@Anonymous wrote:
Meltdown over. ... apped for cap one secured, approved, as expected as always am. .. instead of 200 deposit, 99 deposit. ... Will take offer and open. .... thanks for talking me off the ledge guys. .... #FemaleMonthlyMoment ..... Others talk about refraining from appin while drinking, I need to not think about credit once a month. Sorry for taking my issues out on you all.
OK, firstly - where are you getting your score from? Which bureau is it? It really helps to know all three FICO scores and whether your mortgage scores are higher or lower, because a lot of lenders will pull the older (mortgage) scores.
I will let you in on a little secret - even though they do a triple pull, Cap One bases their decisions on Equifax FICO "Score 5", and not your FICO 8 score. It always helps to know who pulls what score, cuz not all scores are created equal.
So in order to help you out more effectively, it would be great if you could provide us with your complete profile - what current revolving accounts do you have, what installment accounts do you have, what kind of payment history do you have, what charge offs do you have, are any charge off accounts revolving, do any revolving charge offs have balances reporting, what collections do you have and what agency are they with. That sort of stuff....
Now since you have been approved for a secured Cap One with a $99 dollar deposit, that indicates that you will *probably* be approved for a QS1 or a Platinum unsecured. DO NOT APPLY YET. What I would suggest is that you watch your reports for the new Cap One account to show up - it usually shows up after the second statement closes. When it does, your scores will come up (anywhere from 5 to 25 points) - apply for the Platinum card (the one with no annual fee) not the QS1. You should get approved and after the second statement closes go log into your account and do the online chat - ask them if you are eligible for an upgrade to reward status. At this time you also want to start requesting CLI's from the account management page. They may or may not approve an increase after the second statement, but they almost always do after the third. You can request as often as you like, it does not result in a hard pull like some lenders.
At this point you should also apply for a QS1 card. They may auto deny for having two Cap One accounts, but sometimes they don't. If they do auto deny for too many accounts, they won't do a hard pull., so it does not hurt to app at this point. If they don't approve you for the QS1, then wait until the Secured card reaches six months of age, then pay it in full and close it. Wait a day then apply for the QS1.
Card Usage
First off, understand the difference between "Usage" and "Utilization" (UTI%). Usage is simply how much charges you put on a card in a month. Utilization is the amount of charges during the month *minus* the payments made during the month. What you want to shoot for is high usage and LOW utilization. Basically use your cards for ALL of your monthy living expenses and pay it down each payday. This usage pattern will generally get you decent CLI's early on. What you want to avoid doing is just putting a small charge on them once a month and then paying it. Doing that will keep you in toy card hell. You also do not want to max them out and make minimum payments each month - that will also keep you in toy card hell, as well as wreck your scores.
