Looking for General CC Guidance

[mpresiv1]

Hi I'm just looking for general guidance. My goal is to reach higher limits so that I can keep my utilization down. I would also like some guidance on my next card. I'm looking for something that is good for travel. Here are my stats:

Credit Score:  TU671 EQ669 EX685

Amex Blue 2300

Chase Marriott 5000

Macys 300

1st Premier Secured 250

Cap 1 Quicksilver 2000

Cap 1 Platnum Matercard 3000

I have a total utilization of 53% across all cards. I'm looking for a good plan of action to increase my limits on these cards or get new cards with higher limits.

Thanks

[Adkins]

We would need more data:

What is your AOA?

How old are these accounts?

Do you have any baddies?

How many inquires per CRAs?

Your utlization is high. Are you carrying balances on specific cards or is it from normal spend? 

I would definitely close the first premier card though. 

[mpresiv1]

Thanks for replying

AOA 6yrs 11 months

Cap 1 Quicksilver 6 yrs

Cap 1 master 14 yrs

Amex Blue 12 yrs

1st premier 12 yrs

Chase Marriott 12 yrs   30 day feb 2016

Macys 6 yrs

 Other baddies

120 late Student loan jan 2016

90 late on a paid off car loan aug 2017

90 day student loan Dec 2014

Last hard pull 2 in 2016

[Zolomon]

Just my suggestion.

Step One.

Pay off First Premier, sock drawer it and shut down Macy's entirely.

Step Two.

Merge your Capital One Platinum and Quicksilver for a total of 5k. Then PC to Venture. You now have a travel card without a HP. To make this transition smoother, your Platinum and Quicksilver may need to be below 30%. Check with the CSR to see how you can get this merger and PC done.

Step Three.

You should now have only 3 cards in use: Chase Marriot, Amex Blue, and Venture/Quicksilver. Pay everything down to 28% or 8% utilization if possible. If not, research on getting a loan with a better APR and pay them off. Leave a small balance on the Chase Marriot for AZEO method.

Step Four.

Wait for your report and scores to update. With Chase Marriot, Amex Blue and your potential Venture totally 15k, your utilization below at least 28%, and with potentially better scores, you may be able to be approved for another travel card with a SL of 5k or more.

This may be easier said than done, but as Wooderson said "It'd be a lot cooler if you did."

[HeavenOhio]

Definitely close First Premier. It should hang on your report for years to come, meaning that your AAoA (average age of accounts) shouldn't be affected for a long time. And when it drops, because it isn't your oldest card, your AoOA (age of oldest account) will be unaffected. And even if closing did have a negative effect on your score, you'd still want to do it simply because it's a lousy card from a lousy bank.

Also, see if your Capital One Platinum card can be product-changed into a Quicksilver. That'll make it more useful. If an offer to product change isn't availabe now, ask every month or so.

Capital One offers account combinations, which would give you one card with a higher limit. But I'd advise against that in your situation, mainly because the cards are so old.

Back to your original question, bring your utilization down. You don't mention your scores, but with your present utilization, they'd almost certainly see a decent bump if you practiced AZEO. That's when you report a small positive balance on one card (at least $5, but not a whole lot more than that) with the rest reporting zero. That doesn't mean that you have to stop using your cards. Simply pay them down your desired balances before their statements cut.

You'll probably be in a better position once your most recent baddie reaches a year old. That may not help your scores, but lenders may be happier. In the meantime, once your utilization is optimized, there'd be no harm in requesting credit limit increases from Capital One and AMEX. Both banks are soft pulls. If Capital One says no, there's no calendar reset; you can request again relatively soon. If AMEX says no, you'd need to wait 91 days before trying again.

[HeavenOhio]

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@Zolomon wrote:

Leave a small balance on the Chase Marriot for AZEO method.

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I'd suggest leaving the small AZEO balance on a card that isn't from Chase. That's because in addition to reporting the statement balance, Chase reports zero whenever you pay to zero. If all cards report zero, it results in a pretty significant score ding. You may as well have this policy working for you rather than against you.

That said, it's possible to to work your charges and payments to make a Chase card continuously report a positive balance. But if you have the option, it's simpler to do that with a card from another bank.

[UpperNwGuy]

My advice:  pay off all outstanding balances before you apply for any more credit.  I mean ALL.  Don't start doing AZEO until after you hit zero on utilization.

[Meanmchine]

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@UpperNwGuy wrote:

My advice:  pay off all outstanding balances before you apply for any more credit.  I mean ALL.  Don't start doing AZEO until after you hit zero on utilization.

+1

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