topic Re: should i get a new card now or wait? in Credit Cards

should i get a new card now or wait?

Anonymous — Thu, 30 May 2019 17:23:59 GMT

Hi, I'm new to the forum.

In feb I got approved for an unsecured mastercard w/ a 1k limit at 25.24% apr, it also has cashback of 1% to 3% on various things. it's my first and only card. i had a totally empty credit report and no fico score when i applied for it.

I will ask for better terms and CLI at the 6th month mark, that's when my fico score will first become available.
But, I have an idea for right now that I need to ask about:

#1: Will it help or hurt my fico score to get a high limit secured card right now? (opening cards fast is bad, but improved utilizations limits is good)
#2: If I open a secured card with SDFCU or DCU right now in the amount of 6k, will my limit be for 6k or above when that card graduates to unsecured in a year, or will they lowball me?

I would probably qualify for another unsecured card w/ 1k limit right now, but I think a high limit secured card from a CU would be more helpful to me.
should I do it? what would you do?

My fico score will become available in about 2 months, and I don't know how good it will be or what that would allow me to do.

Re: should i get a new card now or wait?

Anonymous — Thu, 30 May 2019 22:13:46 GMT

Wait. 25.24% APR on your first card is high. You can raise your FICOs with only one card. Don't get stuck with several cards with high APRs.

(Mod cut - keep comments FSR) Take it slow, enjoy the ride but don't mess it up trying to get somewhere so fast.

Research what your next card will be in the meantime. I would recommend a Discover card due to low APRs and SP CLIs. Stick to increasing your limit on what you already have rather than constantly apping for something new. It took me 5 years to get 3 cards with limits at $20k and above. I still get the itch for a new card if folks are getting high limit approvals but it makes no sense to keep getting new cards.

Re: should i get a new card now or wait?

Anonymous — Thu, 30 May 2019 17:51:24 GMT

the secured SDFCU card is a guaranteed rate of 14.24% and the DCU card is guaranteed to be 13.75% so it would be as low a rate as i can find. the cards graduate to become: 9.24%-17.24% and 10.75%-18.00% apr.

with that said, the rate isn't too important to me right now since I'm paying in full when establishing credit. carrying a balance is suppose to be detrimental. and with a CU membership i would be eligable for installment loans at 3% this is far better than using a credit card.

Re: should i get a new card now or wait?

Kforce — Thu, 30 May 2019 19:56:08 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hi, I'm new to the forum.
Welcome !
In feb I got approved for an unsecured mastercard w/ a 1k limit at 25.24% apr, it also has cashback of 1% to 3% on various things. it's my first and only card. i had a totally empty credit report and no fico score when i applied for it.
Excellent way to start your credit, not many start with an unsecured CC as first.
I will ask for better terms and CLI at the 6th month mark, that's when my fico score will first become available.
But, I have an idea for right now that I need to ask about:
#1: Will it help or hurt my fico score to get a high limit secured card right now? (opening cards fast is bad, but improved utilization's limits is good)
Like most things pros and cons, depends on how you use, pay, financial stability, income, etc
Apr = Only important if you carry a balance, I have never had a balance with 50+ years of having CC's. Don't even care what APR I have, and never asked to have one lowered, a non factor for me
Utilization = If you are really a PIF person, this can be controlled by when you pay, as apposed to continually getting higher CL's and lots of credit cards. You can report what ever utilization you want with what ever CL and number of cards you have.
I only have a few CC's, moderate CL's and control utilization any month I want

#2: If I open a secured card with SDFCU or DCU right now in the amount of 6k, will my limit be for 6k or above when that card graduates to unsecured in a year, or will they lowball me?
Most CL's are figured by your profile, (income, spend, credit history, on-time payments, etc) not what you were willing to tie-up for a secured card. Just because you put 6k in a savings does mean you to keep that CL.

I would probably qualify for another unsecured card w/ 1k limit right now, but I think a high limit secured card from a CU would be more helpful to me. Should I do it? what would you do?
An unsecured card should grow with time.
If you need a high CL "Now", a secured card is not a bad thing.
My though, in 2 years they would be about the same, if from the same CU.
CL growth is very dependant on issuer
My fico score will become available in about 2 months, and I don't know how good it will be or what that would allow me to do
It will allow you see your score, then become obsessed with how slow it grows.
Fico scores take time to grow. My daughter went from no score to 790 with one secured card in 4 years, got a nice student card 6 months ago and now has 830's. Next card will be a good reward card. It does not take a lot of cards or high CL's, just time, PIF, and patience.

