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After living in CC debt for more than five years, and ending up with over $10,000 owed about 18 months ago, I think I will be CC-debt free in about five months. This has helped me to learn discipline, and I know I will never be so careless with my money again.
That being said, I know that having a good FICO score is important when I do need credit - say for an auto loan, or refinancing a mortgage. Should I consider adding another CC account just to raise the score? Would it? Perhaps something with some rewards that might be useful? (I also have Chase and Discover rewards cards.) Is there any benefit to this?
Chase - 7/08 - $45.00 - $7500 CL
Chase - 7/05 - $0.00 (used to be WAMU card) - $2600 CL
Discover - 9/02 $0.00 - $10,600 CL
Cap 1 - 7/08 $0.00 - $7500 CL
BofA - 7/08 $2500.00 - $7500 CL
Thanks!
ace - have you tried to use the FICO estimator? It wont' give you an exact score, but will provide an accurate range based upon certain factors.
You can plug in number of accounts, level of debt, age of newest account, etc.
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=rebuildingcredit&thread.id=60929
HOW MANY INQUIRIES DO YOU HAVE? New ones will lower your score temporarily If you get another card it will lower for awhile. why do you need another card? better to let them age and keep utilization under 7%. There are no quick fixes.
PS: pay down your BOFA.
I know I need to pay down the BofA. It goes off of a year-long 0% BT on June 1st. That 0% rate really helped me to pay that down, instead of paying interest on it. I have 2 offers on my Discover to BT - 2.99% until 9/09 with 4% fee, and 3.99% until 3/10 with 4% fee. On the other hand, I have a Cap1 offer to BT at my existing rate at 7.9% forever with no fee. To mee, the Cap1 offer is best, because the other upfront fees could be looked at as "prepaid interest", which I won't have to pay if I can pay off the Cap1 card. Do you agree that this is the best route?
Thanks!