Just starting off...

[mr_brendo]

hows it going everyone,

Im pretty new to both this site and the idea of building credit intelligently.  Currently my lowest of the three credit scores is a 720,  I have never made a late payment and only have one credit card.  Its a NavyFed cash rewards card that currently has a 4500 limit.  it is relatively new, opened two years ago with an initial balance of 2000. Before i enlisted i did have a student credit card through Citibank with roughly a 800 limit.  Due to lack of knowledge i closed the card in april sometime in mid 2011.  Besides that and my short credit history my only real negative hit is my high usage (currently at around 50%).  Im in the process of paying that down with the goal of sub 20%.  

Any advice on what i should be doing?  im interested in an AMEX card, but dont know if i should apply for that, or work on a CLI on my NavFed card first.  Will a request for either be turned down due to my high usage?  

Thank you in advanced for any advice 

[llecs]

I'd pay down the CC balance first. That'll give a little bit of a FICO boost and will improve your approval odds.

[takeshi74]

Definitely get your utilization down and make sure that the lowered utilization is reporting before you apply.

[mr_brendo]

Yeah, i figured as much.  ive been reading that NavyFed will prob give me a CLI increase regardless, but id hate myself forever if i applied and got denied. so ill wait a little and set my self up a little more.  

Thank you for the advice 

[thom02099]

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@mr_brendo wrote:

Yeah, i figured as much.  ive been reading that NavyFed will prob give me a CLI increase regardless, but id hate myself forever if i applied and got denied. so ill wait a little and set my self up a little more.  

Thank you for the advice 

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+1 to what the others have said.  And TIME is your ally!  Let what you have age a bit.  Paying down your balance and getting that util to the optimum percentage will pay great dividends in the future.  It will make that CLI more likely, and once you get that CLI, you're in a better position to apply for new credit. 

ONWARD AND UPWARD ! !