Help me chose my next card

[Anonymous]

Trying to rebuild credit. When I turned 18 in 2000, I got a Sears Card, Sears MasterCard, WalMart MasterCard and Kohl's card. Maxed them all out and never made any payments on them. Did the same with Verizon cellphone family plan. As things fell off my credit report I started applying for new cards in mid-2011.

I haven't missed a payment since that first card. Here's what I have now (in order of receipt):

- Fingerhut $200 CL, never used. First thing I got approved for.

- Cap One Platinum. $500 CL. Originally $300, automatically raised twice in 2012.

- Cap One (originally HSBC). $400 CL. Originally 300, raised by request Nov 2013.

- Cap One No Hassle Rewards. $750 CL. Originally $500, auto raised in 2012, again by request Nov 2013, converted to QuicksilverOne Rewards last month.

- Bank of America. $500 CL. Partially secured with $100 that they said I'd get back in a year (never happened - that was mid 2012).

- First Premier. $700 CL. Originally $400. Raised by request a few months ago.

- Credit One: $400 CL. Originally $300. Raised by request a few months ago.

- PayPal SmartConnect: $400 CL.

- First Premier: $400 CL.

As of this month, utilization is now at 0% across the board. Just paid everything off at the end of December.

Before paying those down they were at about 80% utilization. Credit Karma showed score of 589. It now shows 635. Still shows balances for a few cards that haven't cut their statements yet this month.

Last real score checks I have are:

October 29, 2013: EQ 633.

December 12, 2013: TU 588 (Denied for Barclay's).

I had 5 inquiries drop off in December too. I'm now at 12, all of which are set to drop off by the end of March.

I do have 4 baddies on my report, but all are set to drop off in the coming months. They are:

Verizon, bill of $300. Drops off Mar 14.
Wachovia bank bill of $500, Drops off Apr 14.
Heating gas utility bill of $606. Drops off Jun 14.
Verizon, bill of $315. Drops off Jul 14.

Also have a US Dep of State student loan from 2001 that shows a $1300 limit, but it only shows up on EX.

Have disputed these as obsolete with EQ and EX. Waiting to do it with TU, can't get their website to load.

Average account age is at 21 months, oldest account on record is a WaMU loan of $10,000 from 10.5 years ago that shows paid in full.

Since I've been paying on time, have now paid down all balances, and can't do anything about the badies and inquires but let them drop off, I'd like to keep building my credit with the addition of another card.

I just checked my TU report at MyFico today and my score shows as 667.

Does anyone have an idea of what I should go for, if anything?

Thanks for your help!

[Anonymous]

maybe get a GE card and get the limit up as much as possible. then in 6 months go for the Freedom IT BCE

[Anonymous]

The PayPal smart connect is GE. Does that matter?

Seems like Barclay's and Wal-Mart would be the easiest to get with my score, but I burned Wal-Mart for $300 in 2002 and Barclay's rejected me in December 2013.

[Kenny]

I actually think it's time you address BofA and ask them to unsecure your card and ask for a CLI.

[Anonymous]

I was planning on that but I was afraid to ask for the CLI with BoA because I think they do a hard pull, and I know Barclay's is sensitive to inquiries.

[takeshi74]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Does anyone have an idea of what I should go for, if anything?

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You've covered where you've been.  Now we need to know where you want to go.  Spend?  Goals?  Priorities?  Preferences?  Or does none of that matter and is rebuilding your only concern?

[Anonymous]

Any widely accepted card with a limit of 1000 or more (preferably 5000) would be great. Ideally, I'd like to have about 15,000 in available credit.

Called BoA just now to try to get the $100 deposit back now and they told me that they couldn't do it because of the four (6+ year old) baddies on my account and because I made minimum payments in the past (even though I've since paid the balance all the way down to $0).

They did offer to raise my limit to $1000 (from 500) if I gave them another 500 deposit. 

She pulled TU that showed a score of 667.