please help me plan my big app spree!

[johnpalley]

im gonna list all the info needed so you guys can help me out with this cause its very important to me.

i have unpaid charge offs from 8 years ago from all the companies listed below. sorry, i forget the specific amounts but each one was in the thousands

bofa

chase

discover

amex

capital one

it took years to rebuild but as of now my credit is perfect with no baddies what so ever. now im gonna list everything on my credit report so you guys know where i stand. these are my only 3 active accounts

elan financial credit card  opened 2006, credit limit $5500, $5100 is currently charged

macy's store card opened 1999, credit limit is $6500, $2700 is currently charged

nordstrom store card opened 2010, credit limit is $5000, $1600 is currently charged

those are the only open accounts i have and by my calculations its around 55% utilization

now im gonna list my closed accounts incase anybody needs that info

credit one 2007-2014 recently closed

fncc 2007-2014   recently closed

cortrust   2007-2014   recently closed

next group is authorized user accounts which are all closed

target  2003-2011  au

nordstrom  2003-2013  au

bofa  2007-2013  au

thats every account on my credit report. now lets get to inquiries. i only have 2 inquiries on all 3 reports combined in the last 2 years. here they are

ELAN FINANCI06/19/2014TransUnion 

USAA SB07/23/2013Equifax

now heres my fakos. i dont have money to blow on my real ficos right now thats why im listing fakos plus every account on my file. im hoping thats enough for you guys to give me advice but who knows

transunion- 743

experian-  734

equifax-  732

now let me get to what my objective is. i want 1 card with each major company and i want cards with the lowest apr possible combined with the highest limits possible. dont get it wrong some of these cards have rewards on them but thats only because the cards from that same company that are meant for a lower apr are known for lower limits. its impotant i get high limits. these are the cards im aiming for

barclay ring (most important, my dream card)

citi diamond prefered

discover it

chase freedom

bofa bankamericard

amex blue cash

usaa visa

guys i know that most of these companies are ones that i have unpaid charge offs with but im gonna at least apply and see if i have a shot. i wanna apply smartly though. for instance with chase if i get a pre selected offer on there site il apply but if i dont i wont. dont wanna waste hard pulls. i actually have some confidence in discover and bofa because there actually sending me pre selected offers in the mail so im thinkin i might be off there crap list. plus ive been banking with bofa for the last 3 years and alot of money has moved through that account. id love to get back in with bofa. i also want to point out that my goal is to pay off my elan account to $0 before i apply. this can happen in the next month if everything goes smooth. that would put my utilization at around 25% when i do the spree. i know it sucks guys but im not gonna be able to lower my utilization below approx 25% at the time of the spree. it is what it is. 

so what do you guys think, what order should i do these apps in? im thinkin i should app for the companies i dont have charge offs with first so il have a better chance plus il have less inquiries on my report at the time. 

is it hurting me that the only prime card i have is from elan bank? ive been waiting years to start this thread. lets hear it guys what do you think of my situation as a whole? fyi im in massachusetts. appreciate it

[SOGGIE]

I would strongly suggest prior to app spreeing that you reseach which lenders blacklist. I would not want to see you waste a hard pull on lenders who blacklist.

[Anonymous]

utilization looks at two things, both overall and on an individual card.  So your Elan card might give you trouble at 93% utilization, and would likely prevent at least a good limit.

When you say you need a high limit, what sort of number?  Means different things to different people.

ETA: Oh, missed the bit about paying down the Elan card!

[efranklin23]

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@SOGGIE wrote:

I would strongly suggest prior to app spreeing that you reseach which lenders blacklist. I would not want to see you waste a hard pull on lenders who blacklist.

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+1 this may an good idea as you have a couple of Prime Lenders with unpaid debts. Some lenders (like BofA and AMEX) can blacklist you for a very long time all depending on the amount burned. Based on the fact, it was in thousands for some of these cards, I would be cautious apping for those lenders first in your App Spree. 

Also, another thing, we tend not to go on FAKOs as I have seen some scores off from the real FICO scores by over 100 points on a couple of occasions which is why we tend not to reocmmend the app spree until you have an idea what your FICOs are.

[Dw4250]

I would avoid the lenders with which you have unpaid COs. Even though those COs are no longer on your credit report, they stay in their internal systems maybe forever. I guess you could try but I think it would be a waste of a HP IMHO.

[TheFate]

I know you don't want to hear this OP but I would not even consider apping with those UTI's... And if you do, don't expect to get low APR's with High limits...

Here's my advice to you

Instead of paying your Elan account down to $0 why don't you aim at bringing the balance down to 20%, use the remaining to bring down the macy's also down to 20%. You'll be short around $300 but I'm sure you can come up with that if you're counting on a huge app spree. I think your odds will be more in your favor by doing this.

Either way whichever you decide good luck to you and keep us posted on your results!

[Anonymous]

Go straight for the AMEX Centurion.... If you get that one, creditors will be tripping all over each other to give you their cards!

[johnpalley]

how do i quote posts?

longtimelurker im hoping to get cards that allow me 10-20 thousand eventually. that piece a crap company elan wont even raise my limit above $5500 after all these years. cant wait to cancel that damn card

[johnpalley]

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@Anonymous wrote:

utilization looks at two things, both overall and on an individual card.  So your Elan card might give you trouble at 93% utilization, and would likely prevent at least a good limit.

When you say you need a high limit, what sort of number?  Means different things to different people.

ETA: Oh, missed the bit about paying down the Elan card!

 forget it i figured it out

[Creditaddict]

I don't know what your elan card is but I can't picture paying that ahead of the 24.50% Macy's account.

I think you are good for discover and probably bofa if they are sending you offers.

amex they have been known to let back in at 8 years, they are okay to apply for whenever, because if you are blacklisted it will instantly kick that back and it won't pull credit... if it pulls credit than you are not being denied for bad amex history!

capital one will give you a card!

chase - check pre-qual as you state

think you should be good with barclay but why ring? especially if you are paying the debt off basically then the ring is not needed.

citi - i don't really get them a lot lately with the computer vs human ability aspect so who knows.