@Anonymous wrote:
Background - New immigrant to the US from Canada building an initial credit history. Have managed to acquire three credit cards here by leveraging my Cdn credit, and my employers relation with a couple of banks. I'm so new I don't even have a FICO score yet.
Goal - Looking to a make the right moves now, to give myself the maximum mortgage opportunities in a year or two once I have established a history
Question -
I have checking/savings accounts with two local credit unions that I see as potential future mortgage lenders, I opened the accounts to start building a relationship there, I"m a member now, for whatever that is worth. And opening the accounts was easy and painless. The question is whether I should go further and open up credit cards with these CU's. I think I have a fair chance of getting one if I apply in person with employment confirmation, they both have lots of customers from my employer so they know us pretty well.
The question is whether this will matter. I already see my last CC application knocked down my "plus" score some (I don't even have a FICO yet). So it's not entirely painless to apply for a further credit card. However, if having a CC from the CU will help them see me in a better light in say 2 years, once all these INQ's have rolled off my history, then it is probably worth doing.
Thoughts? Any experience on whether having a CC with a CU will incline them favourably when it comes time to go mortgage shopping? Or is it already good enough that I am a member with regular bank accounts?
Yes and no. If you're playing in the conventional or FHA space, or anywhere the bank isn't portfolioing their own mortgages or selling off to a secondary market, then there's not much if any leeway: in conventional land, the GSE's set the standards and if the lender doesn't comply, they're stuck.
However, if you're in the jumbo lending space, or if they are portfolioing their loans (which some claim to do, surprised me when one of my CU's stated they keep loans in house) then relationships can absolutely matter... not to all lenders equally admittedly.
