AppSpree-Now or Later

[energizer]

Thinking of doing an AppSpree for wife's credit. Here is where it is

 

Security Freeze on TU &EQ; only available is EX; CreditSesame EX Score; 675; My Fico: 689 (as of June 29th).
EQ has 2 med collection accounts; TU has only one derogatory; medical collection account but lots of recent  inquiries. Kohls is on EX but don't report to either EQ or TU.

 

1 Med Coll Acct; $600 Balance DOS; 9/2010

1 CapitalBank Secure Card; $250 credit limit On-time payment History; 12 mos; Balance $2;  Paying as Agreed; latest EX reporting occurs June 4th,2014 for $ 2 in balance.

1 KOHL's CapOne Revolving Card; $300 limit ; First time reported to EX on 6/25/2014; Balance $3; Paying as Agreed.

 

No Installment accounts established; No student loans ; No Auto Loans; No Mortgages;

 

Inquiries on EX

6/16/14 -Utility Cos

 

5/25/14- Kohls CapOne

 

6/27/13- CapOne

 

10/15/12- Bank of america

 

10/14/12-Bank of America

 

I would like to apply for EX friendly Credit Card companies like

1) AMEX (Everyday Cash/ Delta Gold Skymiles).

2) First National Bank of Omaha (Platinum Visa Card / La Quinta Visa).

3) Avoiding Capital One/Chase/Bank of America/US Bank/Barclays for now; believe strongly they look at other than EX reports.

 

Any Suggestions? I m told to have good AAoA that the sooner you get started on building Revolving Card Accounts the better. KOHLs would be the first ever Revolving account established May 2014.

 

 

 

 

 

[willingtocope]

Don't.

[energizer]

@WTC

 

What reasons you see not to? I respect your opinion.

[Clydesmom]

What reasons you see not to? I respect your opinion.

 

Whether you respect my opinion or not here is why:

 

There are too many inquiries.  5 is A LOT to go on an app spree.

 

Kohls is nothing more than a "toy" card which will do more harm than good.

 

Having open collections accounts will hurt the approval process regardless of what the FICO score is.

 

AMEX will NOT approve for their cards with a FICO lower than 700 and collection accounts.

 

FNB Omaha will be a high interest low limit card that won't be worth the hard pull.  It too is a "toy" card.

 

Legitimate cards that will give healthy credit lines will pull all 3 bureaus and most likely deny for having two out of the three reports frozen as it creates suspicion regarding what is on them that you do not want them to see.

 

Instead of opening more credit accounts I would continue working on BOTH your credit reports and the negative entries.  Credit repair is a marathon not a sprint.  

[Wins the Battle]

Agree 100% with @willingtocope.

 

Wait till she's "cleaner", and her real FICO is over 700.

 

That's a hard number to hit: I've been floating at or near 690 for a year, now.

 

I want to do an app orama for airline and hotel cards, but I've been schooled to wait, and will respect that advice.

[energizer]

I have hesitation myself just becoz of less than 700 FICO score.

Also true is what I know I m anticipating ; two medical collection accounts very likely to go on CRA's.

 

Thinking might as well do it before NEW medical collection accounts show up on CRA's.

Then it will be a very long long time before I get to APP-SPREE.

[energizer]

@Clydesmom

 

You think 5 inquries of which 3 is one year or older is ONE too Many. Some versions of FICO (FICO98, FICO04) that have inquries older than 6 months are ignored. FICO ignores 12+ mos inquires.

About KOHLs. I atleast think something (Revolving Acct) is better than COMENITY/GECRB/AMAZON/TARGET. Yes they are toy cards agreed, its better than getting CREDITONE/First Premier with very high Annual Fees.

Knowing my FICO for EX only in the mid to high 600's with known medical collection accounts ( just one from 3 and half years ago) is what even inspiring me to app-spree.

AMEX Costco/Everyday/BlueCash may be difficult with my FICO scores ; agreed.; but Delta SkyMiles Charge Cards may be possible. Not pre-paids.

FNBO is a risk I m willing to take after researching some other boards and seeing what kind of FICO scores have they previously approved. Yes they give very low starters limits, however, once into 9-12 mos usage of their card, their CLI's increase if maintained properly.

also another reason for rush to apply for unsecured before what I anticipate to be two medical collection accounts to appear on my Credit reports within 2-3 weeks.

