topic Re: Should I Stop here? in Credit Card Approvals

Should I Stop here?

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Apr 2015 16:48:46 GMT

Hello all,

I am a long time reader of this forum and decided to make my first post after purchasing the 3B monitoring product from myfico. I would first like to thank you all for all of the advice you give as it has helped me raise my scores over 100 points in the last 30 months after having the last of 7 collection accounts removed in March 2015. I am in a situation where i feel getting another card will help my score. When I simulate getting a credit card with at least a $1000 limit using the myfico simulator, it shows me gaining 30+ points on Experian and 10+ points on the other 2 CBs. The dilemma is I have quite a few inquiries on my report due to shopping for auto loan and unknowingly trying to refi before I should have. I am also worried about my AAoA , which is currently only 3 years old. My questions are, should I attempt to get another card at this point? Or wait it out? How accurate is the simulator(doesent have to be exact, as long as I see an increase) How bad will the inquiries hurt? How will it affect my AAOA? What are some good cards to apply for that would help my chance of approval with my current stats? Would the inquiries alone be a deal breaker for most approvals? My last inquiries occurred in Nov 2014(trying to refi auto loan). I really wish I would have tried to get a credit card instead of store cards last year . A rundown of what I have now:

CapitalOne Secured(Nov 2012)- 750

Nordstom Store Card(Sep 2014- 1500

Belks Store Card(Sep 2014)- 500

Util- 6%

Auto Loan(March 2014)- 23000 (16.9% ouch!)

Student Loan- 46000

Student Loan 5000

!- 30 day late-Cap1 Jan2014

No collections

No public Records

No BK

Scores

Fico 8 Exp- 717(8 inquiries), Trans- 734(11 inq), Eq- 739(21! inquiries)

Income 45K

Re: Should I Stop here?

Erusidhion — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 00:40:01 GMT

Inquiries matter but not as much as a good payment history which you seem to have, low utilization and a decent AAoA. If you want, you can check all these pre-qualification websites and see if you're pre-qualified for anything:

{Link is being reviewed for content-MarineVietVet, myFICO moderator}

And then if you get turned down for anything you can find numbers here called 'Recon/Credit Analyst/Sr Credit Analyst' or even 'EO (Excecutive Office)' and see if you can turn those denials into approvals by talking to a real person about the decline. Here's those numbers:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Card-Applications/Backdoor-Numbers/td-p/408066

You have an installment loan, store cards and 1 bank card (secured but that's not a problem). You should get 2 more to maximize your scoring potential or at least that is what seems to be advertised here for the most part. Good luck!

Re: Should I Stop here?

takeshi74 — Thu, 09 Apr 2015 12:30:17 GMT

Don't rely on the simulators.

As for AAoA impact you can calculate that. If you don't or can't do it manually you can use Excel or any of a number of online AAoA calculators.

You can't rely on a single factor such as AAoA to determine whether or not you're ready to apply. People get approved with lower and higher AAoA's. AAoA is just one factor with a relatively small impact (Length of Credit History below).

http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/whatsinyourscore.aspx

Inquiries are also relatively small for most profiles though they have a bigger imact for thinner and poor profiles. We can't tell you how your score will be impacted. If you want the best possible chances then you'll probably want to allow the inquiries to age and/or fall off. It's your call to make on how safe you want to play it. That said, IMO the numbers in your signature probably are high and I'd recommend waiting. IIRC they tend to lose their impact at 1 year and fall off at 2.

As for good cards, as with any such request you need to clarify exactly what you're looking for from a new card. We can't guarantee approval odds so give us some criteria we can actually use to narrow down the options such as rewards on spend, features, benefits, etc.

Re: Should I Stop here?

