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Looking for my next card

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Looking for my next card

Hello everyone!

 

I'd be grateful for your advice...long story short my pretty good credit took a hit from 2014-2017 due to my separation and divorce.  I have to admit that I left a lot of the financial decisions to my ex over the years and he loved racking up debt and I despised it.  But more importantly I was not prepared to protect/manage my credit scores in the years that we were separated and divorced.  I will be forever grateful to one collections rep who plainly stated to me that any credit card with my name on it was my responsibility!! She was so nice in telling me that my “equitable distribution plan” was all well in good, but that didn’t absolve me from my responsibility in the meantime.  I took notice and started making payments on anything that had my name on it and removed myself as AU on everything else…but I digress Smiley Happy

 My Fico 8 score based on Transunion per Discover Credit Scorecard is 683 ( down 2 points from 5/12/19- not sure why). The banner states 25 total accounts, 20 years length of credit, 2 inquiries, 15% utilization, 0 missed payments.  My Experian account states similar, with the exception of missed payments, I think it says 7.  My Experian credit snapshot is below. 

NEGATIVE ACCOUNTS: Long story short, my ex purposely stopped paying on these, it wasn’t my car or cc, but the accts are joint so of course I’m responsible too .  I’ve tried disputing them, but to no avail. At some point I’ll likely get a loan and start paying them off.

Penfed- Autoloan $ 10k and credit card $9k- numerous lates and marked as failure to pay

PNC bank       $1,400 checking line of credit-.  JUST PAID OFF at the end of May!!!! The bank told me the balance was $408.85 and I did receive a letter stating paid in full.  This has not been updated on my Experian acct yet. I was told that the statue of limitations on the account expired on Jan 2020, so I could have left it alone, but I just wanted to clear it up.

 

OPEN ACCOUNTS:

BBT                $ 6, 971 balance my car will be paid off June ’20- no lates – 5 yr note

Care Credit    $    168 balance, $8,000 credit limit- previous cl was $1,400, but I tried for a cli on the app this month, I asked for $ 15,000 and received $8,000  - no lates- opened 6/18

Selflender      $    761 balance- paid off Feb ’20 and I get my $ 1, 000 returned to me

Discover        $    500 balance- $10,000 credit limit. I just applied for this card this May, I was so scared, because I didn’t have any open credit cards, but they APPROVED ME!!! No lates

Mohela grad school loans      $45,000 just started repayment- no lates

 

CLOSED ACCOUNTS:

Capital One     $3,769 credit limit was $ 19,500- account is closed, opened 6/03, late payments from ’15-’18, will be paid off by the end of next year

First National Bank of Omaha- $1,689  credit limit was $ 11,100- account is closed, opened 6/07, late payments in ‘15-‘18, but was given a hardship plan of 0% interest and payments set at $240 month, will be paid off Dec ‘19

Chase Slate     $ 666 balance, credit limit was $1,344, two lates in 2015, will be paid off this year, opened 5/04

 

 

Business cards:

AMEX Simply Blue Cash-     $0 balance, $2,500 credit limit.  I opened this card this May to build business credit. I have used it to buy airline tickets, but I’ve already paid the balance off. I did get an inquiry on Experian, but the balance or cl is not showing on Experian.  Plan to ask for cli in 30 more days. I applied for a Capital One Spark Business card and got denied, I guess because I have a closed card with a balance and the delinquency of the negative accounts comes up every time I have applied for credit

 

 

So my question is two fold-

  • what do I need to do to get to 700’s ???, it seems like I’ve been holding out in 650-670 all year. Don’t get me wrong I started out in the 500 land in 2014 so I’m happy with my progress.
  • Which travel card would be a good one to apply for? I have a trip to Europe planned for April 2020 and my plan was to take my Discover and AMEX, but I just read that neither are widely accepted, so I need to Visa or MC.  Plus if I can get some points I can maybe pay for the hotel with those.  Thoughts on applying for the Chase Sapphire Reserve? 

I have 5 inquiries on Experian and 9 on Equifax and I think 2 on Transunion.

 

Thank you in advance for you replies, this has certainly been a journey and I have learned a lot along the way.  And I'm sorry if I posted in the wrong thread. 

 

Message 1 of 5
4 REPLIES 4
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Looking for my next card

Congrats on makeing headway into the land of recovery!

 

I wouldn't worry about a travel card if you're concerned about 700+  It will drop your AAOA and keep you sitting idle in the mid 600's.

 

Just let things keep aging and making payments and you'll hit 700 and zoom past it if you can get some of the mud off your reports from the divorce.

 

You have plenty of credit now that's clean and growing your profile.Just play the CLI game w/ Care / Disco every 6 months and they will grow and take some of the UTIL pressure off monthly spending.

 

If you absolutely want to move forward with another card then I would look on the Amex personal side since it's a SP INQ and they grow like weeds if you treat them right.

Message 2 of 5
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Looking for my next card

I had initially thought about the Hilton Asend Amex because of the hotel points, so maybe I’ll try that.  But that doesn’t really solve my problem of having a Visa or MasterCard for travels next year.  I do have checking accounts at Navy Federal, so maybe I could get a card from them for emergencies.  Thank you for your reply!

Message 3 of 5
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Looking for my next card

NFCU would probably hand you a 25K limit w/o thining about it.... if you're in you get a CC it seems w/ them.

Message 4 of 5
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Looking for my next card

amex is accepted by fewer places than visa/mc, but in London this past couple weeks 99% of merchants accepted amex.

Message 5 of 5
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