Hello everyone,
I've been lurking on the forum for about a year, so this is an overdue greetings!
I'm relatively new to credit and went on a pretty crazy app spree last year.
I opened my first credit card about 18 months ago at a local CU ($1000). Then about 13 months ago I pulled the trigger on a mailing offer from CapitalOne for their basic unsecured mastercard with no AF and credit stepS ($500). After about 6 months, CapitalOne increased my limit to $3000. That was a pleasant suprise.
Around April of 2015, I had to get a new car, so with about an AAoA of about 6 months, I got a pretty good loan at 2.6% APR.
Because I had a few hp's from the auto loan application, I figured I might go on an app spree because it wouldn't hurt (not really the best thinking but read on)
Because the auto loan was from the same CU I had my credit card through, they were able to give me a CLI to $2500 and also give me a $1000 LOC under the same HP.
Firstly I applied for the GM Card from CapitalOne that I'd just recently received. Got it, approved for $1000. Great.
Second I went for the CapitalOne VentureOne card. Great, approved, $2500.
Then I went for the Discover mailing they'd been sending me. Great, approved $1000.
Then I decided why not try other banks. Applied for BoA Rewards card and was denied. No recon. Same with Citi Bank for the Citi Rewards card.
Chase gave me 2 cards, Freedom and Amazon $3000 each.
American Express gave me EveryDay with $10000 and a Blue Cash card with $3000.
Barclaycard gave me a Rewards mc with $1000.
I apped at Consumers CU and got a visa with $1000.
I apped for Amazon Credit and approved for $1000.
I apped for Paypal credit and approved for $2500 (great hidden TL!)
Lastly I also apped for the CapitalOne QuickSilver when I had an itchy finger back in September 2015. Approved for $1000.
So while most of my accounts have fairly low credit limits, I think the fact my AAoA grows by 1 month every month means it's a good time to garden and try to grow my CL's etc... would appreciate everyone's feedback 
Oh and my usage is at about 1% - Total credit limit is about $45k. I'll make a fancy list of my cards and limits at some later point.
PS: Oh yes and I also SCT'd Overstock ($5600) and Eddie Bauer ($650..not sure if ill keep it but i do actually shop there)
PPS: GLAD TO BE ON HERE.
PPPS: Discover says my FICO is about 730, Amex says its 750
Side Hello Everyone,
Firstly thanks for everyone's input, it's been a cool 4 months now since that last update and the standings are improved now.
Out of all of those inquiries I've had over the past 12 months, there's only 9 left and they'll be 12 months+ within the next 2-3 months. I will have about 15-20 apps on my 24 month history, but as I've heard from many sources that doesn't matter to most lenders anyway, more so the 12 month window.
If anyone starts reading at this post I want to go over the TL
R of things: I went on a crazy app spree with almost no credit history (1 card with a small limit for a year)
I app spree'd so hard that my AAoA went down to one month. after only having a total of 1 year of credit history in my life, that wasn't very painful. (12 new TL's on top of a 1 year old credit card and here we are) so I feel like it's really exponentially helped increase my score, or maybe it's just that I never fell into the red with my credit usage (always a key thing too).
Anyway on with the credit history update:
Current score with Amex is now 755 (EX) and with Discover 770 (TU). Fako from creditkarma and creditsesame reports around 755 as well.
I've been really considering either consolidating cards, closing them and/or getting them to relevant limits, and just anyone's overall advice at this point. I'm interested if anyone is thinking of culling the same culprits here. I know CapitalOne is on the chopping block for a lot of people, but they just keep giving me auto CLI's right on time (but never, ever, when I ask...explain that, maybe I should try the EO?)
Current accounts/standing:
Auto Loan $25k half paid off
Auto Loan $18k / 13k bal
Barclaycard Rewards MC - $1000 (.... no increase and only HP CLI's from Barclay are making this an unattractive card, though I do like the benefits of using it)
CapitalOne / GM BuyPower Card $3000 (increase since last update)
CapitalOne Quicksilver MC $1500 (credit steps increased to 1500 since last update - want an increase to atleast 3k on this card, should I try EO? ironically it's probably the card I put the most payments on and I PIF a few times a month.)
CapitalOne Plain old Plat MC $3k (my 2ndest oldest card, no rewards, no AF, I pay my netflix account on this, and that is literally the only thing it does... I don't need reward points on netflix...really, but should I ask them to close this and perhaps add the limit to my Quicksilver?)
CapitalOne Venture MC $3k (started at 3k, no increase as yet)
CCU $1000 Visa Platinum (no increase, might risk a HP to get it upgraded to a signature card if that's possible since my score will be around 100 points higher than when i signed up n the next few months)
American Express Every Day $20k (up 10k after luv button CLI approval)
American Express Blue Cash $2k (no increase, will try a 3x increase after 3-6 months or so)
Amazon Store Card $6k (I went on chat and asked for 10 billion and they countered with this; so I took it. One thing to note, I haven't been nearly as persistant nor shameless as I could have been in the past 12 months to get better scores/limits/aprs/etc. Used card once so far.)
Overstock store card $6k (after pressing luv button once a month or every other month for a while. quite a few 7-10 day latters unfortunately, so I don't do it too often now. I've used the card once.)
