Should I wait to activate a newly approved card before applying for another?

[Anonymous]

Hi there,

So the brief is that I had really bad credit, got a Bank of America secured card that I made monthly payments on, gradually increased my score, got pre-approved 6 months ago for a Capital One (credit steps) Platinum with a $1500 limit and recently got that Product Changed to a Quicksilver.

So far so good.  I then got a pre-approval for a Capital One BuyPower Card of $500.  Meh.  I went for it just to increase my utilization ratio.

My question to you all is that I'm about to apply for another Capital One card.  Probably a Platinum.  Should I wait to activate my BuyPower card (which is in the mail) before applying for another Cap One card?  Or does it not matter?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Capital One only allow one new card per six months?

[Anonymous]

I think you're correct, but the Platinum that upgraded to Quicksilver I have is 7 months in now and the BuyPower is considered a "co-branded card" which doesn't count, I think?  I could be wrong though.

[Anonymous]

Diversify. How are your FICOs looking?

[Anonymous]

Agree, I would try and for a different bank depending your fico

[Anonymous]

My BoA credit score tracker tells me 629, Capital One tells me 621 although they were both 650 the last two months.  Maybe because of a HP?

[Anonymous]

I guess I'm just playing it safe as Capital One is the only bank I've got pre-quals from, so far.

[Anonymous]

Some advice: skip CreditOne, FirstPremier, TOTAL, et. al. Try to get a secure card with a "prime" bank. I believe the minimum deposit is $200 with Discover and Citi, and $300 for Bank of America/etc. Discover will graduate you to a standard IT, Citi graduates you to a diamond preffered, and Bank of America depends on the secured product you start with. 

Now that the "Bank information not recieved" error over at discover seems to be resolved, I would highly reccommend a IT secured as a "in" with discover. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Some advice: skip CreditOne, FirstPremier, TOTAL, et. al. Try to get a secure card with a "prime" bank. I believe the minimum deposit is $200 with Discover and Citi, and $300 for Bank of America/etc. Discover will graduate you to a standard IT, Citi graduates you to a diamond preffered, and Bank of America depends on the secured product you start with. 

Now that the "Bank information not recieved" error over at discover seems to be resolved, I would highly reccommend a IT secured as a "in" with discover. 

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+1 Have been trying to convince a friend who has been rebuilding the same thing but some people would rather pay almost $150 in AF for cards with no reward/cash back than 'tie up' $200 - $300 for a secured

[rmduhon]

Cap1 Creditwise is a Fako score.