Best Credit Cards to apply for (Pre-Approval Options Only) with 620-640 FICO (2024)

Looking to go on a mini spree in a month or two.

As of right now:

FFCU: $4,000

Captial One QS: $3,000

Credit One Amex: $2,000

MFCU: $1,000 (Secured)

FFCU: $500 (Joint)

Looking to go after higher CL's and increase my overall available credit limits and more positive accounts reporting.

AAoA: 3.5 Years

Newest Account: 4 Months (CapOne QS and Credit One Amex)

INQ: 1-3 (Depending on the CRA)

FICO Score: 620-640

Suggestions?

Or should I work on asking for CLI's?

Starting Scores FICO8 - 02-23-2022



Current Scores FICO8

I'd focus more on SP CLIs.

Do you have any negatives?

@GoHooterGowrote:

Looking to go on a mini spree in a month or two.

As of right now:

FFCU: $4,000

Captial One QS: $3,000

Credit One Amex: $2,000

MFCU: $1,000 (Secured)

FFCU: $500 (Joint)

Looking to go after higher CL's and increase my overall available credit limits and more positive accounts reporting.

AAoA: 3.5 Years

Newest Account: 4 Months (CapOne QS and Credit One Amex)

INQ: 1-3 (Depending on the CRA)

FICO Score: 620-640

Suggestions?

Or should I work on asking for CLI's?

You mentioned you're looking for CLIs to increase available credit...are you bumping up against your current limits on the cards you currently have?

CLIs can take time depending on your history + your current lenders. For instance, FFCU would likely be a HP to request one. Capital One has the option to request a CLI after 6 months and it's SP. With that being said, it appears you've added 2 newer accounts and with scores being on the lower end, time seems to be your best friend -- just let things age. On the plus side, your existing accounts plus the new ones you've added will contribute to positive reporting.

You can always try some of the pre-qualification sites from the thread below, but just keep in mind that pre-qualified and/or pre-approved is not always 100% guaranteed -- profile-dependent of course.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Soft-Pull-Pre-Qualify-Links-Part-2-Updated-2-...

I have a few negatives, mostly late payments from about 3-5 years ago.

I was pre-approved for a Upgrade CC for $2,000 but decided not to pursue it based on the bad reviews I've read.

Starting Scores FICO8 - 02-23-2022



Current Scores FICO8

I would try Truist, Discover, and American Express with those scores. I think you should see an offer from at least one of them if your negatives aren't too recent and your utilization isn't crazy.

@RehabbingANDBlabbingwrote:

I would try Truist, Discover, and American Express with those scores. I think you should see an offer from at least one of them if your negatives aren't too recent and your utilization isn't crazy.

Those scores seem low for Amex or Discover though Discover may be more possible. I think trying to find pre-approval for the score range only will be a challenge and imo if one is really credit seeking not to box one self in by setting such tight parameters.

@GoHooterGowrote:

Looking to go on a mini spree in a month or two.

As of right now:

FFCU: $4,000

Captial One QS: $3,000

Credit One Amex: $2,000

MFCU: $1,000 (Secured)

FFCU: $500 (Joint)

Looking to go after higher CL's and increase my overall available credit limits and more positive accounts reporting.

AAoA: 3.5 Years

Newest Account: 4 Months (CapOne QS and Credit One Amex)

INQ: 1-3 (Depending on the CRA)

FICO Score: 620-640

Suggestions?

Or should I work on asking for CLI's?

Personally I think you've got to work on getting your scores up first. Applications at this stage will probably get you a lot of wasted hard pulls.

Once you've got your scores up closer to 700 you might want to take a whack at the Amex BCE.

Total revolving limits 602800 (521k reporting) FICO 8: EQ 706 TU 714 EX 721

@GoHooterGoHow do you use the $10.5k?

That's a respectable amount of spending you can summon up at will..

Clearly no more late payments and time will help all around.

Maybe work on unsecuring the MFCU card and/or just experiment with AZEO to see how hacking your score influences it for a few months.

If you can't pull off (best case) AZEO then you should consider taking a step back and examine the way forward. If floating $$ monthly on the card(s) isnecessary then there are probably some existing or new options to optimize that.

If optimal AZEO is possible, knowing how much of a score boost you get would perhaps also offer the possibility to break out with a new card from Disco or Amex in 2-3 months.

[2020-12-09]=[EQ8|786]-[TU8|746]-[EX8|772] .... gardening until I can't (again).
[2023-10-01]=[EQ8|797]-[TU8|776]-[EX8|775]

0Kudos

@GoHooterGowrote:

Looking to go on a mini spree in a month or two.

As of right now:

FFCU: $4,000

Captial One QS: $3,000

Credit One Amex: $2,000

MFCU: $1,000 (Secured)

FFCU: $500 (Joint)

Looking to go after higher CL's and increase my overall available credit limits and more positive accounts reporting.

AAoA: 3.5 Years

Newest Account: 4 Months (CapOne QS and Credit One Amex)

INQ: 1-3 (Depending on the CRA)

FICO Score: 620-640

Suggestions?

Or should I work on asking for CLI's?

If the CLI's are soft pull I would say yes. But I would never use a HP on a CLI. Its not worth score ding or the effort. Remeber, CO is soft pull. I would concentrate spending and paying on that and work from there. Im not sure the policies on the other banks you mentioned. But if its a Hard Pull, I would give it a Hard Pass.