2nd Credit Card..now what?

[Anonymous]

Basically, the only positive thing I have for me right now is my one credit card and student loans in good standing..I have a second credit card (capital one secured) that I will have in the mail tomorrow (on top of my discover secured card)..What is the best possible thing to do on a monthly basis with just 2 cards to maximize my credit score gains.  I typically keep a balance on my discover (the most I have carried on the card to report was like 7% (like 15 dollars) and then the next month it went down to a $0 balance and one of my scores dropped 20 points..it was by accident that It reported a $0 ( I had a 2 dollar credit on my account and it covered my balance).  I planned on carrying a small $1-$5 balance on both cards, but I am not sure what to really do..It's been 6 months with discover and my score has only went up like 30-40 points (the first time it reported was the biggest gain of like 25 points, so I'm only looking at like 15 points increase in 5 months..

[Anonymous]

I would use the shopping cart trick and get a third card, with no HP.  A store card.  ONE card.  ONE USABLE card.  And use those three cards and rotate spending among them, without spending more than I normally would.  That would be my suggestion, cart trick, ONE more card, then low utilization, rotate cards, PIF... add a little time,,, those FICO scores start moving right.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I would use the shopping cart trick and get a third card, with no HP.  A store card.  ONE card.  ONE USABLE card.  And use those three cards and rotate spending among them, without spending more than I normally would.  That would be my suggestion, cart trick, ONE more card, then low utilization, rotate cards, PIF... add a little time,,, those FICO scores start moving right.

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The SCT unfortunately is like a bag of chips for most... Betcha can't have just one.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I would use the shopping cart trick and get a third card, with no HP.  A store card.  ONE card.  ONE USABLE card.  And use those three cards and rotate spending among them, without spending more than I normally would.  That would be my suggestion, cart trick, ONE more card, then low utilization, rotate cards, PIF... add a little time,,, those FICO scores start moving right.

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The SCT unfortunately is like a bag of chips for most... Betcha can't have just one.

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The way you say it, it's like I repeatedly capitalized ONE for nothing!  Say it ain't so!!!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I would use the shopping cart trick and get a third card, with no HP.  A store card.  ONE card.  ONE USABLE card.  And use those three cards and rotate spending among them, without spending more than I normally would.  That would be my suggestion, cart trick, ONE more card, then low utilization, rotate cards, PIF... add a little time,,, those FICO scores start moving right.

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The SCT unfortunately is like a bag of chips for most... Betcha can't have just one.

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The way you say it, it's like I repeatedly capitalized ONE for nothing!  Say it ain't so!!!

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One more chip can't hurt...

OP, What do your current FICO's look like? I would definitely add one more quality credit card to your mix to improve things a little.

[Anonymous]

I am getting my scores from myfico.  I pay monthly for all 3 scores.

[Anonymous]

By "no HP," do you mean no hard pull? 

[Anonymous]

Well, right now, my three scores are 575, 590, and 600.  My experian score was a 640 just 2 months ago, but my utilization went up 5% and then down to 0 balance and it dropped 40 points.