What would you do if you were me?

[jeremy032180]

668 EQ score from MyFico.com Scorewatch (creditkarma and credit.com have me at 698 FAKO's)

I currently have 1 auto loan (around 4.5k left on it) that I've never made a late payment about 1.5 years old, and 1 secured Cap One card (I leave 5-8% utilization of $301.00 limit) that I've never missed a payment on, also around 1.5 years old.

I'd like to get a house at some point, and have been looking into FHA Loans.  I entered some info into LendingTree (no SS# or anything) and based on what I entered, they said I should get approved.  But I want my credit scores in the 700's.  

I've seen some sites saying you should have 22 credit lines (this seems wrong to me, but I'm not sure) so I'm looking to add 1 or 2, depending on your guys advice.  I could use some furniture, so I've thought of applying with Value City.  I could also use a new pc so I've thought about applying with Best Buy (I've read bad things about Dell financing).  I see a lot of people here like Walmart cards.  I also get a lot of mail from Discover/AMEX/Citi telling me I should apply with them.

What do you guys think?  Should I apply for 1, 2, 3?  Should I do it all within a day so my score doesn't take as big a hit?  Should I do the store cards or the 'big boys'?

Thanks in advance, it's because of this site and it's members that I've managed to climb as high as I have so far.

[pizzadude]

Moving to credit cards forum

[Kenny]

Never hurts to get the Wal-Mart -- either discover or store card.. the free fico and then they have free financing deals all the time.

The dell financing isn't BAD you just need to utilize their financing PROMOs and pay them off before the end because if you don't you'll be paying some serious money. Plus, they seem very lenient and generous with the CLs.

Never hurts to apply for one starter prime card, IMO.

I'll leave the rest of the advice to the pro pros.

[longtimelurker]

22 credit lines seems like a very arbitrary number!   I would use the more precise term, you need "a few".   But I would think 3 revolving credit lines, well managed, with maybe other stuff such as auto/student loans (open or closed) is enough for mortgage lenders.   It's much more based on score, payment history, DTI etc than any magic number of cards. 

[jeremy032180]

Thanks for the advice so far friends, it's appreciated.

If I were to apply for 2 or 3 more cards, should I do it all within a day, so as not to take as much of a hit?

[longtimelurker]

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@jeremy032180 wrote:

Thanks for the advice so far friends, it's appreciated.

If I were to apply for 2 or 3 more cards, should I do it all within a day, so as not to take as much of a hit?

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No matter what time period, you end up with those extra inquiries, and, if succesful, new accounts which reduce AAoA.  The advantage of doing it in a short time is that the inqs all age of together, so in a year your score is no longer impacted by the inqs.   But equally, if you did them a year apart, the impact to your score for each of those three years would be less, so doing it in one day doesn't, in some sense, reduce the overall impact.

[missjae]

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@jeremy032180 wrote:

Thanks for the advice so far friends, it's appreciated.

If I were to apply for 2 or 3 more cards, should I do it all within a day, so as not to take as much of a hit?

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If your goal is to get a mortgage, I would go for them all at once.  You'll be able to let the accounts and inquiries age together and build positive history so the accounts will not be too new when you apply for the mortgage.  The lender is going to want to see some stable, positive history.

Also, if you have use for the store cards, I would say go ahead and go for them, but go for bank cards too.  Just don't get too many store cards, especially ones that you will never use.  There's nothing like trying to find something to buy just to keep an account from closing for inactivity.  With bank cards, you have the option to use them anywhere and get rewards.

[takeshi74]

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@jeremy032180 wrote:

I've seen some sites saying you should have 22 credit lines (this seems wrong to me, but I'm not sure)

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22 does seem arbitrary but more accounts generally indicates that more lenders are willing to extend you credit.  Keep in mind that "22 accounts" isn't referring to active credit cards but all open and closed accounts of all types of credit on your report.

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@jeremy032180 wrote:

What do you guys think?  Should I apply for 1, 2, 3?  Should I do it all within a day so my score doesn't take as big a hit?  Should I do the store cards or the 'big boys'?

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If your OP is correct your profile seems a bit thin to be applying for multiple cards.  I'd suggest 1 or 2 carefully selected and applied for after checking your reports to make sure that things are as optimal as they can be before applying.  As for store versus general that's your call to make based on your needs/wants.  If you're trying to improve your credit with store cards then make sure you're only getting cards for stores that you frequent.  Make sure you pay off any introductory offers before they expire.

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@longtimelurker wrote:

It's much more based on score, payment history, DTI etc than any magic number of cards. 

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It's always about the entire credit picture and never about just one lone factor.  One could certainly have 22+ accounts and terrible credit.

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@KennyS2006 wrote:
Never hurts to get the Wal-Mart -- either discover or store card.

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A store card isn't much help if the person doesn't shop at the store.  A Wal-Mart card would be completely useless to me, for example.

[guardmama04]

I just signed my first morgtage loan. I started with 3 cards and one loan. 2 secured cards and one barclay card...it did wonders for my scores!

[jeremy032180]

Thank you all for your help.  I wanted to update you with my results.

I applied for the Walmart Credit Card/Discover Card.  I was approved for the WalMart card on an $800.00 limit.  Kinda bummed I didn't get approved for Discover because they send me mailers every week, but oh well.

I figured I can buy the computer I want from WalMart (they actually have it $100 cheaper then Amazon.com), it's a Dell with nice specs.

Then I decided to go for a 'real' card, so I looked at all these offers I get in the mail, did some research, and applied for the Citi Diamond Preffered card.  I was approved with a $6,500.00 limit.  I'm very happy with this, it's more credit then I've ever thought I could get on one card.  

I figure I will buy my computer with the WalMart card in-store and get the 12 months same as cash price.  Pay that off quick as possible, then get furniture with the Citi card.  I figure even though Value City is a GE and I will probably get approved, the advice in this thread leads me to believe that once I pay that card off, what would I do with it, buy a lamp every month for the rest of my life?   Anyways, on the Citi I will pay that off as quick as possible (I hate to carry a balance), then just use them mildly at 7%ish of my overall utilization until I have enough saved up enough to jump on that mortgage.

Again I can't thank you guys enough.  I've crawled back out of the credit sewer for the first time in a long time and it feels good.  Real good.