You can get a bunch of starter cards or move slow and get one at a time that have better value and no need to be cut into pieces in a few years. Are you the "Tortoise or the Hair", both will get you to the end, and we will never really know the best method.
I was a "Tortoise" and had 850's in about 10 years, many on this forum have had 40 cards "Hair's" and also got there. But all had a time of 10+ years. it is a long race.

Re: should i get a new card now or wait?

KJinNC — Thu, 30 May 2019 20:01:16 GMT

Do you have a specific goal, or just a general goal of higher scores at some point in the future?

Opening more cards now will temporarily drop your score but may have some benefit in the long run. Not opening more cards now will preserve your score in the short term but you may be more likely to get thin-credit denials in the future. If you are thinking long-term, I would probably try prequalification for some more cards I would keep longterm, and, I would probably get an installment loan of some sort; Self Lender is an easy one to get, but you probably qualify for other options. Having three cards gives a score boost and allows use of the All Zero Except One method. An installment loan will give you a "good credit mix" that gives a boost. But there are tradeoffs to everything. If you did that, you risk being shut out of Chase cards for a while (Chase has a notorious "5/24" rule that if you've opened five cards in the last 24 months, you are denied for any Chase card), and, you would get dinged for "credit-seeking behavior" and your average age of account would go down. So, in the short term, this would probably hurt.

I am not sure that a secured card with a high credit limit will do that much for you. Most (not all) secured cards report as secured cards, meaning, lenders can tell the difference between secured and unsecured. They count the same for the credit score but may be counted differently by human loan officers. Again, is there a particular reason you want a high credit limit (like do you need it for travel), or is it just part of a plan to have higher scores down the road? If the former, it may make sense for you, but if the latter, I would just wait to get higher unsecured limits.

There is no credit benefit to paying in full, in and of itself. What helps credit is paying on time, and keeping utilization below 9% at the time your statement is cut. Paying in full is a good practice to avoid paying interest and to ensure utilization doesn't creep up on you, but you don't get rewarded for it in terms of credit score beyond the factors I just mentioned.

Good luck!

Re: should i get a new card now or wait?

Anonymous — Thu, 30 May 2019 21:08:31 GMT

the main goal is to improve my credit is so that i will be able to rent an apartment in my name. i'd also like to be a part of a CU to get access to low rate loans for if i want to buy a car in a few years. another goal is to be able to buy appliances without paying all upfront in cash. my credit was trashed my whole life because of identity thefts, i waited it out so i have a fresh start now.

I'd like to have a card where i can put a big purchase on it of say 3k just in case of an emergency or have a quick way to buy something like a computer, since i can probably balance transfer it later onto a 0% apr card or pay it off the card with a low rate loan.

the cost of a phone these days is approaching and sometimes exceeding 1k, and that would max out my current card just to buy that single item. if you apply for samsung financing, it counts as a "consumer finance account" and that will ding your fico score. so it's suggested that you buy it on a 0% apr card, and right now i don't qualify for any such 0% card offers, or any samsung financing. so having a larger limit card would at least allow me to buy it without paying cash.

it seems to be that certain lenders are very stingy and others aren't. chase, capital-one, and citi seem to be the worst ones. they are giving out small limits and tiny CLI's, whereas discover and others seem to give out thousands in a single CLI. cap1 is known for never unsecuring their secured card, even after they promise that they will do it. so i want to avoid these banks and credit unions that are hostile to the customer, some of them don't even offer secured cards. some give you the runaround when you apply demanding all kinds of paperwork and questioning you about your reasons for joining. so i'm really leaning towards joining SDFCU or DCU as these seem to be the least hostile.

my end goal for cards is to end up with 2 or 3 cards with high limits, rather than lots of cards with small limits. it seems to be that lenders will set your limit based upon the limit they see someone else already gave you. that's another reason i was curious about a high limit secured card, so that maybe other lenders would see a reduced risk and be less skittish about giving me a similar limit on unsecured cards.

Re: should i get a new card now or wait?

Anonymous — Thu, 30 May 2019 21:14:29 GMT

that 5/24" rule is a perfect example of a hostile policy towards customers. chase can stuff it, i don't want to ever deal with them.

Re: should i get a new card now or wait?

