Questions about Will I get approved.Need Guidance!

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone, After reading this post for almost a year now (and finding it very helpful), I decided to join and get into the loop. Question: I have went through a year of self credit repair and finally have a almost clean report. Im about 698 @ TU , 686 Equifax and 665 @ Exp... Which cards should I apply for w? confidence??? I dont want to run up my inquires w/o actually getting approved. Whats my best strategy ? My experian has 5 inquiries while the other two bureaus are at 2-3 a piece.

As for cards, I have a Capital one Platinum (secured w/ limit of 1300)

Discover (secured w/ limit of 500)

Milestone Visa Card ( limit of 500). Sorry I dont know all the abbreviations and board lingo yet, so please excuse my typing. Would really appreciate some help. I have been on this journey for a longtime and brought my credit from a 503 to 698 just by researching and staying being persistent. My wife calls me obsessed lol, but I founf this board and realized I wasnt alone!

Jay84

[Anonymous]

Go and check pre-quals! That's a good bet for you right now. Not sure we can ever say anything is a sure bet. You have some good secured cards so once those graduate you'll be in a good place. How long have you had the Milestone? Is that your oldest account? If it isn't once you get another card I would close that one. But for sure start off with the pre-quals. I usually go here https://www.doctorofcredit.com/view-personalized-credit-card-offers/ for all the pre-qual links Best of luck to you and keep it up, you're off to a great start!

[Anonymous]

@anikinsDarling Wow! Thanks for quick reply! I have had them all for a year and never missed a payment. I carried balances over almost every month, but now I have them all under 30%.Appreciate the tip!!

[Anonymous]

You're totally welcome! Definitely check the prequals and update us!

[Anonymous]

OP—Are you carrying balances because you need to or just because? Your ideal utilization would be under 10% (8.9% If picky). Additionally, what derogatory information is in you reports? Additionally, where are you getting your scores? Are they true FICO scores? Do you have any installment loans? If so, what is the data on those? Income? The more points of data you can and are willing to provide, the more useful recommendations will be. Also, what “types” of CC are you looking for, cash back, reward points, travel, balance transfer, 0% intro interest? What kind of spend patterns do you have, grocery, gas, dining, travel, wholesale clubs, Amazon, etc? If you can tolerate all the follow-up questions, there are many people with much experience who will offer a myriad of opinions, suggestions. Best of luck to you, and welcome to the forums!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
OP—Are you carrying balances because you need to or just because? Your ideal utilization would be under 10% (8.9% If picky). Additionally, what derogatory information is in you reports? Additionally, where are you getting your scores? Are they true FICO scores? Do you have any installment loans? If so, what is the data on those? Income? The more points of data you can and are willing to provide, the more useful recommendations will be. Also, what “types” of CC are you looking for, cash back, reward points, travel, balance transfer, 0% intro interest? What kind of spend patterns do you have, grocery, gas, dining, travel, wholesale clubs, Amazon, etc? If you can tolerate all the follow-up questions, there are many people with much experience who will offer a myriad of opinions, suggestions. Best of luck to you, and welcome to the forums!

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Agreed. 

To me to most important question is what are you looking for on your next credit card. After you answered yourself that question everything else will be easier. 

[AverageJoesCredit]

Welcome
First lesson on building a great credit profile ( according to the AJC Guidebook For Dummies is dont app just because your scores are appable, lol ,if thats a word. Find out what kind of card offers the rewards suitable to your spend and lifestyle .once you have that figured out, you can research the pros and cons of the card you have interest.

If you learn to buy only what you can afford to pay back at end of the month, you'll start learning a great pif attitude that can help curb carrying unnecessary balance and rising debt. Its not easy, ive been here coming up on 3 years next year and im just starting to fully embrace my lessons learned the hard way. Best of luck on your journey

[K-in-Boston]

Totally agree that you're in a spot now where you should be able to be somewhat picky rather than just getting any card that you can be approved for.  Figure out what kind of rewards you want and how your own spending would help you achieve those rewards, then with that list of cards in mind ask us about approval odds.  You may also want to consider a share secured loan to boost your scores for credit mix if you do not have any open installment loans.

Totally off-topic, but nice signature @Anonymous 

[Anonymous]

Thanks K.
Too bad the NFL card is useless for my needs. Otherwise I could have the Pats one as well😄