Question about what would make sense

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I have a BK 7 dc'd 7/07, and since then I have four new CC's.  Target red card: $500 limit, First premier $575 limit, Hooters $3000 limit and Bank One $550 limit.  I do carry balances on all the cards, due to some unforseen expenses in the past few months they are at about 70% utl. combined.  I am focusing all my money on paying them off.  The problems is that I am trying my very hardest to hold on to my old bucket car, but in the event that I have to get financing on a used car would it make sense to apply for another card like Cap 1 to increase utl. or would the extra inq. not be worth the risk of being denied or getting another low limit?

My last mid FICO was 636 w/ Transunion.

thanks for any input.

[Anonymous]

It depends on your CR situation at the time. How many inqs do you currently have showing on your CRs? Capital One WILL pull a hard on all three, but if you only have a couple you might regard this as worth the trade off of helping out your util.

Before risking 3 hards you could always try getting a CLI on your current open CC accounts. Be wary though, I know Hooters is notorious for pulling a hard on a customer initiated CLI request.

Also, one little trick you could use to boost your score would be to open an installment loan with your CU and using it to pay off your CCs. If you have no installment accounts reporting, adding one to your credit mix will probably boost your score a bit along with the points you get from lowering your util.

[Anonymous]

I hardly have any inq's.  My accounts are all just about a year old, and I haven't applied for anything since I opended those four accounts last year.