KJinNC — Thu, 30 May 2019 21:35:21 GMT

If I were you, I would try Amex prequalification and see if anything pops up. If it does, I'd probably apply for it. Wait one to three months depending how conservative you want to be, check Discover prequalification. If you are prequalified for it, I'd get that. Then sit tight as far as cards. You will be close to setting off "credit-seeking behavior" alarms and your credit score may possibly go down due to age of accounts tanking, but then again, it may go up due to having three cards. If you don't get or don't want one of those two, another thing to consider is the Amazon Store Card if you shop a lot with Amazon. It's easy to qualify for and limits can build up there. I would probably also do a Self Lender loan. You don't actually get money you can spend. You "borrow" $500, they put it in a CD for you, you "repay" the "loan" over time, and at the end, you get the money from the CD. Since they charge a higher interest rate than the CD earns, it will end up costing you something like $60 or $70 altogether, but, you get a positive installment loan on your reports, which triggers the "good credit mix" FICO reason.

That's kind of a medium-aggressive plan I'm suggesting, but, I can't say it's the best plan, just that it's probably what I would do in your shoes. Good luck!

Re: should i get a new card now or wait?

Anonymous — Thu, 30 May 2019 22:15:19 GMT

Based on your last couple of posts it's easy to see that you might have a skewed view on how this all works.

1.) Applying for an apartment isn't a big deal. Wait for your FICO to generate in a couple of months to see what it actually is. Most apartments will approve a move-in at 600 but require a deposit and over 700 maybe a lesser deposit amount.

2.) If you're paying 1K for a phone then you need to be making a significant salary to substantiate it. There's no reason to pay that much for a phone just to keep up with your buddies. If it makes calls, texts, and can surf the web that's all there is to it. If you're paying more than $25/mo for service you're getting bent over.

3.) laptop - sure they're expensive but, if you shop for anything besides the next MacbookPRO you can get them for about $500-$1000

4.) Appliances... If you're planning on buying a house then it's a potential necessity but, in most cases they come with the new place already if you write it into the offer

5.) hostile or not is subjective. Banks / CU's have lending criteria you must meet to get one of their cards or a loan. It's just how the business is run. If you don't meet a/b/c criteria then you don't get what you want. They don't hand out participation CC's to everyone with a pulse. For that sort of thing you'd be looking for Credit One and First Premier and you'll pay dearly for it.

Back to the OQ at the top of the page....

If you open a card with either your limit is going to be whatever you deposit with them.

When it graduates (depends on lender) you may or may not receive a CLI at that time.

Yes, it will help your scores to lessen the burden of carrying a balance and the potential for higher limits down the road with other lenders if you're putting in a large deposit for as you put it $6K.

Re: should i get a new card now or wait?

Anonymous — Fri, 31 May 2019 02:25:25 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
2.) If you're paying 1K for a phone then you need to be making a significant salary to substantiate it. There's no reason to pay that much for a phone just to keep up with your buddies. If it makes calls, texts, and can surf the web that's all there is to it. If you're paying more than $25/mo for service you're getting bent over.

I agree with everything you said except this point. I would be hard pressed to find anything as cheap as $25/mo for the service I need. A lot of us conduct business from our phones + stream music frequently and as a result need unlimited data which isn't cheap. Maybe for those who don't rely on a cell phone as much you can swing using a prepaid phone for calls and texts for that price, but even prepaid phones are often more expensive than $25 a month.

In regards to the original post, I'd try for the AMEX prequal and see what happens- my vote is on getting one more card and hitting the garden for awhile (no new apps). I don't agree with getting a loan just for credit mix but some people have had success using that method. Just not my cup of tea.

Re: should i get a new card now or wait?

jaxstraw — Fri, 31 May 2019 02:52:48 GMT

Quote...'Cap One is known for never unsecuring their credit card'.....

DCU and SDFCU will not graduate their secured cards either.

While I do believe it is a good idea to join a credit union and establish a relationship for eventually applying for loan products these would not be the ones to pick for secured credit cards.

Find a card that graduates eventually.

Discover

TD Cash

Citi

BoA

NFCU

All graduate eventually.

Re: should i get a new card now or wait?

KJinNC — Fri, 31 May 2019 03:00:37 GMT

And just to add, Amazon Store Card also unsecures eventually.

Not a credit card, a store card, but mentioning because 5% off at Amazon is very nice for anyone who shops much at Amazon.

Re: should i get a new card now or wait?

