Hey everyone, me again. As some of you probably know by now, I'm fairly new to the credit game.
Some background on me: 22 college student, transffering to university Jan 2015. Currently working making around 10K a year.
Currently I have 7 inquiries on my record. Six of them will be 1 yr+ in age at the end of the year. These are the only "negative" things on my report, no deragatory marks.
I'm currently AU on two AU accounts that I manage (they're my mothers, but she wants me to build her credit so we're on the same page) - 1 Chase Freedom 1000CL, 1 CapOne Platinum 750CL.
I also have a 300CL CapOne Journey card and a student loan that I recently took out to establish a payment history. The loan is government subsidzed so there is no interest (long as I'm in school) and its a Stafford loan so no inquiry.
All 4 of these tradelines were opened recently, 1-2 months ago. So my AAoA is very low.
I've been thinking of opening some secured tradelines enhance my credit building, but don't want the inquiries on my account so considered not to add those.
I'm VERY responsible, I will never miss a payment unless I somehow end in a hospital or something like that, so that's taken care of. I also pay off my balances, I don't spend unless I have the cash on hand to back the spending.
My current goal is to get my own Chase Freedom card, I currently have a checking/savings with Chase.
Now to the question, what would you credit gurus do if you were in my position? Would you just garden? For how long?
Once again, any insight is highly appreciated. Thanks!
@kostyan1992 wrote:Hey everyone, me again. As some of you probably know by now, I'm fairly new to the credit game.
Some background on me: 22 college student, transffering to university Jan 2015. Currently working making around 10K a year.
Currently I have 7 inquiries on my record. Six of them will be 1 yr+ in age at the end of the year. These are the only "negative" things on my report, no deragatory marks.
I'm currently AU on two AU accounts that I manage (they're my mothers, but she wants me to build her credit so we're on the same page) - 1 Chase Freedom 1000CL, 1 CapOne Platinum 750CL.
I also have a 300CL CapOne Journey card and a student loan that I recently took out to establish a payment history. The loan is government subsidzed so there is no interest (long as I'm in school) and its a Stafford loan so no inquiry.
All 4 of these tradelines were opened recently, 1-2 months ago. So my AAoA is very low.
I've been thinking of opening some secured tradelines enhance my credit building, but don't want the inquiries on my account so considered not to add those.
I'm VERY responsible, I will never miss a payment unless I somehow end in a hospital or something like that, so that's taken care of. I also pay off my balances, I don't spend unless I have the cash on hand to back the spending.
My current goal is to get my own Chase Freedom card, I currently have a checking/savings with Chase.
Now to the question, what would you credit gurus do if you were in my position? Would you just garden? For how long?
Once again, any insight is highly appreciated. Thanks!
At first I was going to say yes. But 2 of the 4 are AU accounts and one is an installment loan, not a revolving credit line.
Do you know what your current credit score is? Are you a full time student at a community college now?
If you're a FT student (you said you had a studnet loan) you may qualify for Discover's student card. A couple of my cousins are FT at a community college and they were eligibile. Other cards may require you to be an enrolled student at a 4 year college or university. Since that is likely 9 months away if you do not qualify for a student card I would start looking into a secured card and then STOP.
That will put 2 AU accounts on your credit report, 2 individual owner accounts and 1 installment loan. Building credit will take time but that will be a good start.
NFCU nCashRewards VISA - $20,000 | NFCU nRewards $10,000Experian.com FAKO is showing as 717. CK/Quizzle/CS all thin file.
I'm currently not full time but I will be from now on. Also heard discover student card is only for university students.
Thanks for reply!
I would garden until all inquiries are a year old. Chase wants to see credit history so with your history any inquiry there will be wasted. Credit isn't a race it's a journey.
Discover IT $17k / US Bank Ace (VSig) $13.5K / US Bank Cash+ (VSig) $13.5k
All you need is one credit card in your name. Then use it lightly (less than 10%) every month and pay in full. And wait 12 months. You don't need to rack up HP's getting starter cards that you will eventually discard anyways. Or trivial starting limits that you will have to use more HP's trying for credit limit increases.
Thats how I started, and even though I didn't know any better and let the card report 0 balance before I started applying for good cards, my FICO score was 732 after the 12 months.
Just remember that the FICO score is only part of the equation. You need to have income, and no baddies on your record, etc.
Chase Freedom is OK I guess. I don't use it nearly as much as I thought I would. Sallie Mae Rewards card is my go-to card.
Just garden for now since a lot of recent activity (hard pulls, new cards) has taken place. Also take the time to reconsider the freedom, rotating categories are annoying to keep up with and register for, plus they have caps. Also 5% may seem a lot but consider that 5% on a few movie tickets with a spending limit cap for a quarter of year compared to 2% on everything with no spending limit cap is no comparison. For example let's say I bought for some odd reason 500 dollars of movie tickets during that 5% rotation (consider again 500 dollars of movie tickets is ridiculous lol), that's 25 dollars cash back. However if I have a 2% on everything card, 2% on an annual spend of 30000 is 600 dollars. Just a light example, consider your options.
@JoshuaHolySpirit wrote:Why Chase freedom again? Maybe other cards? ...even a Secured BOA? (1 hp to burn with 7 inq's not much of a difference=to get what you want)
If that isn't cool, I'd garden, get to the Univ in a few months and then app for other student cards........
Just like Chase Freedom, guess it isn't as great when compared to cards like Sallie Mae which offer 5% cashback on gas the whole year. That's a good point.
As far as the BOA secured, I've been thinking about that too.. is it worth the 1 inquiry if I make a really good deposit? Lets just say 2K-5K. From what I understand, the way their secured cards work is that you first apply for the unsecured, if that doesn't go through they offer you the secured version. Anyone have any opinions on this? Would take me up to 8 inquiries. Thanks.
@ACsteel wrote:Just garden for now since a lot of recent activity (hard pulls, new cards) has taken place. Also take the time to reconsider the freedom, rotating categories are annoying to keep up with and register for, plus they have caps. Also 5% may seem a lot but consider that 5% on a few movie tickets with a spending limit cap for a quarter of year compared to 2% on everything with no spending limit cap is no comparison. For example let's say I bought for some odd reason 500 dollars of movie tickets during that 5% rotation (consider again 500 dollars of movie tickets is ridiculous lol), that's 25 dollars cash back. However if I have a 2% on everything card, 2% on an annual spend of 30000 is 600 dollars. Just a light example, consider your options.
I agree about the Chase Freedom not being the best option, I'll take a look into other cards, thanks! Also, the only recent hard pull that I have is the CapOne which gave me the Student Journey Rewards.
Made the decision of just gardening for now. Will try for something nice when I transffer to university in Jan 2015. Thanks everyone.