App Spree next week!! What to let report ??

[Anonymous]

Hey guys!  I'm doing my first app spree next week, as my scores have hit 660 and will be even higher hopefully when UTIL shows at 30% dwon from 44% next weekend ... Question is, what should I let report?  Here are my balances (not yet reported) as of today:

Barclaycard APPLE VISA:  $2,000 / $3,000 CL  (0% APR taking advantage of imac financing) 

Western FCU VISA:  $0.00 / $3,000 CL  (recently increased from $1,000 - will report CLI Friday!!)

CapOne QS1:  $0.00 / $500

Credit One:  $0.00 / $600

CapOne QS1:  $180 / $500

FingerHut:  $0.00 / $250

CareCredit:  $999 / $3,000  (0% APR for dental work)

Should I let that big Western FCU report as $0 on such a big CL ?  Will that help or hurt my score?  Should I put a small charge on it prior to reporting or leave at $0?  Im told the more cards at $0 the better ... just want to make sure that a card with a big CL reporting at $0 is good.  It reported $0 last month on a $1000 CL and helped my UTIL score.

Thoughts?  I want to app for BofA BankAmericard, Cap One VENTURE1 and QuickSilver, possibly Wells Fargo Rewards, Citi Simplicity or Thank You, Discover IT, AMEX Everyday.  I'm trying to stay with cards that pull mainly EXPERIAN as its my most up to date report and FICO 8 of 667!  Weigh in!  Thank you credit gods :-)

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hey guys!  I'm doing my first app spree next week, as my scores have hit 660 and will be even higher hopefully when UTIL shows at 30% dwon from 44% next weekend ... Question is, what should I let report?  Here are my balances (not yet reported) as of today:

Barclaycard APPLE VISA:  $2,000 / $3,000 CL  (0% APR taking advantage of imac financing) 

Western FCU VISA:  $0.00 / $3,000 CL  (recently increased from $1,000 - will report CLI Friday!!)

CapOne QS1:  $0.00 / $500

Credit One:  $0.00 / $600

CapOne QS1:  $180 / $500

FingerHut:  $0.00 / $250

CareCredit:  $999 / $3,000  (0% APR for dental work)

Should I let that big Western FCU report as $0 on such a big CL ?  Will that help or hurt my score?  Should I put a small charge on it prior to reporting or leave at $0?  Im told the more cards at $0 the better ... just want to make sure that a card with a big CL reporting at $0 is good.  It reported $0 last month on a $1000 CL and helped my UTIL score.

Thoughts?  I want to app for BofA BankAmericard, Cap One VENTURE1 and QuickSilver, possibly Wells Fargo Rewards, Citi Simplicity or Thank You, Discover IT, AMEX Everyday.  I'm trying to stay with cards that pull mainly EXPERIAN as its my most up to date report and FICO 8 of 667!  Weigh in!  Thank you credit gods :-)

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My question is what can you afford to pay? Since your asking what you should let report Im assuming (possibly incorrectly) that you're able to pay some of these balances down or off. Ideally if you could get rid of at least two balances from the three and let only one report that would be helpful.

On the other hand are you only asking if you should let the one Western FCU card report as $0 with the other balances reporting as listed above? If so then yes its fine to have a $0 balance with a higher limit report. The more $0 balances the better, except when all report $0 then you take a small score hit.

[Anonymous]

The goal is always to have as many cards report a zero balance (regardless of the card's credit limit), with just one card reporting a balance between 1-9%. I understand you have a 0.00% APR, but if you could pay them down it would still help you out. You're at 67% on the Barclays and 33% on Carecredit. The Barclays even with 0% is too high. And it would help your cause to get the other one below 30%.

Now the really important thing is to follow. Why are you going on an app spree now and not working on getting your overall scores up? I'm not going to even touch upon my idiosyncracy for HPs. But honestly why don't you wait? Your starting limits for most of your cards are not that high. That is likely a function of your scores and the past precedent of low SLs sets you up for just more low SLs with newer cards. Go for quality not quantity. I would encourage you to hold off and get that EX score to 700, while raising your other scores. You are so close, so close to another threshold and better SLs if you were to hold out. Wouldn't you want not only to be approved, but to be approved for great SLs?

And there's no guarantee that you would get a number of those cards. Cap1 yes, but some of the others perhaps not. Put off your app spree until the end of the year. Reward yourself then for three months of hard work and patience. Patience.

