New card to raise score?

[Anonymous]

I'm in the market for a new vehicle. I'd like to bring my score up a little more and Equifax's portal is telling me that if I get a new credit card that my score could go up a bit, depending on the limit. Is this true? I've read on here and elsewhere that a new card can bring my score down a little, so I'm not certain.

I'll post my scores below. I'm new here and don't know how to add them to my signature.

EX: 672

EQ: 637

TU: 611

[Adkins]

You might take a hit for few points on an inquiry & new account but you'll get them back fairly quickly. How many cards &/or loans do you have now? What's your utlization like on each account and overall accounts?

[Anonymous]

How many CC TL's do you have currently?

[Anonymous]

I assume that when you say you're in the market for a new vehicle, you're considering taking out an auto loan.  Your scores are a bit less than ideal for that and the last thing you want to do before a loan app is apply for revolving credit.  For one, it's just not a good look and two, the new account will likely lower your score a bit more, possibly making the interest rate you would obtain for the loan worse.

Adding a credit card to your profile if you have 0-2 cards currently is something that can positively impact your score in time, but it's not something that is likely to help you immediately.  If you already have 3+ cards, adding another wouldn't be beneficial in most cases for what you're looking to achieve.

A bit more information that the previous replies have asked for would be helpful though to give you the best advice.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'm in the market for a new vehicle. I'd like to bring my score up a little more and Equifax's portal is telling me that if I get a new credit card that my score could go up a bit, depending on the limit. Is this true? I've read on here and elsewhere that a new card can bring my score down a little, so I'm not certain.

I'll post my scores below. I'm new here and don't know how to add them to my signature.

EX: 672

EQ: 637

TU: 611

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No it's not true. It's much more likely to cost you points than gain points.

The best thing to do prior to making a big credit purchase is to make no new credit applications. Period.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

How many CC TL's do you have currently?

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This. How many credit card do you currently have?

[Anonymous]

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@Adkins wrote:

You might take a hit for few points on an inquiry & new account but you'll get them back fairly quickly. How many cards &/or loans do you have now? What's your utlization like on each account and overall accounts?

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I currently have two very low limit ($300/400) cards. I use them on occasion, but pay them off as soon as they're used. I also have a small student loan ($300); which I haven't paid off because I want it to keep reporting, and my truck payment ($850). I do not [yet] have a mortgage and I clear $650 monthly.

[Anonymous]

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@Adkins wrote:

You might take a hit for few points on an inquiry & new account but you'll get them back fairly quickly. How many cards &/or loans do you have now? What's your utlization like on each account and overall accounts?

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Meant to say that I clear $6500 monthly.

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[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

How many CC TL's do you have currently?

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I have two cards at present. A Bank of America secured card ($300) and a Credit One unsecured card ($400).

[Anonymous]

It is actually feasible that getting a 3rd card may boost your scores slightly -- when did you report your newest account of any kind?  Recently?

The most important thing you can do first, before applying for any card, is to pay one of your credit cards to $0 so it reports that to the bureaus, and pay the other card down to $5 at statement cut so it reports $5 to the bureaus.  Then pull your FICO 8 scores and see what you see.  If your scores go way up, I wouldn't see a reason not to snag a third card that you have just to hit the magic FICO 3 card happy place.

With scores that low you might have some derogatory information on your reports (late payments, collections, etc) -- I'd highly suggest beating those off your report first as it'll have a great effect on your new loan interest rate.