[Clydesmom]

@energizer

 

@Clydesmom

 

You think 5 inquries of which 3 is one year or older is ONE too Many. Some versions of FICO (FICO98, FICO04) that have inquries older than 6 months are ignored. FICO ignores 12+ mos inquires.

 

No, creditors think it is too many.  @willingtocope told you in your other thread to stop trying to "scam" FICO and manage your debt and I am repeating that here.  My experience with denials in the past 3 years tells me that when the creditor looks at your entire file not just the FICO score number they will deny most if not all of these applications for more credit.

 

AMEX Costco/Everyday/BlueCash may be difficult with my FICO scores ; agreed.; but Delta SkyMiles Charge Cards may be possible. Not pre-paids.

 

Delta SkyMiles will NOT be possible I know this from experience.  I had a FICO of 688, 4 inquiries 3 of which were over a year old, and ONE collection 6 years old and was denied.  AMEX is VERY rigid on their cards and with two open collections and that many inquiries combined with a FICO below 700 and it will be denied but I suspect you will have to learn this the hard way.

 

also another reason for rush to apply for unsecured before what I anticipate to be two medical collection accounts to appear on my Credit reports within 2-3 weeks.

 

If you are about to have two more collections accounts appear you are taking a bigger risk than you realize.  First you are clearly not managing your debt if you have more accounts pending collections and reporting.  Before taking on MORE debt via credit you need to learn to control the existing debt first.  Second, just because they approve the application does not mean they will not cancel the card(s) if your credit takes a major hit with more collections accounts making you a much higher risk.  The damage having toy cards opened then closed by the credit grantor will be far worse than a simple denial.  

 

This plan is extremely foolish but I suspect you are going to do it anyway despite 3 seasoned veterans explaining why you should not.

[energizer]

Knowing today 06/30/2014 the real FICO score is 611 on EX from myfico.com I am surprised. Creditsesame showed 675 yesterday. what a difference? wow

 

In less than 24 hours my MYFICO score simply changed ; No KIDDING .

 

Its like until you actually hit the MYFICO button and get a real FICO score from myfico.com you wouldn't trust any other scores.

what a variation.

 

with 611 EX FICO 08 bankcard score (I m guessing that's what it is from myfico.com website).

I cant apply for AMEX with that score.

I was actually thinking I m in the late late 600's. nearly 700.

 

I so badly need an unsecure card for car rentals?

dang

[willingtocope]

If you need a card for car rentals (for business I assume) look into American Express Reloadable.  I've never had one, so I can't really say if car rental companies will accept them, but I know that AmEx doesn't care about credit scores...you put money into the account before you can charge, and you can only charge up to that amount.

[energizer]

@WTC

 

Amex isn't so widely accepted at car rentals -especially prepaid/charge/Reloadable cards!!!!!

 

with 611 FICO, have to try one unsecured or I will end up paying First Premier bank $175 in Annual Fee and then $99 every year thereafter for a $700 credit limit.

Then there is credit one with $75 Annual fee for a $300 credit line.

 

Bad Choices either way. Besides, closing down OpenSky credit card after they increased AF from $29 to $50. OpenSky is a secure cc but reporting to CRA's as regular credit card

[Clydesmom]

You do not need an unsecured card to rent a car.  You need a large enough credit line.  You can increase your deposit so that you have a credit line of $500 and you should be able to rent a car with no problem.  I had a Cap1 secured card and never had an issue renting a car with it.

 

I do not know of ANY rental agency that accepts a pre-paid card for rental.  Even the small number that will take a debit card will do a credit check including a hard pull and if you don't have excellent credit will deny you the rental.

[energizer]

@Clydesmom

 

By having $10k line of credit and debit card doesn't allow you to rent from Budget/Avis/Hertz/Enterprise. Its all on their allowed rules for debit cards. The notation they receive when doing credit check for Debit cards only tells them " do not rent " to this particular card holder. No explanation works whether its limit of $5k or even higher

 

 

Tried it already. However, if only a $300 limit unsecured is still good enough. Irrespective of your credit check.

 

Been there DONE that...