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My first pre-approved credit card offer in 5+ years!

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PayingTheBills
Frequent Contributor

Re: My first pre-approved credit card offer in 5+ years!

Got my card today and activated it. A sad $300 limit, but in six months it will be at $1000+ once the "Credit Steps" are complete.  I will use it a couple times a month and PIF of course. Smiley Happy

Starting Score: 540 EQ 517 TU on 11/17/08
Current Score: 668 EQ 726 TU
Goal Score: 760 EQ 760 TU


My Credit Repair Journal
Message 11 of 19
score_building
Senior Contributor

Re: My first pre-approved credit card offer in 5+ years!

i like the credit steps, it has some built in growing insurance!  i started at 400 >8 years ago and current CL is 750, wish i had got a credit steps card Smiley Sad.  nonetheless it has worked well for me despite slow growth and i may get lucky as a few others have and break the glass cieling on the card or more likely app and combine.  it was a great no af builder and hasn't let me down.  no rate changes for me w/ cap1 yet as many have reported recently.  congrats once again!  treat it well! 
 
DCU EQ 5.0, Citi EQ 08 Bankcard, PenFed EX NG2
EX 08: AFCU, Amex, Chase, PSECU EX 98(?)
TU 08: Barclays, Discover
Message 12 of 19
PayingTheBills
Frequent Contributor

Re: My first pre-approved credit card offer in 5+ years!

I know a new account normally dings your FICO score, but since this is only my second revolving account, will it help my score also?

 

When should I expect to see this CC on my CR's?  Do I have to wait a month for a statement to cut?  I just checked my account at Cap1's website, and no statement date is available yet.


Starting Score: 540 EQ 517 TU on 11/17/08
Current Score: 668 EQ 726 TU
Goal Score: 760 EQ 760 TU


My Credit Repair Journal
Message 13 of 19
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: My first pre-approved credit card offer in 5+ years!

Your scores might not drop at all --they might increase immediately.

Wish I could tell you more about when your card will show up --I'll have to leave that for other Cap One cardholders.

And btw, I love the lower two lines on your siggy, about the FAKO's. Smiley Very Happy
* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 14 of 19
PayingTheBills
Frequent Contributor

Re: My first pre-approved credit card offer in 5+ years!

Thanks HTSU, I hope my scores do get a little bump, even if only a point or two.  I'll feel "rebuilt/repaired" once I hit my June 15th goal of 660, so every little bit helps.

 

And here's some PROOF that FAKO's mean nothing.

I updated my truecredit.com scores on FEB 23, and they were TU 594 EQ 581 EX 536.

30 days later, I had a collection deleted and lowered my util from 56% to 8%, and so it was time for another "update" from EX and EQ since I can update TU every day. TU had gone from 594 to 603 during these 30 days, so I expected a little bit of an increase from the other two....

 

drumroll please........

 

THEY DIDN'T MOVE A SINGLE POINT! Smiley Mad


Starting Score: 540 EQ 517 TU on 11/17/08
Current Score: 668 EQ 726 TU
Goal Score: 760 EQ 760 TU


My Credit Repair Journal
Message 15 of 19
MattH
Senior Contributor

Re: My first pre-approved credit card offer in 5+ years!


@wmarat wrote:
Have you bought shredder already? Smiley Very Happy

 

Congrats to original poster, and seriously wmarat is right, once you start getting preapprovals you will probably get lots of them so you should have a shredder.  Actually you should already have a shredder for bills, bank statements, etc.

 

Also, when you get a shredder, I recommend you do not get the cheapest one in the store, get a good one.  My wife is a medical writer who telecommutes frequently so we've worn out several shredders over the years.  A good shredder:

 

  • Is rated for at least eight sheets of paper at once (you should still feed them through one or two at a time because any shredder will last a lot longer if you treat it nicely, but a model that is capable of handling eight sheets is a fairly heavy-duty model and is therefore much more durable than the cheapest ones).
  • Is rated to handle CDs, DVDs, and credit cards as well as paper.
  • Is a crosscut model (makes little pieces about a quarter inch by an inch, as opposed to a non-crosscut model that makes long strips of paper).  A crosscut model is much much much more secure.
  • Has a capacious bin to hold the shreds.
  • Has a safety interlock so it won't operate unless the bin is properly in place.


Note: if you are feeding documents to a non-crosscut shredder, then make sure the paper is positioned with the lines of text running perpendicular to the direction the paper moves!  If you feed it so the lines of text run parallel to the strips then a strip may contain a complete line of text, whereas the other way a strip will contain parts of many lines of text.  But you really should have a crosscut shredder and then it won't matter which orientation the text is in.

 

TU 791 02/11/2013, EQ 800 1/29/2011 , EX Plus FAKO 812, EX Vantage Score 955 3/19/2010 wife's EQ 9/23/2009 803
EX always was my highest when we could pull all three
Always remember: big print giveth, small print taketh away
If you dunno what tanstaafl means you must Google it
Message 16 of 19
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: My first pre-approved credit card offer in 5+ years!

My personal experience has shown that having 1 card report a balance and no more than 2 gives me the best FICO results.  But that would be fine tuning that you need to do to find your bucket optimum.
Message 17 of 19
PayingTheBills
Frequent Contributor

Re: My first pre-approved credit card offer in 5+ years!

I'm going to alternate every month which card will report a small balance of a few bucks, and pay the other one in full.

If I get a third card, I'll add it to the rotation, and so on with a fourth, fifth, sixth, if I get that many at any point.


Starting Score: 540 EQ 517 TU on 11/17/08
Current Score: 668 EQ 726 TU
Goal Score: 760 EQ 760 TU


My Credit Repair Journal
Message 18 of 19
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: My first pre-approved credit card offer in 5+ years!

Congrats.  Cap1 has some potential to be a great card.

I've been blacklisted for an old CC back in 2001 from Crap 1.  Since I they told me they can't send me anything that they wouldn't start reporting it even though SOL is way over and not on my reports anymore.  I let it fly

Message 19 of 19
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