Happened with my Freedom (now FU) and Amazon Prime Visa, but this was pre/early pandemic
-j
Dang good to see you still around J
I've applied for this card a couple times now and even a core Chase card and big zilch. Probably blacklisted after closing my Prime Visa mid first year
. But maybe one day I become debt free and....
