New to credit.. do I go to the garden?

[justpeachy]

Hi everyone, I have been reading through the forums for a few months now and gaining alot of knowledge but now Im confused on what I should do at this point in my jouney to good credit. Today marks exactly 6 months of credit history for me and I have only one card, (unsecured  B of A cash rewards 700 cl) and 6 inquiries on my transunion report. The majority of these inquires are hard pulls from auto loan shopping and 3 of them occured on the same day (2/14/14). According to Credit Karma (Fako, i know) my score is 696, so im hoping my true FICO is somewhere in that area. So my question is, should I now go and try to apply for another card or just go to the garden for a few months and let these inquiries age? Im 23 and really need to build my credit :/

Side info that might help:

• no late payments, always paid more than minimum and cycle about 1,000 through the card monthly.
• current reporting balance on card is 183, but that wil be paid off in full next week.
• i did not take an auto loan as the intrest rates offered were too high

[yudeology101]

Welcome to the forum!

Scores from Credit Karma is for entertainment purposes only, don't pay too much attention to that...But I have seen 40-50point difference from the CK & FICO scoring, so my guess is that your true FICO TU score should be around low to mid 700s.  Assuming that you have no derogs on your report, I would first suggest buying all FICO scores from this site and see what your scores are, as well as reading through your reports.  You can plan an app spree or if you just want to get one card, it's up to you, but once you are done w/ app'ing, that when you can go in the garden.  IMHO, you should be good to go now, but i would invest some $$ and pull all the FICO scores and go from there.  Also, right now you're hovering around 26% UTIL, so bring that down to a comfortable 1~9% overall Util ($63 for 9% util).  INQs used for auto shopping are measured differently, so you should be ok. 

[justpeachy]

Thanks for your advice! I just bit the bullet and applied for a Discover it card and a vs card. Instant approval for both! $500 credit limit for vs and  i dont know what discover is yet. Now that I am going to have 3 cards reporting, I dont want to push my luck. I think Ill take a stroll to the garden and smell the roses for a bit. Thanks again for the advice, I never would have applied if you didnt mention I had a chance.

[pip3man]

lol OP u remind me of me when I first started in this journey. My first CC was the BOA Cash Rewards with the same initial $700 CL. Im currently rebuilding and once I reach my target I'm looking to get the Discover IT, Chase Freedom and Walmart GE in addition to my Cap One then that's it till 2016. I also think you have more chances at this time to get one of them Cap One Platinum or Quicksilver card ur starting limit might be $500 or $750.... but anyways with what u currently have now I think your good to go gardening and let the accounts age as well as the hard inquiries. All the best!

[yudeology101]

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@justpeachy wrote:

Thanks for your advice! I just bit the bullet and applied for a Discover it card and a vs card. Instant approval for both! $500 credit limit for vs and  i dont know what discover is yet. Now that I am going to have 3 cards reporting, I dont want to push my luck. I think Ill take a stroll to the garden and smell the roses for a bit. Thanks again for the advice, I never would have applied if you didnt mention I had a chance.

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Congrats on your approvasl!!  Did you get your VS card through a shopping cart trick (i.e. did you get a pop up saying "you're pre-approved")?  If so, then your approval is a SP, which is even better!  Also, you can call discover and find out what your starting limit is....You'll love Discover as they provide free TU FICO scores every month!

I don't know if you'll smell any roses in the garden, but come on in!!

[justpeachy]

Thank you both!  Im really excited about this! Unfortunately no shopping cart trick for me.. I was hoping for one but no such luck. And I just got off the phone with Discover and my limit is $2500! With that amount I will have no issue staying in the garden for at least a year. After that I might just request a CLI with Bof A, and apply for the American Express card from Costco. 

[yudeology101]

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@justpeachy wrote:

Thank you both!  Im really excited about this! Unfortunately no shopping cart trick for me.. I was hoping for one but no such luck. And I just got off the phone with Discover and my limit is $2500! With that amount I will have no issue staying in the garden for at least a year. After that I might just request a CLI with Bof A, and apply for the American Express card from Costco. 

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WTG, Congrats on a great limit approval!!  Discover is a great card, you'll definitely love it.  Treat it well and it'll open many doors for ya later on!