KLEXH25 — Fri, 31 May 2019 03:22:48 GMT

I understand where you’re coming from, OP. If I had understood secured cards and how they work a year ago, I probably would have tried it. The journey is long and slow, but you’ll get there. Credit Unions are great - DCU gave me a $5k limit, when I only had a $300 & $500 CL from CapOne and Discover. But if you go the secured route, make sure to do your homework. If you want it to graduate, there may be better options. But if you’re just trying to get your foot in the door to higher limits and are ok with closing it once it’s served it’s purpose, it might be worth trying. Options are limited this early in the game. Amex and Discover are definitely worth looking into (whether now or in a couple of months when you get your scores). Gotta love those prequalification forms! If nothing pops up, you can go the secured route or wait. Then garden!!!

Re: should i get a new card now or wait?

Kforce — Fri, 31 May 2019 19:55:16 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

i'd also like to be a part of a CU to get access to low rate loans for if i want to buy a car in a few years.
Having a CU is IMO a good thing. I have a couple and they are good for cars loans, personal loans, and sometimes credit cards with low APR rate. However all it takes is $15 - $20, sometimes less in a savings to start a relationship. Your rates will not be based on your credi limits so no need to tie up 6k.

I'd like to have a card where i can put a big purchase on it of say 3k just in case of an emergency or have a quick way to buy something like a computer, since i can probably balance transfer it later onto a 0% apr card or pay it off the card with a low rate loan.
Save the $6000 in a savings for an emergency.

the cost of a phone these days is approaching and sometimes exceeding 1k,
(One can get a nice phone for $300)
and that would max out my current card just to buy that single item. if you apply for samsung financing, it counts as a "consumer finance account" and that will ding your fico score. so it's suggested that you buy it on a 0% apr card, and right now i don't qualify for any such 0% card offers, or any samsung financing. so having a larger limit card would at least allow me to buy it without paying cash. Not without it costing a lot more because of interest. One should buy needed items based on income and monthly expenses. It is not wise to base your spend on a granted CL. Putting items on credit you can't afford and don't need will backfire with time. Lots of horror stories in these forums from both Zero interest cards and overspending on cards.

it seems to be that certain lenders are very stingy and others aren't. chase, capital-one, and citi seem to be the worst ones. they are giving out small limits and tiny CLI's, whereas discover and others seem to give out thousands in a single CLI. cap1 is known for never unsecuring their secured card, even after they promise that they will do it. so i want to avoid these banks and credit unions that are hostile to the customer, some of them don't even offer secured cards. some give you the runaround when you apply demanding all kinds of paperwork and questioning you about your reasons for joining. so i'm really leaning towards joining SDFCU or DCU as these seem to be the least hostile.
Because an issuer is conservative does not make them undesirable.
Many would want 5% back on 2,000 spend a quarter with US-Bank, FNBO, etc than have $50,000 CL with Amex or NFCU with a 1.5% rewards. I am one of them. You seem to have an obsession with high CL's as a goal. A good score, strong payment history and rewards might be far more important.
I will take my $400 a year from a US-Bank Cash+ with $1000 CL rather than have $50,000 limit from NFCU and earn $120 with same spend.

my end goal for cards is to end up with 2 or 3 cards
Not a bad goal. I only use 4 cards for all my rewards and like the simplicity

with high limits, rather than lots of cards with small limits.
Credit limits should not be the goal !
Cards that benefit your from normal necessary spend and long term financial goals are more important. A good credit profile will save you money with more expensive purchases in the future like car, mortgage, persona loans, etc. Cards with good reward that earn miles or cash back. High CL's are extremely overrated, IMHO. Don't get me wrong some people do benefit from them, however the majority of card users do not need high limits.

it seems to be that lenders will set your limit based upon the limit they see someone else already gave you.
This has not been my experience, but even if it is true, who cares?.
Your CL's will rise with ALL issuers if you use the cards and pay on time.

that's another reason i was curious about a high limit secured card, so that maybe other lenders would see a reduced risk and be less skittish about giving me a similar limit on unsecured cards.
They can see it is secured.
Your use, income, payment history, and time is what matters.
You can not speed up time, so you need to develop a lot more patience.

Re: should i get a new card now or wait?

