Building Credit: What to do next?

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone! I am trying to build up my credit (started from scratch in early 2010) and was wondering if you could give me advice on what steps I should be taking next. My goal is simply to build up my score (I don't really care about CC rewards/benefits).

I pulled my Equifax credit report today (here on myFICO), and got a score of 725, with an average account age of 2 years, and one inquiry in the last year (AMEX). I pay off all my CC balances at the end of each month, but when I pulled the report each card had a balance reporting (<$50 each, less than 7% util), which may have hurt the score a little bit. The negative factors affecting my score were: "You have too many credit accounts with balances", "You have a short credit history", you opened a new credit account relatively recently" (10 months).

Current Credit Report Snapshot:

1) Student loan           c.a. 5k balance/paid as agreed (not due yet)

2) Student loan           c.a. 5k balance/paid as agreed (not due yet)

3) AMEX Zync              c.a. 5k high balance/paid as agreed/ backdated to 2004     (opened just under a year ago)

4) WF Credit Card      800 limit/paid as agreed/ opened early 2010                         (I ask/get a CLI every 6 months with soft inqiry)

5) PNC Credit Card   800 limit/paid as agreed/opened early 2010                          (hard inquiry, so I stopped asking for CLI)

A few things I was considering trying: (Any suggestions on which one would be best in the long term?)

1) Applying for an AMEX credit card once I hit the 1year mark with them. Pro: AAoA with backdating, Contra: concentration of AMEX accounts. What CC is easiest to get?

2) Applying for a BOA credit card. Pro: possible high CL due to my banking relationship with them, Contra: its BOA Are BoA CLI a hard pull?

3) ?

Q: is it worth getting hard inquiries to boost my PNC credit card limit?

AlI I care about is building up my score in the long term in case I need it in the future for a car loan/mortgage. I could care less about card benefits. Any suggestions?

Thanks for the help!

[shiftomnimega]

Perhaps you would be better off getting another card if you're going to get hard pulled anyway.  Long term, I think you will need a higher limiit since $1600 is sort of skimpy.  You will need more of a buffer to keep util% down.

[Guava]

If you like AMEX for the name and "prestige" factor, I'd say wait it out and apply for one of their revolving credit cards. They're all pretty tough to get so keep your Zync payment perfect.

Regarding PNC, if it were me, I'd just settle with 800 CL. Wait for all the accounts to age and paying on time, when 1 year later comes around, apply for a better card (from AMEX maybe). Amex Zync balance doesnt affect your utility ratio, just throwing this out there.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the responses. I definitely don't care about the "presitge" (What I love about the Zync card is it not counting towards utilization as you mentioned. With about 1k monthly spend on my cards a 800 limit gets in the way).

What I am leaning towards doing now is:

First, applying for a BoA card in about two months (when I will be inquiry free for one year and be sure to not let balances report on my WF/PNC cards)

Then, applying for an AMEX credit card in about 14 months

I would most likely want to get both cards in the long run anyway, so I might as well start with the BoA. The BoA card is probably easier to be approved for, and I want the BoA card to start aging as soon as possible. The AMEX will be backdated so it really doesn't matter when I get it, as opposed to the BoA card.