What worked for me was following the advice of other posters here on the boards. At that time the only CCs I had was an Orchard Bank with a $500 CL and an AF and a walmart store card also with a $500 CL both approximately a year old. I PIF both cards every month except 2 pre-planned larger purchases on the walmart card which had 0% APR and I paid them off in 3 statements each to show I could handle "large" balances responsibly. My credit score was low to mid 600's across the board with a few unpaid baddies all 5+ years old.
Since I wanted to eventually qualify for an Amex revolver w/ rewards I apped the (apparently unavailable) ZYNC charge card w/ NPSL to get my foot in the door. I was approved but working in my favor was a higher income level, I think.
There were a couple of things I did specifically to increase my chances of upgrading to a revolver: 1) My first purchase was large... a 1k treadmill. I had cash to pay for it but I wanted the buyer protection Amex offers. I got a CSR to approve the purchase by setting up an automatic payment for the full amount which would be withdrawn 2 days later. This helped to exponentially increase the amount they were comfortable allowing me to spend per month and not long after it was up to 10k! I would never spend that in one month but still, pretty exciting for a credit amateur. 2) I purchased everything I could on my card every month. Be it utilities, groceries, Amazon purchases, whatever I was going to buy anyway I would just put in on the card. Keep in mind this got PIF each month because its a charge card.
At exactly a year, I apped (online) for the Blue Cash Preferred and was immediately approved with a 3k limit. I was bummed about the CL because over that year I had been auto upgraded to a Walmart Discover with a 3.5k limit and I was hoping they would at least match it. In the meantime, I cancelled the subprime card because they refused to increase the CL or waive the AF. I did take an AAoA hit but I think having that low of a limit was hindering me from qualifying for higher CLs. But at the 6 month mark I asked for my 3x CLI and got approved for 9k! Next month is the 6 month mark and I'm going to ask for 15k.
This may not apply to you but I know I didn't want to hear it at the time because I was so ready to have good credit again but the only guaranteed equalizer is time. Time for your baddies to get older and fall off, time for your current cards to season, time for your credit profile to reflect all of your perfect payment history.
7/2013 EQ 699 TU 719 EXP fako 735
