Need guidance

[omnicron]

Hello, this is my first post and I am looking for some guidence. Hopefully I'm posting into the right place, if not please move.

I am currently looking to app to either Disco, BoA or Amex. I'll give you a quick history as the details are important. 

As of January my cs was a whopping 603. Since then I'm at Eq 692, Trans 672 and Ex 682 and after Oct 6 I'm fully expecting

my Eq and Ex but be above 740 per several score estimates on this site and others. I have no baddies, over 60 months of on time payments.

My wife won a 2020 BMW X3 which we sold and paid down our debt. We paid off a 28k car loan that we were 1y 11m into, paid off all installment accounts except our mogage that we closed on June '20 and another car payment that I still have 48mo left. We also zero'ed our revolving accounts. The wife did the same with her revolving.

For the accounts I have right now they are as follows:

Morgage 185k (1077mo @ 3.5%)

Cap1 Qs (600cl zero balance)

Fingerhut (3000cl  $20 balance)

Canvas CU cc (1500cl zero balance)

Car payment (14600 $348mo)

I had a small app spree two weeks ago that added 3 cards

Mission Lane (750cl)

Avant (1000)

Good Sam reward visa (2500)

Both the wife and I applied with Penfed (we were trying to do a joint app)

She was approved for 20K which we used to finish paying down debt and tuck some away

I was approved for 11k but I turned down as the wife was approved.

I then apped for a cc with penfed and was denied and was told to reapp when my accounts report zero. I am unsure if I will as they already did two HP's.

I was at 60% cu but the new balances wont report till Oct 1 and 6.

I was the victim of 3 dealerships when trying to buy our two cars. I ended up with 16 hp's shopping me around to sub prime lenders.

7 will drop off in Dec and I plan on trying to get 8 removed in the next month. I have 24HP's in two years, one was the morgage.

What I'm trying to decide is which card will have have the best chances with. I'm looking to add a card with 0% apr balance transfer and high limit ($10k plus)

Per online approvals I have Discover IT, BoA Cash Rewards and several Amex cards (delta, hilton ect) I also have the Penfed but I think I pissed them off canceling my loan app. They pulled Eq 692 score but denied me for my CU even though they know my wife borrowed 20k to do debt consolidation. I learned my lesson, I though showing high usage would show as a possitive but was pulling me down instead. Lesson learned. I found these forums and learned different. I also have a 5 year relationship with Chase but no pre-app. I thought about trying the in person app but dont think they will give me the cl that I want.

Our income is $5400mo after tax and we have a total of expenses of around 3k a month.

Sorry for such a long post I'm just trying to give a accurate picture so I dont waste what I proceive as my last chance for a year to get a "good" card.

While my credit file goes back 30+ years I only have recent revolving history Fingerhut and Cap1 2.5 and 2.4 years. with my newest being the morgage in June. The 3 cards I added in the last two weeks may not show up for a few more weeks I hope.

Any sugestions or insights would be welcomed.

[mrjerry]

I have to ask... how did the wifey win a 2020 BMW X3? Haha 

[CYBERSAM]

"Discover IT, BoA Cash Rewards and several Amex cards"

All are good options and can grow nicely into future.

CCs that you have don't seem to be long term cards, they offer very little and won't grow as much. Plan to replace most of them except the oldest one.

Grats on your success and kudos to your lucky wife : )

[omnicron]

She won it in the Mighty Millions Children's Hospital Raffle in Colorado. She found out she won the car 1 week before we moved from CO to WA.  It was a 52k car with 18k in federal and state taxes.  Car was free and clear. Trailered it to WA and sold it for 42k with 124 miles on the odo.

[omnicron]

I agree, the card from Canvas they may close that when I have the car loan paid off. Two of the cards I got was just to improve my total revolving number. For me, they have no fee's so once I get a "big boy's" card with a higher limit they will allow me to transfer more to a balance transfer card with zero intrest. The GoodSam card has decent rewards and a better rate then the Canvas card. I just need better "tools"

[Anonymous]

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@omnicron wrote:

She won it in the Mighty Millions Children's Hospital Raffle in Colorado. She found out she won the car 1 week before we moved from CO to WA.  It was a 52k car with 18k in federal and state taxes.  Car was free and clear. Trailered it to WA and sold it for 42k with 124 miles on the odo.

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That was some real fast depreciation 

[omnicron]

It was technically a used car at that point. Sold the car last month, It took almost two months to get the title and another month to get a legit buyer. 

[OmarGB9]

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@omnicron wrote:

I was the victim of 3 dealerships when trying to buy our two cars. I ended up with 16 hp's shopping me around to sub prime lenders.

7 will drop off in Dec and I plan on trying to get 8 removed in the next month. I have 24HP's in two years, one was the morgage.

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First off, congrats to DW for winning the raffle and both of you for taking care of debts.

Secondly, the part I bolded above is something that scared me a bit. What do you mean "you plan to try to get 8 removed next month?" I hope you're not planning on simply disputing away legitimate inquiries. Also, when car shopping, as long as all inquiries are done within a 30-day period and coded as auto loans, they're counted as 1 single inquiry. They all still appear on your report of course, but score-wise, they only count as one.

Third, the online prequals you have are all pretty solid, except for BoA. Their prequalify tool is more of a suggestion/marketing. Discover and Amex are solid though, and very good cards. Which card you choose will depend on personal preference, really. Either way, if/when you get approved for Amex/Disco/BoA, you'll want to close down your subprime cards (Fingerhut, Canvas, Mission Lane).

[omnicron]

I did not know that all the car apps would be included as one single. I know morgages were. I was going to call the Dealership and ask them to remove the quarries, but if they only count as one then no need.

I am just concerned about closing down fingerhut, it's my longest open account and highest limit. To me that would be going backwards. Is it not better to keep your oldest lines? I can drop the subprimes I just need to replace them with something. My wifes cousin is coming to visit us this weekend and I'm thinking about asking him to add us as a AU on a couple of his cards so I can add some history to my file.

[coldfusion]

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@omnicron wrote:

I did not know that all the car apps would be included as one single. I know morgages were. I was going to call the Dealership and ask them to remove the quarries, but if they only count as one then no need.

I am just concerned about closing down fingerhut, it's my longest open account and highest limit. To me that would be going backwards. Is it not better to keep your oldest lines? I can drop the subprimes I just need to replace them with something. My wifes cousin is coming to visit us this weekend and I'm thinking about asking him to add us as a AU on a couple of his cards so I can add some history to my file.

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FICO will score all the inquiries related to the applications for an auto loan as a single inquiry but they will all be reported individually.

One thing I will mention since you broached the topic is that discussion regarding removal of legitimate inquiries is not permitted on this site.  There may be ethical concerns about a dealer shotgunning loan applications, but the inquiries are valid.