Should I apply?

[Anonymous]

I'm completely new to this forum and have been working on my credit this past year. I was doing fairly well on a slow basis until hubby decided to max out my credit cards 🙄 of which I have 2, causing my score to drop by 57 points according to credit karma, which is showing me at a 620. Home depot card site shows I'm preapproved, should I even try to apply? Needing to do some home improvements and I am interested in their 6 month interest free. Discover scorecard shows 656. I haven't been late on any payments. Advice please!

[Cred4All]

Welcome AI1986!  The DH will do it to you everytime, or wait, is it the DW, all the same!  

First, I'll tell you what many will also say, don't rely on the Credit Karma scores, they're highly and ridiculously innacurate.  We recommend you utilize MyFico or Experian to see a more realistic look at your credit profile.  What cards do you currently have, and at what utilization are they sitting as of today vs the balance?  If you try one of the sites above, can you provide an updated score for EQ/TU/EX and/or how many inquiries you have currently on each?

Discover is always a great option and grows well for a huge percentage of folks, myself included.  I am not that in-tune with Home Depot (perhaps others are) however see GREAT success and SL (Starting/Initial credit limit) with the Lowes cards, who are also well know for recon ability to increase the amount with 1 phone call.

[Shooting-For-800]

Check for prequals:

Capital One 

Discover

Amex

Citibank

US Bank

Merrick

a Lowes card MIGHT change everything.  Many have $10-20k limits with under 700 fico score.

How much do you owe?  Total current limits?

[Anonymous]

Thanks for taking the time to respond! I don't have the upgraded Experian that shows all 3. I will look into paying for that in the future. Experian shows score as 659 with a total of 3 inquiries and utilization of 89% 😳 Dh lol! I love that man but he is so financially irresponsible, I finally had to tell him to hand the cards back. I have 2 capital one cards, a quicksilver rewards (no annual fee that was just upgraded from the journey card with a 500 limit) and a platinum with a 1000 limit, both should be eligible for increases around June and July but I'm planning on having them paid back down by then. Payday comes bi-weekly and I always pay on both cards whether or not they are due yet.

[Cred4All]

Ok so with the 89% UTIL, you'd best be served paying that down as much as possible before your next app.  Even if you were the President and sporting an 800 score, it's never beneficial to app when UTIL is that high.  I've been there and know (Before I realized what on earth the big deal was about UTIL!)

Others may have a card or personal knowledge of a good 0% APR Transfer option but, I'm inclined to recommend to lower that at your own pace and ability, prior to risking a HP.  Once you lower that UTIL as you likely know, it will do wonders for your profile.

[Anonymous]

Okay, thank you. And yes I'm still learning about credit building and utilization. I always thought that if you paid your credit card bills on time that your score would be good. Only recently learned that high utilization would actually hurt your score. SMH, you would think at 32 I would have known that already. Thank you so much for the advice, I will wait it out.

[Anonymous]

I personally would apply for the Lowe’s card. With lower limit cards, there tends to be some flexibility with high balances when lenders look at your credit versus your income. If you can even get a $500 approval, you’ll drop your aggregate and boost your score and they grow rather quickly too. Adding $500 in credit would drop that aggregate 89% to around 67% which can give you a 20 point lift easy.

[CreditInspired]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Okay, thank you. And yes I'm still learning about credit building and utilization. I always thought that if you paid your credit card bills on time that your score would be good. Only recently learned that high utilization would actually hurt your score. SMH, you would think at 32 I would have known that already. Thank you so much for the advice, I will wait it out.

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Only 32! You’re doing good. I just learned about UT and a whole bunch of other credit-related stuff when I joined this forum 3 years ago at the active age of 63. 😂🤣

[CreditInspired]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for taking the time to respond! I don't have the upgraded Experian that shows all 3. I will look into paying for that in the future. Experian shows score as 659 with a total of 3 inquiries and utilization of 89% 😳 Dh lol! I love that man but he is so financially irresponsible, I finally had to tell him to hand the cards back. I have 2 capital one cards, a quicksilver rewards (no annual fee that was just upgraded from the journey card with a 500 limit) and a platinum with a 1000 limit, both should be eligible for increases around June and July but I'm planning on having them paid back down by then. Payday comes bi-weekly and I always pay on both cards whether or not they are due yet.

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89% is like Whew!  IMHO I would not apply for any card until aggregate is less than 28.9%. It’s not worth it to waste a HP if you’re declined. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for taking the time to respond! I don't have the upgraded Experian that shows all 3. I will look into paying for that in the future. Experian shows score as 659 with a total of 3 inquiries and utilization of 89% 😳 Dh lol! I love that man but he is so financially irresponsible, I finally had to tell him to hand the cards back. I have 2 capital one cards, a quicksilver rewards (no annual fee that was just upgraded from the journey card with a 500 limit) and a platinum with a 1000 limit, both should be eligible for increases around June and July but I'm planning on having them paid back down by then. Payday comes bi-weekly and I always pay on both cards whether or not they are due yet.

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So about a month and they'll be paid off (or at least under 30% each)?

Are you able to hold off on the home improvement stuff until then? The moment your cards report a low balancr again, you'll bounce back up those 57 points. Just remember to pay it off prior to when your June statements come out. Don't want to wait an extra month for the scores to be updated!

It'll also show financial responsibility to Captital One when you request that credit limit increase.