Anonymous — Fri, 31 May 2019 20:41:11 GMT

well, i just tried my luck at prequal for amex and discover, because a lot of you have mentioned these cards as being good to have:

amex didn't prequal me for anything, but i am prequalled for discoverIT cashback card, and discoverIT Chrome.

i wasn't expecting anything from a big lender yet so this is a good sign. i'll take a look around for more offers, i haven't looked since feb.

i'd like to find a good cashback on everything card with 2% and no annual fee. similar to the citi doublecash.

regarding the DCU and SDFCU secured cards, they do now automatically graduate to unsecured, people who still have an old one might not ever get graduated up from it, but all the new apps get graduated up is what i've heard.

kforce: thanks for the detail in all your replies. i've seen it mentioned in the forum that one of the critera cap1 looks at is if you have had a card with a limit greater than 5k on your profile for a year or more, and if you haven't then they don't consider you to have good credit no matter how high your fico score is. the underwriting team has decided that's the criteria. i'm not sure if that's an industry standard for underwriting teams to go by or not. but yes, i'm kind of stuck on this idea of getting a higher limit now even though i wouldn't really need it. mostly for utilizations, and that's where i got my idea for a 6k limit from. also, apparently the highest fico score holders only use 10% of their card limits, so it means i have to pay down my 1k limit card every time i spend $100 on it, or get a higher limit to avoid going over this threshold otherwise i'm damaging my fico score to some degree. that's my understanding of things right now, maybe i'm wrong about it.

Re: should i get a new card now or wait?

Anonymous — Fri, 31 May 2019 20:55:21 GMT

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/view-personalized-credit-card-offers/

I only use about 1% of my total limits at this point w/ 500K+ in CL's. But, yes generally the highest scores are under 9% of their CL. We shoot for higher limits so we don't have manage using our cards as much. It's alot easier to just setup autopay and forget about the rest of it each month. It take a big chunk of change to hit 10% when your limits are 50K+ or even 25K+ unless you're going out of your way to spend that much each month.

I hit 20% on one new card I picked up recently and score swing taking into account the other 4 accounts that are new was ~3 points and still over 800.

Re: should i get a new card now or wait?

Kforce — Fri, 31 May 2019 22:56:27 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
well, i just tried my luck at prequal for amex and discover, because a lot of you have mentioned these cards as being good to have:
amex didn't prequal me for anything, but i am prequalled for discoverIT cashback card, and discoverIT Chrome.
i wasn't expecting anything from a big lender yet so this is a good sign. i'll take a look around for more offers, i haven't looked since feb.
i'd like to find a good cashback on everything card with 2% and no annual fee. similar to the citi doublecash.
regarding the DCU and SDFCU secured cards, they do now automatically graduate to unsecured, people who still have an old one might not ever get graduated up from it, but all the new apps get graduated up is what i've heard.
I would not get a secured card that will not guarantee becoming unsecured. After 6 months you will have a credit score, and half a year of payment history. That is a good time to get 1 more card. As others have said check prequal sites. If Discover shows now it will still be there in a couple months. I believe it is a good card and one worth considering. If wanting a 2% general spend I would say get the 5% rotating discover then wait for your oldest card to be a year+ old before going for the Pay-Pal or Doublecash 2%. If high CL in short time is still important for you, the Amex or Pay-Pal seem to grow faster than the Citi doublecash. Depending on your income and spend the differance at this point in time between an Amex 1.5% and 2% might not be much.

kforce: thanks for the detail in all your replies. ( You are welcome) i've seen it mentioned in the forum that one of the critera cap1 looks at is if you have had a card with a limit greater than 5k on your profile for a year or more, and if you haven't then they don't consider you to have good credit no matter how high your fico score is. the underwriting team has decided that's the criteria. i'm not sure if that's an industry standard for underwriting teams to go by or not. but yes, i'm kind of stuck on this idea of getting a higher limit now even though i wouldn't really need it.
If there was a way for new CC users to get $5,000 CL's with no previous credit cards, payment history, or Fico Score it would be published in this forum on the main page, in red, and large bold font. Everyone starts with small CL's, low scores and over a few years gets better cards, larger limits, etc
mostly for utilizations, and that's where i got my idea for a 6k limit from.
All new users need to manage both use and payments better than an established user with large CL's.
also, apparently the highest fico score holders only use 10% of their card limits,
You are looking at users with many years of credit history. Many even with exceptional credit, good CL's and 50+ years of history (Yes Me) make payments more than once a month. Some are OCD about debt, others worry about fico scores while others like to make payments every payday. Some check for fraud every other day and make a payment if a balance shows.
Many find it much easier than seeking extreme CL's.