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Apr 2015 14:49:43 GMT

takeshi74,

Thanks for your reply. After giving this a long thought and doing some more research. I went ahead and I applied yesterday. My intention was to get one card. After the first approval, I decided to try for another. I was approved for two more cards! 3 out of 3 is not bad and I got them to spread across the three bureaus. I ended up getting the cards I wanted but thought I would not be approved for. They are as follows:

Amex BCE- $4000 (Pulled Exp)

DiscoverIT-$1000 (Pulled Eq)

Chase SP- 10,000! (Trans)

Amazing! I went from $2750 in revolving credit to almost 18K in a matter of 30 minutes, when last year around this time I could not get approved for anything. So my plan is to close the Cap1 Secured when these report. I will probably sit on thses cards for life. I am not big on credit after going through what I went through to repair my credit. I do not need or want anything else! I am only trying to get my score up to app for mortgage in a couple of years. Thanks again for your advice.

Re: Should I Stop here?

gdale6 — Thu, 09 Apr 2015 23:50:27 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@takeshi74,
Thanks for your reply. After giving this a long thought and doing some more research. I went ahead and I applied yesterday. My intention was to get one card. After the first approval, I decided to try for another. I was approved for two more cards! 3 out of 3 is not bad and I got them to spread across the three bureaus. I ended up getting the cards I wanted but thought I would not be approved for. They are as follows:
Amex BCE- $4000 (Pulled Exp)
DiscoverIT-$1000 (Pulled Eq)
Chase SP- 10,000! (Trans)

Amazing! I went from $2750 in revolving credit to almost 18K in a matter of 30 minutes, when last year around this time I could not get approved for anything. So my plan is to close the Cap1 Secured when these report. I will probably sit on thses cards for life. I am not big on credit after going through what I went through to repair my credit. I do not need or want anything else! I am only trying to get my score up to app for mortgage in a couple of years. Thanks again for your advice.

Grats on all your approvals

Re: Should I Stop here?

joedtx — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 00:02:50 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello all,
I am a long time reader of this forum and decided to make my first post after purchasing the 3B monitoring product from myfico. I would first like to thank you all for all of the advice you give as it has helped me raise my scores over 100 points in the last 30 months after having the last of 7 collection accounts removed in March 2015. I am in a situation where i feel getting another card will help my score. When I simulate getting a credit card with at least a $1000 limit using the myfico simulator, it shows me gaining 30+ points on Experian and 10+ points on the other 2 CBs. The dilemma is I have quite a few inquiries on my report due to shopping for auto loan and unknowingly trying to refi before I should have. I am also worried about my AAoA , which is currently only 3 years old. My questions are, should I attempt to get another card at this point? Or wait it out? How accurate is the simulator(doesent have to be exact, as long as I see an increase) How bad will the inquiries hurt? How will it affect my AAOA? What are some good cards to apply for that would help my chance of approval with my current stats? Would the inquiries alone be a deal breaker for most approvals? My last inquiries occurred in Nov 2014(trying to refi auto loan). I really wish I would have tried to get a credit card instead of store cards last year . A rundown of what I have now:
CapitalOne Secured(Nov 2012)- 750
Nordstom Store Card(Sep 2014- 1500
Belks Store Card(Sep 2014)- 500
Util- 6%

Auto Loan(March 2014)- 23000 (16.9% ouch!)
Student Loan- 46000
Student Loan 5000

!- 30 day late-Cap1 Jan2014
No collections
No public Records
No BK

Scores
Fico 8 Exp- 717(8 inquiries), Trans- 734(11 inq), Eq- 739(21! inquiries)
Income 45K

Most of your questions have been answered by this time, but just wanted to encourge you to focus on getting that Auto Loan refinanced you shouldn't face the challenges that you did back in '14 and the reward will be cutting your interest rate by more than half and thats money back in your pocket.

~All the best

Re: Should I Stop here?

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 01:50:28 GMT

Congrats

Re: Should I Stop here?

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 15:22:00 GMT

Thanks again guys! I love this forum! My next focus will be trying to refi the auto loan. The loan is up-side-down so even though my credit has improved I still may face some issuues. I am going to stop by a credit union today just to get some basic information and brief them on my situation. I guess I will slide over to the auto loan forum to get some more advice.

Re: Should I Stop here?

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 16:24:23 GMT

Congrats! Nice Chase limit!