Advice on building my portfolio

[Anonymous]

I am looking for some advice on what cards to apply for over the next year or two. I am currently done apping for at least 6 to 12 months in hopes of obtaining prime cards to grow with me. Quick profile:

21 (almost 22) years old so I have a relatively speaking, thin portfolio. Student but with 40k+ income and steady job.

Current cards:

Cap One Plat 2K (2+ years old)

Amex Zync (14 months old)

Just approved for:

Amex PRG (1 month)

Amex BCE 2K (1 month)

Both of these cards are obv backdated to my Zync from 11.

Denied for:

Citi Diamond Preferred a couple months back based on short history.

Considered closing Zync but for now keeping open (not sure what to do), sock drawered, and stripped down to $25 AF as I mostly use the PRG card.

I was approved for the BCE right after (yay!) and will use it sparingly but love having the extra credit. I have a great relationship with Amex so far. From what I have gathered here its a really great card to have and grow the CL (unlike my Cap1).

Have two medical collections both $100 that I am working on a PFD as we type and if unsuccessful I will go through HIPPA or pay in full and try to goodwill.

Scores around 650s to 700. No other negatives on report. Two installment loans paid off separately over 12 months. Both about 2 years old. Student loans on the account. Never had any lates, missed, etc. on any of my TLs. Nearly always pay in full with Cap1. Currently sitting around 10 to 15% util.

My goal is to build a nice portfolio of cards that can age with me and grow, from Prime Lenders. I will not be apping for a while as right now my best way to build up is to wait and age my accounts. Any advice for me and any advice on what cards to go after? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like you are getting a GREAT start! 

With three American Express cards and one Mastercard (the Capital One, right?) -- I recommend that you go for a Visa card and a Discover card.  Go online to visa.com and see which cards come up from a good prime bank and bookmark that card for building your portfolio.  Also, decide what kind of rewards you want and go from there.  If you are thinking of replacing your Capital One Mastercard, go on mastercard.com and see which cards you are interested in there. 

I also recommend that you let the dust settle on the cards that you've got right now and work on getting your credit report cleaned up but, according to the opening sentence of your post, you know that already. 

You're on the right track, just stay the course and you'll be fine. I wish you the best!

[jamie123]

About the credit cards....

You are doing a GREAT job!

Try and think LONG term. Don't get sucked into getting sub-prime cards now, they may prevent you from getting the PRIME cards later.

Most store cards are JUNK sub-prime cards that won't grow with you.

At the end of your credit accumulation journey you really only want to have 6 REALLY good cards that will grow with you. (Okay 6 cards give or take a few. YMMV)

You want to pick cards from the following prime lenders:

Citi

Bank of America

Barclays

Wells Fargo

AMEX

Chase

Discover

(                       )This space intentionally left blank for any others I have forgotten!

These lenders will follow you around the world, wherever life takes you. They will also give you a MASSIVE CL with time and good behavior.

Also one other card. Not neccasarily a prime lender, but the largest corporation in the world:

Walmart

A free TU report every month! After perusing these forums for a while, it seems almost everyone has this card.

Keep up the good work!

[Anonymous]

Great start.  You immediate goal should be to get things in order for that AMEX 61 day 3X CLI.

Do you have any major purchases in immediate or far future (mortgage or auto)?

If not, I would recommend you increase the number of cards you have.  Your semi immediate goals should be to try and get your CLs up so you can get to VISA Signature range.

My recommendation is to go for 1-2 GE Money Bank store cards with stores you use.  GE CLI policy is CLI friendly.  Personally, if I shopped at Walmart, I would get their card or Walmart Discover for that free monthly TU08 score.

Additionally, I would consider a good rewards or startup bonus VISA/MC card as well.  Remember no AF so you can keep that open.  I would do both the GE Money cards and Visa/MC after the AMEX 61 day CLI.

[espnjunkie]

You have all the credit you could need as of right now. Do you really think you will benefit from the PRG though at age 22? I am 23 and thought about going for it, but the spending I would have to do to recover the AF won't be covered at this point. You can always downgrade to Green which is nearly 1/2 the price and still gets you MR points. YMMV.

Sit tight and garden for now. You are in with solid lenders who will grow with you. Congrats, now maintain it!

[Anonymous]

The cap1 is a Visa. But your point still stand to expand to discover/MasterCard when I have the opportunity.

I haven't really considered the wal mart card but nay be good.

What's the process look like for the amex cli?

No mortgages for a while, possibly car but in at least a year or more.

As for PRG. It had a 25k bonus. I travel a decent amount for work and no AF for first year. If I don't think it's worth it I'll change to gold or green in a year.

[Anonymous]

I am assuming OP got the first year AF waived on PRG.

AMEX CLI policy:  It is a soft pull (no damage to credit) process.  When you get your first AMEX revolver, you can ask for up to 3X CLI in 61 days (ask for it after your 2nd statement cuts).  You should make sure you have no balances on any of your AMEXs at the time you apply for CLI.  You can just call number at back of card and choose the CLI option.  As such you should mind your credit for next two months as the soft pull they will use could happen at any time.  Additionally, do not hold running balances as AMEX doesn't like that.  After getting CLI, you have to wait 6 more months and can request another 3X CLI request.  So it is possible you could get to 9K on that AMEX BCE card in a little over 8 months and all without harming your credit at all.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I am assuming OP got the first year AF waived on PRG.

AMEX CLI policy:  It is a soft pull (no damage to credit) process.  When you get your first AMEX revolver, you can ask for up to 3X CLI in 61 days (ask for it after your 2nd statement cuts).  You should make sure you have no balances on any of your AMEXs at the time you apply for CLI.  You can just call number at back of card and choose the CLI option.  As such you should mind your credit for next two months as the soft pull they will use could happen at any time.  Additionally, do not hold running balances as AMEX doesn't like that.  After getting CLI, you have to wait 6 more months and can request another 3X CLI request.  So it is possible you could get to 9K on that AMEX BCE card in a little over 8 months and all without harming your credit at all.

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Yes I meant no AF in my previous post, turned out wrong on my phone lol. I edited it.

Thats great news about the BCE CLI. Thats a large part of the reason I got the card as I know it can grow with me (unlike say my Cap1 which is unlikely to get a CLI anytime soon).

So what limit should I request at 61 days?

Thanks again. 

[Anonymous]

3x to 6k.

[rootpooty]

I don't understand how the Op got approved for such great cards with mid 650 scores and 2 collections reporting. I know the zync prob helped approval but 2 collections would even trigger a denial for zync