Lets use that 3000 refrig and 1000 phone (4K)
To let it report on a card and be under that magic 8.9% would require $47,000 CL or you could just make a payment early.
I put thousands thru my cards monthly and would never need more than $5,000 a card.
20 years of letting only a few hundred ever report to a card and some of my CL's grew to 50k.
so it means i have to pay down my 1k limit card every time i spend $100 on it, or get a higher limit to avoid going over this threshold otherwise i'm damaging my fico score to some degree. that's my understanding of things right now, maybe i'm wrong about it.
Yes but remember Fico only counts if you are seeking new credit so NO most of the time you would not need to make an early payment. If you ar not letting large utilization numbers report it means nothing.
If it is a small CL and you need to spend more than the limit each month, you might need to make more than one payment to spend what you need monthly. This is the most common need for multiple payments. Also remember this is only for a short time, your credit limits will grow in a few years.

Re: should i get a new card now or wait?

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Jun 2019 00:29:07 GMT

a while ago, i looked up what the average limit would be per score range and this is what came up, does this look correct from everyones own experiences? i don't want to have unrealistic expectations.

Experian fico8 score ranges:
Deep SubPrime (300-499) CL:$1,834
SubPrime (500-600) CL:$2,645
NonPrime (601-660) CL:$4,674
Prime (661-780) CL:$7,593
SuperPrime (781+) CL:$11,357

also, when i was looking up info about credit union cards, i was seeing people say that SDFCU gives the best rate at 720. does that mean there's really no benefit to go up to the superprime score range? won't need it for a lower mortgage rate either?

i know it's possible for a new cc user to get a score as high as 700 just by using a single card, i've seen that done by a few people. do you think there's a way to hit an even higher starting score than that? i think it must be possible, but you'd have to avoid triggering any adverse actions when opening more credit. the scoring model can be contradictory so perhaps the risk of adding more credit too soon outweighs the risk of not adding enough to generate a really good score. if you get dinged for building credit too fast, what are the penalties and how long do they last?

but for example, if i added more cards now, the HP's will drop off faster than if i added them slowly, the AAoA starts building earlier, i can ask for CLI's that much sooner, etc. and if i take a small ding for it right now, maybe its worth taking it.

Re: should i get a new card now or wait?

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Jun 2019 01:15:14 GMT

@creds:

Everyone and every result is different. I actually stumbled across that barometer of sorts the other day and laughed.

So, a 720 (depending on model) can get you an ideal "rate" not CL.

With an 800+ in my recent app spree of sorts the highest CL was 25K after calling Barclays to up it from the original approval amount. Keep in mind I have a total of 22 accounts that OPEN with the oldest being about 13 years at this point.

Think of credit buidling as a house being built. You first have to lay a FOUNDATION which usually consists of 4 corners to support the beams you're going to put in on the corners to support the walls / roof. Credit is the same way for a large portion of the population. You get a few of the starter limits sub-1K and deal with it for awhile.

Once the starter cards age a bit and you don't mess up on payments you're rewarded with slightly higher limits and that's the scafolding that keeps you safe while working up towards putting the roof on your new place.

Then the scafolding puts you within reach to lay the beams and trusses across the top of the foundation structure. This is where you start picking up more sophisticated tools to perform the mitre cuts to join the pieces together at angles. You start to be able to acquire better cards that fit into your arsenal of tools for the "wants" that you desire.

After you get all of your tools in order you're ready to put the roof onto your new house. This is where the premium cards come in and you start thinking about landscaping. Pick a card, cut a card, pick a card, cut a card.

Finally you're done!

Scores and CL's don't always correlate. For instance you can be in the 640's and go with NFCU and grab a 25K CL. Whereas you try the same with Chase you get $500. HP's matter when you're starting out and after you have about 6-10 of them on your reports they don't matter as much anymore from a scoring stand point but, if you're shooting blanks and getting denials then what's the point?

Re: should i get a new card now or wait?

KJinNC — Sat, 01 Jun 2019 01:17:13 GMT

There are different paths you can choose, some might be better for the next six months, some might be better for two or three years down the road. Opening more accounts now might put you in a weaker position to qualify for stuff you want for the next six months but it would mean a thicker file in two years. It's hard to have "the answer" for yourself, let alone somebody else.

Higher credit limits correlate with higher credit scores, but that is not mainly cause and effect, IMO. There is an aspect of it that is. Higher limits do remove a penalty to scoring, but I think the main factor is that people with good credit also generally have old credit lines that have had plenty of time to grow.