Hello, just joined and have a question...

[TilltedBrim]

Hello I'm new here and have recently began to rebuild my credit after several years of being in the 500's.  I just pulled myFICO and was happy to see a score of 664 TU and 704 EQ.  My scores went up significantly after paying off all my bad debt and then having a company dispute everything in which the debt was then either reported correctly or removed all together.  I usually max out my credit card each month but pay it off in full every month.  I realize that that is effecting my credit but had no choice at the time.... I'm now at a point to where I don't have to use it at all.  It is a secured card from Wells Fargo with only a $1,000 credit limit that I was approved for a year ago and have made all payments on time. 

Just last week I applied for a unsecured Capital One card and was approved with only a $500 credit limit.  And the first thing I thought of was that I was approved for such a small credit limit because my secured card was maxed out at the time. Do you think that I would have been approved for a higher credit limit had my secured card been maxed out?  And secondly...  Wells Fargo has told me that my statement cycles between the 11th and 14th... Is it possible to know when they actually report to the bureaus by knowing statement cycles.

Sorry for all the riff raff in the beginning just want to share my situation and look forward to joining you guys.  Thanks

[SevenNEW]

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@TilltedBrim wrote:

Just last week I applied for a unsecured Capital One card and was approved with only a $500 credit limit.  And the first thing I thought of was that I was approved for such a small credit limit because my secured card was maxed out at the time. Do you think that I would have been approved for a higher credit limit had my secured card been maxed out?  And secondly...  Wells Fargo has told me that my statement cycles between the 11th and 14th... Is it possible to know when they actually report to the bureaus by knowing statement cycles. 

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Welcome to the forum and congrats on the Capital 1 success! It's a great step when you go unsecured.

The answer to your question is no, it probably would not have made a difference, as Cap 1 is very conservative. They will start you with a CL between $ 200 and $ 500 and verrrry slowly raise it until it reaches somewhere between $ 2,500 and 3,000. After which it won't budge for so many years that when it will you will have stopped using your Cap 1 all together.

In general, however, you want to observe what many people have advised in this forum. Have one of your cards report between 1% and 9% of your CL, and all the others $0. You don't need to carry a balance with the card that is reporting, just pay in full by the due date. The way you do this is you make multiple payments during the month before the statement cuts. Cap 1 may not allow you to do this (they will hold your payment) at the beginning, but after a couple of statements you'll be able to do it. Which brings the next question -- when do they report? The answer is most cards report to the CRAs when the statement closes -- this is surely true for Cap 1. More details in this thread: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Statement-Date/m-p/1007190#M284839

Hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

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@TilltedBrim wrote:

Hello I'm new here and have recently began to rebuild my credit after several years of being in the 500's.  I just pulled myFICO and was happy to see a score of 664 TU and 704 EQ.  My scores went up significantly after paying off all my bad debt and then having a company dispute everything in which the debt was then either reported correctly or removed all together.  I usually max out my credit card each month but pay it off in full every month.  I realize that that is effecting my credit but had no choice at the time.... I'm now at a point to where I don't have to use it at all.  It is a secured card from Wells Fargo with only a $1,000 credit limit that I was approved for a year ago and have made all payments on time. 

Just last week I applied for a unsecured Capital One card and was approved with only a $500 credit limit.  And the first thing I thought of was that I was approved for such a small credit limit because my secured card was maxed out at the time. Do you think that I would have been approved for a higher credit limit had my secured card been maxed out?  And secondly...  Wells Fargo has told me that my statement cycles between the 11th and 14th... Is it possible to know when they actually report to the bureaus by knowing statement cycles.

Sorry for all the riff raff in the beginning just want to share my situation and look forward to joining you guys.  Thanks

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I think the answer is probably yes.  Your score would have been quite a bit higher, if you had paid it down to report a low utilization.   I always recommend doing this before applications.  If you pay it down for 2 cycles, you don't have worry about when it reports.   Or you can pull your reports right before you application to verify.

Your CL also depends on factors like income, so you can not be sure about how the outcome would have been.  

[tcbofade]

There is no way to be certain of course, but my wife and I have four Cap One cards and they ALL started with $500 credit limits.

(So NO, I don't think it would have made a difference...)

[TilltedBrim]

Thank you all for responding... You've helped me tremendously.