Credit Rebuilding Advice: CLIs, Credit Utilization, Cards, & Consolidation
Hey credit connoisseurs, I made a post over on r/creditcards asking for advice on recommendations for a new credit card. I got some good feedback, but I seem to have over-prepared my post info so much so that some people told me to come over here and get some advice from yall (including one of your very own mods u/BrutalBodyShots)! One person said "I think you might be trying to pack too many things into a single post"... story of my life.
Anywho, even though this post was written with the intention of getting a credit card recommendation, there is a lot of info that I think will be genuinely helpful. However, the order is probably chaotic. I also spent a ton of time getting this info together, and if I start trying to rewrite it too much, I fear I may spend another hour or two making changes. So, I'm hoping you can give me some grace in that aspect. Although I initially was hoping for the ability to get a higher limit card, I now realize I really need to cut down my debt and improve my credit profile... I'm just not quite sure of the next best step, or order of operations. I'm not currently spending more on my cards than I can handle paying, but you see I'm paying a ton of interest on old PayPal accounts. Seems like it'd be best to find a way to pay those down first?
I have changed a few important details, added some info, and rearranged some things, but I'll say upfront that my number 1 goal is to improve my credit score. My go-to, low-hanging fruit tactic that I thought would be helpful (and tbh give me a dopamine boost) was to increase my overall credit line... after reading through a lot of the megathread info here, I realize, I know way less than I thought I did. Which is wild, because I already thought I knew nothing 🙃
All that said, here's an overview of my stats and my original post with tweaks. I realize getting a new card might not be the next best step. So, I'm open to your wisdom, and I'm looking forward to hearing your advice!
Stats Overview:
- FICO Scores
- EX FICO 8: 632
- EQ FICO 8: 624
- TU FICO 8: 613
- Total Active/Open Credit Cards & Current Status: 4 ($4900 total limit)
- BankAmericard Platinum Plus Mastercard
- $1800 limit
- $850 owed
- Capital One Platinum:
- $300 limit
- $0 owed
- Capital One Quicksilver:
- $600 limit
- $310 owed
- Capital One Savor:
- $2200 limit
- $0 owed
- BankAmericard Platinum Plus Mastercard
- Total Closed Credit Accounts: 3 ($5100 total limit)
- Amazon credit card: closed April 2023 & paid off Sep 2023
- $100 limit
- $0 owed
- PayPal credit account: closed Sep 2023 & still paying it off.
- $3000 limit
- $2033 owed
- PayPal Cashback World MC: closed Sep 2023 & still paying it off.
- $2000 limit
- $1200 owed
- Amazon credit card: closed April 2023 & paid off Sep 2023
- Other Facts:
- I've never had a mortgage or car loan.
- Within the next 2 years, I'll be making $100-150K.
- Within the next 10 years, I'd like to be on track for buying land and building something simple and small.
- My current savings are insignificant in the grand scheme of things, so I'd like to work on improving that.
Original Post Title: CLIs, Credit Utilization, & New Card Advice for Credit Rebuilding
I’m currently trying to rebuild my 620-ish FICO credit with on-time payments and relatively high utilization to improve my chances of CLIs. However, it seems like my credit utilization could be limiting my potential credit score growth. I thought I could lower my utilization and wait for my credit to improve, but seems like that may not be the best move? My more aggressive theory was to increase my overall credit limit AND keep utilization in the current range to continue improving my chances of CLIs. Initial question: I’d like to know if anyone thinks it’s possible to get a new card with high credit line in my situation.
I don’t know what I don’t know. And I don't know what I'm doing.
I’m sure there are many different ways to go about rebuilding my credit that depend on specific circumstances. So I’m curious about a new card as well as alternative routes to rebuild my credit score which is why I answered the template questions and provided additional details that may help you better assess my situation.
Help me, credit savvy strangers of reddit… pls & thx!
Template Answers:
[Note: this is a template on r/creditcards that they request for you to fill out when asking for a credit card recommendation. I've included it here because some of the info is pertinent. However, I also used some of it for the stats overview, so it is partially redundant.]
