oldest revolving account has not been opened long enough

[villemiami]

I started only recently to use credit cards. The first one was a Paypal extras mastercard, I had it for 7 months, I paid everything in time. The second one was a Aadvantage Citi mastercard, I had it for 8 months and half and only once, I paid too late so I had a $25 penalty. I closed my citi account and asked for a Disney Chase visa card, it was denied because:

Insufficient credit information

Oldest revolving account has not been opened long enough

Too few accounts on file for a sufficient length of time

My FICO score is 706.

If I knew that, I should have first apply for the Disney card, then cancel my Aadvantage card.

My first choice would be to get a United airlines credit card, but it's with Chase, and Chase just denied me the Disney card. So I don't think I should loose my time to apply for it. Am I right?

So my second choice would be to apply for an Allegiant World Mastercard. Do you think that it will work?

If you think that I cannot get the Allegiant card, I would apply for a Costco Citi visa card, because I'm a Costco member for many years.

[Kree]

I would try for a discover. Discover is very nice for newer users of credit.   Then you play the waiting game.

[villemiami]

How long is the waiting game?

[Kree]

I'm not sure.  I had a 20 year old card when I started applying for new credit so the details are fuzzy.   I'd say 6-12 months?  others will be able to give a better answer.

[jamie123]

First off, don't ever close credit cards unless you are being charged an annual fee to keep it open.

Secondly, in today's day and time, you can sign up with your lenders to have the minimum monthly payment made automatically each month. This will prevent you from evver paying late. Having one late payment can affect your credit for 7 years and that hurts bad! There really isn't any excuse for making late payments unless you can't budget your money which brings up a whole other issue.

Thirdly, building a good rock solid credit scores is a marathon and not a sprint. Making credit moves should be thought of in years not months.

You are trying to do too much too fast. Slow down and get advice on this forum before you make any credit decisions. There isn't really any credit decision that needs to be made inside of a week. You have plenty of time to think about it before pulling the trigger.

[villemiami]

Right now, I don't have any credit card. I don't have any lender. With the AAdvantage, I made a small mistake because it was only my second credit card. My statement was on the 17th of each month, I thought I would pay on the 15 of each month to be in advance, but somehow, if I did that, then I didn't pay the remainder between the 15 and the 17. So I had a $25 penalty fee because I didn't pay something small. After that, I always paid on the 17 or 18, after the statement has been made.

I just tried to get an Allegiant credit card and I was denied. 

I'm going to try a Costco credit card because I'm a long time Cosco member. If I'm denied, I will try Discover.

[HeavenOhio]

How old are the two cards that you closed, i.e. when did you open them?

[villemiami]

The first one was a Paypal extras mastercard, I had it for 7 months, I paid everything in time. The second one was a Aadvantage Citi mastercard, I had it for 8 months and half, I closed it 2 weeks ago.

I applied today at Costco and I got the Costco credit card. Next time I apply for a new credit card in a few months, I will keep my Costco credit card.

[Kree]

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@villemiami wrote:

The first one was a Paypal extras mastercard, I had it for 7 months, I paid everything in time. The second one was a Aadvantage Citi mastercard, I had it for 8 months and half, I closed it 2 weeks ago.

I applied today at Costco and I got the Costco credit card. Next time I apply for a new credit card in a few months, I will keep my Costco credit card.

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Good news.  Your closed cards stay on your account for 10 years. And since they aren't much older than your costco card, when they drop off of your account, you won't have too much of a hit on your Age of Oldest Account.

Likewise, if you get more cards now, while your profile is young, those cards also won't effect your Average Age of Accounts, too much when they drop off.

Your goal should be to have 3 cards within the next 6 months. And 5 cards within the next 2 years. This will be a fairly strong profile.  You can be a little choosy, don't pick cards just for the card count.

Consider Discover or Capital One. They both offer easy to get cards that can grow with you, and get changed in for better cards over time.

Also do you have an installment loan.  Something like student loans, a car loan, anything you pay monthly?  If not, consider getting one. This will also help your scores.

[villemiami]

Thank you