OP, please forgive me if you know this already, but it is NOT "best to keep the debt spread out as much as possible"; the only way to play this game is not to have debt whatsoever.

Now, I don't want to sound sanctimonious, and I do understand there are circumstances beyond our control sometimes, so if you only need these two cards in order to get the CP, I'd recommend trying for the business card next. They will still look at your personal score, but with Chase, getting a business card in questionable situations might be easier, at least in my experience.

Now, what wcj meant by closing is that you closed your billing cycle with debit to credit ratio over 30%. If you can only imagine a red flag for any creditor, this is it! They will be extremely wary of extending any new credit to you until you bring it to a manageable, preferably single digit number. Simply put, pay it up if you can.

Good luck!