How often should I apply for new cards and some other questions

[Anonymous]

A little background as I am just starting to build up credit:

I was recently approved for the Discover It Blue card with a limit of $1000. My TU score is 656.

I don't have any collections, bankruptcy, judgements, etc. on my credit report. I do have about ~37k in student loans that I am paying down comfortably, and I had 2 late payments last year on my Gap card in addition to 4 late payments on an American Eagle card. I ended up closing the accounts in December (This was before I knew this was bad for my credit score.) My average account history is 5 years, and other than the retail cards, are 100% on-time payments. So, I'm hoping I can get this score up to prime within 4 years? My husband and I own our home, but we are hoping to upgrade at that time.

Anyways, I just activated my Discover card today and I already have plans to set up one of my bills on auto-pay such as Netflix with this card, and then set-up auto pay with my bank account to the card after the billing statement so that the card just takes care of itself. Does this sound like a good enough plan for my 4 year goal or do I need to do more?

I talked to my husband about applying for some type of visa or mastercard in a few months, but he's against the idea of having anymore credit cards (He has a Chase Sapphire and Care Credit). What do you guys think? If it's best to have more than one card, how often should I apply for a new card so to offset the hard pulls?

[Revelate]

Welcome to the forums!

If we're talking long-term, I'd suggest 3 cards at a minimum.  As for when, right now would be fine.  Inquiries are minor damage (sometimes zero) but it's generally better to get tradelines established as early as possible when we're talking about scoring over a 4 year time horizon and the inquiry damage only lasts a year.

The auto-pay plan is just fine, you want an anything on your credit cards to keep showing usage, and as long as the payments are never missed, never late, and never less than the minimum (though personally I recommend paying it all off every month), will be fine.

How bad were the lates?  Big difference in scoring between a 30 day late and a 120 day one, and depending on the severity, while you almost assuredly will be able to qualify for a mortgage, might not be an ideal rate if we're talking a 90+ day late which is a significant derogatory.

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much! They were between 30-60 days late, but never over 60. I just keep forgetting about those cards.