Stuck and need advice...

[david_weaver]

So here is the deal. Thought my TU was 756, which was their Vantage score. I was way off. MyFico said TU is 675 when I ran it today.

 

That puts all my scores in the 650-675 range.

 

3 years ago, I had a bad stretch, and used a credit service to help me. All accounts were paid in full and closed.

 

Currently, I have a mortgage (originally $61K, now $55K), 5 student loans totaling $20K, a car loan (also $20K) and a CapOne card with $300 limit. Requested an increase in CL three months ago, and CapOne said no.

 

Other than just letting my score climb a few points per month as I pay on these 8 accounts, what do I do?

 

I do not want to run up a bunch of pulls if I am not going to be approved.

 

Today, when checking out online with Victoria's Secret, I was offered a $500 pre-approved account.

 

Should I accept these sort of offers, even though they are store cards and have such low limits?

 

Am I better off making an effort for another major credit card (maybe Barclay's as my TU is the highest) or better off just looking at other cards issued by WFFNB/Cominity like Victoria's Secret and add three or four of those at $300-$500 limits each?

 

Would opening these new accounts, and having pulls, help or hurt my credit overall?

 

Clearly it is an issue that I only have one card with a $300 limit (I use it but ALWAYS paid in full before the day it reports), but I am confused whether having more available credit would help more than opening new accounts would hurt.

 

I would appreciate ANY advice on how to get my score higher and at get a card with a limit high enough that I can at least use it for emergencies.

 

Thanks all!

 

 

 

 

[jak2136]

The ideal number of revolving accounts for scoring seems to be 3-5 from what I have read here, so yes you do need more revolving accounts to get your score up. You can check the credit pulls to see what different people are getting approved at.

 

As for the shopping cart trick there seems to be some disagreement about getting lots of those cards. There is about a 28 page thread going on that discusses it.