Getting multiple cards at once VS. credit score?

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know how getting many cards at once can change your score?

I am assuming that multiple at once will make it drop quite a bit..?

I am coming up on my first full year (november/december) of having any credit at all and I would rather get multiple cards all at once and then let them "age" (grow the length of credit) all together. (after my mom just got a new card[s] it dropped her 10+ years of credit etc. to only like 4 years...)

Any knowledge or advice?!

[Anonymous]

Some issuers want you to have a full year, so be sure wait until at least that long.

Your AAoA is already small so I wouldn't worry to much about the hit there.  Of course you'll get a separate inquiry for each one, but inquiries don't count for much.

I think your idea is fine.  Do you have an open loan currently?  If not, you might want to implement the Share Secure Loan Technique (and make sure you have received the full 30 point boost) before applying for a bunch of cards.  You'll be less likely to be rejected for any of them if your score is higher.

[Anonymous]

+1 above, wait for the year and get that loan.  Only get cards you will actuall use/need. I would stay away from the SCT spree.

[Anonymous]

Personal history. Had one Cap1 CC at $300 (kept at that line intentionally), one small loan paid, and one bogus paid/co that took me forever to finally get removed (was improperly reported as I never had a late payment). Couldn't get over 649 fico (620ish fako) no matter what I did. AAoC was around 3.8 years and no good cards available at that score and a neg reporting.

Decided, screw it, time to app. Got three new CC's and four store cards (stores frequented by the family) in first month, a gas card and another store card (also to be used often) in the 2nd month. Even with available credit jumping from $300 to over 8k all three scores (cct) dropped to under 580 with CK Fako's at 510 and 490('s) due to AAoA being destroyed. The wife called me crazy.

Fast forward 8 months. All cards in good shape, util @ 3%, AAoA at 1 year, over 13k available, cct scores over 710 except EQ but the incorrect baddie will be removed at next reporting (673 now). Looking good right?

Not for getting new credit. Turned down on CitiDC. Called recon and the lady explained that everything looks great for approval except that I still have too much 'new' credit and to try again in 6 months.

Not sure I answered your question like you asked but a rash of new credit can shoot you down quickly 8-9 months later regardless of score.

[Anonymous]

Looking good AND yes, Citi does not like new recent/too many accounts.  Let them age.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Does anyone know how getting many cards at once can change your score?

I am assuming that multiple at once will make it drop quite a bit..?

I am coming up on my first full year (november/december) of having any credit at all and I would rather get multiple cards all at once and then let them "age" (grow the length of credit) all together. (after my mom just got a new card[s] it dropped her 10+ years of credit etc. to only like 4 years...)

Any knowledge or advice?!

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Personally I don't think it's a great idea.

Yes it will drop your scores.

Some lenders, after approving you, might even close your card if they see a sudden flurry of other new accounts.

[Anonymous]

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Does anyone know how getting many cards at once can change your score?

I am assuming that multiple at once will make it drop quite a bit..?

I am coming up on my first full year (november/december) of having any credit at all and I would rather get multiple cards all at once and then let them "age" (grow the length of credit) all together. (after my mom just got a new card[s] it dropped her 10+ years of credit etc. to only like 4 years...)

Any knowledge or advice?!

---

Personally I don't think it's a great idea.

Yes it will drop your scores.

Some lenders, after approving you, might even close your card if they see a sudden flurry of other new accounts.

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Getting 20 new accounts wouldn't be a good idea, but a few should be fine. I'm still new to this whole thing, but I plan on getting a lot (a lot is a relative term, to me a lot of credit cards is around 8-10) of cards within the next year. I only had one card for my first 3 years of credit history and wish I would've gotten more earlier. No need to go overboard, but I wish I would've gotten around 5 cards or so within my first year or two of having credit. Recently with my limited number of accounts my AAoA tanked everytime I opened a new one. I think I would be in a much better place if Ihad opened the cards I opened this year, a few years ago. 

To wrap up, don't go and apply for 10-15 cards right now. Pick the 4 or 5 that you'll use a lot and apply for those now. 

[Anonymous]

I apped for 5 cards after closing on my house in October and got all 5.  I lost 13 points each on my eq and ex and 1 point on my tu.  I should say that previous to closing on our house, I didn't app for over 2 years previously.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I apped for 5 cards after closing on my house in October and got all 5.  I lost 13 points each on my eq and ex and 1 point on my tu.  I should say that previous to closing on our house, I didn't app for over 2 years previously.

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When you say you lost 13 points, was that from the inquiries (right after apping) or are you talking say 2 months later after all the 5 accounts had landed on your reports?

[Anonymous]

You can estimate/gauge your credit score drop by taking into account the following:

• Inquiry cost: if you have over 6 inquiries under 6 months, the new inquiry shouldn't cost you at all.  If you have fewer than 6 inquiries in the past 6 months, you'll get dinged for 6 months.
• New account penalty: if you have new accounts less than 3 months old, the new account won't ding you.  If your new accounts are 3-6 months old, you'll get a small ding, and if you have new accounts more than 6 months old, you'll get a slightly bigger ding.
• AAoA: If your Average Age of Accounts will drop to the next lower year (fractions rounded down to whole integer) you'll get a ding likely, unless your AAoA is really high (say 10 years) and stays really high.

On totally clean profiles, your ding should likely only be for 6 months, and it should be pretty minimal, unless you have a really high AAoA and only 2-3 accounts reporting total.  I've been writing a web calculator to estimate what a new account will ding me and so far it isn't totally accurate but it has been pretty close.  I used the 3 calculations above to make an estimate and forecast.