I have two cap1 accounts of limits $3,300 and $1,500 with apr 10.37 and 15.7 respectively. I am thinking about getting these two cards combined. Is there any real benefits to doing that in terms of your credit score. The balance on the first one is $2,600 and the other is $0. Do I keep them both or combine them?
The one with $3,300 limit is about 8 years old and the other is about 4 years. I had increases about 7 months ago on each. They were both increased about $500.
Those 2 cards are great on aging but your limits are small and your interest on the second card is way too high. I'd call retention and see if they have increases on each card. Then I'd use planetfeedback and try for more increases. Then, depending on what other cards you have, you can combine them into the oldest card but you'll want the Exec team to do it for you... what other cards do you have and what's your goal?
oh, there's a reason to do retention then exec offices. retention should give you some increases then exec team can do more on top of that... Regular reps have restrictions on combining... exec team really doesn't.
I have a FCNB with a $1,500 limit and I also have a an auto loan with BMW that is will be paid off in December and a student loan. My goal is to try to clean up my credit a little so I can buy a home next year. I just a my score through creditexpert and it is 635. I have couple of derogs that is supposed to come off this month. Do i need to apply for more cards. I am pretty new at this so any help will be appreciated.
actually, your profile is pretty good. Home loans are easy and you could get one now. Don't apply for more cards. You don't need them and new cards hurt your score for 6 mos... then you break even at 12... gain points as you go with big points at 24 mos and 36 mos... So now that I see your cards are really minimal... I'd likely keep the Cap1, get and then keep your balances very low... like 10% One of the biggest score drivers is balance on the cards. Get those low and you'll see a big score boost. How old is the FCNB? and what's the balance?
oh... balances on revolving cards (credit cards) hurts you more than on installment accounts (car loans). If you only have the choice of paying off 1 or the other... pay the Cap1 with the big balance.
My FCNB is got a$1,500 limit with $0 balance. I just paid it off last month. Sorry, I forgot to tell you I have and MBNA checkmate account with a $2,200 credit limit. I bought a computer from gateway and financed it through MBNA and after I finished paying it off($4,500) they extended me the checkmate account. The balance on the $2,200 limit is $1,000. I expect to pay that off as well by the end of the month.
What is a checkmate account? MBNA just changed my account on my Equifax report to say MBNA Checkmate. I just upgraded to quantum, I received the new card today.
The checkmate is just like a checking account with them. They send me check frequently and i write them against the account. The apr is 19%. It is quite high so I am trying to pay off. I think that is what it is. It says on my credit report that it is revolving account and doesn't say checkmate on it. Should it?
you could always close the checkmate thing... it's newer and expensive If you really don't want 2 cap1s... get all you can from each and then combine into the oldest .. that'd leave 8 year old cap1 with higher limit 7 year old FCNB 1500 limit get your derogs off... call the opt out number for promos... that'll help a bit (we think)... 888-5-optout you are golden for a mortgage if your last 24 mos look good anyway You're doing a great job. Keep it up.
Marie, Thank you very much for all your assistance. I really do appreciate. I am so geeked about getting this credit thing fixed.
Marie, Did say in your previous response to call the optout number actually request that they send me the promo stuff? I am not clear on that. Can please elaborate a little further. Sorry to bother you but I am pretty new at this.
I posted about this a couple of weeks ago... if you do a search you'll see a big discussion under "rescoring"... I got advice from a rescoring expert to opt out for 2 years from promos. Now at the time he had experiential evidence that scores would increase in about 90 days because the promos cause a slight score hit... THen I started researching TU and I saw that the promos say they're not SEEN by anyone... but they're not in the 3rd category of inquiries where it "doesn't affect score"... so TU's disclosure proves that Prm's hurt scores. Now, I'm solidly mid score... mid to high 600's. Not subprime but not quite prime so the offers I get suck anyway. SO I did the optout. I called them all directly and 2 did it that day. Equifax showed "opt out" within 24 hours... and I truly believe that you'll see a reasonable score bump from opting out (over 20 points) after 90 days... the 800# handles all 3 bureaus plus one extra... so use that number. So that was one last suggestion to bump your scores. It only seems to work on scores that are currently 600+... preapprovals are worthless anyway so why take the hit in score...and this board helps you figure out what cards to get next anyway. Good luck
