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Pre-approved for Bank of America cash rewards card/credit utilization/store cards

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Steelersboy
Frequent Contributor

Pre-approved for Bank of America cash rewards card/credit utilization/store cards

Hi to all. Hope everyone is doing well. I got some great advice on my last question, so I figured I'd milk this one as a three in one so as to not make three separate posts.

 

 

So today I received a letter saying that I have been pre-approved for a Bank of America cash rewards card (must reply by August 29th) because of my "excellent credit history". I'm an authorized user on a Capital One Card, I'll be getting my next Capital One card in the mail soon, and the "hard inquiry" from Capital did not affect my score, not sure how it will affect my score once it is listed as a new line of credit though. A user told me that in order to get a mortgage next year, I'd need at least three lines of credit to show mortgage banks that I have a good history of payments. What do you think of this?

 

Second, I have read where experts have said that I don't need to carry a balance every month to improve my credit score.  FICO consumer affairs manager Barry Paperno says that the lower the utilization the better, but something is better than nothing, which means I would need a utilization over 0%, however, I prefer to pay a balance in full every month. Your thoughts?

 

One more question. I shop at Amazon and Walmart regularly. Would getting a storecard from each be beneficial? If the answer is yes, I would apply for them with some space in between applications so I would not have too many inquiries in such a short amount of time (same with BOA card)? Thoughts? Thank you!


If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest. - Benjamin Franklin |Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards|Chase Amazon Visa Rewards|BOA Cash Rewards|Commence MC| Citi Double Cash| Amazon Prime Store Card|Discover It|Chase Freedom|Chase Freedom Unlimited|Amex BCE|Wells Fargo Cash Wise|Barclays Cashforward
$89,500 total card credit FICO Equifax-823, FICO Transunion-774, FICO Experian-769, DTI-20.4%
Message 1 of 3
2 REPLIES 2
armbenderc
Valued Contributor

Re: Pre-approved for Bank of America cash rewards card/credit utilization/store cards


@Steelersboy wrote:

Hi to all. Hope everyone is doing well. I got some great advice on my last question, so I figured I'd milk this one as a three in one so as to not make three separate posts.

 

 

So today I received a letter saying that I have been pre-approved for a Bank of America cash rewards card (must reply by August 29th) because of my "excellent credit history". I'm an authorized user on a Capital One Card, I'll be getting my next Capital One card in the mail soon, and the "hard inquiry" from Capital did not affect my score, not sure how it will affect my score once it is listed as a new line of credit though. A user told me that in order to get a mortgage next year, I'd need at least three lines of credit to show mortgage banks that I have a good history of payments. What do you think of this?

 

Second, I have read where experts have said that I don't need to carry a balance every month to improve my credit score.  FICO consumer affairs manager Barry Paperno says that the lower the utilization the better, but something is better than nothing, which means I would need a utilization over 0%, however, I prefer to pay a balance in full every month. Your thoughts?

 

One more question. I shop at Amazon and Walmart regularly. Would getting a storecard from each be beneficial? If the answer is yes, I would apply for them with some space in between applications so I would not have too many inquiries in such a short amount of time (same with BOA card)? Thoughts? Thank you!


If you are getting a mortgage next year, you will have time to garden your new card in my opinion. Having more TL on CRs is ideal, I would say more than 2. I have 13 TL and some have more or less.

 

You don't need to carry massive amount of balance to have good FICO score, you would need 1-9% of total util is ideal. In my case, I am at 1% util and got good score out of it. Key is to have high total CL, so when you do carry balance on ONE card only your util is between 1-9% and no more than 30% on that one card (I may be wrong on this one).

 

The Walmart CC will give you free TU08 score, many people on here got it just for that. However, the card itself do offer some 0% financing on big items, TV, laptop, etc. It also offers .15cent off Walmart gas station. The CLI on it is amazing, as GE is very generous once you have establish your payment with them.

 

BoA, so far, is great. I heard a lot of good thing about it. However, AA can happen with any lender if your credit profile suddenly changes. The BoA BankAmericard Cash rewards is amazing.

2013 Approvals: Discover IT - 3/1, Amex BCE - 3/4, CSP - 5/4, Barclay Ring - 6/12, BoA Privileges Cash - 6/27, Citi TY Preferred - 8/6, OCCU Duck - 11/4, USBank (Cash+) - 11/22, Wells Fargo - 12/21, Nordstrom - 12/29

12/19/2013, $100k+ Available Credit. Total Util: 0-1%
Message 2 of 3
Steelersboy
Frequent Contributor

Re: Pre-approved for Bank of America cash rewards card/credit utilization/store cards

Thank you!


If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest. - Benjamin Franklin |Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards|Chase Amazon Visa Rewards|BOA Cash Rewards|Commence MC| Citi Double Cash| Amazon Prime Store Card|Discover It|Chase Freedom|Chase Freedom Unlimited|Amex BCE|Wells Fargo Cash Wise|Barclays Cashforward
$89,500 total card credit FICO Equifax-823, FICO Transunion-774, FICO Experian-769, DTI-20.4%
Message 3 of 3
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