@Anonymous wrote:
Why was Capital One closed with balance? Did you close it or did they? This may hurt you depending on if FICO looks at the card balance as $0 or the old balance when open.
I closed it, and all my other cards in 2014 due to being iresponsibly behind in my payments and sinking financially. I've been making monthly payments since then and they lowered the interest rate when I closed the account to 1.9% as long as I don't miss any payments.
As for utilization and reporting a zero balance on all but one card, that isn't something that I'll likely be striving for at the moment. I realize that I would have a better score at 8% utilization, or if I paid off most of my cards prior to the statement cutting so that they would report $0, but I think that's a level of micromanaging that I'm not interested in at the moment. My current goal for myself is to keep utilization under 29% total and to pay no interest. Once I pay off the Capitol One card, I will no longer have any cards that I am paying interest on. Although having the maxium possible FICO score would be nice, realistically, I'd be happy sitting in the 750 or so range.
@dlister70 wrote:I'd like to get:
Chase Amazon (for the 5% cash back on Amazon)
Vantage West Rewards (for 5% back on utilities)
Citi Double Cash (I don't have a 2% card yet)
Blispay (for the 6 months no interest)
My overall age of accounts is only like 1.5 years because I've gotten 4 cards recently after not having used credit cards for several years. I refinanced my house last year, so that went from being a 10 year old account to now only a year old.
My Discover is still within it's double cash back after the first year, so I won't really need a 2% card until September when that is up. My thought was to wait for the Citi until last, but if I get the other 3 first then my overall age will go down even lower and maybe my score won't be good enough to get the Citi by then. Credit Karma only shows "fair" approval odds for the Citi Double Cash right now, whereas it says excellent for Amex BCE, for example.
The Blispay card I was planning on using for medical expenses (not TVs!) for the 6 months no interest financing. I just started contributing to an HSA this year, and I need to go to the dentist to have some work done, so it would give me 6 months to fund the HSA to reimburse myself and pay back the Blispay card. And I figured if I had doctors bills in the future, it'd be the same 6 months no interest as a Care Credit but with 2% back instead of no cash back.
Transunion Fico 8 is 722, Experian Fico 8 is 719. I don't know what Equifax is as I don't currently have a card that will give me that score for free!
Which order should I get these cards in from hardest to get approved for to easiest to get approved for? Should I wait a few months since I just got the NRA Visa in December? My current cards and limits are in my sig.
Thank you for your help!
The Citi Double Cash has 15 months of 0% interest. I don't see all the hype about Blispay... The customer service seems medicore. If you're only planning on buying 1 or 2 items to finance them for six months, the DC will be better for you. I would get one card or the other and save one hard inquiry.
If I were you, I wouldn't waste an inquiry of AAoA ding just to get a card that gives 5% back on utilities.
Chase Amazon is an easy card to get so I'd apply for that last.
I think OP mentioned a few years ago they closed all the cards and are currently working on paying them off.
I would hold off on Blispay. You have Disco 0% until Sept I would put any immediate medical work on that (better than 6 months), unless you can wait on the work. If you can wait I would wait and pay down more debt and keep that util low as previously mentioned.
Edit: I was too slow to respond. 
@Anonymous wrote:The Citi Double Cash has 15 months of 0% interest. I don't see all the hype about Blispay... The customer service seems medicore. If you're only planning on buying 1 or 2 items to finance them for six months, the DC will be better for you. I would get one card or the other and save one hard inquiry.
If I were you, I wouldn't waste an inquiry of AAoA ding just to get a card that gives 5% back on utilities.
Chase Amazon is an easy card to get so I'd apply for that last.
Good point about the Blispay. I was kind of thinking of it as a long term thing past this particular dental procedure that if a medical expense came up, I could have 6 months to get it reimbursed through HSA if I didn't have enough in the HSA at the time of the incident. However, there are tons of cards with 1 year 0% interest if such an incident should arise, so I may just nix the Blispay.
As for the 5% on utilities, my thoughts were that it was a fixed expense that I would always have, and it's more per month than some other categories that I already have a card for. The Vantage West card seems to cover (as far as I understand it) gas, electric, water, sewer, trash, cell phone, and cable/internet. All of those put together could be anywhere from $300-$400 per month depending on furnace/AC usage or $3,600 a year on the low end for me. I certainly don't spend $3,600 on gasoline per year, but I have a gas card for 5%.. I didn't spend $3,600 on Amazon last year, but I want one of those too. I just figured it made sense to go for a utilities card when I know that I'll have those expenses forever! Although the bump in rewards from just using a 2% card on utilities isn't huge on a yearly basis, it'll add up over time.
@HeavenOhio wrote:Since you're paying them in full anyway, I think I'd zero out the three cards with low balances. Simply pay before the statement cuts instead of after, and let them lie dormant long enough to make sure the statements cut at zero. This doesn't bring you to the "less than half" of your cards with balances that FICO likes, but three of six will still likely look more impressive to potential lenders. Because your scores are good, you don't really have to zero in on the scoring numbers. As ABCD mentioned, what your profile looks like is what matters.
Fair point, I guess it wouldn't be that much different to just change the date that I pay the cards. I also thought there was a problem consistently reporting zero on a particular card because then on your credit report it looks like it's a card that you don't use? I guess AMEX would know I was using my BCP for example, but when I app for something else, another lender may see that I'm always reporting $0 on that card and think I'm not responsible enough to use it correctly?
Perhaps that's overthinking it..
Credit Karma “approval odds” are garbage. Don’t even bother considering them when making an app decision.
Citi is definitely sensitive to new accounts and inquiries. You’ll want to have less than 6 in 6 months when applying with them.
I’m not familiar enough with the other lenders to help with which one should come first. But if it were me I’d probably do Citi DC first and Chase Amazon last since that one seems pretty easy to get and is not subject to the 5/24 rule.
Citi is definitely sensitive to new accounts and inquiries. You’ll want to have less than 6 in 6 months when applying with them.
I’m not familiar enough with the other lenders to help with which one should come first. But if it were me I’d probably do Citi DC first and Chase Amazon last since that one seems pretty easy to get and is not subject to the 5/24 rule.
