Need help with approval odds

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I have read through a lot of posts in here but this is my first time posting. I need specific information on what cards I could possibly get in my situation. I am a small business owner which is the reason I am rebuilding my credit to begin with, the first two years were kinda rough but now things are pretty great and we are opening more locations.

I have been rebuilding credit for about 9 months and plan to try and buy the house I'm currently renting in about 10-12 months. When I started 9 months ago my score was a busted 574. I have opened a new car loan over a year ago and have been current on everything and tried to clear off all baddies I can. 

Currently I have a scores of 647-655.

I just recently cleared up a comcast collection that hasn't reflected on my report yet and I am hoping that will also have a positive impact now that its closed. I paid my one credit card ( Vystar Credit Card, old school 9.9% fixed card with a $5k limit) down from 98% to 28%  which is already reflected in my reports and intend to keep it that way.

I have 1 inquiry on my TU and 6 on my EQ in the past 2 years. 

My wish list of cards are as follows:

- Amex BCE

- Amazon Prime Visa

- Chase Sapphire

- Chase Freedom

- Barclay Arrival

- Best Buy Citi

I am looking for advice on my odds and any other cards that I should put on my short list.

[elim]

What are your current Fico 08 (not credit karma) scores? What baddies are on each bureau and how old are they? Have you tried the prequalify sites? Try Cap1, Chase and Amex prequalify and report back.

Chase and Amex will most likely pull Experian.

edit: How old is the Vystar card?

[Anonymous]

Ok,

This will sound dumb but where should I go for the FICO? I have only used CK and Quizzle in the past.

Bad Stuff:

I have student loans that I was delinquent on 18 months ago and refinanced them from Nelnet to AES and have been current ever since. Even though the old Nelnet stuff was refinanced it still says past due over 120 days even though they say $0 balance on all accounts

I had a foreclosure that was finalized a little over two years ago (We let it go on for too long before settling it out, the first two years my business was open I only took like half my paychecks)

I also have a derogatory closed lending club account from Aug of 2014. This is marked that it had a balance of $2200 even though we paid it off in 2014. My wife just paid it off when the collector called and didn't think to ask for it to be removed or whatever.

And finally the Comcast collection was some annoying thing that was stupid and resulted in me allowing my parents to transfer service under my name to their new house and they wound up with a balance that I got hit with. Either way I just paid it off a week ago (It didn't even hit my credit until Jan of this year).

It's a bit of a mess but 570-650 in less than a year is a big improvement but there's plenty of work to go.

[Anonymous]

Also,

I tried the Amex and Chase pre qual sites and they had nothing for me at the time. The Cap1 site prequaled for the regular platinum and quicksilver. Nothing good really.

I have seen and heard stories on this forum of all sorts of mid to low 600 approvals for other cards and figure there has to be something I can do. I just don't want to risk Hard Pulls until Im ready.

[elim]

You can get your Fico's here (and a monthly alert system) for $25/$30 per month. or if you are on a budget you can try Credit Check Total for $1 and cancel in a week (you will get all 3 Fico scores), there are a lot of threads here on the subject if you search for "CCT $1 trial".

Your Baddies are still pretty fresh so Cap1 may help you add some positive reporting to outweigh the negative stuff. I would app for Quicksilver or Venture (if you travel) for a higher limit (if approved).

[Anonymous]

Should I try and app my 3 most likely since the quicksilver is such a high interest rate card to see if I can get a better one? Or would the 2 additional apps hurt too much when considering a mortgage like 9 months from now?

Thanks

[Anonymous]

No one should app at all if considering a mortgage in the next 12 months.  Even 24 months of being app-free would be better.

Also unless you have 700+ scores, it's not advisable to app unless it's for a product that you absolutely need right now. 

If you app now, not only will that look unfavorable if you go for a mortgage inside the next year, but the new accounts, inquiries and AAoA reduction will drop your scores and possibly just make it harder for you to obtain a mortgage at a favorable rate when the time comes.

My vote is to not app.