Need Opinions for My Next Step/Card

Anonymous · ‎07-24-2018

Hi,

Prereq:

My Score: 641, One medical collection from 2014
Wife's Score: 730, Clean file

I'm at a position where I just got a secure-ish job and I'm not sure where to go from here. I could use some opinions. I was at **bleep** credit because of my medical collections ($2600 and one $600, got the $600 removed by asking them to verify *shrug*). However, I've made some improvement from the past year(score of 300s to 641).

After getting married, my wife and I wanted to get her started on credit. Her credit file was opened in October 2017 and currently her score sits ~730. Trust me, this is related.

So, my cards:

~~CapOne Journey~~ (They closed it once I moved temporarily to another country): 12/2014
Deserve Platinum ($300 limit, $70 usage. Probably should ask for an increase) : 05/2017
CapOne QuickSilver One ($300 limit, $100 usage) : 06/2018

I am an authorized user on my wife's current cards:

Discover IT Student Cash back (Initial limit was $500, got $1000 two months ago, $500 usage): 10/2017

My Wife's cards which haven't started reporting yet so I have no idea if they increased/decreased my score:

AMEX Everyday($1000 limit, 0 usage): 07/2018
Amex BlueCash EveryDay($1000 limit, 0 usage. We initially mistook it for Everyday and called customer service the same day 2 hours later and got approved for both): 07/2018

Now, I'm quite sure I'm mucking up the Chase's 5/24 rule by having so many cards on my line but I don't think I'm gonna get approved for it since a baddie from 2014/15 exists.

I was highly tempted to apply for the Amazon Prime Store card during the prime day sale because I am planning on getting a new computer soon enough, and paying 0% interest sounds fantastic to me. I am kinda holding off because I'm not sure which other good card opportunities I might muck up by having too many cards.

My current plan:

Wait until 10/2018 and have wife apply for maybe Chase Freedom/FU or a CSP, considering she'd have a year long history by that point.

MAYBE close the Blue Cash Everyday.

Edit: I'd generally like travel rewards if this matters. I make international trips approx every year or so.

I'd appreciate any suggestions.

Anonymous · ‎07-24-2018

first things first you have to drop that utilization its hurting your score a lot i would join your nearest credit union and try for a card with them

Anonymous · ‎07-24-2018

My current utilization is <25% for my first card, about 30% on my second card, and wife's Discover is approx 50%(yes I know about 20-30 would be better, AMEX simulated TU score is about ~30 points higher if I reduce the balance by $400).

Second, I know it is a well-said advice, but local credit unions aren't same everywhere and my local credit unions are **bleep**. There's 0 point in me trying to get a card there if they're gonna give me a card with 0 bonuses.

Anonymous · ‎07-24-2018

@Anonymous wrote:
My current utilization is <25% for my first card, about 30% on my second card, and wife's Discover is approx 50%(yes I know about 20-30 would be better, AMEX simulated TU score is about ~30 points higher if I reduce the balance by $400).

Second, I know it is a well-said advice, but local credit unions aren't same everywhere and my local credit unions are **bleep**. There's 0 point in me trying to get a card there if they're gonna give me a card with 0 bonuses.

Are you looking at your Vantage scores?

Anonymous · ‎07-24-2018

When simulating? Sure. I do however have my FICO scores through AMEX's SecureCredit thingy.

Anonymous · ‎07-24-2018

@Anonymous wrote:
When simulating? Sure. I do however have my FICO scores through AMEX's SecureCredit thingy.

I wasn't sure what you were looking at since you only referenced 1 score in your original post. You have the paid version which provides true FICOs and the free version which does not.