What Are My Credit Card Options

[jam2021]

Howdy folks, 

I've been spending a lot of time in the forums and all the info on here has been super helpful! I thought I would take the plunge and reach out to the community for some advice.

I am currently rebuilding my credit and working my way back from some rough patches that resulted in multiple late payments on three C1 cards. Two were restricted as a result but were paid in full and both report current on my credit reports. The most recent late payments on those accounts was prior to 2017. The third C1 card with a $500 limit is currently open and the most recent late payment was February 2020 (120 days). The only other account in my name is a Wells Fargo Platinum card with a $300 limit (originally a secured card) and the most recent late payment on that card was February 2020 (30 days). I recently contacted Wells Fargo and requested to have that removed. My late fee was waived and refunded to me and now I am just waiting for the mark to be removed from my credit report. I am also an authorized user on my partner's AMEX with 0% utilization and a $25k limit that is used and PIF monthly. Both my C1 card and my WF card are paid in full and on time payments have been made, frequently more than the minimum due, since the last late payments. Despite all fo the late payments I've managed to avoid any charge offs. FICO 8 with Experian is 723. Credit used is 8%. Oldest credit card is 12 yrs. The only new account that I've had in the last two years is the AMEX I was added to as an authorized user (soft pull). No hard inquiries in the last two years. Besides my credit cards and the auto loan that I just paid off I have two student loans and one paid in full that went to collections. 

I am wondering at what point I should start thinking about when to apply for another card so that I can build a thicker credit file and improve my overall credit. Also wondering what cards I should be looking at for this stage in my rebuild. I recently just joined a local credit union and am planning to apply for an auto loan this month (just paid off my auto loan early through C1). The Chase Sapphire Preferred card would be a fantastic fit for my lifestyle as a I love to travel. I'm thinking that I probably need to get a card with a higher credit limit than I currently have before considering that card though since the opening credit line is $5k. Would really appreciate any recommendations and advice y'all could give me!

[Anonymous]

This is a long process to improve your credit scores. However, you could start with secured credit cards first and credit union cards. The addon authorized user doesn't affect your credit history since the actual account belongs to the other person. However, you do seem to have a good EQ score with 728. Is it a recent score? That's a good score to apply for unsecured credit cards. Do you have a lot of HP from credit applications? Do you have a lot of late payments on your credit reports since 2017?  Late payment history would stay for 7 years. They do become a little bit inrrelevant as they get older but sometime they do influence creditor decisions. You need to get your latest myfico reports and post your data here. I am hoping somebody here could give you a better advice than I am.

[jam2021]

Thanks for the reply, @Anonymous! I appreciate you reading through all of that! The 723 Fico 8 Experian score is current. I do not have any hard pulls on my credit reports and have not applied for any new credit cards in years. Besides the one 30 day late on my Wells Fargo that I'm waiting to be removed, on my active C1 card I have 9 late payments starting at Feb 2020 going back. No late payments since February of 2020 though. 

[Anonymous]

Hi, so the only late payment history is only on Cap1. I am not sure how the multiple late payment history appear on credit reports. If it is a total of 9, I am assuming 1 for each month meaning a total of 9 months from June 2019 to Feb 2020. Since I don't have much experience on this multiple late history and you do need to see out for more credit applications, I think it is still best to apply through credit unions and secured credit cards just to improve your credit history. Another way is to use the credit your current cap1 and pay it off (PIF) to improve your relationship with Cap1. That way you could show you currently able to manage your credit accounts. It is still best to request credit reports from myfico to see where you at right now.