- Current cards: (Total Active Credit Limit: $4900)
- BankAmericard Platinum Plus Mastercard (NOT the business card): $1800 limit, opened May 2022
- Capital One Platinum: $300 limit, opened Feb 2025
- Capital One Quicksilver: $600 limit, opened July 2025 (Upgraded from Platinum to QS in Feb 2026. 1.5% cash back on every purchase)
- Capital One Savor: $2200 limit, opened Nov 2025 (3% cash back on grocery stores, 1% on all other purchases)
- FICO 8 Score:
- EX FICO 8: 632
- source: experian[dot]com
- EQ FICO 8: 624
- source: myfico[dot]com
- 628: source EQ on BOA
- TU FICO 8: 613
- source: Creditwise on CAP1
- Note: I believe TU is so much lower because of a recent payment I made which seems to be showing on EX & EQ (EQ increased within 30 min) but not TU (using Creditwise from Capital One).
Oldest account age: 7 years 3 months
Chase 5/24 status: 3/24
Income: $75,000+
Average monthly spend and categories (guesstimates):
- dining $200
- groceries: $1000
- gas: $100
- travel: $0
- other: $? (~$250 subscriptions, ~$550 health insurance, ~$900 rent, ~$400 utilities)
Open to Business Cards: Maybe? I don’t know how to answer tbh, I have a sole proprietorship but I’m not actively doing anything with the business.
What's the purpose of your next card?
- I want to increase my active credit limit to at least 10k (total credit limit that includes closed account would be at least 15K).
- To improve CLI chances, I currently use my capital one credit cards and pay the statement balance in full monthly. However, this increases my credit utilization which I believe may limit my credit score improvements (on average, I've seen an improvement of ~3 points/per month doing this). I assume if I continue this process with a higher overall credit line, then the lower credit utilization would increase my credit score faster while also allowing me to continue improving my CLI chances (aside from initial ding of hard credit inquiry).
- I don’t care about airline travel, but I do rent cars a few times a year.
- I prefer No annual fee, because I haven’t seen a card that has benefits that seem worth the annual fee for my circumstances. However, IF an annual fee improves my chances of a higher limit, I’m open to it. But I don’t want to be stuck with a new card that has an annual fee and a low credit limit.
- Do you have any cards you've been looking at?
- Not specifically, but I have looked at some places for pre-approvals (and/or pre-qualifications? I didn’t realize there was a difference).
- I remember reading that it’s good to have a mix of Visa, Mastercard, and Discover. If that’s true, it may be a good idea to get some sort of Visa or Discover since my current 4 CCs are MC. Any weight to that?
- Chase, I was pre-approved for: Chase Freedom Flex, Chase Freedom Unlimited, Chase Sapphire Preferred, Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus, Chase Slate, & United Explorer Card
- Capital One, I was pre-approved for: Savor Rewards for Good Credit, Quicksilver Rewards for Good Credit, & VentureOne Rewards for Good Credit
- Discover, I was pre-approved for: Discover it Cash Back Card & Discover it Gas & Restaurants Card
- I was not pre-approved for Amex Blue Cash Everyday, Apple, the Coinbase card, or anything on the CITI website pre-qual form.
- Are you OK with category spending or do you want a general spending card?
- Idk what this means, but I don’t particularly care about using this one for spending. I primarily want something to increase my overall credit limit so I can continue building my credit and opportunities for CLIs while keeping my utilization percentage down.
Other Things of Note:
1. 2023 Context
You’ll see references to 2023 in some of the info below. I’m not sure of my options, and I don’t know enough about how credit works to know if any of this info could aid in disputes, consolidation, etc. If this context can help, I’m open to ideas! If not, just ignore this part. 2022 was a mess: I was laid off, my mom passed away, and my partner was seriously injured all in a 9 month span. I fell way behind in 2023 and tanked my previously good credit score and I’ve been rebuilding since then.
2. TransUnion Info via Creditwise (Capital One app):
- Payment History (fair)
- Accounts with late payments 30+ days: 5 (more info below)
- Amount of Debt (good)
- Revolving utilization: 55%
- Total balance on revolving and open-ended accounts: $5,523 (~$3200 owed on 2 closed PayPal accounts - more info below)
- Length of Credit History (good)
- Average age of accounts: 3 years, 6 months
- Amount of New Credit (good)
- Age of most recently opened account: 6 months
- Credit Mix (very good)
- Revolving accounts: 7
3. Payment History Details
Accounts with late payments 60+ days: 5
- Amazon credit card: closed April 2023 & paid off Sep 2023. 92% of payments made on time. ($100 limit, originally a secured card. They gave me the deposit back and I forgot about it in 2023 - see 2023 context below)
- PayPal credit account: closed Sep 2023 & still paying it off. 95% of payments made on time. ($3000 limit, I still owe ~$2000 and I’ve paid on time since Sep 2023)
- PayPal Cashback World MC: closed Sep 2023 & still paying it off. 94% of payments made on time. ($2000 limit, I still owe ~$1200 and I’ve paid on time since Sep 2023)
- BankAmericard Platinum Plus MC: Still active & paying it off. 94% of payments made on time. ($1800 limit, I owe ~$850)
- Verizon: collection/chargeoff $113. Paid.
