1) You gotta be very, very serious about budgeting and payment management and with those late payments within the 'few' months doesn't bode well.
I say 'few' because, as we know life is life and things happen and as adults, we've got to be able to string together 20-30-40 months of paying w/o constant 'issues' if not we haven't mastered being the GROWN UP in the house...not being a jack as but one must prepare for rainy days 60 day lates indicate, overbuying or overspending and 'hoping' vs BEING the Captain America of one's own ship
2) That being said ideally you want 3 revolvers and the 1 installer
So the car loan gives us the install TL
The Cap-1 and Finger-hut give us 2 revolvers
Before, we discuss the 3rd... let's talk about the PURPOSE of "rebuilder" CC's
They are for 'show' NOT for 'real' usage
Buy the gas or groceries you were going to anyway with the Cap-1 card NOTHING else
No offense to Finger-hut but c'mon it's equivalent to a cheap motel, you're here because you have no choice, be involved as LEAST you can, until you can do BETTER.... Don't start getting comfortable here.
If you bought ONE item fine, we're done
Our goal is to build 'paid as agreed' months over time ( that happens whether or not you USE the card for purchases or not) yes they will 'encourage' purchase but let's be flat out honest that TL is there for 'show' nothing more...yes you are 'using' Finger-hut like a side-piece with no future, treat her like that don't get attached...is what it is
3) Ideally, we want to add CC #3
Could our utilization rate on the ONE TL with a balance be improved enough for us to be approved by a 'pretty' CC that we'd want to date long-term...if not can we get there in short order?
What am I talking about...can we have the FH at 0% usage and the Cap-1 at less than 10% which could pop our score up dramatically enough to better qualify because credit scoring is RISK scoring
Our goal at this point is stoking the risk model to see what it's comfortable with
A) On-time payment history 35% &
B) Debt Ratio/CL utilization 30%
30% Debt utilization is NOT a destination, it is a max, prior to subtraction...kinda like here is the baseline for a 'C' not an ''HATER
Rebuilders, IMO should not be shooting for C's that's prepping for average when we're using 'toy cards' with training wheels...let's maintain 'A' levels
One TL only with a balance between 2-9% with all other TL's showing 0%
This demonstrates superior credit management and the low usage of available CL demonstrates low RISK to the scoring model which in turn means a higher score which once one gets one can use to secure better TLs with better terms
Gotta play the game manipulate to model to get scores to get better TLs all the while adding data to the profile that will dividends for 10 years even after you close the Finger-huts of the world
* Even if #3 is a Secured CC don't fret
Opening a solid account with Discover or a decent CU IMO is a much better long term option than some low tier product
Discover/ CU may be in your wallet till death
Those type of partners do loans, have IRAs, checking accounts, so many reasons to choose as wisely as possible.
Best of luck
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