getting APR reduced and askingfor CL increase to improve FICO

[Anonymous]

My Fico currently is hovering around 617 rising from 560. old credit cards from around 1999-2002. Combined total credit limits are $9100 and outstanding combined balances are $792 making 8.7% of credit utilization. I did have a history of 2 collection accounts, one medical and one parking,that I paid off over six month ago and onemore is is still owing. I have two questions:
1) I have two Chase credit cards: I was denied a lower rate during their automatic review in January. This is currently 29.99 percent. One card has a $1700 limit with a $20 (twenty!) outstanding balance and the other has a $4400 credit limit with a 386.00 balance. The last late payment according to their records was in 2009. I was directed to write to them for specific information about why I could not be offered a lower rate at this time. Secondly, I was wondering if I should ask for a CL increase for the sole purposes of improving the FICO. They stated that a credit report inquiry would result in a hard hit. How many points would it lower the score?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

My Fico currently is hovering around 617 rising from 560. old credit cards from around 1999-2002. Combined total credit limits are $9100 and outstanding combined balances are $792 making 8.7% of credit utilization. I did have a history of 2 collection accounts, one medical and one parking,that I paid off over six month ago and onemore is is still owing. I have two questions:
1) I have two Chase credit cards: I was denied a lower rate during their automatic review in January. This is currently 29.99 percent. One card has a $1700 limit with a $20 (twenty!) outstanding balance and the other has a $4400 credit limit with a 386.00 balance. The last late payment according to their records was in 2009. I was directed to write to them for specific information about why I could not be offered a lower rate at this time. Secondly, I was wondering if I should ask for a CL increase for the sole purposes of improving the FICO. They stated that a credit report inquiry would result in a hard hit. How many points would it lower the score?

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I'm one of those people who doesn't care about APRs because I don't pay them - I PIF every month. If you can pay those balances off, the APR could be 75% and it wouldn't matter. The secret to a score bump is to have 1 card report a <9% util and all other cards report $0. But that's reporting only, you still should PIF each month to avoid that ridiculous interest.

A hard pull will ding you a few points, but not many and not for long. Inquiries usually fade pretty quickly and stop affecting your score within a few months. You might be better off getting a third card from a different bank than asking Chase for a CLI. You'd most likely get a card with a similar limit, which is more than Chase is likely to give you.

[AndySoCal]

First a CLI will not improve your FICO score just because of higher credit limit.  A CLI would help your credit utilization yes but with your s being under 10% I doubt it would help much if at all.  Also, creditors do not just consider your account with them they look at your whole credit history. I would continue working your credit for now.

[pizzadude]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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I'm one of those people who doesn't care about APRs because I don't pay them - I PIF every month. If you can pay those balances off, the APR could be 75% and it wouldn't matter. The secret to a score bump is to have 1 card report a <9% util and all other cards report $0. But that's reporting only, you still should PIF each month to avoid that ridiculous interest.

A hard pull will ding you a few points, but not many and not for long. Inquiries usually fade pretty quickly and stop affecting your score within a few months. You might be better off getting a third card from a different bank than asking Chase for a CLI. You'd most likely get a card with a similar limit, which is more than Chase is likely to give you.

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+1.  I think that your odds are probably better opening another card than getting a CLI from Chase.    It's hard to know exactly what that would do to your FICO score, but the new card would possiblly lower your utilization slightly, and it would reduce the number of cards with balances from 50% 33% ( assuming that you take the advice to pay all to zero except one ) ~ those would both be beneficial to your FICO score.    On the downside, your Average Age of Accounts ( AAoA ) will drop, although how much depends on how old your other cards are.

[drkaje]

Reading OP's post it seems that utilization really isn't an issue. 

Researching the credit repair forum should help figure out how to mitigate some of the negative credit marks. I've read posts where people got goodwill from Chase on a 30 day late! An old paid parking ticket is probably doable, too.

It's likely the unpaid collections dragging the score down.