A few basic questions about direction...

[Anonymous]

there are two things on my file:  

1) Small personal bank loan ($5,000) which was paid off a few months ago.  Every payment was on time (i used auto pay).  

2) The Discover IT card.  I did not open the account, I am a joint applicant (not authorized user) with my GF. We opened this account near the beginning of the month for the purpose of credit building.   A week after opening it, i saw a 46+ point increase in TU, and today a 45+ point increase in EQ.  

That's literally it.  My credit report is very blank.  No inquiries other than the bank and Discover.  The only credit cards I had are waaaay gone (i was a bit impulsive in my early 20s which is why i've stayed away from credit until recently).  

But now I'm getting into house buying territory so i want to start building asap so that I'm in a good place when the time comes.  
I didn't realize that credit history was so important or i would have done all of this sooner, but i don't have a time machine unfortunately.  

[Anonymous]

Inquiries are simply not the big boogie man many people make them out to be. As long you're not in double digits in the last twelve months they are not going to cost more than 1 point or so - if even that.

With your decent scores and thin file I would consider a Cap One Venture card. Go to their preapproval page and see what comes up.

[Anonymous]

Can you explain the preapproval page?  I didn't realize you could request a preapproval, i thought it was initiated on their end.  

Do most cards have a similar tool?  I'm assuming this is a "soft pull"?

[Anonymous]

I am not sure how all the other banks work but with cap1 their preapproval tool is a soft pull but if you apply for a card you were preapproval for they will hard pull all 3 CRAs.

[gdale6]

I would suggest Cap-1 as well     http://www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/

Adding: If the bank you had that loan with offers CCs I would be asking them for one.

[Anonymous]

On Cap Ones main page, look for the "credit cards" pulldown menu and select "find the right card", that will take you right to the preapproval page.

[Anonymous]

And that's not a "hard inquiry," correct?  

Not that I even understand the difference at this point...  

-_-

[gdale6]

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@Anonymous wrote:

And that's not a "hard inquiry," correct?  

Not that I even understand the difference at this point...  

-_-

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Using a pre qual site is a SP.