hard decision to make....

[Anonymous]

I know I need to build a credit history and I know getting a cc will help that (even though I hate the idea of owning one). Someone on here gave me a link to a site called "whogavemecredit.com" and I saw others with credit scores similar to mine or lower who recieved approval on cc's through capital one and orchard bank. My problem is that I have worked hard to get my scores where they are. I am just about 15 to 20 pts shy of being able to qualify for a home loan and I know that cc co's do a hard inquiry when you apply. If they turn me down it could lower my score and set me back several months. So I am trying to decide if I should take a chance. I would appreciate some feedback.....

[Travis-84]

How soon are you applying for a house.  If its really soon, I wouldn't do anything to jepordize your credit score.

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One option before signing up for a credit card is to see if you prequalify. 

Some sites like capital one let you key in some information and they will tell you if you pre-qualify or not.  This will not count as an inquiry on your credit report. (Capital one is not the only company that does this)

If you get denied, then move on, if it says you are prequalified, there is a decent chance you can fill out the application and get approved. (which would then be a hit on your credit report.)

Or go straight for a secured credit card, which is almost a 100% chance of approval.  Some will automatically upgrade to unsecured in set amount of time.

Option 3:

Lets say you wanted a US bank credit card.  You could apply for one, and if you are declined, then apply for the US bank secured card.  I would assume that US bank would not pull a second inquiry if you applied for a secured card right after denial. This way you apply for a unsecured credit card, but you can fall back on a secured credit card if you need two, and I would assume there is only one hit on your credit.   Can somebody confirm that statement?  Also, if you were instantly declined maybe US bank would not approve you for anything else for a set amount of time, so there are some potential flaws in this idea.

Or apply for a BP credit card.  They have an option where you can apply for their credit card, and if you are denied, then they try to approve you for the store card (good only at BP).  Unless you have really bad credit card you would be approved for that.

I'm just throwing a few ideas out there, I used BP and US bank since I have experience with them, but apply this to any company you are interested in.

Also with some loans (car and mortgage) you can apply at multiple places and it only counts as one hit.  The idea is that if you are buying a house, you shop around, and apply at a bunch of places to get a better rate.  I don't think this applies to credit cards, but if somebody smarter than me says it does, then you can apply for a few in a small time frame and only take one hit.