- Stop applying for new credit (There are 10 new accounts in 9 months -- Whoa!)
- Stop using your credit cards - By your original post it sounds like you are carrying balances on them (vs paying the full statement balance each month). Your first priority should be to pay them all down to $0 to stop paying interest. With your current total balance of $2195 and an average APR of 30%, you're tracking to pay >$650 interest this year. Credit cards should only be used with the expectation that you'll pay the bill in full when the statement is cut, unless you are on a low or 0% promotion.
- Pay each of your accounts down to below 48.9% of their limit (There are currently 5 accounts over that threshold)
- Pay each account down to below 28.9% of its limit (Currently 6 accounts)
- Pay each account to below 8.9% of its limit
- Pay each account to $0
- After they've been paid off, use your cards only when able to pay off the balance each month - Avoid Interest!!
Once the above is done, your scores may improve enough to get approved for some unsecured cards from non-predatory lenders (I'm looking at you Credit One and First Premier). I'm not familiar with some of the other lenders on your list (Merrick, Surge, etc) but they may be predatory too. You'll want to get rid of any predatory lenders as soon as possible. So, at this point (after #1-7 above have been completed) you should start to check for Discover and Capital One prequalifications. And, if you don't prequalify, I'd seriously consider opening one or two secured cards with lenders who will graduate them to unsecured (not all cc companies graduate their secured cards).
Below is a table showing your current utilization for each account (Utilization = balance/credit limit). Near optimal scoring is aggregate utilization <8.9%. There are scoring penalties when either aggregate or individual card utilization exceeds certain thresholds (28.9%, 48.9%, 68.9% and 88.9%).
| Account | Credit Limit | Balance | Utilization | APR |
| Piercing Pagoda | $350 | $0 | 0.0% | 29.99% |
| Kohls | $300 | $71 | 23.7% | 26.99% |
| Ulta | $250 | $74 | 29.6% | 27.99% |
| J Surge | $800 | $403 | 50.4% | 30.99% |
| K Surge | $800 | $403 | 50.4% | 30.99% |
| First Premier | $700 | $409 | 58.4% | 36.00% |
| Credit One | $500 | $112 | 22.4% | 26.15% |
| Lend Up | $500 | $371 | 74.2% | 30.24% |
| Merrick | $500 | $352 | 70.4% | 31.95% |
| Victoria’s Secret | $250 | $0 | 0.0% | 27.24% |
I did a thing on Friday 
(Disclaimer - I am waiting for a purchase to come thru on Kohls before PIF)
Card Name | Limit | Max Spend 27% |
| Current Balance |
Piercing Pagoda | $850 | $229.50 |
| $0 |
Kohls. | $300 | $81 |
| $34 |
Ulta | $250 | $67.50 |
| $0 |
J Surge . | $800 | $216 |
| $0 |
K Surge . | $800 | $216 |
| $0 |
First Premier. | $700 | $189 |
| $0 |
Credit One. | $700 | $189 |
| $0 |
Lend Up. | $500 | $135 |
| $0 |
Merrick.
| $500 | $135 |
| $0 |
Victoria’s Secret | $250 | $67.50 |
| $0 |
Sephora | $250 | $67.50 |
| $0 |
Venus | $250 | $67.50 |
| $0 |
YES! YES! YES!
So Much YES! Great job!
Now, just wait until all the cards report to the bureaus. (Waiting sucks
) They typically report within 3-4 days after statement close. So... it might be 30-40 days for all of them to update. You can use CreditKarma or other free site to see when that happens. And, once they do all report, I recommend pulling your FICO scores from creditchecktotal.com. It will provide you your FICO 8 scores from all three bureaus for $1. Bear in mind it is a 7-day trial, so be sure to cancel before the 7 days is up. (Cancelling can be done online very easily).
Once you get your updated FICO scores, report back and we can provide guidance on what to do next. You are in a bit of a weird spot because you have so many new accounts. Normally, I wouldn't recommend adding any more. However, a few of the accounts you have are from predatory lenders (e.g. Credit One, First Premier, Merrick, etc). with onerous fees and costs. So... you'll want to get out of those as soon as you can. Don't cancel them now because they are currently your only bank cards.
Hopefully, once all the updated balances report your scores will be in a place where you can qualify for a quality, no AF card and kick the vulture cards to the curb.