Best wishes.

[Anonymous]

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Barclaycard APPLE VISA:  $2,000 / $3,000 CL  (0% APR taking advantage of imac financing)  you should bring this down to about $50

Western FCU VISA:  $0.00 / $3,000 CL  (recently increased from $1,000 - will report CLI Friday!!) make this report about $10

CapOne QS1:  $0.00 / $500 make this report about $10

Credit One:  $0.00 / $600 make this report about $10

CapOne QS1:  $180 / $500 make this report about $10

FingerHut:  $0.00 / $250 make this report about $10

CareCredit:  $999 / $3,000  (0% APR for dental work) you should bring this down to about $50

I let some of my cards report $0 for a few months and no point increased, i charged $10/let it report and my scores went up by 5...they want to see you're using the cards.

What are your inquires?

BofA BankAmericard sensitive on inquiries

Cap One VENTURE1 and QuickSilver - they pull all 3 CRs, if you apply and appove for one, apply for a second card right away, they will use the same HP

Wells Fargo Rewards - Very sensitive

Citi Simplicity - Ummm, not sure about this one

Discover IT - should be ok

AMEX Everyday - should be ok

Anyone else?

[Callandra]

Redeyez made a very good post; I pretty much agree with everything there. I think you're best off waiting (can you pay off all your balances? If you can, do so and let one card report 1-9% util. If you cannot pay off your balances, I suggest waiting until you can and then get more cards once you get into the 700s). I also suggest determining what cards you REALLY want and just apply for those. You have enough to build (I also recommend closing CreditOne) and it's time to wait until you can get the cards you want. Good luck. 

[kdm31091]

Why on earth would you go on an app spree? You are still paying down debt. You got a venture two weeks ago and said you were done for the year. Stick to that.

It sounds like you honestly are just addicted to apping. You are not in a position IMO to app for 5 or 6 cards like you listed. You need to take a breather and slow this down.

[Anonymous]

hmm...I wasnt aware of the background story for OP so having learned new information I would have to agree with the majority here. Take a breather, let the accounts you have now age a bit, pay down your current debt and your scores will rise accordingly. Now is not the time for a spree but of course its your decision and all we can do here is attempt to steer you in the right direction.

[kdm31091]

Besides the fact that since you got the venture why would you even want a venture one? This spree seems more like apping just to app than anything else. And in your current position, I dont see many if any of these getting approved. You need to be patient.

[Anonymous]

I agree with previous posters to wait until you've paid off balances/garden... If you app spree next week, even if you paid off balances, they would not reflect on your credit report until 2-4 days after the statements cut for each card so might take 2 months for them to reflect your payments depending on when your statements cut.

Account	Balance	Limit	% Util	Reports
Barclay Apple	$2,000.00	$3,000.00	66.67%	?
Western FCU	$0.00	$3,000.00	0.00%	9/25
QS1	$0.00	$500.00	0.00%	?
Credit One	$0.00	$600.00	0.00%	?
QS1	$180.00	$500.00	36.00%	?
FingerHut	$0.00	$250.00	0.00%	?
CareCredit	$999.00	$3,000.00	33.30%	?
Overall	$3,179.00	$10,850.00	29.30%
Account	Balance	Limit	% Util	Pay off
Barclay Apple	$900.00	$3,000.00	30.00%	1100
Western FCU	$0.00	$3,000.00	0.00%
QS1	$0.00	$500.00	0.00%
Credit One	$0.00	$600.00	0.00%
QS1	$0.00	$500.00	0.00%	180
FingerHut	$0.00	$250.00	0.00%
CareCredit	$300.00	$3,000.00	10.00%	699
Overall	$1,200.00	$10,850.00	11.06%	1979

If you decide to apply and still want to take advantage of your 0% offers, you would need ~$1,979 to have two cards reporting 30% and 10% for an overall util of 11%

[Anonymous]

I have to concur with what others have said, and reaffirm what I said based on the additional information.

What I originally said is advice I not only give others, but it is advice I follow. I have not gotten a new account in a year. Are there cards I'm interested in? Absolutely. Would I like to app? Sure. Am I in the position budget wise and score wise? Yes and yes. Though there's the caveat of wanting my scores to be higher to sustain applying for cards that fit my "needs", interests and qualify for.

I know the virtue and reward of patience. Patience pays off. I'd encourage you to exercise some patience and no app for the sake of apping. Patience.