Advice on Credit Profile for College Student

[Anonymous]

Hey guys,

I just wanted to get some opinions on where I should go with cards, CLIs, or anything else that will help my scores in the future. I'm currently finishing up my second year at university and feel like I've benefited greatly by this site. It's funny because I see lots of people my age (19) that either don't have cards or have been AUs on their parents' cards practically since birth. I, unfornately was not lucky enough to have been able to do that. Regardless, please share any personal opinions you have on where I should go from here, if you want.

Currrently:

4 student loans

3 credit cards

Capital One Quicksilver One: $1000 (2/15)

Citi ThankYou Preferred: $1500 (11/14)

Discover It (Student): $500 (11/14)

EQ: 664 (MyFico) TU: 649 (Discover) EX: 680 (Experian)

AAoA: 8 months

Oldest Account: 1 year and 6 months

Inqs: 2 on TU and 3 on EQ

No missed payments yet and after this month my utilization will be at about 8% just on my Discover.

My goals for now are to wait and let my accounts age and then possibly go for an Amex or Chase Freedom late this year or early next year. 

If you were me, what would you do?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hey guys,

I just wanted to get some opinions on where I should go with cards, CLIs, or anything else that will help my scores in the future. I'm currently finishing up my second year at university and feel like I've benefited greatly by this site. It's funny because I see lots of people my age (19) that either don't have cards or have been AUs on their parents' cards practically since birth. I, unfornately was not lucky enough to have been able to do that. Regardless, please share any personal opinions you have on where I should go from here, if you want.

Currrently:

4 student loans

3 credit cards

Capital One Quicksilver One: $1000 (2/15)

Citi ThankYou Preferred: $1500 (11/14)

Discover It (Student): $500 (11/14)

EQ: 664 (MyFico) TU: 649 (Discover) EX: 680 (Experian)

AAoA: 8 months

Oldest Account: 1 year and 6 months

Inqs: 2 on TU and 3 on EQ

No missed payments yet and after this month my utilization will be at about 8% just on my Discover.

My goals for now are to wait and let my accounts age and then possibly go for an Amex or Chase Freedom late this year or early next year. 

If you were me, what would you do?

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Hey dude. College student here as well with a similar background and disposition. Personally, I would go for an Amex first and I think you're in a decent position to right now based on the information you provided to get your Member Since Date and a 61-day 3x CLI. If you really want to apply for the Freedom, I'd advise you to check if you're pre-qualified. Anything helps.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply, man. Yeah, that 3x cli looks fantastic and it will help my utilization tons. Sadly, I don't prequalify for any chase offers right now. I'm not sure exactly why, but it might be the fact that my credit cards are just too young and my file isn't thick.

[Anonymous]

College student as well, I got my first card in 2013, Dicover, but just recently applied for 2 more cards, the last being an Amex I applied for yesterday, Considering I don't have a huge credit prfile, Amex was very generous with a $2k limit and I will be trying the 61 day 3x CLI, right now just waiting to receive the card  So, from the little experiance I have I would recommend trying for the Amex first, and let the acounts age, and go for the 3x CLI in 2 months!

[Anonymous]

The only thing that worries me is account age. I have a student loan from 2013 that keeps my account age high. I don't think they will really take that into account at Amex but rather just my credit card ages. I dunno. I just wanna be safe and not get denied. It's a great opportunity to get my overall limit up to a huge level.