Eddie Bauer store card $1100 (up from $500 or so after luv buttoning it, and using it once in the past year)
Paypal Credit $2500 (my beloved hidden TL)
Discover $1900 (up from 1k when it started, auto cli and user requested cli)
Chase Freedom $4500 (up from 3000 when opened, auto-CLI)
Chase Amazon $3000 (no increase, not sure what to do here)
BECU Visa $2500 / LOC $1000 (I think I should probably risk an HP with them to get an increase after my inquiries are all 12 month? BECU is pretty nice and I have 3-4 years of account history with them, and 2 years of credit history, as well as my best auto loan, so I feel they might be able to get me something sufficient? any advice?
My total credit usage right now is about $700 in total, with balances on 2 of the cards. all in all, my credit limit in the past 12 months has gone from about $2k, to $55k~, with not too much effort on my behalf other than app'ing irresponsibly. I don't recommend anyone try any of this and expect anything other than disaster. I wouldn't do it again. I'd like to start focusing on 5 - 10 - 20k card limits at this time and I'd love everyone's input on how the culling should proceed here, or if I should try nurturing what I've got in the garden.
Side note: Bank of america, and Citi bank, who are both creditors who did not offer me anything last year (even after contacting EO/etc) are both sending me mail for cards. Anyone recommend Citi? Not interested in BoA I don't think. Anyway, this post is getting pretty long! Thanks for your input(s)!
@Anonymous wrote:Side Hello Everyone,
Firstly thanks for everyone's input, it's been a cool 4 months now since that last update and the standings are improved now.
Out of all of those inquiries I've had over the past 12 months, there's only 9 left and they'll be 12 months+ within the next 2-3 months. I will have about 15-20 apps on my 24 month history, but as I've heard from many sources that doesn't matter to most lenders anyway, more so the 12 month window.
If anyone starts reading at this post I want to go over the TL
I app spree'd so hard that my AAoA went down to one month. after only having a total of 1 year of credit history in my life, that wasn't very painful. (12 new TL's on top of a 1 year old credit card and here we are) so I feel like it's really exponentially helped increase my score, or maybe it's just that I never fell into the red with my credit usage (always a key thing too).
Anyway on with the credit history update:
Current score with Amex is now 755 (EX) and with Discover 770 (TU). Fako from creditkarma and creditsesame reports around 755 as well.
I've been really considering either consolidating cards, closing them and/or getting them to relevant limits, and just anyone's overall advice at this point. I'm interested if anyone is thinking of culling the same culprits here. I know CapitalOne is on the chopping block for a lot of people, but they just keep giving me auto CLI's right on time (but never, ever, when I ask...explain that, maybe I should try the EO?)
Current accounts/standing:
Auto Loan $25k half paid off
Auto Loan $18k / 13k bal
Barclaycard Rewards MC - $1000 (.... no increase and only HP CLI's from Barclay are making this an unattractive card, though I do like the benefits of using it)
CapitalOne / GM BuyPower Card $3000 (increase since last update)
CapitalOne Quicksilver MC $1500 (credit steps increased to 1500 since last update - want an increase to atleast 3k on this card, should I try EO? ironically it's probably the card I put the most payments on and I PIF a few times a month.)
CapitalOne Plain old Plat MC $3k (my 2ndest oldest card, no rewards, no AF, I pay my netflix account on this, and that is literally the only thing it does... I don't need reward points on netflix...really, but should I ask them to close this and perhaps add the limit to my Quicksilver?)
CapitalOne Venture MC $3k (started at 3k, no increase as yet)
CCU $1000 Visa Platinum (no increase, might risk a HP to get it upgraded to a signature card if that's possible since my score will be around 100 points higher than when i signed up n the next few months)
American Express Every Day $20k (up 10k after luv button CLI approval)
American Express Blue Cash $2k (no increase, will try a 3x increase after 3-6 months or so)
Amazon Store Card $6k (I went on chat and asked for 10 billion and they countered with this; so I took it. One thing to note, I haven't been nearly as persistant nor shameless as I could have been in the past 12 months to get better scores/limits/aprs/etc. Used card once so far.)
Overstock store card $6k (after pressing luv button once a month or every other month for a while. quite a few 7-10 day latters unfortunately, so I don't do it too often now. I've used the card once.)
Eddie Bauer store card $1100 (up from $500 or so after luv buttoning it, and using it once in the past year)
Paypal Credit $2500 (my beloved hidden TL)
Discover $1900 (up from 1k when it started, auto cli and user requested cli)
Chase Freedom $4500 (up from 3000 when opened, auto-CLI)
Chase Amazon $3000 (no increase, not sure what to do here)
BECU Visa $2500 / LOC $1000 (I think I should probably risk an HP with them to get an increase after my inquiries are all 12 month? BECU is pretty nice and I have 3-4 years of account history with them, and 2 years of credit history, as well as my best auto loan, so I feel they might be able to get me something sufficient? any advice?
My total credit usage right now is about $700 in total, with balances on 2 of the cards. all in all, my credit limit in the past 12 months has gone from about $2k, to $55k~, with not too much effort on my behalf other than app'ing irresponsibly. I don't recommend anyone try any of this and expect anything other than disaster. I wouldn't do it again. I'd like to start focusing on 5 - 10 - 20k card limits at this time and I'd love everyone's input on how the culling should proceed here, or if I should try nurturing what I've got in the garden.
Side note: Bank of america, and Citi bank, who are both creditors who did not offer me anything last year (even after contacting EO/etc) are both sending me mail for cards. Anyone recommend Citi? Not interested in BoA I don't think. Anyway, this post is getting pretty long! Thanks for your input(s)!
I look at your file.......
My Friend...that is not a garden !,,,,,,,
A farm maybe.
Anyway, welcome to the club...garden and myfico site
I enjoyed the post....just amazed at your apping ability...now get to work on the mega garden!