Not Sure What To Do Next - Have I Messed Up Too Bad?

[Anonymous]

I'm new here, been reading and trying to figure out what to do next, not sure if I've made my situation worse or not, but any advice on making sure I start doing this right would be appreciated.

Discharged CH7 12/2013 and have the following cards;

CO Plat MC (just PC'd it to QS) 3/14 - $2,500 CLI to $4,000 (balance is $2,200 and will be PIF on Friday)

CO QS1 MC 6/15 - $3,000 not eligible for CLI yet (carrying a balance until the 0% offer is over and then will PIF)

CO V1 VS 8/8/15 - $10,000

CO QS VS 8/9/15 - $5,000

I was considering consolidating the MC's into a QS and ask for a WMC upgrade when my 6 months are up on the QS1.  I plan to consolidate my VS's into just the QS in 6 months.  So I'd have a $7K MC and $15K VS when I'm all done.  I also just refinanced my auto loan with CO for 36 months and 3.99% (down from 7.59%).  Needless to say CO is the only company that will give me any credit right now because I burned all the big players in my CH7 (it was a small business failure, grrr).  By the end of the year, I don't plan on carrying any balances what so ever as my APR is still high.

So would it be wise to consolidate into 2 bigger CL's or keep 4 cards open?  I'm not planning on applying for anything else for a long time, I've had enough hard pulls to last a while and this is all the credit I want/need to handle for a long time.  My scores are EQ 639, TU 614, EX 647 and in the next couple of years I'd like to look at buying a house.

Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'm new here, been reading and trying to figure out what to do next, not sure if I've made my situation worse or not, but any advice on making sure I start doing this right would be appreciated.

Discharged CH7 12/2013 and have the following cards;

CO Plat MC (just PC'd it to QS) 3/14 - $2,500 CLI to $4,000 (balance is $2,200 and will be PIF on Friday)

CO QS1 MC 6/15 - $3,000 not eligible for CLI yet (carrying a balance until the 0% offer is over and then will PIF)

CO V1 VS 8/8/15 - $10,000

CO QS VS 8/9/15 - $5,000

I was considering consolidating the MC's into a QS and ask for a WMC upgrade when my 6 months are up on the QS1.  I plan to consolidate my VS's into just the QS in 6 months.  So I'd have a $7K MC and $15K VS when I'm all done.  I also just refinanced my auto loan with CO for 36 months and 3.99% (down from 7.59%).  Needless to say CO is the only company that will give me any credit right now because I burned all the big players in my CH7 (it was a small business failure, grrr).  By the end of the year, I don't plan on carrying any balances what so ever as my APR is still high.

So would it be wise to consolidate into 2 bigger CL's or keep 4 cards open?  I'm not planning on applying for anything else for a long time, I've had enough hard pulls to last a while and this is all the credit I want/need to handle for a long time.  My scores are EQ 639, TU 614, EX 647 and in the next couple of years I'd like to look at buying a house.

Thoughts?

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Welcome to MyFico.

If I were you, I'd keep all 4 cards open.  In our situation you need 3 or 4 credit lines reporting to build up your credit scores for anything you might apply for down the road.  You already gave a $10K line which should be sufficient for ant large purchase you might need to make.  You can always consolidate down the road when your overall credit file is in better shape.

[icyhot]

Maybe consolidate into 3 cards instead of 2 so you'll have a 10K, 7K, 5K card. Why would you think you messed up? You're doing well. I think it's totally fine to be doing business with just one lender, especially capital one since they're so forgiving and will work with you

[Anonymous]

Thank you both!  I may think about going down to 3 cards but won't do any less than that.  I was starting to get concerned with all the HP's from them in the past 45 days, figured my fico was taking a beating, but hey, it's already been beaten down as far as it's going to go, so why not push my limits..........

I actually can't believe I received this much credit, this fast and two signature visa's thrown in.  I guess I'm just so cautious because before the business failure, I had all the major cards, $10K + limits on all of them, so rebuilding from high 700's is new to me, not used to dealing with high APR's and being denied.  It only gets better from here, right!?!

[icyhot]

Yes! You're doing fine. Just use your cards responsibly and you'll be back to 700 in no time. I'm trying to let my accounts age and use them responsibly as well

[Anonymous]

Maybe I'll going join the others in the garden for a while...........

There's only one card I really, really want but Chase has a LONG memory, lol!  I'm trying to reach lifetime platinum status at Marriott and having the card, earning points would get me there pretty quickly, I'm already lifetime silver, almost gold.  I have the nights, just too many in cheaper hotels, oh, how I long for that card and lifetime status.  Unfortunately, I burned them with a business card, so, I'm resigned to never being able to get one

[happypill]

I think you're on the right track and gardening is probably the best strategy for now.  Consolidating down to 3 CC from Capital One would be fine, but I don't think it's necessary and as others have mentioned, definitely don't go below that for now.  Some advice from personal experience, they seem to like it if you put all your spend through one card then PIF or make big payments.  I had a $500 card with them, maxed & paid almost every month and they gave me a $3k card, did the same and they gave me a $5k card CLI to $7.5k, then most recently they gave me a $30k card.  At each step I just put all my spend through the most recently obtained card.

One thing about Chase, they do have a long memory but they should let you back in eventually if you keep everything else in good shape.  I'm on Chase BL as well, and chatting with a CSR a short while back, she strongly suggested that I would be considered for a card once the Chase baddie fell off my report.  That's a long wait, but something to look forward to.