Need help using my CCs to go from 770 to 800+ Club!

[nitrov]

I haven’t been on here a while as I’ve been gardening pretty hardcore and wanting to avoid shiny new card temptation  but my gardening has been successful and I need help getting over the 800 FICO hump. I would like to start consolidating cards in the next couple years but increase my total available CL at the same time to clean up my file and I need some advice.

Current cards (CLs $):

-4 Chase cards: Ritz, Marriott, Freedom, IHG ($60k total)

-3 Amex cards: PRG, Delta Plat, BCE ($46k total)

-2 USAA cards: Visa sig x2 ($26k total)

-NFCU Visa sig ($25k)

-Citi Prestige ($17.5k)

-PenFed Visa ($20k)

-Lowe’s ($35k)

-Cap1 ($8k)

Total CL: ~$237k

My Cap1 is my oldest card, I just got a CLI from them about 3 months ago for a measly $700. PRG and BCE are backdated and look like my 2nd oldest accounts. The rest are all 3-5 years old after I rebuilt a few years ago. 3 HPs in the last 2 years, one from USAA and the other 2 for a mortgage refi app that never happened. I was trying to wait for 5/24 to fall off to get a CSP/CSR but no longer think I really need them with my current lineup, I only have 1 account less than 2 years old now (USAA).

I asked Amex for a CLI and got the 7-10 day response (so prob a no). I do have a fraud alert on my social so luv buttons are pretty nonexistent for me. Not sure if it’s worth apping for a HP CLI with anyone. My go-to cards are PRG, Delta, Prestige, and Ritz; USAA is for BTs. Util is around 10%. 

I would love to dump the Marriott, NFCU, Penfed, and maybe Cap1 ($78k total between the 4) if my score wouldn’t take a hit and I could get a bump in CLs elsewhere, but not sure the best approach to take. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Edit: Would love feedback on who is most likely to give me a larger CL if I ask for a CLI and take the HP. Would love something over $50k so I can pay a big tuition bill coming up.

[nitrov]

Bump

[NRB525]

Is the 770 due to a relatively low AAoA, or do you have any lates anywhere on your file? If no lates anywhere in your past, then it may be simply aging that has to occur. No new cards should help in that situation.

You have about 4 of 12 cards (ex PRG) showing balances? Might bring that down to two or one, plus PRG to see how that helps. Managing total utilization to be under 9% may help as well.

[redpat]

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@nitrov wrote:

Edit: Would love feedback on who is most likely to give me a larger CL if I ask for a CLI and take the HP. Would love something over $50k so I can pay a big tuition bill coming up.

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When my Daughter was in college I wanted to use a CC for the points until I saw they charged a 2.50% convenience fee.

[Anonymous]

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@nitrov

I would love to dump the Marriott, NFCU, Penfed, and maybe Cap1 ($78k total between the 4) if my score wouldn’t take a hit and I could get a bump in CLs elsewhere, but not sure the best approach to take. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

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OP, I think it's very important for you to understand that credit limits have absolutely no bearing on credit score.  Your score would not take a hit at all, not even 1 point if you were to close down a bunch of your credit cards, reduce your overall limits by $78k, etc.  I get the feeling from reading your post that you're under the impression that greater overall credit limits (or individual limits) equates to better credit scores.  They do not. 

Utilization percentage can impact credit scores, which of course can be influenced by overall limits.  This matters more though for those that are carrying balances or possess a higher utilization percentage.  For those that report low balances, whether you have $30k in total limits or $300k in total limits likely wouldn't make any difference.

OP, consider this illustration.  You have a bunch of cards right now with limits totaling $237k.  I don't believe that you stated whether you have any balances reported on them currently, but for the sake of this illustration let's say you have all $0 balance except a $10 balance on one of your cards.  You could call and close out a bunch of your cards today except for the 5 that you like the most, then call those 5 and ask for credit line decreases to $500 limits.  Your total credit limits would then drop from $237k to $2500 (5 x $500) and as long as that $10 balance was present on one of your now $500 limit cards with the other 4 having $0 balances, your credit score would stay exactly the same with a $234,500 reduction in overall limits.

