@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for all the help
The cards are Credit One Bank (AF won't be waived unless you threaten to cancel) - Capital One - Capital One
We have low limits because when we got these cards we had poor credit over the past 2 years we have paid all collections and had all negitive marks removed from our credit. congrats on the cleanup!!
Our payment history for the past 2 years is 100% for all accounts. A++
For the first 12 years of our marriage we had no car payment and no credit cards at all, and only a few minor medical collections. this happens quite often until you need to get a mortgage or something that requires some credit history and open accounts
2 years ago we starting looking into buying a home. My husband got the Credit one bank CC and made me a user on the card. My credit was thin until 2 years ago and his was poor. The past two years we went from 500 and 450 credit scores to 750 and 720 respectively. When we purchased our home my credit was 752 and his was 719. We lost a few points when we did the HELOC. MEH.... a couple points isn't worth worrying about
Basically I want 1 card so I dont have to manage 3 CC accounts. Yeah, but, in this case with 2 years of history it's hard to make this work well.
Well, I can see that dumping Credit 1 would be ideal due to the fee and low limit.
Combining the 2 Cap1 cards into a single card would optomize the multiple card management issue you're bringing up.
Finding a high limit credit card is going to be difficult since no one wants to be the high limit lender with 3 cards under $1K. This is partially why we're pushing the Lowe's CLI in addition to the lowering of utilization.
Once you have at least 1 lender reporting a CL over $5K or $10K or so on up the ladder then other lenders see that payment history and self restraint on spending and will roll the dice on an approval for a higher limit.
Ideally 3 cards puts you in the best spot for financing / CC's if you need to make some changes down the road. So, if you push Lowe's up and wait for it to report the new CL it should open some potential doors. In the meantime I would work on combining the Cap1 cars into a single card which is usually pretty easy and can be done online. After these 2 things are done then looking into a new card with a higher limit should be easier to get into. Once you have the higher limit and the single Cap1 account pushing to close that Credit 1 account would be priority.
CC's are a game when it comes to getting where you want to be. Sometimes you have to bob and weave a little bit to get things started. Overall though after 12 years of no credit and cleaninng things up to pulling a mortgage and a HELOC you're doing a good job. Hopefully this little roadmap makes a little bit of sense and helps in your pursuit of your goals.
