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@awiser wrote:
"Recently I scored an AARP Signature VISA with excellent terms, because I am a lifetime AARP member despite being only 28. My logic was, why wait till I'm mostly dead to start reaping the benefits?"
50's is mostly dead?
"As soon as a man is born, he begins to die." The average life expectancy is what, 75?
@H4LO wrote:
@djc1puno wrote:just wanted to ask...how recent did you join USAA and how did you join without having a military association?
Wait... So I do my time in the USAF and someone gets approved wiithout any sort of military association? Really?
Everyone serves their community in some way.
@lg8302ch wrote:
sometime less is more...why not focus on "quality" rather than "quantity"
Because I want to snowball credit limit increases on many lines of credit. And because I really like colored plastic. I should probably seek help =P
@H4LO: Up until late Sept. anyone could join USAA as a part-time member and be eligible for credit cards. I was in the AF also but it ticks me off that people with no actual military service whatsoever can join NFCU and I can't.
@Credit-hoarder wrote:@H4LO: Up until late Sept. anyone could join USAA as a part-time member and be eligible for credit cards. I was in the AF also but it ticks me off that people with no actual military service whatsoever can join NFCU and I can't.
Everyone who pays taxes has military service.
That said, we should probably stop haggling over that particular topic and get back to the question I asked - is chaining affiliations and minimum deposits a practical way of getting more credit approvals in per period?
@aestu wrote:
@Credit-hoarder wrote:@H4LO: Up until late Sept. anyone could join USAA as a part-time member and be eligible for credit cards. I was in the AF also but it ticks me off that people with no actual military service whatsoever can join NFCU and I can't.
Everyone who pays taxes has military service.
That said, we should probably stop haggling over that particular topic and get back to the question I asked - is chaining affiliations and minimum deposits a practical way of getting more credit approvals in per period?
What is practical about your goal to crank out new TLs, especially so quickly? Many companies do not like to see so many new accounts and will take AA such as CLD or close the TL completely. Slow and steady wins the race. I understand you're impatient, but gardening is a great thing. It's a proven method that works.
I think you should continue reading the advice provided all over this forum. There's a method to the madness here.
@aestu wrote:So right now, I have zero credit utilization and a ton of recent inquiries. I am starting to get turned down for no other reason than so many inquiries and new accounts. This doesn't particularly worry me, because it will all fall off in a year and I am more concerned with long-term expansion than short-term needs. But it does leave me wondering where to go from here.
The goal here is to "pave over the garden" by using institutional patronage to defeat the inquiry bottleneck, so massive expansion of credit is possible in a much shorter time than usually could be. The real benefit comes five or ten years down the line, when credit lines are individually increased, and what you have, is someone with the income and assets of an ordinary American, but the credit history of a very wealthy person, with all the benefits that could bring.
aestu
Slow down there tiger! You are focusing on the wrong thing... the FICO algorithm rewards quality over quantity.
The FICO algorithm likes to see utilization and managment of a variety of three credit "types" (e.g., mortgage, installment loans like car or personal loans, and revolving credit like credit cards). BUT the MAXIMUM number of major credit cards one should have in order to MAXIMIZE one's FICO score is "3." Now we're talking about maximizing the score... this doesn't mean you'll never have a good score if you go over that. My girlfriend has 5 major credit cards and her score is well over 800, but she has a long, healthy credit history and high CLs to balance out any adverse impact of having 3 vs 5 cards. From what I understand, three (3) major credit cards is supposed to be the magic number to maximize your FICO score. I would think that's more important for someone with a short credit history or who is rebuilding credit. Sounds like what you're doing, hoarding a massive number of credit card accounts, will hurt you in the end. My advice would be to choose your three best cards and cancel the rest.
Don't forget that you'll need to utilize all those cards... not only for CLIs, but also so the accounts won't be canceled due to inactivity... like every 4-6 months. Also to maximize your FICO scores, only have one credit card reporting a balance at a time.
Snowball effect - more per period, more in the long run. I completely don't care about short term credit hits. That and sheer collector's frenzy.
