rebuilding after years of no use

[Anonymous]

First off, great forum here. It's been a big help.

I've always had good credit, but I haven't had any credit accounts for probably a decade now. I just paid everything in full in cash.

So, after being declined for a store card due to insufficient credit history (I was trying to get the signup bonus). I figured it was time to get back into shape. I pulled my fico scores, and they were in the 640ish range, which was not surprising. So I applied for the Amazon Visa card, and got approved on it so I can start rebuilding. Now that my first statement has reported, I am back up to around the 740 range. I'm very happy with that, but would like to get above 800.

According to the fico calculator on myFico, it says that should be achievable if I just keep a clean history for the next 6 months or so.

The questions I have are:

Is the estimator feature reasonably reliable?

Are there any other steps I can take to augment the improvement?

While I know I would take an initial small hit to my score, would opening a new card be worth it, or should I just ride it out with this one for now?

[Anonymous]

At least 3 cards with 1 card reporting a balance between 1-9% of that cards limit are recommended for scoring purposes. The reason why is because you get dinged if no cards report a balance, and you get dinged for having half (or more) of your cards reporting a balance. If you want a Chase card be aware that they have a 5/24 rule, if you open 5 cards within 24 months they won't approve you.

[Anonymous]

Ah, ok. I had no idea about that, but it makes sense.

I'm wondering if I should go ahead and apply for two more now, or wait a couple of months to build a little payment history on this one first.

[Anonymous]

I'm not an expert by any means, but I can tell you my score took a decent jump after just a few months paying on my first card. There will be an initial dip due to the HP and new acct, but it will go up after that. There is also something to be said for accounts aging together, but 6 months or so won't make a difference in the long run.

Also, if you can get another type of accout that would help show some diversity. Maybe a personal loan from you bank.

[RonM21]

If you choose to get another account to add a "mix" to your profile, just be sure you know what you are doing and don't take on anything you can't handle.

[Anonymous]

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@RM21 wrote:
If you choose to get another account to add a "mix" to your profile, just be sure you know what you are doing and don't take on anything you can't handle.

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Oh yeah, for sure. I am only planning to use it on things that were going to be purchased anyway (e.g. groceries, gas, etc). I was considering one of the Blue Cash cards to use for the great percentage on grocery purchases,  Not sure though, so I will probably wait a bit. That discussion probaby belongs elsewhere anyway.

Thanks for the tip.