High limit Credit Card Recommendation

[Anonymous]

My current scores:

Equifax: 706

Experian: 739

Transunion: 712

One delinquent account (settled for less than owned) on Equifax which will fall off in March 2012.

A state govt. Lien for $4k which will be settled by the end of this month. This shows up only on TU.

No negative information on Experian.

Cards:

BoA: $5000

CapOne: $750

Credit One: $550

Total Balance $1500. I will pay it off in full by the end of this month.

Not a single late payment in the last 3 years.

BoA used to be a secured credit card with $2000 limit. Couple of months ago, it turned unsecured after a year of usage. During this time, my credit scores jumped 60 points on all three boards. Called the BoA to ask for CLI based on the new scores and they immediately approved $5000 CLI.

Capital One card is opened around the same time with $500 limit. In July, the limit  was automatically increased to $750. Requested CL increase by was declined as 6 months haven't passed since the last increase.

According to myFICO simulator, my scores would jump another 20-30 points if I get a new card with $10,000 Credit Limit. Capital One and Credit One cards are really hurting the score because, if I use them a little, the balance goes over 50% of CL bringing down the score. Credit One has outrageous charges which I want to get rid off ASAP. I will stop using the Credit One card immediately.

Given my history,  and the desire to have a min. of $10k credit limit, which credit cards should I consider applying for? Reward cards would be good. I intend to use this new card for all my charges instead of the debit card I am using now and pay in full every month. My charge about $2000 each month on my debit card.

[boomhower]

Credit Unions.  Once that derog falls of you can try for them.  The tax lien may be an issue but it can't hurt to try.  CU are infamous for huge credit lines.  Other than that you are going to be looking at tradition CCC and based on your current history you aren't going to start of with $10k.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@boomhower wrote:

Credit Unions.  Once that derog falls of you can try for them.  The tax lien may be an issue but it can't hurt to try.  CU are infamous for huge credit lines.  Other than that you are going to be looking at tradition CCC and based on your current history you aren't going to start of with $10k.

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"Infamous"? I always thought that was kind of great.

Most CU cards don't have great rewards (with a few notable exceptions), but I think of their often-high limits as their version of a reward. If you have some balances reporting, it's nice to have one or two high-limit cards to reduce the reported util. (Debt is debt, though, and the long-term goal should be PIF'ing of all cards at all times.)

[Anonymous]

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

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@boomhower wrote:

Credit Unions.  Once that derog falls of you can try for them.  The tax lien may be an issue but it can't hurt to try.  CU are infamous for huge credit lines.  Other than that you are going to be looking at tradition CCC and based on your current history you aren't going to start of with $10k.

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"Infamous"? I always thought that was kind of great.

Most CU cards don't have great rewards (with a few notable exceptions), but I think of their often-high limits as their version of a reward. If you have some balances reporting, it's nice to have one or two high-limit cards to reduce the reported util. (Debt is debt, though, and the long-term goal should be PIF'ing of all cards at all times.)

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+1

I couldn't agree more, great reply HTSU!!

[Anonymous]

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

Most CU cards don't have great rewards (with a few notable exceptions), but I think of their often-high limits as their version of a reward. If you have some balances reporting, it's nice to have one or two high-limit cards to reduce the reported util. (Debt is debt, though, and the long-term goal should be PIF'ing of all cards at all times.)

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Agreed.

My problem is utilization.

I didnt realize, the credit scoring is done on utilitization total CL and as well as individual CL of each CC.

If I want to keep the utilization under 10%, I cannot use the $550 CL Credit One card even for a single gas fillup. $750 CL Capital One is not much better. That leaves me only the $5000 CL BoA card.  How much can I charge on it without it negatively impacting the score?

Instead of paying BoA CC once a month, how about paying it twice a month in full?

How often to CCs report to CRAs?

[Scamp]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

Most CU cards don't have great rewards (with a few notable exceptions), but I think of their often-high limits as their version of a reward. If you have some balances reporting, it's nice to have one or two high-limit cards to reduce the reported util. (Debt is debt, though, and the long-term goal should be PIF'ing of all cards at all times.)

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Agreed.

My problem is utilization.

I didnt realize, the credit scoring is done on utilitization total CL and as well as individual CL of each CC.

If I want to keep the utilization under 10%, I cannot use the $550 CL Credit One card even for a single gas fillup. $750 CL Capital One is not much better. That leaves me only the $5000 CL BoA card.  How much can I charge on it without it negatively impacting the score?

Instead of paying BoA CC once a month, how about paying it twice a month in full?

How often to CCs report to CRAs?

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Paying balances down or in full BEFORE your statement cuts (which is when most - though not all - CCs report to the CRAs) is a good way to manage reported utilization and maximize your scores when you regularly use your cards.  In your case, with 3 cards, having only one card showing a balance of less than 9% of that card's limit should work well (having ALL of them report 0 actually can hurt your score).

You'd need to determine when each of your cards reports, but once you know that, you can plan your spending and payments as needed to control what reports to the CRAs and probably could go ahead and use one of the smaller-limit cards for gas as long as you pay it way down or off (depending on which card you want to let report a balance) before its reporting date.

[boomhower]

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

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@boomhower wrote:

Credit Unions.  Once that derog falls of you can try for them.  The tax lien may be an issue but it can't hurt to try.  CU are infamous for huge credit lines.  Other than that you are going to be looking at tradition CCC and based on your current history you aren't going to start of with $10k.

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"Infamous"? I always thought that was kind of great.

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I meant it in a good way.  He wan't high CLs and that's what CU offer. 

[haulingthescoreup]

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@boomhower wrote:

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

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@boomhower wrote:

Credit Unions.  Once that derog falls of you can try for them.  The tax lien may be an issue but it can't hurt to try.  CU are infamous for huge credit lines.  Other than that you are going to be looking at tradition CCC and based on your current history you aren't going to start of with $10k.

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"Infamous"? I always thought that was kind of great.

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I meant it in a good way.  He wan't high CLs and that's what CU offer. 

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Yes, sorry, I wasn't meaning to be a grammar cop. It just got me tickled.

[Chris123nTx]

I got a citi diamond preferred not long ago with a starting limit of 11k and a chase freedom signature for 10k

[Anonymous]

What were you credit scores when you got those cards?