@Milkey wrote:
@aestu wrote:So right now, I have zero credit utilization and a ton of recent inquiries. I am starting to get turned down for no other reason than so many inquiries and new accounts. This doesn't particularly worry me, because it will all fall off in a year and I am more concerned with long-term expansion than short-term needs. But it does leave me wondering where to go from here.
The goal here is to "pave over the garden" by using institutional patronage to defeat the inquiry bottleneck, so massive expansion of credit is possible in a much shorter time than usually could be. The real benefit comes five or ten years down the line, when credit lines are individually increased, and what you have, is someone with the income and assets of an ordinary American, but the credit history of a very wealthy person, with all the benefits that could bring.
aestu
Slow down there tiger! You are focusing on the wrong thing... the FICO algorithm rewards quality over quantity.
The FICO algorithm likes to see utilization and managment of a variety of three credit "types" (e.g., mortgage, installment loans like car or personal loans, and revolving credit like credit cards). BUT the MAXIMUM number of major credit cards one should have in order to MAXIMIZE one's FICO score is "3." Now we're talking about maximizing the score... this doesn't mean you'll never have a good score if you go over that. My girlfriend has 5 major credit cards and her score is well over 800, but she has a long, healthy credit history and high CLs to balance out any adverse impact of having 3 vs 5 cards. From what I understand, three (3) major credit cards is supposed to be the magic number to maximize your FICO score. I would think that's more important for someone with a short credit history or who is rebuilding credit. Sounds like what you're doing, hoarding a massive number of credit card accounts, will hurt you in the end. My advice would be to choose your three best cards and cancel the rest.
Don't forget that you'll need to utilize all those cards... not only for CLIs, but also so the accounts won't be canceled due to inactivity... like every 4-6 months. Also to maximize your FICO scores, only have one credit card reporting a balance at a time.
That makes sense. Is there some sort of basis for this optimal number belief?
It's like there's this huge, awkward frame around a legitimate question.
So let's tear this frame off. The basic question is if joining certain organizations can open doors to certain TLs. Is this a concept so earth-shattering that it's worth proverbially paving over the garden? Not at all. In fact, the OP even includes concepts of "Gardening" in the original question. To quote the OP, " I am starting to get turned down for no other reason than so many inquiries and new accounts. This doesn't particularly worry me, because it will all fall off in a year and I am more concerned with long-term expansion than short-term needs." This a principle of gardening, which is the idea that, given a period of time where one doesn't add new INQ, the negative effects of INQ and new account ding dissipate. IMHO, the OP's plan of letting INQs fall off over time reinforces Gardening concepts and not the opposite.
So let's get to the actual issues. Was joining the AARP just to get a card issued by Chase a good idea? Are the UW standards any different from that card compared to other Chase cards? Are the benefits any better? Now, run the questions again, substituting NRA for AARP and FNBO for Chase. IMHO, I highly doubt the UW standards for those cards are easier, but I also haven't researched them. As for the benefits, I'm not sure how those would compare either. I will say, however, that those would have been questions I would have answers to before joining costly organizations (especially those which don't appear to align with your current goals).
As for CUs, they often have more lenient UW standards. People eligible to join NFCU frequently report success stories with approvals and high CLs.
To the OP, if you truly want credit success, I'd say it's your patience and not your total CLs that you need to build. I was once a young man with a meager 30K income and 30K of revolving credit. It took just one impetuous relationship of mine to turn that into 30K of chapter 7 discharged debt. I'd advise you to simply develop good habits with the TLs you have, if you truly want a bright, better future.
(Edited for typo & clarification)
@aestu wrote:That makes sense. Is there some sort of basis for this optimal number belief?
Yes, corroborating info throughout these boards and my girlfriend's personal research over the past several years on FICO optimization. She learned about the 3 card guideline a couple years ago after she already had five cards. Since her FICO scores are already above 800 she disregards that particular rule. She has an AMX BCE, AMX Green, and VISAs from FNBO, PenFed and Simmons First.