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Hi, Long story short, my credit got ruined in my divorce. i didn't think it was possible, but I got approved for four store cards in Jan-Feb this year all with limits of $250-$300. I'm trying to plan out when I should apply for my first bank card and I'm thinking October since my last inquiry was 4/25. I started in the 540's now I have 631 EQ, 627 TU, 644 EX. I guess my question is, although these are all rather new, my equifax shows Aaoa as 7.5 years because there is a closed card from 1995 that shows as closed and paid. Will the creditors look at that or the fact that my open cards now are from early 2016. will having four cards show as too many open cards for this year when I apply in oct? Should I close one? I know I'm stressing too early about what I'm going to do it oct, but I really want to play my cards right this time. I should add that one of the store cards raised me from $300 to $1,250 after only 4 months w/o me asking. thanks.
Total CL: $321.7k | UTL: 2% | AAoA: 7.0yrs | Baddies: 0 | Other: Lease, Loan, *No Mortgage, All Inq's from Jun '20 Car Shopping |
They're all open now, so the "damage" is done, so to speak.
As long as you maintain zero or very low balances (utlization remains low overall) then closing them really won't help.
A credit card lender looks at inquiries, but also at utlitzation. They won't really care if you closed a store card rather than keep it, they can still see that you applied for it in the first place. Four store cards really isn't that many, and if you use them all well (low balances, payments on time and in full or at least above minimum) they can only help you at this point, now that they're opened already.
You might try the Capital One prequalification site and see if they match you to one of their rebuilder cards. They are fairly tolerant of new accounts, and your scores are in their range, so you may be able to get their cards without having to wait until October - which means all of your inquiries and new accounts will be close together and will diminish together and fall off together. If they don't match you right now, that's no biggie - it's not a hard pull anyway so nobody will even know you asked.
Those scores are good enough to start a relationship with Capital One. I would go to thier pre-qual site and see if it recommonds Platinum or Quicksilver card and they apply for one if not both of those.
During the rebuilding phase, don't get hung up on number of inquiries or AAoA...they have minimal effects on your credit score and in time those areas will improve on thier own.
In regards to closing a store account, there is no harm in that...but it will still show as a recent opened account and will remain on your credit report for an additional 10years. My suggestion is have a plan for what accounts you need and then go from there. If you are using the store cards to inflate your CL for Utilization, by all means do what is best for you.
Now what other baddies are effecting your score? Do you have lates/collections/CO that we can all help advise next steps?
Do you have a reporting installment account...you'll want it least one of those.
Your not in that bad of a spot and congrats on taking this step in repairing your credit and gaining knowledge!