Hello all, I'm new. Thoughts on my situation?

[catladyatty]

FAKO's = simulated (or fake) scores?  Still learning the lingo around here

[pizza1]

Correct.... Fako are fake . Fico are true scores

[catladyatty]

47% was BEFORE my new cards (and that was before my last round of payments posted, too), so I am anticipating at least a little bump in score (despite HP's).  Two out of the four HP's registered on my FreeCreditReport.com report today, but new accounts have not posted yet (not surprised - AMEX was literally at like 10:00pm last night).

Many of the cards have zero balance, but the ones that do carry a balance are fairly high.  No balance on: either credit union Visa, Citi Thank You (closed as of yesterday), Citi Platinum Select, Capital One Platinum, and most of the retail cards.

Balances on: 

Chase Amazon - $2500

BofA - $3900

New York & Company - $1900

Ashley Furniture - $1700 (this is supposedly interest free though, based on the Labor Day offer we took - but DH handles this bill, so I haven't verified)

Express - $1700

The main problem with my utilization is that I am an authorized user on DH's Discover, which is near it's limit.  We had a discussion about this and I am now taking over that monthly payment (it appears that he was paying the minimum) - I told DH that I'm an expert on how we should handle our finances now since, you know, I just joined MyFico and all.

[catladyatty]

Message received loud and clear.... no new apps till after the mortgage!

[09Lexie]

Now that you'll be tackling your high util cc, that will help. I wouldn't close any cc's now if util is a problem. Understandably, the cc's you did close have low CL's. I would work on getting sp CLI's but you will have a better chance when you get that util to under 20%.

Hopefully, Amex will reward you with a CLI in 61 days but your util would need to be much lower IMO.

[09Lexie]

The cards I would work on for SPs are Macy's, Old a Navy, Cap 1 and if the Comenity cc's are eligible, I would ask for those as well.

[catladyatty]

Yes, the AMEX lady I talked to said I was eligible for CLI after 60 days.  Do I have to ask (and if so, will this be a HP?) or will they automatically consider it?  I hope to make some good, substantial payments after the holidays, so hopefully that will help bring down my utilization as well.  It's really hard to make significant dents in the balances while also trying to save for a down payment.

Thank you all for your input.  I have a lot to learn!

[catladyatty]

I think I am going to call Macy's and Capital One today.  Should I still go for it if they say it will be a HP?  I'm guessing no.

Victoria's Secret just gave me a $400 increase literally last week (I didn't ask at all).  All the Comenity's seems to give me sporadic increases every now and then, but it wouldn't hurt to ask for more.

[FinStar]

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@catladyatty wrote:

Yes, the AMEX lady I talked to said I was eligible for CLI after 60 days.  Do I have to ask (and if so, will this be a HP?) or will they automatically consider it?  I hope to make some good, substantial payments after the holidays, so hopefully that will help bring down my utilization as well.  It's really hard to make significant dents in the balances while also trying to save for a down payment.

Thank you all for your input.  I have a lot to learn!

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For AMEX's CLI, you would need to request it.  And, regardless of outcome, it will be SP.  For optimal results, be sure your utilization is considerably lower, much lower than today and no more apps/new accounts.

[09Lexie]

Macy's will tell you it's a hp but 99% its a sp. Have they reviewed your cr recently? How long have you had the card?

Read the sticky in my siggy for Amex. It will answer your questions on how, what and when.