Thread: What should be my next step?

Cap One is unlikely to ever give you a CLI. And that Amex card is certain to never give you one. (I know you know this already).

Basically, that means those cards won't grow tih you (the Amex wasn't meant to and the Cap One doesn't by design).

My suggestions would be Chase Freedom and Discover IT. I would suggest Amex Green also but I have read numerous times Amex will not give you a "normal" card so long as you have a card like Optima, if indeed it's an Optima Oasis (you burned them in the past but paid it off and they gave you that card). You would have to close the Optima in that case to get a Green from what I've read.

So I would apply for those cards. Use them 6 months to a year, preferably a year to build your score further. At that point, if you are good with Amex, consider closing the Optima and going for Green or Gold, or BCE if that suits you better. Also consider closing the Cap One at that point especially if it has an annual fee (I'm guessing 39 dollars?). The ONLY thing keeping it alive now is the fact it's a couple of years old and will help your AAoA. But once you have a couple of decent cards that can grow with a year each under their belts, you don't need that.

Just grow things slowly prune as needed (get rid of the weeds) and you will do great over time. That gives you a year to 18 months to go on.

GE Capital cards are great for generous CLIs, from what I have read. Not sure about their approval standards. Go here GE Capital Partners & Contact Numbers | Retail Partners and check out the retailers that they brand with. There are over a couple of dozen so there should be something that appeals to you.

One caveat about the Amex. Be careful closing the card you have to apply for another, assuming the Optima is important to you. I remember reading about one person who closed an Amex card to open a different one and they declined him for the new card. When he asked for the old one back, they declined him for that, too!

Originally Posted by randeman

GE Capital cards are great for generous CLIs, from what I have read. Not sure about their approval standards. Go here GE Capital Partners & Contact Numbers | Retail Partners and check out the retailers that they brand with. There are over a couple of dozen so there should be something that appeals to you.

One caveat about the Amex. Be careful closing the card you have to apply for another, assuming the Optima is important to you. I remember reading about one person who closed an Amex card to open a different one and they declined him for the new card. When he asked for the old one back, they declined him for that, too!

That is always a risk. But then the Optima won't grow with you anyway so in a sense there is little to lose once you have other, better cards.

They may. If you are on their blacklist I've read it won't even pull your credit and the denial reason will say something to the effect of a prior relationship with them that was unsatisfactory. Even if you aren't on their blacklist, they won't have forgotten it most likely. Depends on how long ago, but in my case I charged off two of their cards for a lot of money in 2002. Last year I applied and was declined, I called in for 3 recons. In every case I was asked to explain the charge offs. You will probably need to recon, maybe a couple of times, it's all about getting the right analyst. I think they would be a great bank to get back in with. I closed my Freedom because they flat out told me I'm on probation with them for up to 2 years and I was not patient enough to wait that out when I had cards with over 10k limits. I wish I had hung onto it, but it's water over the dam now. So be prepared to prove yourself to them all over again if you want to do it. I think it's more than understandable. And they are a good bank to be in with. If I app for anything, I may get another Freedom and hang onto it and just do the 2 year probation with them until I can hopefully one day get a CSP. Those are all I'd really be at all interested in at this point.

The only way to know for sure if you are on their blacklist is to app and see what happens. Given it was so short a time ago I highly doubt they would give you a card you will probably have to wait a while longer and then fight to get one.

If you want my opinion for whatever it's worth, I wouldn't waste an inquiry right now on something you have little chance to get.

The Amazon store card is GE, the Amazon Visa is Chase, so you won't be likely to get that. There is a difference between the two. GE might be a realistic shot, though I doubt they will start you off with enough to be a MacBook but they give auto clis every few months with responsible use.

Originally Posted by Sevenfeet

Maybe, but there could be other reasons not to extend credit other than a "blacklist". It's hard to know about this unless someone explicitly tells you "we'll never extend you credit again!"

And even then they might not tell you specifically why you were declined. If they say anything about "past relationship," however, that would be a dead giveaway.