apply for cc to improve score ? or not a good idea for me.. help

[Anonymous]

Like many here i'm trying to improve my score .. here at my fico it is 615

i've read that sometimes opening a new line of credit helps ,, depending on the situation , just not sure if this applies to me

and i dont want to get hurt by the inquiries , if i probably wont get approved anyway..

i only have two existing accounts , an auto loan with a balance of $14,000 . (origanlly 15,5) and a $500 cc with a 50 balance.

that cc has several late payments recently(30,60,90daysthen on time for 3 months hten 30,30 now ok) .. it was maxed out and a half , i was unemployed .. but am now working and was  abel to give them the $750 owed.

should i apply for a new cc.. ? will it help me ?

what would be a most lik,ely approval for me?

any advice would be appreciated ,, thanks

[tntexans72]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Like many here i'm trying to improve my score .. here at my fico it is 615

i've read that sometimes opening a new line of credit helps ,, depending on the situation , just not sure if this applies to me

and i dont want to get hurt by the inquiries , if i probably wont get approved anyway..

i only have two existing accounts , an auto loan with a balance of $14,000 . (origanlly 15,5) and a $500 cc with a 50 balance.

that cc has several late payments recently(30,60,90daysthen on time for 3 months hten 30,30 now ok) .. it was maxed out and a half , i was unemployed .. but am now working and was  abel to give them the $750 owed.

should i apply for a new cc.. ? will it help me ?

what would be a most lik,ely approval for me?

any advice would be appreciated ,, thanks

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I am going to chime in...I think your better off holding off on getting a new card til your score improve from 615. Those lates hurt your score. If there are no lates, I wouldn't be surprise if your score was mid 600s. I would work with what you have now, make all on-time payments for 6 months or 1 full yr (the latter) than app for a Capital 1 card. I would be patience and wait for my score to hit 660 before apping...why? You will get a better card and better options (apr %, CL, etc...).

Now, OP may have different opionions....but it would be tough getting a card right now with your recent lates IMHO. It's not impossible however but your options are limited.

I've learned to be patience...and good things will happen. Good luck !!

[smc733]

With that FICO, I'm not sure you will be approved for a prime unsecured card, especially with recent lates.  If you have between $1,000-$2,500, I would recommend the Capital One secured card.

It doesn't report as secured and is easy to get.  You can always start low ($500), and add up to a higher limit.

[Anonymous]

Do you have any other baddies on your reports other than the 30 60 90's?

The first thing I think I'd try, I'd write GW (Goodwill) letter to your CCC and see if they would kindly remove the late pays (explain you were out of work etc...) You can do a GW Letter search here, Well, click here I did a quick search for you.

It can't hurt to try that first, maybe you'll get lucky and they will remove the "Lates" and that will help your score enough that you could apply for a Cap1 and most likely be approved, you may even fall into their "Credit Steps" program where you will get like a 300 or a 500 starting CL and if you use the CC in the first 90 days, make your first 3 or 5 payments on time and do not go over your CL you will get an auto CLI to 500 or 750 (but for most who have these CC's never see another CLI EVER) but they are great starter CC's.

Do more research here at MyFico, learn about util, and other things that can help improve your credit score and reports.

I just do not know if applying for another CC now so soon after all the lates and you going 250 over your CL would be a good idea, If the goodwill letter/s do not work just keep paying that one CC you have now EVERY month on TIME, try to PIF or at least keep a very low balance on it and in a few months I would say app for a Cap1 CC. (make sure at the time you app for the Cap1 CC your credit reports show a VERY small balance or even better a 0 balance on the CC you have now).

I'm sure some of the Expert MyFicoers will chime in with some good advice.

Best of Luck!!

Edited: As I was typing this two Expert MyFicoers did reply, see I told you LOL!!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Like many here i'm trying to improve my score .. here at my fico it is 615

i've read that sometimes opening a new line of credit helps ,, depending on the situation , just not sure if this applies to me

and i dont want to get hurt by the inquiries , if i probably wont get approved anyway..

i only have two existing accounts , an auto loan with a balance of $14,000 . (origanlly 15,5) and a $500 cc with a 50 balance.

that cc has several late payments recently(30,60,90daysthen on time for 3 months hten 30,30 now ok) .. it was maxed out and a half , i was unemployed .. but am now working and was  abel to give them the $750 owed.

should i apply for a new cc.. ? will it help me ?

what would be a most lik,ely approval for me?

any advice would be appreciated ,, thanks

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I would wait until you have a good 6 months of on time payments.   I would be more concerned about keeping the card you have.  

In six months,(assuming you have spare cash built up), a secured card would be a good next step.  

[Anonymous]

Thank you all for the advice..

you all seem to agree

i will wait 6 months and keep my payments on my time before trying to open any futher accounts.

BTW..

the card i have now is a capital one card..

and yes, i do have other (5) things that hurt my credit.. 1 is nothing i can do about i believe ,just a matter of time for it to go away(garnish ment for owed taxes ,paid, 2yrs ago)

and the otheres i m slowly working on paying off. (small debts <500, from varisous things such as old cell phone acc.s etc.varying from 1yr to 5 yrs ago).. and one cc that is now closed, had late pays but paid off,shows as paid but still showing as acc. with balance .. of zero?)

in any case , i know if i continue paying on time , and keep working on paying off those small owed balnaces one at a time my cridt score will improve ,, just wasnt sure about the whole idea of opening another acc to improve score.. thanks again

[tntexans72]

Like other stated in this thread....it doesn't hurt to send out GW letters to see if you can get those lates removed. That would help your score tremendously if you can achieve that. Otherwise...like most of us, you watch your score, and you wait, lol. Keep your util low & on-time payments = higher score. That's as basic as it gets.