@Anonymous wrote:Last January I started monitoring my credit and taking steps to rebuild since I was looking to get a car. I've opened a few accounts this year and I believe I'm on the right road as I've started receiving pre-qualified offers from Citi. Since Jan. '11, here are the accounts I've opened...
Cap1 (Jan. '11) initial $500CL now at $750- no lates, carry a small balance each month, $39AF
Toyota Financial Services (March '11) 0% interest- no lates, pay more than supposed to each month
Wal-Mart Store Card (Sept. '11)- 1200CL- no lates, have carried a balance each month
AMEX Zync (Oct. '11)- No Limit, no auto pay- have only paid once so far, so no lates
Since receiving my Zync, I've been running everything through that card- daily spending, monthly bills, etc...- since I get some rewards for it. I apped for it initially to replace my BoA debit card since they were still planning on charging a monthly fee for it; I felt the annual fee for AMEX was worth rewards.
I'd love to eventually get an AMEX Revolver and hope I can do that in Oct. or Nov. of '12 after a year with AMEX and good payment history. If I were to get an AMEX revolver like the BCE I'd use that for my everyday spending and give the Zync a rest.
I've given thought to apping for another Cap1 card come January, maybe the Cash rewards card or something else with rewardsf but I'm not sure I should do that if I'm receiving rewards from AMEX. I just would like a revolver that has more than $750CL that isn't a store card.
Should I just stick to what I've got now wait for a year w/ AMEX or less time?
I have a CO from Citi years ago so i know I'm on their blacklist and wouldn't actually be approved for a card from this. The CO is no longer on any of my reports. I never paid Citi for that one. (I was young, in college and they gave a $2k CL.)
My last quarterly report was 9/7/11 and my TU FICO was a 697. My WalMart TU score for Nov. was a 716.
Thanks ahead of time for any advice.
I'm assuming that the 4 cards you listed are the only ones you have presently. First of all, I would *NOT* waste my time with another Cap One card. They help when you're first starting to rebuild, but there are many posts here from people who have been unable to get CLIs from them, regardless of the impeccable history they have w/the card.
You actually might be approved for Amex w/your present scores; there is no way to know for sure.
To build your credit history, you might want to look at local CUs. If there is nothing negative on your reports and your score is in the 700-range, you shouldn't have any problem being approved for a CC. And CUs are better than the big banks at working w/people who are rebuilding.
Depending on how many CCs you want, you could also look at Barclays. They've been very generous with many people on this forum this holiday season (me included! 
). If they see that you're working on rebuilding and have been paying everything on time, they're very likely to approve you w/a decent CL.
HTH! Best of luck! 