Opening Account before mortgage

[Anonymous]

I'm still in the rebuilding phase and have made great strides in the last 2 months. My scores are in the low 700 now. We are buying a house in three - five months and I would like to get my score as high as possible.

I currently have 1 account owned by me and 4 AU accounts reporting to my credit report. I still have some baddies that I'm working on removing (3 collections).

My question is would it be a good idea or worth it to open another account under my name? I was thinking of using the shopping cart trick and getting the sportman visa. I wouldn't take the ding of a hard inquiry but would take hit on AAoA.

Would this be a good move to up my score?

[cem13]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I'm still in the rebuilding phase and have made great strides in the last 2 months. My scores are in the low 700 now. We are buying a house in three - five months and I would like to get my score as high as possible.

I currently have 1 account owned by me and 4 AU accounts reporting to my credit report. I still have some baddies that I'm working on removing (3 collections).

My question is would it be a good idea or worth it to open another account under my name? I was thinking of using the shopping cart trick and getting the sportman visa. I wouldn't take the ding of a hard inquiry but would take hit on AAoA.

Would this be a good move to up my score?

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I will offer my 2 cents and others will chime in too.

The Mortgage U/W will look at 2 things: your past practice (FICO Score) and your future ability to pay (your DTI, assets, income) etc.

The HP INQ is bad only because it should drop your score a few points.  This may or may not hurt you but why take the chance.  A SP credit card will help boost your scores because of addtional history.  Keep in mind that your AAoA will take a hit. 

I always advise people that if you are within 6 months of a mortgage app; Do Nothing.  If you are 6 months to 1 years out; tread lightly.  If you are over 1 year out then app to your heart's content.

[Anonymous]

How many active inquiries do you currently have?

Why so many AU accounts?

Are the AU accounts husband/wife?

A new account at this point is going to drop your scores, and while they will rebound as the account ages, how fast that rebound accurs could vary considerably.

[Anonymous]

The AUs are from my wife's accounts. Had a few hiccups a few years ago with a business that tanked my credit. While I was dealing with that I used my wife's credit cards to keep my reports semi decent. Those times are long gone and don't happen again. Our financial situation has greatly improved.

I have a student loan which is in good standing and the accounts I mentioned above open. 3 other accounts closed all in good standing in my name as well are on my report but they havent reported since 2010.

I have active inquiry from our mortgage broker.

I'm just trying to get the highest scores possible to get the best rate we can. The collections will hopefully get resolved by end of this month which should help out my scores too.

[Anonymous]

Your good as far as inquiries go, one is not going to afect you negatively, BUT, a new account will reduce your AAoA, and a new account will generally cost you about five points just for being a new account. In your case, I would hold off until after the mortgage is done before apping for more credit. Work on the negatives at this point.