I would let a high balance report to each card at least once. For some companies they look to see if you are using the credit you have to determine new limits. Letting it report without a balance could make it appear that you haven't used the card. I PIF every month and watch what gets posted. I go through mst of my cards at least once and charge them up to their limit when I can and let that post so it reflects in the CR. Another thing it lets me see is how my score is affected when they post. Thanks to my AUs it is easy for me to do this and also a bit sad! My AU's are hurting my score to the tune of about 50 points on my TransRisk score! I actually had to get PayPal to raise my limit to $7500 to insure that it wasn't at 90%+ of my CL. My last balance reported at $2500 of a $3000 CL. This cause my TransRisk score to drop even more. It also affected my FICO but not as much!
I am sitting in the Garden for the next year or more to simply insure that at some point I will break the 720 mark for my FICO! I have way too many inquiries on my report and many new accounts. I owe all the new accounts to Capital One. Since they wouldn't extend my credit beyond $500 before I knew about the EO, I yearned for more credit! I went out and got it after listening to them tell me for the millionth time they keep my CL up to date! I proved that was just a line of hogwash. I now have 20x what I had because of Capone silliness!
Go sit in the Garden, as I did in the past, to get where I am today. Don't be too hasty about getting too much. Slow and steady wins the race. If your goal is two years to be here you should be just fine in the end. However, you might want to consider being there a year so you can get into new accounts with better limits sooner and better cards!
Good luck either way!
It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.....
Always follow these rules: Only take a HP for a new account. Always use the best rewards card for that reward category. Don't close a card unless you know you really should. Never use more than 35% of a credit limit. Recon as much and as best you can. Use the introductory period to the best advantage. Get the signup bonus. Whenever possible PIF or balance transfer so you pay less in interest. Never give an excellent rating when it is actually the norm. Always look for a discount as more is always better.
Always accept candy from strangers because they have the best candy or from people you know have good candy.
at ERT watchlist.
at least you were honest about you escape. Lol
