I've been a busy guy this last month or so - got an unsecured Cap One Platinum MC on 2/10, a Penfed used-car loan on 2/24-25, and made a big score by getting Discover It on Tuesday. Previously, I'd started out with a secured Cap One MC at the tail-end of 2015/start of 2016 (wondering if that will end up being graduated, as discussed in another thread) and an Amazon Store Card (Synchrony) at Thanksgiving. I started out with scores in the 570's in December 2015 and now I'm getting very close to 700 on at least one CRB (EQ reported 690 when I got my car loan and it's down just a couple of points after Discover's HP Tuesday).
At this point, I figure my best course is to stand pat for at least the next few months and let my existing accounts start to age and build payment history (this is what they call "gardening", right? I'm still fairly new here 
). I do have some objectives in mind for this year:
- get a CLI on my Amazon Store Card (I've seen posts here indicating that this can fairly easily be done once you've established a payment history with them, though it's better to contact them in person over online chat or phone than to push the on-site button);
- get the automatic CLI's on Capital One unsecured (Cap One recently emailed me that I can expect it in September) and Discover It (if I have this right, they'll do it in three months or so after activation with good payment history/utilization);
- reduce overall card utilization rate, which is currently around 25% (Discover It, once activated, will help this a lot by getting it down to 15% or so but I plan to be proactive over the spring and summer by reducing the existing balances as much as practicable on my other cards, maybe transferring some balances to Discover to pay at the 0% rate there but I need to see how to do this without taking too big a hit on my ratings);
- starting payment history on my car loan and continuing on my Navient student loan;
- and then, sometime in the fall, do the following:
* get a Visa and an Amex (for Visa, I'm now looking at the Costco Anywhere Visa since I shop fairly frequently at Costco and get almost all my gas there, and for Amex, the BCE):
* upgrade the Platinum MC to the Quicksilver MC to begin earning rewards:
* upgrade the Amazon Store Card to Amazon Prime.
Comments?
EDIT: Just looked up the Garden Club thread, and since I do plan to try for at least one CLI (on Amazon) over the next six months, I guess that doesn't quite qualify as gardening. Oh well, I'm not really the outdoors type anyway...!
@rmduhon wrote:
It qualifies as gardening, since it's a SP. Hop on chat now to see if you can PC the Platinum, after about 65 days ask for a CLI. It won't affect your credit steps. Discover sometimes gives CLI's at 30 or 60 days, again it's a SP to try. Amazon can be switched to Prime by just signing up for Prime.
This is where my newbie-ness shows up again..."PC"? 
If you mean the unsecured card, my first payment on the card (which I've scheduled) isn't even due until April 5, so I don't know if it's time yet to request an upgrade. If it's the secured one, I was talking about that in another thread and right now I'm waiting to see whether Cap One graduates that card on its own since I opened it right on the cusp of when cards started becoming eligible for graduation from secured to unsecured. I do plan to contact Synchrony after my next payment clears through this weekend and see if they'll grant a CLI; hopefully that'll just be a SP.
This is what the email says (redacting personal information):
{quote}Get more from your new credit card—use your card at least once, pay your bills on time and you’ll gain access to a higher credit line.
Increase your credit line to:
$3,500
by paying your bill on time for
your next five monthly payments.
There’s nothing to sign up for. The countdown to your higher credit line begins with your next payment, and by September 2017, you’ll have access to your new credit line.
Two ways to help keep payments on time, every time
Scheduling auto payments and setting payment due alerts will help you make more than your minimum payment on time each month—an important step in helping improve your credit score.
{/quote}
It doesn't specifically say August, but it does say "paying your bill on time for your next five monthly payments", and since my first payment is due on April 5, August 5 is the 5th payment, so "by September 2017".
And BTW, I figured out what "PC" means in this context - "product change" 
. I found a thread in Bankruptcy asking about when a Platinum should be changed to a Quicksilver, and at least one answer says "60 days after card activation", so for me, that would be around April 17, about 3 1/2 weeks from now.