What a new credit card, but rebuilding only one CC, help?

[Becca3353]

Hey forum!

 I love reading all the boards, has really gave me a lot of credit knowledge! 

Alright to the point, I am going to do a new credit app. But not sure who to go with, I have heard Amex pulls from EX and EQ

which I have ok scores in 600's, but I have stayed away from credit for 6 years till October 2013 when I applied for BoA rewards123 regular card

but was denied approved for the secured card which I only put $300.00 down for. I have been using under 30% for 6 months now and pif every

card cycle. My TU score is not too good but will be better at year end when some baddies fall off, 2 old negatives.  So trying to find CC that pulls

from EX or EQ or both. Comenity I heard mixed reviews on where pull from, I wanted to try Home Depot or Lowes which might be better? And finally

Amazon, heard a lot of susscess nothing under $400.00...not sure which card to app for please help! Thank you!

[user5387]

First thing I'd suggest is to get an accurate assessment of your situation, by getting your FICO scores from somewhere.

If you have those in hand, then you can determine which lenders are likely to approve you.

I'd also suggest getting copies of your reports, and looking them over for accuracy, and see if there are any derogatories you can address.

[Jedimaster]

In order to get credit card aprrovals most of them would like to see you have a few cards, and that have aged , preferable passing six months with a good history of on time payments, since your credit scores are still low and you have collections , I would suggest starting off with Credit One, or Capital Ones classic Platinum, and work on getting building those

[Revelate]

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@Jedimaster wrote:

In order to get credit card aprrovals most of them would like to see you have a few cards, and that have aged , preferable passing six months with a good history of on time payments, since your credit scores are still low and you have collections , I would suggest starting off with Credit One, or Capital Ones classic Platinum, and work on getting building those

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Skip Credit One.  Terrible lender.

If you've had the BOFA card for a little bit you can probably qualify for an entry Cap One unsecured card.  Apply for one of those would be my recommendation, probably the Classic Platinum as Jedimaster suggests but you may be able to get into their low-end Quicksilver card which is an incredibly good one all things considered for a rebuilder.  

You really only need 2 cards when starting, after a year on the BOFA card you can look at higher quality cards potentially.

Beyond that as user239843 suggests the FAKO scores in question aren't really sufficient to know what's up as they don't track with FICO scores at all; my own CK score stayed flat over 2 years vs one of my FICO's increased by 120 points.

In any event welcome to the forums Becca!

[Becca3353]

Thanks! For the fast replies everyone, I completely understand where you are coming from about knowing my scores, just don't want to spend money to check but would you recommend my fico site or there cheaper site to check all the scores? I will try any CC that will approve me thanks

[user5387]

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@Becca3353 wrote:

Thanks! For the fast replies everyone, I completely understand where you are coming from about knowing my scores, just don't want to spend money to check but would you recommend my fico site or there cheaper site to check all the scores? I will try any CC that will approve me thanks

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The problem is that if the scores listed in your signature are accurate, you might be borderlline for an unsecured card, and might waste some hard pulls for denials.  So it seems worth trying to find out where you're really at.

One thing you could do that doesn't require a hard pull is to get an SDFCU Visa secured card.  This particular card is highly rated, and would help you in the sense of adding another positive account.

https://www.sdfcu.org/emv-creditcards

[hayhayhayday]

Recently got a sony card from capital one with 590(5 recent co 1 good account so you have great shot imo), no fee $100 opening bonus, 24.9% apr. Supposed to be bumped to $750 cl after few months via credit steps.

If your other reports are totally blank except the 1 secured cc(no baddies), I would try for a chase freedom ,amex bce or lower tier citi(not world or signature cards)

[Revelate]

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@user5387 wrote:

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@Becca3353 wrote:

Thanks! For the fast replies everyone, I completely understand where you are coming from about knowing my scores, just don't want to spend money to check but would you recommend my fico site or there cheaper site to check all the scores? I will try any CC that will approve me thanks

---

The problem is that if the scores listed in your signature are accurate, you might be borderlline for an unsecured card, and might waste some hard pulls for denials.  So it seems worth trying to find out where you're really at.

One thing you could do that doesn't require a hard pull is to get an SDFCU Visa secured card.  This particular card is highly rated, and would help you in the sense of adding another positive account.

https://www.sdfcu.org/emv-creditcards

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When we're talking initial first couple of cards, racking up inquiries is expected by underwriters and therefore irrelevant .  

Since really the best method for building a portfolio is to establish a few decent starter cards (of which SDFCU is decent no doubt about it, but a Quicksilver starter card is pretty much in all ways better other than EMVness and maybe the $39 AF or whatever it is) and then sit on one's hands for a year, there's no penalty towards taking a few swings especially when we're talking one shot at C1 and then a fallback of SDFCU or similar: one additional inquiry is absolutely meaningless in this case, it would be different if someone were running up 10+ but that shouldn't be the scenario here.

ETA: any underwriter is going to look at the open date of the SDFCU card anyway, not having the inquiry there isn't that beneficial other than a few points over the next sixish months which OP should be idle credit-wise anyway other than getting fancy and picking up a secured installment loan if lacking installment history.