[nitrov]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@nitrov

I would love to dump the Marriott, NFCU, Penfed, and maybe Cap1 ($78k total between the 4) if my score wouldn’t take a hit and I could get a bump in CLs elsewhere, but not sure the best approach to take. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

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OP, I think it's very important for you to understand that credit limits have absolutely no bearing on credit score.  Your score would not take a hit at all, not even 1 point if you were to close down a bunch of your credit cards, reduce your overall limits by $78k, etc.  I get the feeling from reading your post that you're under the impression that greater overall credit limits (or individual limits) equates to better credit scores.  They do not. 

Utilization percentage can impact credit scores, which of course can be influenced by overall limits.  This matters more though for those that are carrying balances or possess a higher utilization percentage.  For those that report low balances, whether you have $30k in total limits or $300k in total limits likely wouldn't make any difference.

OP, consider this illustration.  You have a bunch of cards right now with limits totaling $237k.  I don't believe that you stated whether you have any balances reported on them currently, but for the sake of this illustration let's say you have all $0 balance except a $10 balance on one of your cards.  You could call and close out a bunch of your cards today except for the 5 that you like the most, then call those 5 and ask for credit line decreases to $500 limits.  Your total credit limits would then drop from $237k to $2500 (5 x $500) and as long as that $10 balance was present on one of your now $500 limit cards with the other 4 having $0 balances, your credit score would stay exactly the same with a $234,500 reduction in overall limits.

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I have about 10% utilization right now, so let’s say $23k. If I lost $78k in available credit and didn’t get it elsewhere, my util would go up to about 30%, which would definitely drop my score some. I *could* pay down, but since I have 0% BT offers that don’t expire for another year, it doesn’t make a lot of sense for me to pay them off right now. That’s why I’m trying to get a bigger limit from 1 or 2 cards, but not sure where I have the best odds of getting that.

[nitrov]

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@NRB525 wrote:
Is the 770 due to a relatively low AAoA, or do you have any lates anywhere on your file? If no lates anywhere in your past, then it may be simply aging that has to occur. No new cards should help in that situation.

You have about 4 of 12 cards (ex PRG) showing balances? Might bring that down to two or one, plus PRG to see how that helps. Managing total utilization to be under 9% may help as well.

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My AAoA is about 4.5 years. No baddies anywhere. That’s why I’ve been gardening for 2 years. 

Yea, I have about 6-7 cards showing balances: USAA x2 (BT), Penfed (BT), Prestige, Ritz, Amex x2. Do you think it would help if I cut that in half? I didn’t know that made a difference to anything since I have so many zero balance cards already.

[nitrov]

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@redpat wrote:

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@nitrov wrote:

Edit: Would love feedback on who is most likely to give me a larger CL if I ask for a CLI and take the HP. Would love something over $50k so I can pay a big tuition bill coming up.

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When my Daughter was in college I wanted to use a CC for the points until I saw they charged a 2.50% convenience fee.

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Already confirmed my school doesn’t charge one helloooo points!

[Anonymous]

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@nitrov

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I have about 10% utilization right now, so let’s say $23k. If I lost $78k in available credit and didn’t get it elsewhere, my util would go up to about 30%, which would definitely drop my score some. .

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Your math above isn't correct.  You are correct that you're currently at 10% utilization if your total balances are $23k against $237k in overall limits, as a 9.something decimal is going to round up to 10%.  Reducing your $237k in overall limits by $78k would bring you to $159k in overall limits.  Your $23k balance against $159k in total limits would raise your utilization to 14.4%, or 15% when rounded up for FICO scoring purposes.  That change is insignificant.  There is no difference at all in your aggregate utilization being at 10% verses 15% in terms of FICO scoring; the next threshold would be at 28.9%.  You could lower your total limits by $150k and still be below the 28.9% threshold.

[Anonymous]

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@nitrov

Yea, I have about 6-7 cards showing balances: USAA x2 (BT), Penfed (BT), Prestige, Ritz, Amex x2. Do you think it would help if I cut that in half? I didn’t know that made a difference to anything since I have so many zero balance cards already.

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If you have 6-7 of 12 cards with balances reported on them, you're at 50% or greater cards with balances.  That results in a scoring penalty.  You could lower your total credit limits by $150k and if you were to take your number of cards with balances and reduce 3-4 of them to $0 you'd probably see a 10 point or so gain on your scores.