Last year, I went from making 14k a year to making 14k a month. While my quality of life improved by leaps and bounds, I was still haunted by my miserable low-500s credit scores, all because of about $400 worth of collections from a phone bill I failed to pay when I had cancer. Despite my high income, I couldn't get credit anywhere. Even my bank wouldn't give me a secured card, which was mind boggling considering how much money I had in my accounts. I was at the point where I was going to finance a new car I didn't need and pay it off with two month's income just to boost my score. I paid off the Verizon collection (not sure if this was smart because it was due to fall off in a year) and managed to get a $200 line of credit with Fingerhut. I got an overpriced hair curler, made my monthly payments, and waited.
In September my credit score had risen a measly thirty points, putting it on the border of Fair. I took a leap and apped for an Amazon Visa. I was given the all too familiar "We'll get back to you" line, but then to my amazement I got an email from them an hour or so later saying I was approved for a $4,000 line of credit. The next day, I got approved for an $800 Prime Store Card as well.
I sat on these for over a month and waited for my Fico to rise before doing anything else. When it did, I applied for several cards (imo, way too many, I got excited and went trigger happy). Here are my results.
EX: 626 TU: 632 EQ: 631
Kohls: (HP) $800
Walmart: (HP) $700
Texaco Visa: (HP) $400
Capital One Platinum: (HP) $300
Target Red Card: (HP) ?
Overstock.com: (SP) $5,500
HSN: (SP) $1000
Like I said, way too many. I'm fascinated that they kept approving me but I'm done now. I'm going to sit on these cards for a year or so, getting a few things here and there until my average account age goes up and the inquiries start falling off. I do have a couple questions.
1. Should I bother calling any of these and requesting an immediate CLI? I obviously don't need the increase , so a HP wouldn't be worth it, but I've heard of companies (Walmart comes to mind) doing immediate CLIs with only an SP.
2. I got the old We'll-Get-Back-to-You from Target so I assumed I got declined, which was weird because it was the third card I apped for and I hear their score req are pretty lax. Then yesterday I got a call from them ( which I missed) and they left a voicemail saying they needed to confirm my identity. I'm calling them back in a few hours when they open, but do you think this bodes well for me?
Thanks guys. I've been lurking on the MyFico forums for a year and they've been an invaluable resource for helping me to get this far.
I'll let other forum members answer your questions. Happy to have you with us!