Need some advice-Thanks

[Anonymous]

I have been lurking here for quite some time and have learned a lot to help me with my rebuilding efforts. I appreciate whatever advice you can offer.

Here is my complete life in a nutshell:

EQ 693 -down 10 points from last month

TU 709 -down 10 points from last month

EX 705 -down 10 points from last month

Auto loan original 39,000.00 Next payment due 6/18 current balance 17,500.00.

Mortgage 169,000.00 currently paying additional principal of 400.00 per month

Late payment 39 months ago.

Have a Tax Lien reporting on all credit bureaus, no other negatives.

Oldest Account 15.1 years

AAOA 5.2 years

Cap1 Platinum 6,250.00 balance 0 Opened 9/15-waiting until June for a CLI then combine and PC

Cap1 QS1 2,000.00 balance 0 Opened 5/15- waiting until June for a CLI then combine and PC

Citi Hilton Honors 11,500.00 balance 67.00 Opened 3/17

Chase Amazon prime 5,000.00 balance 46.00 Opened 3/17

Salary 170,000.00

8 inquiries across all 3

My FICO scores dropped by 10 points last month due to one of my cards reporting a balance of 4,700.00. All are now essentially have a balance of zero.

I PIF all my cards every month but got caught with bad timing of one of them. I want to open some additional cards to lower my utilities when my timing is wrong and to earn more benefits. My monthly spend on cards is around 5,000.00On my wish list is:

Amex ED Preferred

Amex Platinum

Chase CSP or CSR

Maybe one store card- Citi Brooks Brothers

I travel Internationally about twice a year. My opinion is that the higher tier cards offer more than the hotel/airline cards.

Thanks

[Anonymous]

Is your tax lien paid?

[Anonymous]

No, I'm making monthly payments. Will be paid off in July.

[enjoimorenow]

I wouldn't worry too much about the score drop, it will go right back up next month when the utilization reports lower, and will increase your chances of approval for another card.

If you want chase, are you under 5/24?  That's going to be your biggest deciding factor.  As long as you would use the $300 travel credit with the CSR (which is fairly easy to do thanks to their flexibility) then I see no advantage of going CSP instead of CSR.

Sounds like you are mostly looking for travel rewards.  Honestly, if I were you, I would wait until next month for your utilization to update and increase your odds.  I would then apply for both the CSP and the CSR so that you can get both sign up bonuses, and then PC the CSP to a Freedom or Freedom Unlimited.  You can then xfr the cashback to UR points to increase their value and then get even more value if you redeem for travel through chase.

Of course if you are over 5/24 that's not going to work, and if you would prefer to start earning Amex rewards instead, then you can go that route.  I just don't think it makes sense to mix amex EDP with a chase card as you wouldn't maximize point value like you would if you went both chase.  Just my .02

[Anonymous]

I'm at 3/24 right now. I bthink I will wait for my utilization to improve before apping for anything.

Thanks