More Credit Cards?

[Anonymous]

Hi all...I thought I was doing good...re-building and all.  I have a Capital One CC with a 2500 CL and have come to the realization that it usually appears "maxed" because they don't report your CL.  I will be trying the checks they offer and actually maxing it to 2500 then paying it back the next month to solve that problem.  My question is, should I have more credit cards?  This is the only one I have.  I filed BK in 2002 (chp 7) and have "tried" to be diligent since then.  I have a few lates that are over 2 years old on some student loans.  I also have a judgement thats over 2 years old but was paid within two weeks of the judgement (not exactly sure how to get it removed) but it's only showing on my Equifax report.  My Equifax FICO is 623, I have not purchased the other two.

I don't have any auto loans or mortgages.  Only good TL on my report are the student loans and the Cap One.

I have two "pre-approved" offers from Orchard & HSBC in the mail and I have been reading on here about the AMEX Delta card.  Should I try to open any of the cards?  Which one(s)?  I realize I will probably take a hit because of the inquiries but it should pay off "if" I get the cards.  Advice?

[Bruiser]

Orchard & HSBC are basic starter cards. Go with one if you don't mind the annual fee and apr. They report to all 3 CRA and since you have the pre-approval they don't count as a hit for inq.

I applied for the Amex Delta yesterday and got denied to my BK.

They pulled Experian for me, which i have a 642.

[Bruiser]

also, crapital one is hurting your score by the way they report

i have a HSBC that i opened in Jan 07, it has scored me some points as long as i keep the % usage down or pay it off each month

if you don't have a BK and have a decent Experian score, go with the Amex

if you're unsure, go with one of the other 2,..they won't count as an inq which is a +

[Anonymous]

So since I have a "pre-approval" letter they wont do a hard inq?

[Boswd]

they will after you apply.

[Bruiser]

hmm, i havn't gotten a hard inq from them and I applied and got the card 6 months ago

i've checked my report and have been monitoring for the last 6 months also

[Boswd]

did you check all three?   They might have only pulled one report.

[Bruiser]

yep, just double checked

[Boswd]

that really bizarre.  Not one hard pull?   Wow never heard of that happening,  well Kudos to you, that's awesome.

[Bruiser]

i guess i got lucky,..

sorry for the wrong info about that pre-approval CHALL

the rest of the info i gave you is good,