Making changes to credit cards and home loan in 6 months?

[Anonymous]

I have 2 mostly payed of credit card threw the same vendor they raised my APR to 30%! Sow I'm applying for a better card threw my CU. I plan on getting another one from a second vendor probable soon.

What is the best plan of action to keep my FICO score high? I under stand closing the cards wont hurt my AAoA for another 10 years but what about a lower credit limit? Should I just leave them open?

How bad will 2 new cards hurt my credit score in getting a possible loan? Any other suggestions will be grate.

[llecs]

IMO, keep it open. Take the card and buy a cup of coffee every three months or so and PIF before the statement cuts to get it to report $0. This way you won't have to mess with closing it and you pay no interest. Maybe in the future you can get them to lower it too. You are right, closing it won't hurt your AAoA. The only thing to keep an eye out for is your mix of credit and utilization. If you lack other CCs outside of this, then closing it would hurt your score. If you carry balances on your other CCs, if you have some, then overall util will go up and that can hurt your score too.

If you are planning on applying for a new loan, especially for a car or home, within the next 12 months, then definitely don't apply for a CC. On average, I lose about 20-25 points per each new CC reporting. If you added both, you likely wouldn't lose 50 points, but 30 is plausible. You'll lose more if your AAoA drops. A new card will negatively impact the "new credit" portion within FICO scoring and AAoA. I've found that most of the points I lose will return gradually by 6 months after it first reports. The remainder of the points return by one year assuming AAoA didn't take a beating.

[haulingthescoreup]

And it's not just the points loss. Reportedly, many mortgage lenders get worried if they see that you are applying for revolving credit right before applying for a mortgage. They wonder if you're getting in over your head, I guess.

Welcome to the forums! If you haven't already, please read Understanding Your FICO ® Score and Credit Scoring 101 (at least the first post.)

These will give you the background knowledge you need to understand what you read here on the forums.

[Anonymous]

I all ready applied for a new card is there a way to cancel it without doing more damage, or do I have to live with my decision? Can I just not sine or actovate the card and be fine?

[Anonymous]

What is your AAofA and your oldest account?

DH and I both app'd for several cards late summer because we were not planning on refinancing until next spring.  We actually found it in our best interest to refi much earlier -so we had several new cards each when we app'd.  (DH had five cc accounts less than a month old & two that were five months old, I had four cc accounts all less than a month old).

It was absolutely not a problem for us - either on the automated or manual review.  It appears you have a thin file, and app'ing for and opening a new account will not give you a large ding.  FICO will give you a larger ding for app'ing and opening new accounts once you're more established.  If you're worried, don't open the second account until after the mortgage (but I think you'll be fine even if you open it now).  The one you just app'd for will be fine.

Good luck!