Credit Cards

[thrasher865]

I didn't even have to recon.  On my way home from work I got a call and the CSR just needed some info.  A work number, and an address verification.  He said I was approved for $3000!  No biggie for some, but that's my highest limit yet!

FirstTennessee Visa - $1100

AMEX Blue Cash - $2000

Discover More - $3000

Think Chase will give me something with $4000?

But, in all seriousness I think two new cards and $5000 in new credit for one week is enough.  I just never thought about expanding my collection until I came here.  I thought my installment loans were building more credit than cards would.  Now I've found it's quite the opposite.

I am really excited to see what happens to my score.  I went from almost 20% utilization and $1100 limit (if you dont include some random revolving account that I dont know the details for, see my other thread) to now about 2.5% utilization and $6100.  Two new cards for only two hard inquiries.  Maybe my inquiries wont even be on the same bureau.  I realize I shouldnt expect an increase due to adding two brand spankin new accounts, but I'm thinkin long term, baby!

Peace, thanks for the help!

[shelby127]

WTG Thrasher!!!  Discover must be feeling pretty friendly right now cuz I can definitely see the love going around.

[thrasher865]

Seems I need to bump this.  I thought I needed to have half of my credit cards balance free, but now I know I need to have half my total accounts carrying a balance.  I have two installment loans and 3 credit cards....  One of my cards has a balance I'm paying on that should be paid off in a few months, but until then I'm carrying a balance on 3/5 assuming I remember to pay off the AMEX before the statement posts every month.

Having just applied and been approved for an AMEX and Discover in the same week, should I bite the bullet and apply for another card now?  Or should I just give it time, because I have the balance on my Visa well under control and it will be paid off very shortly.

Maybe I should get a MC and complete "the cycle." 

[haulingthescoreup]

No particular hurry. A lot of these "rules" are less important for those first starting out with credit.

Once your new cards report (and it takes AmEx a while), you might look under the sofa cushions for change to pull your TU report, and see what it lists as your negatives on screen 2. You can do the same with the EQ that you have now. They are listed in order of what hurts your credit the most, from the top down. If you get a message about "too many accounts with balances", that's a reflection of the half or fewer of all accounts/ fewer than half of all revolving accounts thing. But again, it might not be a factor, or much of one, for those with short files (not much history.)

[wmarat]

They pulled TU on me.

[Timothy]

EX for me (like everyone else)

[thrasher865]

Discover pulled my TU report.

FYI I'm in TN.  That's good for me and may be why I got approved for a higher limit than AMEX, or it may not be.  I signed up for a trial of "creditsecure" through AMEXs website.  It monitors all three bureaus and gives fake scores monthly.  If it would give me scores, even fake ones, on a more consistent basis, I'd keep it past the trial.  It's 11.95/month

Anyway, from that I see that all three CRs are the same except I have 1 inq on EX, 1 inq on TU (Discover) and 8 inq on EQ!

So it appears EQ is the most important score to keep up...   I know from scorewatch my real EQ as of 05/21 was 714.  Think the other two may be higher?  I bet 8 inquiries pulls the score down.

I'm gonna stop apping, I guess.  It appears I got lucky this past week.  I had no inquiries on EX or TU.  AMEX pulled EX and Discover pulled TU.  I bet those 8 inqs would've scared amex away with their tail between their legs.

Another thing real quick.  Equifax is showing "no data" for all my monthly account info on every single one of my accounts that the other two show "ok" from month to month.  Could this be a problem with AMEXs program?  Or a problem with Equifax?  Too bad scorewatch doesn't show me this info on my report......

Message Edited by thrasher865 on 06-05-2008 06:15 AM

[haulingthescoreup]

---

thrasher865 wrote:

Another thing real quick.  Equifax is showing "no data" for all my monthly account info on every single one of my accounts that the other two show "ok" from month to month.  Could this be a problem with AMEXs program?  Or a problem with Equifax?  Too bad scorewatch doesn't show me this info on my report......

---

Are you looking at a TrueCredit report, or maybe another 3-in-1 credit monitoring service? EQ always displays like that on TC. Check where it gives the date of most recent activity, and as long as it's reasonably current, you're fine.

Things don't always map properly from the original reports to the secondary reports, so you get hiccups like this.


edit to add: Discover pulled TU in Tennessee? TU, on which I have no inquiries??

must - resist - don't - need - reaging - again...

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 06-05-2008 08:00 AM

[thrasher865]

---

haulingthescoreup wrote:

edit to add: Discover pulled TU in Tennessee? TU, on which I have no inquiries??

must - resist - don't - need - reaging - again...

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 06-05-2008 08:00 AM

---

lol DO IT!

This was through AMEXs 3 credit monitoring service, CreditSecure.  I'll just assume its a hiccup.  It shows for all revolving accounts, but the other 2 bureaus show up as OKs.

[mcsmith17]

Careful, another Tennesseean here, as well.  They pulled EX on me Monday.  It's my worst report, but luckily I had an "invitation" to apply and was instantly approved for a $3000 Discover More card.