I'm rebuilding as well and if it were me I'd garden what I have and let them age longer before apping for anything else. No point in getting more accounts with low limits that may not grow as much as you'd like. I can't speak for all of your cards, but plenty of people have grown their CLs with the Apple card (though GS may be getting tighter with it due to the fairly high default rates on it). The QS1 is unfortunately notoriously difficult to PC to a no AF card and/or get CLIs but isn't impossible. Capital one can be strange but they normally like to see pretty heavy spend. I was able to go from $2k to $3500 with heavy spend over a 7-8mo period and then PC to a VentureOne to get rid of the AF.
@SilentOne wrote:Curious to get feedback or recommendations on my credit card portfolio here, near term plans...
Short version: In 2016 - 17, I had a financial apocolypse of sorts and had like 14 accounts go into collections, plus a car repo. So my score was obviously in the toilet and my credit report would make nuns cry. Slowly got things paid off, disputed off, and have it down to only 8 old negative items. Two of those fall off in April. Remaining ones fall off in 2025.
Since then, I have been approved for these 9 accounts, some of which were surprising to be approved for:
Capital One Secured - January 2020 ($1,000)
Apple / Goldman Sachs - August 2021 ($3,000)
Chase Auto Loan @ 6% - August 2021 ($25,000)
Credit One AMEX - October 2021 ($750)
AMEX Platinum - December 2021 (N/A) *Surprised? I was too...
Capital One Quicksilver One - January 2022 ($3,500)
USAA - March 2022 ($500)
Capital One Spark - May 2022 ($3,000)
Amazon / Synchrony Prime Card - October 2022 ($2500)
(Tips for those repairing: Considering how bad my credit was and how many horrific stains were still on my report, on paper I "shouldn't" have been approved for several of those. Especially when I was getting denied for a lot of worse cards, including from those same companies. Really came down to persistance and a lot of "ya never know, oh sweet, i was approved!" Also, my income was really high in 2021, so it wasn't a lie when I listed it. Though I don't think they check...)
So it's roughly $13,000 credit limit between them, plus whatever AMEX Platinum is (they currently cap me at $5k, but it doesn't report as a limit). Utilization stays around 20%. Strategy in carpet bombing as many new accounts as I could at the same time was that they'd all age together, so I wouldn't have to worry about that in the future if I was more conservative about it. Plus, it wasn't going to hurt my score any more than it already had.
Problem I'm having is if I actually use any of the cards for big purchases (i.e., an apple laptop at no interest), it tanks my score because of the utilization, so I need to get the total limit up as soon as I can. Also, most of the pre-approvals i'm getting now are still garbage subprime cards. And when I do pre-qualifies, I get lists of: serious collections, recent accounts.
Current plan is to try for CLI on existing cards after April when those other 2 collections fall off, then maybe to try for one additional new card with a decent limit this summer. Current score is 614 - 706, depending which model you're looking at.
Question: just use the next couple of years to age the accounts, lose all inquries, and wait for the rest of the old crud to fall off?
Yes
Also: Any other ideas on getting CLI or total limits higher?
The past is holdng you back. Once all the baddies are gone. Its open season. It appears its not too long for that to happen from the years you posted when it went in the "toilet". AMEX is a charge card not revolver. Wont show up as one on your reports with limts and such.
@SilentOne wrote:Curious to get feedback or recommendations on my credit card portfolio here, near term plans...
Short version: In 2016 - 17, I had a financial apocolypse of sorts and had like 14 accounts go into collections, plus a car repo. So my score was obviously in the toilet and my credit report would make nuns cry. Slowly got things paid off, disputed off, and have it down to only 8 old negative items. Two of those fall off in April. Remaining ones fall off in 2025.
Since then, I have been approved for these 9 accounts, some of which were surprising to be approved for:
Capital One Secured - January 2020 ($1,000)
Apple / Goldman Sachs - August 2021 ($3,000)
Chase Auto Loan @ 6% - August 2021 ($25,000)
Credit One AMEX - October 2021 ($750)
AMEX Platinum - December 2021 (N/A) *Surprised? I was too...
Capital One Quicksilver One - January 2022 ($3,500)
USAA - March 2022 ($500)
Capital One Spark - May 2022 ($3,000)
Amazon / Synchrony Prime Card - October 2022 ($2500)
(Tips for those repairing: Considering how bad my credit was and how many horrific stains were still on my report, on paper I "shouldn't" have been approved for several of those. Especially when I was getting denied for a lot of worse cards, including from those same companies. Really came down to persistance and a lot of "ya never know, oh sweet, i was approved!" Also, my income was really high in 2021, so it wasn't a lie when I listed it. Though I don't think they check...)
So it's roughly $13,000 credit limit between them, plus whatever AMEX Platinum is (they currently cap me at $5k, but it doesn't report as a limit). Utilization stays around 20%. Strategy in carpet bombing as many new accounts as I could at the same time was that they'd all age together, so I wouldn't have to worry about that in the future if I was more conservative about it. Plus, it wasn't going to hurt my score any more than it already had.
Problem I'm having is if I actually use any of the cards for big purchases (i.e., an apple laptop at no interest), it tanks my score because of the utilization, so I need to get the total limit up as soon as I can. Also, most of the pre-approvals i'm getting now are still garbage subprime cards. And when I do pre-qualifies, I get lists of: serious collections, recent accounts.
Current plan is to try for CLI on existing cards after April when those other 2 collections fall off, then maybe to try for one additional new card with a decent limit this summer. Current score is 614 - 706, depending which model you're looking at.
Question: Should I continue to be aggressive with new accounts to get the limit up or just use the next couple of years to age the accounts, lose all inquries, and wait for the rest of the old crud to fall off?
Also: Any other ideas on getting CLI or total limits higher?
Congratulations on the serious progress you've made.
1. I think you know the answer to question 1. No you should not be aggressive with new accounts. You should wait.
2. My only advice on CLI's is make soft pull requests now and then, and make no hard pull requests.
3. You haven't asked but if I were you I would avoid using my cards for large purchases unless you can pay them off prior to reporting date.
