Help with what to do next (19 Years Old)

[CastroDisastro]

Hello all, I am a 19 year old university student. I've been on this site a lot, just reading, and I decided to make an account here for some advice. 

I currently only have one credit card, a Discover IT card with a $650 limit, with a 713 credit score from Discover's provided score tracker (so it's a TU fico score). I applied for and received this card last year in August, with my first statement covering September to October. I have 7 statements from Discover reported to all three credit bureuas, each with utilization ranging from 4%-9%.  I haven't looked up my score with annualcreditreport.com yet, as my credit is too new (less than a year old). I've heard that around the 6th month of opening your first credit card, it's a good idea to apply to more.

So along with my Discover IT, I've been wanting to apply additionally for Citi Dividend for Students, Capital One Journey (because I heard after about a year of letting Journey report, you can upgrade/ask for it to be upgraded to the Quicksilver card with 1.5% cashback), Chase Freedom (after I've built credit for like 1 year to 1.5 years, or until all my inquireies fall off), and a credit card from a credit union (probably Lake Michigan, because I can't get into the Fort Knox credit union).

So my question is: Should I apply right now for just one credit card (Citi being my first one I'd apply for)? Or should I apply on the same day for both Citi and Capital One? I wanted to wait until a little later to open a Chase credit card since they don't like people with really new credit accounts, and I am going to wait a little for the credit union one as well.

P.S. I have student loans being used since I am attending a university. Right now, they amount to around $4000. Will this really affect me since I am still in school? They are all subsidized loans. Do loans ever affect credit card applications once they reach a certain point?

EDIT: The only inquiries on my account are for Discover IT from last year. If student loans count as inquiries, then that'll be on there too, but nothing else. No mortgages, car loans, etc.

[Creditaddict]

I would skip both cards you are talking about... I would bet you could skip ahead to. Some of your 1.5 year mark cards!!

i would go to chase.com and check through the pre-qual they offer and see if you get offer for freedom.

i would do same for capital one

and even American Express you might be able to qualify for blue everyday or cash everyday, depending what might be useful.

i would also check discover for a sp cli but wouldn't do hp with the until after you get some other cards and then ask them for a nice big cli

[CastroDisastro]

So how do pre-qualified offer checks work? Does it just check their database to see if I meet the requirements for the card, or does it check their system to see if they were going to send me an offer anyway? Does my data get saved for future applications, or is it just a one time check to see if I qualify? Do these checks count as an inquiry to my account?

[Creditaddict]

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@CastroDisastro wrote:

So how do pre-qualified offer checks work? Does it just check their database to see if I meet the requirements for the card, or does it check their system to see if they were going to send me an offer anyway? Does my data get saved for future applications, or is it just a one time check to see if I qualify?

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It may pull sp to see if you qualify now or check current offers out for you.

i find the chase, capitalone, Barclay, citi to be pretty accurate offers and chances of approval.

just looks for a congrats type message not hey no offers but you might like the following!

[Closingracer]

I applied for my discover it card in June of last year got a $750 Credit limit and then applied for the Amazon store card in August for $400. Applied to toe Amex Blue cash everyday card in November for $1k and then the amazon visa Card for $500 in Feburary. Also asked for Credit limit increases ( Amazon store card was a soft pull ) for Amazon store card to $700 and Discover card to $1k so it would match my Amex ( I wasn't Greedy but figured bringing it up to $1k was fair). I also have a lot of Hard pulls on my Credit report mostly from Last year going on 2 sprees  and i believe i have like err 15-20 lol ( Credit Karma says 12) and then 1 from T-mobile Which doesn't show up on my Experian one.  Chase like 1 yr plus from what i heard and Citi won't take me simply because of the amount of inquires ( says so on the rejection letter) I have also ranged in Utalization from 1% to 60% and currently around 13% paying off a balance on my Discover card since i have a 0% APR and had to buy a new TV.   I would look at all the Pre-qualified offers you can find and if you are sign up for those. I was pre-qualified for my Discover since it was a mail in form but I winged it on the other cards i have 

[CastroDisastro]

I just tried the prequalification with Capital One, American Express, & Chase, with all of them saying that there are no available cards for me. Any suggestions with my previous ideas?

[Creditaddict]

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@CastroDisastro wrote:

I just tried the prequalification with Capital One, American Express, & Chase, with all of them saying that there are no available cards for me. Any suggestions with my previous ideas?

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I would apply for an American Express preferred rewards gold charge card.

check pre-qual on citicards.com

[CastroDisastro]

It was a no go on the Citi site as well. No pre qualified cards for me either. I like American Express, but am opposed to getting it, due to the $175 annual fee after the first year. I guess I can just stick with my original plan of applying for Citi Dividend for Students and maybe Capital One Journey.

Do you think I should apply to both at the same time so that the inquiries wear off at the same time?

[Closingracer]

Get the blue cash card no annual fee and if they accepted me why not you?

[Creditaddict]

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@CastroDisastro wrote:

It was a no go on the Citi site as well. No pre qualified cards for me either. I like American Express, but am opposed to getting it, due to the $175 annual fee after the first year. I guess I can just stick with my original plan of applying for Citi Dividend for Students and maybe Capital One Journey.

Do you think I should apply to both at the same time so that the inquiries wear off at the same time?

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I would risk a couple inquiries to go after a blue cash or the new every day Amex and a chase freedom or amazon before a capital one!

if declined both (I doubt) then back to cap1 journey idea