Hi,
I'm hoping the Fico Gurus can give me a bit of guidance or advice with my credit building. My apologies if this seems a bit long and winded, but I want to provide as much info as possible for better responses.
I would like to app for a few cards (especially for the Citi AA card), Amex (?), Saks or Lord & Laylor and maybe one other card, but I am hesitant at this time because I would like my chances of approval to be optimal (and who doesn't)
For close to two years I have worked really hard to improve my credit file after years or neglect and irresponsibility. I started with a 4 year car loan (will be two years old in July) with a super high interest rate which is 24.99%. I am hoping to pay this off in a few months, tired of the high interest rate.
A year later after an attempt in getting a secured card from Citi (denied) I opened a secured card with Public Savings (I didn't want the inquires). At this time I needed to open a checking account and decided with Cap One and a month later I got a pre approval for a Cap One Card. I applied and received an initial cl of $500 with credit steps which went up to $750 5 months later and there is where it is. After reading the boards for easier cards to get, I took a chance and app'd for the Kay card and was approval for $4,000.
One year later and this is where I am. I have a paid collection reporting on both EQ and TU from 4/2009.
These scores and reports are from 5/15/11 before the balances updated and at that time the util was 27%. According to my calculations, my current (paid down balances) util is at or less than 10% depending on what Kay reports as my credit limit.
Public Savings $500 cl - $50 balance - Opened 5/2010 – Current Bal $0 when it updates
Cap One $750 cl - $0 balance - Opened 6/2010
Kay Card – 4,000 cl (actual) – I made a large purchase and Kay upped the amount to $5838 and this is what it is reporting – according to my Kay account my loc is $4000. I paid off most of the card and had a balance of $1939 reporting when I pulled the report, but I have since paid $1600 and will pay off the balance next week of $330 -- Opened 7/2010
My car loan - Initial amount $18,000 - current balance is $9,800 - 7/2009
Here are my scores for each of the reporting companies and what cards are reporting to them:
EQ - 688 - two inquiries Cap One 6/2010; Kay 7/2010
The Kay, Cap One and Public cards are all reporting as well as the Premier card from 7/2000. The car loan does not report to EQ. Credit history is 10 years 10 months and aaoa is 3 years.
TU - 678 - two inquiries Cap One 6/2010; Wells Fargo 12/2010 (denial)
The Kay, Cap One and Public cards are all reporting as well as the car loan and these closed accounts FCNB 6/2000, HSBC 6/99 First Premier 7/2000. Credit history is 11 years 11 months and my aaoa is 5 years.
EX – 666 (PSECU) haven’t seen my reports since last year and everything appears on this report as the others as well as two extra inq. for PSECU from 12/10 and AMEX 12/10 (denial). There is also an additional paid collection which should have aged off as I am in NYS, but when I inquired about it, they updated the account (this was last year).
My score stimulator said that if I paid off $1600 of the $1989 my scores should see about a 10 point increase. I do hope so.
I would like the Citi AA card now for the 75k bonus. I use my Citi AA Debit card for all my purchases to accumulate as many miles with AA as possible, but if waiting an additional length of time will increase my chances of getting the card, then I will wait til then at the cost of losing the opportunity of getting the 75k miles.
Any suggestions? Again, sorry for the long read and thanks in advance for any replies.
