@Anonymous wrote:
First time poster here, sorry if this is in the wrong thread.
First question, regarding credit utilization, I have a personal loc cl $5000/current balance $2200, secured cc cl $2500/current balance $1100. Ive been tracking my credit via the experian app and credit karma. (Not basing any apps on ck) credit karma lists utilization as “credit card utilization” whereas experian lists it solely as credit utilization so the percentage is much higher. Is the util% a percentage of all lines of credit including a personal loc or just credit cards? Or is it lender specific?
I’m looking to apply for an unsecured cc soon to increase my overall limit , but I want to get my utilization under 30% before I do that. I could also use some recommendations on cards to apply for in my situation. Been working on improving my credit for approximately a year now, last April I found I had 6 accounts in collections, I paid them all off and was able to remove all but one from my report (from 2016). Currently my experian app shows fico 8 ex 627, eq 636, tu 686, yu being higher because the collection doesn’t show. At this point I’m looking to continue building until I feel safe to apply for the chase Sapphire preferred, which like an idiot I applied for in 2016 before I knew anything about credit...
I appreciate any responses.
Your utilizaiton is keeping you from growing more right now. First off, CK is FAKO scores. Its better used to have an idea of what is on your report. Once you utilization is down then you scores will go up.
PLOC is at 44%. CC is also at 44%. You can look at utilization both ways, per lender/creditor and average across the board. It is possible to have 80% utilization on a single card, but only 15% overall utilization. This is powerful information as you look for other creditors/lenders to self judge if you would likely qualify.
Absolutely below 30% across all accounts (if not lower) is preferred for apping.
@Anonymous wrote:Hold off a bit until you get your utilization lower. You're going to need to show more positive lines of credit eventually, but at this point you have relatively low scores and high utilization...even if you were to get approved your limits would be small. Keep paying down your cards, as that is the end goal in all of this credit rebuilding nonsense (to get money for cheap and not pay a lot of interest..right? and maybe some cash rewards). So stop paying all that interest, pay down your loans, then start shopping for preapproved offers. Do a tiny spree of 2 - 3 cards max on any preapproved offers for cards that will benefit you, then garden for 2 years...seems excessive, but it is what it is. We all want everything to change drastically and soon, but unfortunately credit takes a while to repair. It's a marathon not a race.
Good luck and good job with the rebuild so far
To add, do so over a period of time...six months, maybe? As stated many times: it's a marathon, not a sprint. 
