App or Garden?

[barthooper]

I'm unsure of my next move. I'm new to the world of revolving accounts, since I got my first card at the beginning of this year.
I now have 3. Barclay Rewards MC: $1,500, Sallie Mae: $4,700, Quicksilver: $10,000.

I had been planning on going for the US Bank Cash+ in the near future, for the 5% dining as that is my only remaining large category
I don't have covered. Lately I've been considering apping for an Amex, to be able to take advantage of MSD on possible future cards, even though it wouldn't benefit me from a rewards standpoint because most categories are currently covered and I don't care for travel rewards either.

I have multiple student loans ranging from 3 to 5 years old contributing to my AAoA, so it isn't incredibly low, and a possible reason why the Amex backdating wouldn't help too much, as these loans are active and will continue to age, along with my other cards.

Alternatively, would I be better served gardening for a year or more? Thanks.

Edit: Formatting

[coldnmn]

Gardening is a good choice. That being said if you apply for AMEX just before the end of the year you lock in your member since date for any future AMEX cards. So your future AAoA wont be hurt when applying. US Bank is very conservative and will more then likely want to see more history from your current cards. They manually review 99% of all applications.  Congratulations on your credit journey so far.

[mongstradamus]

If you need to ask then I think gardening is the best way to go 😁

[barthooper]

Sound advice from both of you. I think by writing this post I just talked myself out of Amex, as the only benefit would be the backdating for me, but I already have plenty of accounts that are always aging and contributing to AAoA.

Any idea how much card history we're talking for US Bank? I've heard they are very conservative and it will be a phone app so probably even trickier.

[coldnmn]

You have loans that age but eventually get paid off and fall off your credit report. I'm not sure how long you have to wait for US Bank. I will have had my Ace card three years and Cash+ two years in January. My oldest account is over twenty years. So someone else will have to help you there. My oldest account ages off in 2017 and I will get rebucketed and take a huge hit to AAoAs.

[barthooper]

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@coldnmn wrote:

You have loans that age but eventually get paid off and fall off your credit report. I'm not sure how long you have to wait for US Bank. I will have had my Ace card three years and Cash+ two years in January. My oldest account is over twenty years. So someone else will have to help you there. My oldest account ages off in 2017 and I will get rebucketed and take a huge hit to AAoAs.

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Oh I know the loans will fall off but several of them are 3 to 5k and won't be paid off for several years. They should stay on the report for 10 years after being closed, correct?

I have 4 that were closed a couple of years ago because they were transferred to another lender, as well as 7 open ones (including the originals at the new lender). By the time they fall off, the cards I have now will be much older and if I picked up another one or two in the next couple of years they would be decently aged as well. I'm not relying on the loans for the long term but they are a nice boost to age right now.

[Swapmeet]

I spoke with an analyst when I got my cash+, and she said that they like to see at least 6 months of history and no inqs during that time, for each new account.

[barthooper]

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@Swapmeet wrote:

I spoke with an analyst when I got my cash+, and she said that they like to see at least 6 months of history and no inqs during that time, for each new account.

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Good to know! It's nice to have some actual reported criteria rather than simply knowing they're a conservative lender, and not being sure when you might make the cut.

[keithB]

When in doubt, garden...

[barthooper]

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@keithB wrote:

When in doubt, garden...

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That is now my plan. I've read in other threads here about 3 cards being pretty much all you need for good FICO scoring. Now that I have 3 I'm just going to garden, also because I have enough credit to not blow up utilization, although I did prior to Cap1 as well. Thanks.