I'm hoping for input and stories from experience please and very much appreciate helpful information. So, I'm 2 years post divorce and finally got a new job paying enough to cover bills and save as well. I am rebuilding my savings and damaged credit (mostly student loan late payments). I pay one payment, but the servicer reports 9 different times on my credit for each loan; completely unfair IMO. My FICO had dropped down to 545 and it's up now to 663. I've been paying bills on time since last January. I opened a secured credit card account ($1200) in May2021 and only use it monthly for small charges ($100 or less) and switch regularly from paying it off monthly to carrying about a $50 balance and then paying it off the next month. I want to improve my score to reach the "Good" category, but can't figure out the magic elixir to make that happen. My end goal is to be able to refinance the mortgage and also obtain 3 unsecured credit cards (1 being primarily for travel) so that I can pad my file and become less of a credit risk, but getting there is a long hard road apparently. Any nuggets of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.
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Welcome @Binbinimiwi
Your answer is in your question. FICO likes 3 revolvers and 1 loan for the rebuild bonus. You can try Cap1 pre-qual and see if you are offered a card. Stay away from the QS1. They been handing out a lot of 3000 SL's lately. Once you get to 3 cards. Only have 1 report every month and then PIF before the due date. You already have the loans covered with your SL's. So 2 more cards and let the rebuild begin. If approved. Give Disco secured a shot. They graduate. Good luck!
Thank you so much for the recommendation. I did the pre-qual on Discover's website about 20 mins ago and and it came back with 2 different Discover It options and also AmEx and it came back with 3 options (Blue Cash Everyday, Blue Cash Preferred, AmEx Gold). I'm deathly afraid of submitting an application b/c I don't want a hard pull and then be denied and lose hard earned points. I don't know how susccesful getting a card is in relation to the prequalification process and am very uncertain about trusting it based on the language they use on their websites. I may just need to apply for the Discover secured and give myself another year of low usage and reporting; bad idea? Also, I just realized that I didn't advise that I do have a Best Buy credit card with a $3K limit and zero usage that is about 5 yrs old. I plan to close the account once I have established other lines of credit for a reasonable amount of time. Unfortunately, no one can predict the likelihood of being approved after being prequalified; it's a scary unknown when so much is at risk.
Discover is pretty solid offer. Its only 1 HP and a great card. I'd go with Disco over AMEX with rebuilding in progress. Ive been approved twice with Disco and then combined the 2 couple yrs back to the 1 card below. Yeah theres some fear I'll be rejected. But I researched each card I got from here before I pulled the trigger. Only 1 denial. AMEX for too many new checking accounts. 1 account in 5yrs with NFCU when I joined.LOL!
Thanks so much for the feedback. I've heard Discover is a bit more forgiving than others. I think I may give it a shot and see what happens; probably will need a a little mental encouragement (hype myself up) and then do the app 
@FireMedic1 wrote:Discover is pretty solid offer. Its only 1 HP and a great card. I'd go with Disco over AMEX with rebuilding in progress. Ive been approved twice with Disco and then combined the 2 couple yrs back to the 1 card below. Yeah theres some fear I'll be rejected. But I researched each card I got from here before I pulled the trigger. Only 1 denial. AMEX for too many new checking accounts. 1 account in 5yrs with NFCU when I joined.LOL!
Welp, I took my shot and Discover approved me for $10K and I also got the AmEx Blue Preferred with an $8K limit. I thought about it and decided to do AmEx also b/c of the benefits of having their card. I guess once I released my fear, nothing was stopping me from giving it a shot to get out of this thin credit file lifestyle. With my high salary, I feel confident about having the card and know not to spend more than I'm able to pay back in any given month. Plus, I hope to one day get a second AMEx with at least 4-5 times my current limit. My plan is to keep utilization between 5-8% on both and next year around this time try for a good travel rewards card, with a hopefully higher limit. I plan to close the secured card after I've obtained the travel card next year. Once I get the money back, I'm going to put it towards a new account at NFCU and transfer some of my $$ from USAA to NFCU so I can start working on getting a high limit card with NFCU. Thanks so much for the encouragement and feedback!
Booyah! There ya go! Congrats on the masive SL. Abuse Miss Disco for the cash back match. Now that you got a couple cards in a short period. Wait at least 6 months until the next app. Prove yourself with what you got. Dont go app crazy justy because you got approved. Each 6 months. Slow and steady wins the race.
Thank you so much for the additional advice. I was planning to wait a full year before applying for anything new, but if 6 months works, I might try it and see what happens.
@Binbinimiwi wrote:Thank you so much for the additional advice. I was planning to wait a full year before applying for anything new, but if 6 months works, I might try it and see what happens.
Your welcome. Should have said a year. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! J/K. Rushing a rebuild doesnt work too good. Take your time. Took me 5 yrs, but you didnt have to deal with a BK. Nice job.
@FireMedic1 wrote:Welcome @Binbinimiwi
Your answer is in your question. FICO likes 3 revolvers and 1 loan for the rebuild bonus. You can try Cap1 pre-qual and see if you are offered a card. Stay away from the QS1. They been handing out a lot of 3000 SL's lately. Once you get to 3 cards. Only have 1 report every month and then PIF before the due date. You already have the loans covered with your SL's. So 2 more cards and let the rebuild begin. If approved. Give Disco secured a shot. They graduate. Good luck!
Curious what is behind this advice?????? And what it means!
Thanks, as always!
Starting Score: Exp 627