What's my best credit card option?

[ChrisK80]

I am about to apply for a new credit card; I am looking to recieve the highest limit I can get.  I have a FICO score of 645 (went down today from 667, no clue why).  I checked my credit score on freecreditscore.com today and was 721 there...I realize that is not as accurate as a FICO though.  I have zero negatives, great payment history. but a short history (3.3 years), high balances, and too many inquirys, so I would like to just apply for one final card and then not seek new credit anytime soon....any recommendations on what I should apply for? Thanks

[mmduluth]

Well what cards do you have now? Limits? Date opened? Balances? AAoA? 

You say you have a lot of inquiries. How many is a lot? 

[ChrisK80]

Sorry, I forgot to add all that;

WF rewards card, 7 k limit, 5,900 balance. over 3 years open

Cap one Venture, 3k limit, 2,600 balance. 1 year open

cap one mastercard 750 limit, 200.00 balance. almost 3 years open

citicard 500.00 limit, 90.00 balance (this one has a cli option online, i am just wary if it will be a hard pull or not?) apx 2 years open

Discover card 3k limit, 600.00 balance 3 months open

I have 5 inquiries on my report.  Never missed a payment or been late though.

Thanks for the help.

[ChrisK80]

Forgot to add, also have a carecredit with a 5 k limit and zero balance.

[Walt_K]

You'll have better luck getting a higher limit if you pay your existing balances down first and then apply for a new card.  It doesn't look like applying for a new card is your best option right now. 

Why do you want another card?  Are you trying to transfer balances?  At your current score and utilization, you probably won't get a card with a high enough limit to transfer all of your balances, so you're going to end up with another card and another minimum payment.  Could be worth it depending on what you're paying in interest. 

But if you're just looking to manipulate your utilization, there's a better, albeit slower, way to do that.  Concentrate on paying down your balances.  In the three months since you've had the Discover card, you've added $600 of additional debt.  You don't want to add another card and start running that balance up as well.

[mmduluth]

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@Walt_K wrote:

You'll have better luck getting a higher limit if you pay your existing balances down first and then apply for a new card.  It doesn't look like applying for a new card is your best option right now. 

Why do you want another card?  Are you trying to transfer balances?  At your current score and utilization, you probably won't get a card with a high enough limit to transfer all of your balances, so you're going to end up with another card and another minimum payment.  Could be worth it depending on what you're paying in interest. 

But if you're just looking to manipulate your utilization, there's a better, albeit slower, way to do that.  Concentrate on paying down your balances.  In the three months since you've had the Discover card, you've added $600 of additional debt.  You don't want to add another card and start running that balance up as well.

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+1 Those balances aren't going to look good when your applying for a new card.

[bigman023]

I agree with the others, pay down those balances.  IMO, once you pay down those balances you just might hit, or be very close to, 700.  Paying off those balances willl likely put you in a situation where you will be able to qualify for much better cards, than you would at this time.

Good Luck!

[Anonymous]

May I ask what your score was when you got approved for that Cap One Venture?   I thought the Venture had a 5k minimum starting cl.

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