@Anonymous wrote:Long story made shorter: Credit was completely trashed years ago after financial disaster. Negs dropped off, and a few years ago started to rebuild. Got to 850 across the board, but got into trouble (financially) and had to use cards to some degree. As of now, I'm sitting with 775 EQ, 741 TU, 769 EX.
15K available on Amazon store card, 0% Utilization
25K available Lowes, 0% Utilization.
So 40K with 0% utilization, but my other 2 cards (Capital one & Discover) are near maxed out for 31K. Cap 1 is ~80%, Discover 98%. Capital one was near 100% but started paying more towards it since interest rate is 25% and Discover is 17%. Overall utilization across all 4 cards is 44%
I need to at least get Capital One (almost 10K) to a lower rate & hopefully both.
Questions:
Do both cards need to come down in utilization (and to what level) before I can even think about applying for another?
If & when I am ready, where should I look? I am probably blacklisted by Citi, Chase, and AMEX for burning bridges 10 years ago. B of A is a possibility, maybe a second Capital One card.
What is the likelihood of a CLI from Discover to decrease utilization and/or possibly xfer the cap one balance to it so I'm paying a little less in interest?
No inquiries in over a year (maybe 2 years), zero lates, average age 12 years (thanks to a few student loans I kept, but most revolving credit is 3 years).
First off I have to say that that Discover account is in horrible shape. By credit card terms once you hit 90% you have officially maxed the card. The good news is that a Discover CLI is actually a SP unless you force a HP so once you get a CLI it just reports a higher number. If you push past what they give you initially it becomes a HP. Feel free to check it out once every 60-90 days.
My recommendation is to try the Bank of America Bankamericard. It has a 0% or $0 for balance transfers in the first 60 days. It also has 0% interest for the first 15 cycles aka months. That should help wonders. If you put in the BT with the app then BoA will probably think of a way to help you if it is close. The way your scores are I would say you will either be close or just short of the Capitol One balance based on your scores. If you then wait a bit Capitol One will actually start sending you BT checks and offers. If you give one to Discover then you can have a significant decrease in APR.
Citi and AmEx do not generally do complete blacklists. AmEx will probably not like giving you CLI's but that is a minor hiccup. Chase will be harder since the scoring models still have your BK on file but with perseverance you can actually get with them too. Chase and AmEx have two of the three best BT cards on the market(I listed the third on top).
You can request a CLI from Discover at any time and it is a soft pull. Take anything they give you from the request and do not challange it as that will become a hard pull. That way you will get better utilization for nothing on your way to the BoA card.
The Bank of America Bankamericard is actually very easy to get. It is the next level up from secured(bottom). It really has no use but for BT's and as a credit line transfer source.