Hi, I just joined this forum and hope some of you can give me advice.
On Jan 7th, I was given PRIME + 2% from SallieMae on a student loan. Before this, I always got PRIME + 0.5%. It turns out that their low threshold for PRIME + 0.5 is 740 and my current score is 736. My goal is in one or two months to increase my score so that I can get the rate of PRIME + 0.5% .
In the meantime, I received a new credit card from Chase earlier this week - $15000 in credit limit with %11.5 APR. (It was tempting since it was much higher than my combined credit limit so far $9500) They offered over telephone when I called for a billing issue on another account. on my report, last Chase inquiry is PRM - Chase N.A. 12/6/07.
Chase tells me that they sent the card on Jan 5 so I must have opened this before applying for the Sallie Mae loan. On myfico.com, this inquiry should not impact my score (I am not sure) since Chase offered it ot me, but I don't remember if I gave a permission to pull my credit or not.
By the way, the card is not activated yet (it would be my 5th credit card). AND I AM WORRIED THAT this account will pull down score EVEN LOWER THAN 736 making it hard for me to climb up to 740 and above in short time!!!! I am debating if I should close this new Chase account before they report for the first time on FEB 5th...... so that it won't impact my score since it will be reported closed right away...My total credit limit is 9500..My credit card utilization is like 3% . My installation debt credit ratio is 98%. . I am never late on payment.
I alos have to add that my older chase account is without credit limit so the creidt limit appears as zero and my credit balance was 539 and last balance 322 or so. This is 6 month old.
My question is ...
Is it my debt to credit ratio on my installment account, or the older Chase account with no credit limit that causes my score to drop?. What should I do with the new Chase account?
I can throw the card out of the window and report it as lost...will this prevent it from going even below 736???? Or is this too late????
what should I do so that next time Sallie Mae pulls I definitely stay above 740 in one month or so?
Please help the confused!
Length of Credit History 9 Years, 3 Months Average Account Age 3 Years, 9 Months Oldest Account : universal card (10/1998) Most Recent Account : sallie Mae (11/2007)
