@Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the info.
What do you think would be a good utilization for the CU and QS?
Under 20% is fine. He might have misread and thought you had the cards mostly full. 10% is better. When do your next inquiries fall off after the 2 in May? I would definately wait at least until May but if you have any soon after that could fall off, I'd wait just that much more. They usually pull TU and that's quite a bit of inquiries.
Must garden until 2/1/2022 to hit my goal AAOA. 
@Anonymous wrote:After May when 2 inq's fall off I have 3 more falling off in November which will leave me with 5.
I guess I will wait till next year to apply for Barclay: it will take me that long to get Quicksilver and CU paid down to 10%.
Know there is absolutely no shame in taking your time. Barclay is picky, their recon line is fantastic but does not always work for everybody.
@joedtx wrote:Don't put too much faith in Credit Karma you have to remember that they do have their own interest in you applying via their link......
This is completely true.
At its best, Credit Karma serves as a guide. It tells you that the recent actions you've made harmed your credit (and why) and why recent actions helped your credit (and why) and for many, this is an amazing service for free.
At it's worst, it can make someone feel much better about their credit than should actually be allowed. Inflated numbers can make it seem like you have better odds than you do. However, it does share with us a huge fountain of information about what numbers people get approved with (their own numbers but it still kind of helps). Also, it often guides you into believing that a "good" amount of credit cards to have is above 14. 15 CARDS! You do not need 15 cards to have a good amount of cards (20 for very good). This causes people to apply for more cards that they don't actually need.
I have no qualms or disagreements about using their referral links, they deserve to stay in business. Without them I'd have no idea at all what to do. My hyper conservative parents couldn't properly teach me and (while their scores were 800+ FICO) they were wrong in many of their credit beliefs.
Things to realistically use Credit Karma for:
-Knowing your Average Age of Accounts
-Positive or negative affects on your credit based off of credit affecting actions (paying down a card, carrying a balance too high, high or no utilization)
-Watches for hard inquiries
-Reading reviews on cards you're interested in
So while Credit Karma has a bad rep here, there are many out there that is has/will help. Just ignore their score. 