Should I Garden?

[Anonymous]

I'm looking to buy my first car in Feb.  I'm wondering if I should cool it on the new accounts or take advantage of some of the pre-qual offers I've been getting to beef my file(and scores) up before going for the car.

I currently have:

CAP 1 Journey: $850 Limit(Opened Feb 2011. CLI from $750 last week)

CAP 1 QS: 4K Limit(Opened March 2015. Just got 1K CLI last month)

CHASE Slate: 3200 Limit(Opened Oct 2015)

I feel like I have respectable limits, but I know I need more accounts. Citi sends me a pre-qual offer like every day. Capital One has sent a few car loan pre-qual letters and even a email for a home loan last month. I've also been getting lots of personal loan offers. Credit Karma thinks I have very good odds at getting a Barclaycard Rewards MasterCard or Good odds with the Amex Everyday.....I really don't know which way I should go at this point. 

CK is showing TU at 632(Showed 660s last month) and EQU at 627(Showed 640s last month), but I take their scores with a grain of salt. 

Thanks for any and all replies in advance!!

[Anonymous]

I'm going to forego answering at the moment, but will place a wager that the hordes are about to demand to know your credit scores, if not more!

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I'm going to forego answering at the moment, but will place a wager that the hordes are about to demand to know your credit scores, if not more!

---

Advice taken!

[gdale6]

If it were I, I would hold off on any new credit cards until I have finalized my car loan. Opening new accounts now is most likely going to drop your Fico score for awhile and could affect the rate you get on the auto loan. Those scores you get from CK are Vantage 3.0 scores and only a few lenders may use them. Welcome to myFico  

[Anonymous]

I would hold off for now. After you get the whole car shopping done then start checking pre-quals and whatever cards you feel are worth apping for. I would probably garden until your scores go up enough for higher level cards with better bonuses. You probably don't really needs the Barclays and you will eventually be able to do better with Amex if you wait for your scores to rise.

[Dalmus]

I agree with everyone else so far.  Cool it on the new accounts for as long as you can before you apply for a car loan.

You WILL be able to get a car loan no matter what you do and almost no matter what your score, but showing restraint will save you big money on the loan's APR.  Once you have a car loan under your belt with a couple on-time payments, that opens more doors, too.

[Anonymous]

---

@gdale6 wrote:

If it were I, I would hold off on any new credit cards until I have finalized my car loan. Opening new accounts now is most likely going to drop your Fico score for awhile and could affect the rate you get on the auto loan. Those scores you get from CK are Vantage 3.0 scores and only a few lenders may use them. Welcome to myFico  

---

+1

[Anonymous]

Your scores are basically immaterial. Any inqs will drop your score. Any new accounts will drop your AAoA, which will drop your score. Just chill and let your accounts age. You have the three cards that is the ideal, so you are in as good shape as you're going to be for your loan.