@USSVOYAGER wrote:
Hello all, I am in the process of purchasing my first home, in January when I was pre-qualified my scores were EQIFAX 708, TRANSUNION 755 and EXPERIAN 740. I hope to close by the end of May on the house, then the fixing up begins and I will need new appliances. My question is, How far down can I expect my score to fall and what sort of response can I expect if I apply for a Home Depot credit card within a week or two after closing?
Thanks for your help team.
Also, it may take a while before your mortgage hits the credit bureaus. Your scores are certainly within what Home Depot/CITI like to see as they are now. I think you'll certainly be safe to apply within a week or so of closing. One can generally expect to take an approximate 10pt hit initially (inquiry and change in AAofA), but then gain 15pts (new TL and lower util with that TL) in a few months, so you'll ultimately net 5pts or so for each new credit card. This was the advice I got from my credit analyst at my local CU; keep in mind that these are general figures. With everything creditwise, YMMV.
You might want to also consider Lowes/GE if there's also a Lowes in your area. Depending on what brand appliances you're looking for, it could be advantageous to have both cards. I do have both and it was actually fun to play a game with them on credit limits. Lowes gave me a lower limit than Home Depot initially, so I called them up and said so. Got a CLI from Lowes! I then did the same thing with Home Depot and got a CLI from them as well! You can play this little game with them every so often, great way to get CLI from both.
As far as the actual appliances, Lowes seems to have a slightly higher end range of brands at comparable prices. Both will also offer package deals and/or XX% off the total prices and/or extended financing at 0% for 18-24 months. I bought a package (fridge/stove/microwave/dishwasher) of Samsung appliances from Lowes for under $5K, and took the 0% financing, since some of the appliances were already discounted. Home Depot also had a comparable package of appliances, but I was pretty well set on Samsung as my choice.
