How many Credit Cards I should have?

[Anonymous]

I just graduated too! 22 years old and have 24 trade lines with scores around 760

If you app I would in a spree to make sure those inquires fall off at the same time. I like that fact.

I would get in with AMEX, sallie Mae for gas and groceries, cap one QS, not the QS one, and chase freedom/csp combo

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello leoment

Thank you so much for your reply, I really appreciate that. I have the QuickSilver card for about 2 years and just applied the Apple Reward for 3 months, because I want to finance the apple product with 0 interest. QuickSilver One has very simple rules, that's why I like that. After I applied the Apple Reward Cards, my score dropped huge from 739 to 703. But I recently consider it's time for me to take the full 5% benefit but I'm really afraid of the score drop again since I start looking other apartments. 

Maybe I should stop there and wait like 12 months later? 

Thank you so much again. 

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87.5 cards. 

Realistically, your big drop was probably the result of your relatively thin profile. The more cards you have, the lower the impacts for an individual application.

As with the others, I would avoid apping for anything until after you move and sign the lease. After that, go to town (if you want to). Are AAoA is pretty low, so this may be one of those cases where getting lots of store cards may be helpful. I would apply for any card that you will ACTUALLY USE. QS One is a good base card. You might want to try for Sallie Mae, as it is an excellent grocery/gas/Amazon card for single people/students. Discover IT is another fantastic card, which also provides a FICO score and lets you use Discover Deals for added discounts. I have Chase AARP for my default restaurant card, although it is worth looking to see if uPromise by Sallie Mae may be better for you. 

Apple is what is called a store card. You can only use it at the issuing store. Lowes is a great one, because you get 5% back and you can get really high limits. Some people stock up on store cards early in order to mitigate the AAoA hit later on, but never use them, so there are no fees. They just keep those cards "in the sock drawer," which, as I'm sure you can imagine, just means putting them in a safe place where you won't touch them. 

I think that I would start getting a list together of the cards you want. Put the hardest to get/most desireable cards at the top. Then, you just start applying for them, going down the list until you start getting rejected. Once that happens, you stop. You'll probably take a big hit to your score, but it will recover pretty quickly. Given your AAoA right now, I'd guess that you get it back after 6 months, and accelerate after that. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

An apartment credit check is no big deal. They just run a bureau and verify employment and that is it.

I would suggest at least 6-7 cards for a well rounded bureau. App for cards that run different bureaus to spread out the inquiries. 

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+1 Property managers don't really care about score. As long as the file is clean, there won't be an issue.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

An apartment credit check is no big deal. They just run a bureau and verify employment and that is it.

I would suggest at least 6-7 cards for a well rounded bureau. App for cards that run different bureaus to spread out the inquiries. 

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+1 Property managers don't really care about score. As long as the file is clean, there won't be an issue.

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One thing I want to add as a DC resident....credit checks really don't mean much here. Under DC law, a landlord can't charge you more than one months rent as a security deposit anyway. Anything over one months rent is an illegal deposit and is grounds to get your lease terminated.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

An apartment credit check is no big deal. They just run a bureau and verify employment and that is it.

I would suggest at least 6-7 cards for a well rounded bureau. App for cards that run different bureaus to spread out the inquiries. 

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Thank you for telling me this. That sounds good!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Your probably saw a big score drop for inquiry because your credit file is so thin and history is short . You won't see as big of a drop this time . You might even see a gain . But really don't worry about the score so much cuz you need at least 3 TL if you ever plan on buying a home .

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That's exactly the problem! 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello leoment

Thank you so much for your reply, I really appreciate that. I have the QuickSilver card for about 2 years and just applied the Apple Reward for 3 months, because I want to finance the apple product with 0 interest. QuickSilver One has very simple rules, that's why I like that. After I applied the Apple Reward Cards, my score dropped huge from 739 to 703. But I recently consider it's time for me to take the full 5% benefit but I'm really afraid of the score drop again since I start looking other apartments. 

Maybe I should stop there and wait like 12 months later? 

Thank you so much again. 

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Congrats on graduating college! I live in DC too. Whereabouts are you considering moving to? I recommend Rosslyn, as taxes are lower. If you really want to live in DC though, I recommend either Waterfront (it's a gentrified area), Shaw or Columbia Heights. I take it you either graduated from AU or GW? Congrats either way.

Anyway, to answer your question, the Apple financing from Barclaycard is relatively worthless, aside from Apple products. I would actually recommend you look at Chase Freedom instead of Discover It. Freedom is also a 5% category card, but it's a Visa. In DC, I recommend always having a Visa or Mastercard (or both!). Many places here take AmEx or Discover, but I would always rather be safe than sorry.

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Hello, I really appreciate your precious opinion! I'm living in Arlington now, but I really don't like the my current apartment, very pricey and really not worth it. I graduated from AU! Haha.