topic Re: Do I need another CC to help? in Credit Cards

Do I need another CC to help?

rymon — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 08:43:20 GMT

Hey All,

As a long time lurker would love some advice here...

I am currently averaging about 810 on several FICO scores I have ran. I only had one CC until about two years ago which was my citibank AA plat. I didnt really need any other CC as I had a few car loans and a home mortgage going at the same time. However, I moved to to a big city and sold my house and paid off my car, so I picked up two more cards to offset this. Now me and my S.O are looking to get a house together in about 11 months and she has lower credit due to a past uncontrollible BS (which I have been helping her work on).

In short my fico score always reports the two things hurting my score is diversity in loans (cant help that at the moment) and lack of lines of credit. Should I pick up another card? Or at this point does this become a dimenishing return? I want to ensure the best when getting a loan for my S.O even though she is VA eligble.

My current cards and limits are:

Citi AA Plat Visa: 25,000

Chase CSP Visa: 13,000

Chase Ink Plus Visa: 6,000

On average I spend about 2,500 on them and pay them off every month.

If I pick up another which one would be best? I fill like the ones above fill all my needs excently this CC would be solely to help push my FICO higher (if that is even possible).

Re: Do I need another CC to help?

OmarGB9 — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 09:36:19 GMT

I think you're all set on cards. I would say take out a small personal loan just to improve your credit mix. And just pay the loan back in full after a couple of months (I'm assuming you have to financial resources to do so).

Re: Do I need another CC to help?

Closingracer99 — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 09:49:42 GMT

@OmarGB9 wrote:
I think you're all set on cards. I would say take out a small personal loan just to improve your credit mix. And just pay the loan back in full after a couple of months (I'm assuming you have to financial resources to do so).

I wouldn't take out a loan for the sake of it imo

Re: Do I need another CC to help?

kdm31091 — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 11:02:56 GMT

@Closingracer99 wrote:
@OmarGB9 wrote:
I think you're all set on cards. I would say take out a small personal loan just to improve your credit mix. And just pay the loan back in full after a couple of months (I'm assuming you have to financial resources to do so).
I wouldn't take out a loan for the sake of it imo

Exactly - don't do it just because. Mix of credit is a pretty small piece of your score anyway, and unlikely to have any large impact. So it is not necessary to rush out and take a loan just for the scoring reason.

Especially with OP at 810....really they're getting the best terms anyway so no point in trying to get a couple more points

Re: Do I need another CC to help?

elim — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 10:59:38 GMT

810 will give you the best possible terms.

congrats on doing very well in the credit world.

Re: Do I need another CC to help?

OmarGB9 — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 14:05:48 GMT

Yea I just reread OPs post...terrible advice on my part lol. In my defense, it was 2 in the morning and my brain was half shut off...

Re: Do I need another CC to help?

Anonymous — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 14:18:18 GMT

810 means you're already in the highest bracket. No need to worry about anything else IMO.

Re: Do I need another CC to help?

rymon — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 17:11:39 GMT

Thank you so much for the advice here!

I guess just browsing the forum so much I see people with a bigger list of cards and going after more so I wasnt sure how much it would help or if there was a specific card I should try to go after to add to my "arsenal"

Re: Do I need another CC to help?

OmarGB9 — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 17:16:25 GMT

Yea just forget everything I said previously lol. But yes you are pretty much all set and in the excellent credit category, so all you really have to do at this point is maintain by paying on time and keeping util low.

Re: Do I need another CC to help?

rymon — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 18:18:15 GMT

Will do!

Also looking at it I guess getting a new card will ruin this "Gardening" term I looked up in your sig!

I am 31 and my AAoA is 7 years (across 16 accounts)... I am pretty happy about that. Getting a new CC will also likely knock it down as I think the hard inquiries are about to disapear from Chase... Now I wonder if I can increase CLI with soft hits as an alternative

Re: Do I need another CC to help?

OmarGB9 — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 18:33:12 GMT

You can definitely go for all the SP CLIs you want. In fact those are encouraged when gardening.

Also good AAoA. And yes new accounts would only bring it down as well as new inquiries will bring down your amazing 800+ score.

Re: Do I need another CC to help?

rymon — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 18:49:27 GMT

Is there a list somewhere of which card issuers/cards do a Soft vs hard for CLIs?

Thank you!