jaymez619

If possible, monitor your credit card online. Pay off the balance BEFORE the closing date. That way, your statement balance will be $0, which is used to calculate your credit score. If you leave a $100 balance on your card, it will reflect a 33.3% usage of your credit line. That is viewed as negative even if you pay off the balance before the next billing cycle.

If you closed either of those accounts, your score will go down because your line of credit went down. Your ratio of credit used/credit available goes up (negatively affects your score) when you close an account and still have debt. 30% or higher is considered bad in the eyes of creditors. If this isn't the case for you, you may need to wait longer (30-60 days) for the paid debt to show up.

It's been about a month since I got my new Discover Card and I was able to get immediate approval for a Citi Credit Card. I found the card via 'guaranteed approval' through CK. My scores are 762/806 (CK/Vantage). Cit is pretty aggressive when trying to sell you extra services. I had to say no several times during the phone activation process. The operator I spoke with spoke fast, had a thick accent, and wouldn't take no for an answer several times. I did get 0% APR for 21 months  (not just 12) on balance transfers with a 3% fee.

If you have ZERO debt as in no car loan, home mortgage, etc, and you have a job or some other income, you don't have to worry about this card affecting your loans. You may have to worry about qualifying for the loan. You might be considered 'too rich' to qualify.

Lower your debt and increase cash reserves. Your score should recover with the new card since you'll have a larger line of credit NOT in use.

I'm not sure how long it's been since you wiped your bankruptcy off, but I think you should wait a few months. I'm at 761 and they approved me for $7.5k. It may have helped that I've had another card with them since 1996. I like them because they have a user-friendly website, you get cash back (only 1-5%), and more importantly, I get someone within the USA when I call. This month, I called to ask for a lower APR (20.24%). I got someone in Arizona that politely denied me. I asked if someone else can help me and she transferred me to their retention department in Utah. That person was able to lower my APR to 16.24%, give me $20 in cashback ($1 per transaction in the next 30 days up to $20), and issue me a balance transfer check from my newer card with 0% APR. That transfer check did have a 5% fee.  My card from 1996 isn't spotless, but I've been on time for about 6 years in terms of making payments. Total charges for 2011 are about $1600. I suggest you give Discover another chance in a few months. Don't apply for too much credit in a short amount of time because it dings your report/score. Pay down some debt and check for their offers via CK. I think you'd be happy with Discover. I login to my accounts a few times/week to monitor my spending and keep on a lookout for suspicious charges.

Stop applying for unsecured credit because too many attempts dings your score/rating. Get a secured card, use cash/debit for purchases, and pay down that debt. Lower debt along with higher cash reserves will boost your credit worthiness. Just monitor your score here on CK. When you hit 750 (Transunion), you should get multiple offers through CK. In Jan 2010, my FICO was 626 (poor). I had $9800 in credit card debt, $8000 in student loans, and less than $1000 in cash. I got my credit card debt down to $1500. My TransUnion score is 761 (not sure of the correlation with FICO). I was able to get a new Discover Card through CKs recommendation for a HIGHER CREDIT LINE than the Discover Card I've had since 1996. So it shows that you just need to give yourself a 3-6 months to build up cash. If you can show any creditor that you have a history of building cash, they shouldn't have a problem issuing you a credit card. It might be for  a low limit, but it's  a start. Good luck.

Consolidate balances to lower APR cards if it saves you on interest and fees. Credit cards typically charge 5% on balance transfers so take that amount into consideration. If you're in the position to get a new card, they may offer 0% APR intro rate and/or 0%-5% transfer fees.  If you're a bit reckless with credit, cut the card in half and just store it in a safe place so you won't use it again.

Applying for credit cards dings your score/rating. You should wait at least 2 months. I'm in the same boat. I want to apply for more cards to get the 'free money' but I just got a new card in early 3/2011. I'm still trying to find out exactly how long I should wait before applying for a new one. Whenever you apply for credit, they do a hard pull (CK does a soft pull when you check your score) on your credit worthiness. Too many hard pulls within a short amount of time looks bad to creditors. I don't know how many is too many. If you applied 5 times within the last 60 days, I'd stop for several months.

One factor in a credit score is the ratio of debt to total credit. You need to keep this lower than 35%.  For example, if you have four credit cards with a line of $2500 each ($10k total) and your combined balance is $2500, you are using 25% of your total credit line. Now if you cancel two of those credit cards (assuming they had $0 balance), your credit line drops to $5k and your debt to total credit available is now 50%. Using 50% of your credit as opposed to 25% of your total credit looks bad in the 'eyes' of the credit agencies. Keep old lines of credit open. It's a sign of committment. I'm still paying off Discover from 1995 ($1400 more to go). They just 'rewarded' me with a new card with a $7500 limit. My old card has a limit of only $6900 (it was $5300 last November).

Go after that $90k from your ex and try to get interest, too. Depending on how serious your monthly cash flow is, I would consider hiring a collections company to get the $90k. You might have to settle for 60% or less, but hopefully it will get you money you need now as opposed to later. Look into a court order to garnish wages if you have the time; you'll get more of the $90k and possibly interest. Before bankruptcy, consider a NON-PROFIT credit counselor. They typically contact your credit card companies, close the accounts, and negotiate lower APRs so more of your payments to towards bringing down the balances. You will have to make one payment to the credit counselor agency (plus a small fee) and they will distribute that payment to your credit cards. If you qualify, your monthly payment is lower and you pay off your debt quicker.

Be patient and keep paying on time as much as you can. I got serious about paying off credit card debt ($9800) in 1/2010. I created a spread sheet that listed each card, APR, balance, and amount paid each month. Make the biggest montlhy payments to the card with the highest APR. I would stare at this depressing spread sheet for half an hour at a time, several times per week to deter me from wasting money on anything else. My FICO was 626 at the time. Now I'm down to about $1400 in credit card debt. I just applied (and was approved) for a second Discover card. My TransUnion score went from 759 to 761 after getting approved and my Vantage score went from 798 to 795 after applying. When I got approved, the Vantage score went to 804. I update a few times per week. I don't know my FICO score at this time. Negative marks can stay on your Credit Report for 7 years. You'll have to decrease debt-to-credit line ratio; either get more credit (tough) or pay down your debt. Only time can heal those negative items. Good luck!!