When to open a Credit Card

[Anonymous]

I pulled my credit, and it said that

Your report does not show any open, currently active major credit card accounts, such as Discover, VISA, MasterCard, or American Express. You may want to consider opening a major credit card, which is viewed positively by most lenders. Make sure you pay your bill on time every month and keep your balance relatively low to show other prospective lenders that you are responsible in paying your debts.

I currently have only one store CC from Target.  I have good scores, TU-674, EQ-609, EX-658.  We are buying a house, got pre approved for a home loan, on May 10th, waiting till the house is built before closing.  The house should close in September around the 15th.  So my questions is when to open a CC.  Before or after the Mortgage.  I have read that having a house loan can make it hart to get a CC.

Michelle

[thrasher865]

If you're approved for a mortgage, don't test your luck.  I say after.  Although, chances are one new major CCC accounts would do nothing but improve your scores.  My opinion is don't chance it.

[Anonymous]

What thrasher said. 

[KingAdrock]

You could always give a call to whatever bank you got the pre-approval with and ask if applying for a CC would cause a problem. Apping for 10 cards would certainly be bad. Apping for 1 may not be, especially if you start up good payment history. YMMV.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I pulled my credit, and it said that

Your report does not show any open, currently active major credit card accounts, such as Discover, VISA, MasterCard, or American Express. You may want to consider opening a major credit card, which is viewed positively by most lenders. Make sure you pay your bill on time every month and keep your balance relatively low to show other prospective lenders that you are responsible in paying your debts.

I currently have only one store CC from Target. I have good scores, TU-674, EQ-609, EX-658. We are buying a house, got pre approved for a home loan, on May 10th, waiting till the house is built before closing. The house should close in September around the 15th. So my questions is when to open a CC. Before or after the Mortgage. I have read that having a house loan can make it hart to get a CC.

Michelle

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Just to be sure, is this a FICO message? It looks an awful lot like what I used to get on TrueCredit, or maybe on Plus or the Vantage score.

If it's not a FICO message, I wouldn't touch it. There's some pretty damaging "advice" on the FAKO score reports. If nothing else, their advice seems, shall we say, heavily tilted toward generating new business for lenders.

Getting a new mortgage shouldn't make it hard to get a mortgage. But if you're worried, wait until you sign the papers and the mortgage funds, and then go home and app before the mortgage posts.

[NikJ4]

When you apply for a new mortgage, you are signing some documents that basically say"this is my current debt situation". When you apply for new credit, you are changing the parameters for how you were approved. You should never open any NEW tradelines prior to closing on your home. If you have to get a vehicle and it is replacing a current auto loan, discuss with your loan officer. They will have to make sure you are still qualified in the guidelines for how you were approved.

Hope this helps and Congrats on the new home!!!!!