Where to Go from Here

[CivalV]

Im no expert BUT when I applied for Amex Delta they denied me and pulled my EX report. You only get an SP if you are already an Amex member, no?

[Anonymous]

It's important to get the existing debt taken care of. Even if you only have $500 combined debt on the cards and a good APR of 15%, you are still just giving away a little over $5 a month in interest. It's not a ton, but why give away money when you don't have to?

It sounds like you are doing this already, but look at your finances and see if there's anywhere that you can save a few bucks to go towards paying things down. That would be my first move. You said you have made progress on that,and that is fantastic! Keep at it!

If you are looking at getting another card, I would first look at what I normally spend in a month, and use that as a guide for which cards fit my need. For some of us it would be groceries, for others it may be fuel, or it could be travel. Find what's best for you and make a plan to get there. That will be way better in the long run than choosing a card based on what I may think is good.

If that is the route you are taking, my next move would be to see if any of those cards have a 0% purchase/balance transfer APR for X months intro offer, and ideally a $X statement credit offer.  As I said before $5 a month isn't much, but it can be $5 more towards paying things down rather than going out of your pocket.

[Anonymous]

I have a balance of $202 on Capital One Platinum #1 (just upgraded to QS!) and a balance of $328.03 on Capital One Platinum #2. Both $750 CL. I have already made my payment on #1 this month ($100) and expect to have another extra $100 for my payment on #2 in a week or so. If I pay both these cards down to sub 10%, should I see a increase in my FICO8 score? I am not in financial need of any new credit lines, I am simply trying to boost my score, so I am comfortable with playing the long game. 

Discover prequal came back good, but i am thinking its probably best to save my HP for the possibility of abetter card (Amex?). Amex prequal came back as "no offers at this time". I'm thinking a slight boost in my FICO 8 might push me over the top. 

Thanks to everyone for the reccomendations! I'm very glad this community exists

[Remedios]

OP, with your current scores, I think Discover is your best bet to start 

Wait till your EX is a bit higher for Amex  unless you're going for charge card vs. revolver 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

 If I pay both these cards down to sub 10%, should I see a increase in my FICO8 score? I am not in financial need of any new credit lines, I am simply trying to boost my score, so I am comfortable with playing the long game.

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I think you said earlier that the overall utilization is around 10% including the AU cards? If so, I wouldn't imagine getting both of those to below 10% would have a huge impact. It couldn't hurt though, and you may see a slight bump.

As far as playing the long game goes, I would pay both of those cards down to 0 then let a small charge post each month and pay the statement balance off once reported. It will have the same impact on your score as carrying a balance long term, but it will have the added benefit of restoring the interest free grace period on your cards. Plus, it seems like a lot of credit card companies like it when people pay in full each month.

I know a lot of people really sweat the HPs, but if you know you are going to be getting only one card, and you know which one you want, it's really not a huge deal to have a couple. The impact on score diminishes pretty quickly. The only time I would worry about it personally is if I knew I wanted a Chase card and was nearing 5/24, or if I already had several HPs reporting.

Oh, and congrats on the upgrade to QS!

[Anonymous]

Ok, applied for Discover It, approved with $1200CL. A bit disappointing, but I'll take it. Also got a credit alert that one of AU cards (Barclay's AA Card) credit limits was increased by $2500, bringing my total CLs to $35,700 (including AU cards). 

My plan for the coming months is to finish paying my Capital One cards down to zero, then making small purchases on both Capital One cards and paying them off before the end of the month. I'll use the Disover It more frequently (take advantage of the rewards), but also pay this balance down monthly. 

Does this seem like an adequate plan to continue to improve my FICO scores?