JCPenney and BoA

[creditobsessed]

I need opinions on some cc's and what I should do about them.

I applied for a Bank of America Card the other day and was denied initially , but then I got a letter in the mail saying they had reviewed my application and I was approved for a gold with a $500.00 credit limit for a $99.00 security deposit.

Then today I get a pre-approved letter from JCPenney.

I already have:

Household CC $400.00 limit opened 2002

Orchard CC $1700.00 limit opened 2001

Capital One $200.00 limit opened 2003

Merrick Bank $750.00 limit opened 1998

Patelco CU $1500.00 limit opened 2004

Goody's $300.00 limit opened 2004

Jessica London $300.00 limit opened 2004

My utilization on these cards is good. They all have excellent payment histories .

I like the idea of a store card since I don't have very many, but I like the idea of BOA because they are a prime lender instead of a sub prime. But, I'm also thinking I may need to wait and try for neither one until I get the last few bad items off my CR.

My Fico's are

EQ 616

Ex 586

TU 569

Anyone have any thoughts or ideas?

Thanks a bunch!!

[score booster]

I think you might want to ease up a bit on applying for any more revolving credit, at least until you get your scores up. Why do you want store cards anyway? So they can save you 10% on a "big sale", on items that are marked up 70%? And then you can repay it at 22% apr? Lenders are also weary of people with lottsa store cards; they look like shop-aholics! I think 2-4 bank cards is fine, but everyone's different. Keep working on repairing and you'll eventually have prime banks flooding your mailbox! (Is your utilization really high?)

[creditobsessed]

Thanks for the response! My utilization is less than 40% and getting lower all the time. The reason I like the idea of store cards is to keep utilization low when I have to use CC's at certain times of the year to buy a lot of clothes and shoes. I have 2 young children and every season they pretty much have to have a whole new wardrobe and new shoes. They grow so fast it makes my head spin. I only have two or three bad items on my credit report (2 small medical collections and furniture store account that is being reported completly wrong). I don't want want to mess up what I have with a bunch of new stuff because I know new accounts count against me, but I was wondering about the references over a long period. Also, I'm afraid to close some of what I have because they are getting some age on them and they have great payment histories.

I really only applied for the BOA card for the denial for damages against the CA I'm going after for those medical collections that they seem to have no idea about but won't stop reporting and verifying. So when I got approved for something it threw me for a loop!

Thanks for any help!