Credit Card Application Strategy Advice

[Anonymous]

Greetings!

I am interested in getting 3 high limit credit cards and 3 store cards like Lowes in my industry (housing construction) in one day and then gardening. I am a NFCU member so I was thinking one of them could be the NFCU Flagship Card (or one of the others) but I am open to the best scenario for me to accomplish my goal.

My Profile

Fico 8 EX 653   EQ 707   TU 695

Vanage EX 669   EQ 735   TU 652

Credit Cards I have a secured Cap One $1000.00, secured US Bank $300.00, secured Wells Fargo $1000.00, Cap One $751.00, Walmart $2440.00, Barclays Bank De $6000.00.

Balances on Barclays 3000.00 all others paid off.

Monthly Other $3000.00 credit payment.

NFCU checking $18,000.00

Collections

TU                $554 3/2018  medical

EX                $ 82  8/2016

EX TU          $401 12/2013

TU                $382 4/2017

EX                $194 1/2018 

Any advise would be welcomed. Thanks

[FinStar]

Just so that we understand your planned strategy, you are looking to get approved for 6 CCs during the course of one day, 3 store, 3 majors with high CLs, correct?

[Anonymous]

Correct

[coldfusion]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Greetings!

I am interested in getting 3 high limit credit cards and 3 store cards like Lowes in my industry (housing construction) in one day and then gardening. I am a NFCU member so I was thinking one of them could be the NFCU Flagship Card (or one of the others) but I am open to the best scenario for me to accomplish my goal.

My Profile

Fico 8 EX 653   EQ 707   TU 695

Vanage EX 669   EQ 735   TU 652

Credit Cards I have a secured Cap One $1000.00, secured US Bank $300.00, secured Wells Fargo $1000.00, Cap One $751.00, Walmart $2440.00, Barclays Bank De $6000.00.

Balances on Barclays 3000.00 all others paid off.

Monthly Other $3000.00 credit payment.

NFCU checking $18,000.00

Collections

TU                $554 3/2018  medical

EX                $ 82  8/2016

EX TU          $401 12/2013

TU                $382 4/2017

EX                $194 1/2018 

Any advise would be welcomed. Thanks

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I see this is your first post. Welcome to the forums!

One quick note - we don't bother with reviewing Vantage scores here.  No issuers of any note use them to establish credit worthiness and in the long run they track FICO scores poorly.

What if any progress have you made in trying to clean up those collections?  Those are going to be an impediment to getting unsecured credit.   How quickly could you pay off that $3K on the Barclay card? 50% utilization on a card is not terrible but it would also tend to be viewed unfavorably by other issuers.

To cut to the chase, with your current profile IMO the odds are poor that you'd be able to acquire 6 unsecured cards in 1 day.   What cards were you thinking of obtaining and what is the order of their importance to you?

[Anonymous]

I could pay off the collections next week. As far as the cards I am interested in they are these ones in order.
NFCU Flagship Rewards
Delta Reserve Amex
Chase Saphire
Capitol One Venture (back up).

[Anonymous]

Six cards in a day is probably not a good idea. I don’t know that even those with the strongest profiles here would attempt that in a month, and that’s without the collections and with a few hundred thousand dollars in available credit and very low utilization.

The collections need to be dealt with first. Could you list each one including original creditor, who is collecting (if not the OC), balance and limit, and date of first delinquency? With that info we can help you tackle them in the best way to benefit your profile. After they’re handled, THEN it’ll be time to assess your strategy for apping new accounts.

[coldfusion]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I could pay off the collections next week. As far as the cards I am interested in they are these ones in order.
NFCU Flagship Rewards
Delta Reserve Amex
Chase Saphire
Capitol One Venture (back up).

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6 cards in 1 day would definitely be viewed as credit-seeking behavior and your profile is almost certainly too thin to be successful. The Delta Reserve and the Chase Sapphire cards (CSP, CSR) in particular are geared more toward individuals with higher scores and more credit history than you appear to have.  Also, as is typical for Capital One, a Venture application would trigger a hard pull on all 3 major CRAs.

Out of the 4 cards you listed I suspect your best chances of success would be with the Flagship Rewards although I also believe that you'd have better odds with the Go Rewards or maybe the Cash Rewards card.

[Anonymous]

Sure, here is the information. 

Original         Creditor Collector     Balance     Limit     Date of First Delinq     Reporting Agency

Cox Com      Afni Inc                        194            000       1/2018                           Ex

Progressive Cred Collec Srv           401            000       12/2013                        Ex        Tu

 Not Sure      IC Systems                    82            000        8/2016                          Ex

Medi Supply                                      554             000       3/2018                                      Tu

City Water                                          382            000        4/2017                                      Tu

[CreditInspired]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Greetings!

I am interested in getting 3 high limit credit cards and 3 store cards like Lowes in my industry (housing construction) in one day and then gardening. I am a NFCU member so I was thinking one of them could be the NFCU Flagship Card (or one of the others) but I am open to the best scenario for me to accomplish my goal.

My Profile

Fico 8 EX 653   EQ 707   TU 695

Vanage EX 669   EQ 735   TU 652

Credit Cards I have a secured Cap One $1000.00, secured US Bank $300.00, secured Wells Fargo $1000.00, Cap One $751.00, Walmart $2440.00, Barclays Bank De $6000.00.

Balances on Barclays 3000.00 all others paid off.

Monthly Other $3000.00 credit payment.

NFCU checking $18,000.00

Collections

TU                $554 3/2018  medical

EX                $ 82  8/2016

EX TU          $401 12/2013

TU                $382 4/2017

EX                $194 1/2018 

Any advise would be welcomed. Thanks

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Hi and welcome to MyFICO

I just want to point out in a friendly manner that you’re looking at how credit works incorrectly. You say you’re interested in getting high CLs. In order for a CC company to award that to you, you must already have some high CL cards in your credit portfolio. Unfortunately, you do not. And the secured cards you possess tell lenders you’re in rebuilding mode. 

Next, because NFCU has been unbelievably a godsend to a lot of its members, you have a higher chance of getting a card through them with a doable limit; but IMHO, you should consider the platinum or gorewards because the Flagship is their top tier card and they may want to see some history with you first. 

And the collections are another problem. Again, with NFCU, it may not be held against you in the approval stage, but I believe the SL will not be what you were hoping for. 

Then on to Barclays where your UT is 50%. A spree could all but spook them causing a possible AA which, if it happened, would increase your UT, thereby foiling your plans. 

Kudos to you for coming here first with your plan and I hope you heed the advice given. Clean up the collections first, wait for your FICO scores to update, and then apply for one card every 6 months. This is my suggestion. 

GL2U

[Anonymous]

OP, looking at your collections, you have one piece of low-hanging fruit that I see immediately - the Afni collection. They’re one of the CAs that will automatically delete their entry in exchange for payment. Pay that one and in 30-40 days it’ll be 100% gone from your reports. The rest I’m not sure about but others may be able to chime in with their advice or experience. Nonetheless you want to approach each collector with a pay for delete offer, in which they remove themselves from your reports in exchange for payment. This is the quickest way to increase your scores. It’s up to each to agree or not but you want to approach them all that way to try and clean your reports as much as you can.