Questions about my credit and 2 new credit cards

[Anonymous]

Hello! To start off, I am 18 years old and in college. I am obsessed with having a good credit score. I love the thought of starting an awesome financial future. When I turned 18, I went wild and applied for a ton of things, not realizing that I wouldn't get approved for multiple reasons. 1) I wasn't employed (My family gave me money to spend) and 2) I was new to credit... So I applied and applied and applied. Denied over and over. Shocking, right? Not. Anyways, a few months later my mom decided she was going to move and needed to take out a loan in order to get her finances ahead, so i got the idea to get the loan in my name and let her co-sign. We did just that and boom, approved for $1,500! I was so excited. SHe is still making payments on it and it has a good history. I think it's about 5-6 months old now. My mom then applied for a Walmart Credit Card for me and added me as an authorized user. I used it and paid it off constantly. About a month after the first loan, I got another loan... This time to help with the expenses of moving to college. I applied with my mother co-signing and got approved for #2,000.. I also took out student loans. $13,000 from Discover Student Loans and like $3,000 from Financial Aid loans at my school. I was going to get a computer for college and noticed Apple was doing a great promotion with RBS Citizens with 90 days defermnet on payments, so I applied with my uncle as a cosigner (his credit is absolutely perfect) and got approved for up to $4,000. The loan ended up being $3,800 because I got my iMac and my aunt got a MacBook Pro along with an iPad. The deferment JUST ended and we all made the first payment htis month (I paid my part and she paid her part. I don't worry about her not paying her part because it's her husbands credit, so she is going to pay it). So everything is going good there. Well, I decided about 2 weeks ago to apply for Capital One's Journey student card.. Surprisingly, I got approved for $300. I began reading online about people getting approved for the same card twice.. So I applied again right after and got approved for $500. I was pleased because I wanted at least a $500 credit limit so my utilization wouldn't be high. ANyways, I now have these two credit cards and only have about 30% util. on them, but am paying them off every month. (I am employed now by the way). 

I registered for myFICO and got the following scores: EQ: 599 TU: 639 EX: 641

My two credit cards haven't appeared yet, but my inquires have. My question is: will my credit increase because of these cards as long as I'm paying on them in full every month? I don't want to ruin my credit, but I hvae been dying to get a credit card to start my experience with it. My report says I am lacking "revolving account activity" and I should apply for a card: so I did. When it shows, will my score go up as long as I'm using them responsibly? I hate having so many inquires, but I'm just wanting to get the cards and build credit. Now that I have them, I don't need to do any more inquires. I literally have about 30 inquires now. 

[TheGardner]

Yes, your scores will improve almost immediately and likely every month after.

Heads up, you have a lot of loans.. This is why your scores are so low. Between alot of inquiries and large monthly payments your DTI has taken a hit and new lenders may think twice before issuing new credit.

My advice is work on paying all the loans off, allow your 2 cards to age 6 months to a year. Then apply for an Amex (will your uncle make you an AU on his in 2014?) if he can get a 2014 date and you wait 13 months (Jan 2016) you will have a 2 year old account. And apply for a low interest rate cc from a CU for emergencies. Let these age 6 months then get whatever cards you want!

[takeshi74]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I was pleased because I wanted at least a $500 credit limit so my utilization wouldn't be high.

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Keep in mind that you can reduce reported utilization by paying prior to report date (statement date for most cards).

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@Anonymous wrote:

My question is: will my credit increase because of these cards as long as I'm paying on them in full every month?

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Here are the factors that affect scoring:

http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/whatsinyourscore.aspx

In the long run, yes as you're building positive payment history -- the largest slice above.  However, you may take hits in the short term due to the hard pulls (New Credit) and hits to your AAoA (Length of Credit History).  It's dififcult for us to say exactly what will happen to your scores.  Utilization (Amounts Owed) is a major factor but you already seem to be aware of it.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I decided about 2 weeks ago to apply for Capital One's Journey student card.. Surprisingly, I got approved for $300. I began reading online about people getting approved for the same card twice.. So I applied again right after and got approved for $500. I was pleased because I wanted at least a $500 credit limit so my utilization wouldn't be high. ANyways, I now have these two credit cards and only have about 30% util. on them, but am paying them off every month. (I am employed now by the way). 

I registered for myFICO and got the following scores: EQ: 599 TU: 639 EX: 641

My two credit cards haven't appeared yet, but my inquires have. My question is: will my credit increase because of these cards as long as I'm paying on them in full every month? I don't want to ruin my credit, but I hvae been dying to get a credit card to start my experience with it. My report says I am lacking "revolving account activity" and I should apply for a card: so I did. When it shows, will my score go up as long as I'm using them responsibly? I hate having so many inquires, but I'm just wanting to get the cards and build credit. Now that I have them, I don't need to do any more inquires. I literally have about 30 inquires now. 

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You....Got two journey cards?

[Anonymous]

I'm glad my scores will improve. I am wanting to build my credit really well so I won't have to worry about buying a house or a car in the future. 

Yeah, I know I have a lot of loans. THe student loans are in deferment. The Discover one is deffered until I graduate and the Fed Loan is as well, but the Fed Loan doesn't build interest while I"m in school. I am making payments on the loans every month, so they are dropping slowly. I am making more than the miniumum payment on them. The thing I worry most about is next school year.. I am going to have to get another loan or I won't be able to go to school. It will also be deffered though and won't have to be repayed until 2018 or so. I'm not going to apply for any more credit at all of any kind until June/July 2015. That will be for my loan next school year. Other than that, I won't apply for anything else until at least a year and I'll try for the Amex. My uncle doesn't have an Amex, so I can't be added there. 

[TheGardner]

I understand. I was referring more to the discretionary loans that are adding up. During manual review student loans especially in deferment won't hurt too much. But several other loans may raise flags and count harshly towards DTI.

Good luck you sound like you are on the right path!