Months since most recent late payment: 5 months
- This is $113 Verizon balance. I switched phone companies in April of 2025, cancelled Verizon, and thought I paid everything off. However, there was a remaining balance that had to do with a tablet monthly service charge, which I had also believed to be cancelled (the tablet was paid off). I saw it on my credit report and immediately called Verizon and paid it in March of 2026 🤦♀️
- I'm not really sure if there is anything I can do about this, how much it's impacting my credit score, or how long it will haunt me. Open to advice.
- Before this, my most recent late payment was Sep/Oct of 2023.
4. BOA CC Info (BankAmericard Platinum Plus MC)
I believe this particular card is a legacy CC (no AF, no cash back). I maxed it out in 2023, and I’ve been paying it off slowly since then. It currently has a balance of around ~$850. I haven’t asked for a credit line increase and I’m not sure what to do with this card other than pay it off (change, upgrade, ask for an increase, etc.). I assume closing it may negatively impact my credit score because it’s my oldest CC currently active.
I’ve been hesitant to ask for a CLI with the BOA card for 2 main reasons: 1) because of the account almost being closed in 2023 and 2) because the CLI info page doesn’t specify if they will do a hard or soft check (and a quick Google search says they do a hard check). Additionally, when I review the CLI info, it says “If you have credit card accounts with Bank of America, we may use the available credit on those accounts to approve your request. This could include moving credit from an account with a lower annual percentage rate and/or fee structure to a higher annual rate and/or fee structure without increasing your overall credit limit.” - so I’m not sure what they’ll do if I ask for an increase and I certainly don’t want something with a higher APR or annual fee. Advice for the BOA card is welcome.
5. PayPal Accounts Info
There are 2 closed PP accounts (PP Credit & PP MC) that I’m still paying off from 2023. I’m paying more than the minimum on these (barely), but I’m paying a ton of interest. Here are some additional details:
PP MC account
- Opened: Oct 2021
- Closed: Sep 2023
- Credit Limit: $2000
- Monthly Interest: ~$30
- Monthly Minimum: ~$45
- Monthly Payment: ~$50
- Balance: ~$1200
PP Credit account
- Opened: Apr 2021
- Closed: Sep 2023
- Credit Line: $3000
- Monthly Interest: ~$50
- Monthly Minimum: ~$65
- Monthly Payment: ~$75
- Balance: ~$2033
I feel like there’s an opportunity here to cut the interest way back by paying these off totally. But I have no idea of the best way to go about that. These do not count toward my total active credit limit of $4900, but they do count toward my total amount of debt. I have no idea what the best path forward here is and I’m open to suggestions.
6. BNPL Affirm Accounts
Currently have 3 Affirm BNPL all in good standing. I know these don’t usually factor into credit reports but assumed it worth mentioning.
- Balances: $526, paid 19 of 24, $857.26, paid 15 of 36, $271, paid 6 of 12 - all are on track to be paid off early.
7. Additional Details
In April, I received a $200 CLI on my savor and $100 CLI on my quicksilver after requesting much larger increases (I didn't yet realize the Verizon issue had impacting my credit score so negatively). I rarely use the cap one platinum so that one hasn’t been increased.
I’m not very credit savvy, but I have been able to improve my credit score at various times over the years. However, I've never had this much lingering debt from closed accounts with large interest amounts. I don't have enough capital to pay off the PP accounts, so, I need a creative solution. Plues, the Verizon thing was a real bummer, and knocked my TU FICO back from 633 in Feb to 601 in March, but it’s slowly improved to 608 in April and 613 since I last checked in May.
Am I shooting myself in the foot by trying to get CLIs rather than just simply allowing my payment history to improve?
Where do you recommend I go from here?
Thanks in advance 🙏
Tl;dr rebuilding 620ish credit and looking for one or more of the following: 1) advice on a new card with a high limit, 2) a reconfiguration alternative (currently wasting money paying big chunks of interest on closed accounts), or 3) a better way to improve my credit (tentative plan: gain CLIs, increase active max credit limit, and get utilization down).