How long does a new card affect your score?

[Zanarov]

The good news is I no longer have a thin file with CK (My score when I opened was 719 but could not update due to thin file)

Well my Amex charge card just reported and my score dropped 72 points....granted its just CK and my real score might be different but wow.

How long before this changes? I wanted to apply for the BCP in January but my score now sits at 657, in addition next month my Citi card will report as well :s so it might drop some more D:

WF Plat 1.5k $200

Amex Zync NPSL $18

Coming Soon Citi Plat Select $500

Thanks for the help!

[djrez4]

Credit Karma is a decent tool for tracking your credit info, but completely useless as a score estimator.  It's currently about 50 points lower than my actual FICO for Transunion.

Given your history, it makes sense to wait a bit longer to apply for the BCP.  Your other limits are too small to support it and you won't have built a history with the Amex after 3 cycles in January.  Give it at least 6 months with the Zync, or, better yet, wait until January 2014 for optimum backdating.

[crunching_numbers]

Unfortunately this is not a set answer. Several factors are involved that impact your FICO. 

First, a new account will lower your average age of account. This has a negative impact on your score, but how much of an impact is dependent on how many accounts you already have and how old they are. Only time will help bring the number back up.

Second, the inquiry may affect your score. you will get those points back within a year, and most of it back within 6 months. 

Third, a new account will positively affect your utility.  This is dependent on the balances on all your cards added together as compared to your total credit lines. This number is calculatecafe rom the balance that is reported monthly and can be manipulated to increase your FICO. There are many posts about how to best position yourself to maximize your score.

Fourthly, when reviewing your credit, credit card companies look at accounts opened within the last year. Some companies are very sensitive to this type of activity. 

[jsickz32]

From june to august i opened 15 new accounts and my scores went up 2 points on EX(675 to 677) and EQ(676 to 678) TU tho went up more from 678 to 698. I got my scores from walmart, DCU and my recent denial from amex for the SPG lol

[Zanarov]

Thanks for the info...it seems the damage is mostly due to my AAoA dropping form 9 months to three months with the new cards. The reason I wanted to apply for the BCP is the backdating to Jan 2012. It's possible that I will need to take student loans for my last year of college so I wanted to increase my scores as much as possible to get the best rate.

From my understanding it meant that I need atleast 3-4 cards reporting with 1-2 years AAoA, getting the BCP in January would defnitly help my AAoA, and even if I dont get it it will only be a soft pull, I wil lthen simply wait till Jan 2014 as you suggested.

[ard991]

From what I understand AAoA for FICO scores rounds down the year, and anything less than one year rounds up to a year.

So basically from AAoA of 1 month to 23 months, it reports age as 1 year.  So if I understand correctly, your FICO won't improve due to AAoA until it hits 24 months.  CK doesn't take this into consideration, and so CK does have a difference between 3 months or 15 months, etc.  As others say, the CK score itself really doesn't mean anything.