topic Re: Your thoughts on when adding tradelines: what is too much too fast in Rebuilding Your Credit

Your thoughts on when adding tradelines: what is too much too fast

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 15:36:30 GMT

Really getting in to repariing my credit and have been learning about how to leverage accounts but am wondering what is too much too fast? I'm ready to pull the trigger on adding 3 more accounts but not sure how this will shake out and appreciate any comments. I currently have a thin credit file.

My goal with all of this:

get all scores above 700
obtain a Cap1 Venture rewards card $2,500+ credit line (OCT-Nov-Dec 2019)
obtain a Citi rewareds card $10k+ (Feb-Mar-Apr 2020)

BTW; I'm now sitting at a 565 (just dropped from 615) after my utilization went up but I'm paying that off so it will bounce back.

Here is what I've got going on - I've got a solid payment history for past 2 years but 3 years ago have 3 collection accounts (amex & chase) - currently have and planning to add the following;

HAVE:

unsecrured CC - $300 with Cap1 silver card
unsecrured CC - $300 with Milestone
I'm now adding an AU account with Cap1 - I'm targeting them for a new CC account - this will add a 25 year history with a $2500 limit which my friend said they asked to bump it to $7500 so waiting to see how that settles out.
I'm now adding an AU Chevron gas card account for $600
rent karma account reporting
Student loan - 2 years + current
auto loan - 2 years + current
added a credit strong account but waiting for it to hit (revolving) - $500
added Hutton Chase ($1500) and waiting for it to hit

READY TO ADD:

My jewelers club ($250 cost) but will add $5000 credit line (also now says it will add a hard inquiry)
New Coast Direct ($200 spend) and will also add a $5000 credit line (does not mention adding a hard inquiry)
Ox Publishing ($200 spend) and will add another $2500 credit line
(Feb-Mar 2020) I'll pay to add an aged Citi tradeline over $10k and over 10 yrs old

Question is on adding Jewelers club, New Coast and Ox Publishing all at once - I also just now added Hutton Chase. I'll leverage these accounts over the next year and then drop.

Appreciate any thoughts / comments / feedback.

Re: Your thoughts on when adding tradelines: what is too much too fast

Remedios — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 15:49:39 GMT

Hi and welcome @Anonymous

Short answer...dont.

Longer version...the tradelines you're mentioning are junk and are the new pinnacle of predatory lending. If you did not have a single account and could not get one, maybe.

You have enough accounts to work with, what you need is discipline to take care of them.

You can add new TLs and decrease aggregate utilization that way, but you're just masking the problem.

Some of them even remove their TLs if you dont buy items in specific period of time.

The real issue, and the reason your scores will stay low no matter how many TLs you add are unpaid COs and collection accounts. As long as they remain unpaid and update, score really does not grow much. Each update keeps it supressed and utilization is just making it worse.

If you take care of those, and lower your utilization, you'll be in a better place than adding a TL that's selling trinkets.

You'll be out of the money, but scoring wise, you'll be in a same place.

So, you wont "leverage" those accounts. They will take your money and the story ends there.

That money should go towards your existing debt.

What do you mean by paying for Citi TL?

Re: Your thoughts on when adding tradelines: what is too much too fast

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 16:05:28 GMT

Thanks for your comments @remedios I'll hold off on adding them all like you said and work at building up the 2 CC's i have and getting the 2 AU accounts reporting right and see how that shakes out.

I've been extremely responsible this time around and am activley using and paying off both cards every month. I just want to continue to work at and extending my credit lines.

Regarding my comment on the Citi TL; I meant i'll add another AU account with Citi prior to applying for that card myself. Similar to what I'm doing with the Cap1 account. I'll piggyback to show more of a history with that creditor which should give me some slight improvement on my chances of approval.

My goal is to take advantage of cards with points - again maintaining them responsibly while continuing to extend each credit line over time. All about patience!

Re: Your thoughts on when adding tradelines: what is too much too fast

Medic981 — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 16:10:47 GMT

Welcome to the myFICO forums @dpg1234!

Ultimately, what a person needs to improve their FICO scores and build credit are three open credit cards (secured or unsecured) in good standing and one open installment loan in good standing such as a car, home, student, personal, share secured, or credit building loan. This combination is what the myFICO score theorists here have determined is what you need for optimal credit building and FICO score. You can have more CCs and more installment loans, however, this will not increase your FICO scores.

Next, (this is only important if you are attempting to purchase a large ticket item like a home or car) is paying in full all of the credit card balances each month, before the posting date, except one. This is called the All Zero Except One (AZEO) method. The one credit card you allow to post a balance needs to be less than 8.9% of the credit limit of the card. So using one card each month to buy lunch, letting it report and then paying in full will maximize FICO scoring. Keeping your utilization of your cards below 28.9% both individually and collectively will prevent you from incurring a FICO scoring penalty.

An installment loan will have its greatest impact on your FICO score when the amount owed is at 8.9% or less of the original amount owed which is usually in the final months before the loan is paid in full. If you don't have an installment loan you can check into Self Lender or a Share Secured Loan at a Credit Union.

Keep in mind, building credit is a marathon, not a sprint. It involves demonstrating to a potential creditor that you can handle credit responsibly. If you have open, active credit accounts that are being paid on time and pay all of your bills on time every time, apply for credit only when you actually need it and use credit cards sparingly maintaining low credit utilization, then you’re going to earn and maintain great credit scores. It would be impossible for you not to do so. This is the fastest way you can build good, solid credit.

Re: Your thoughts on when adding tradelines: what is too much too fast

Remedios — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 16:30:48 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for your comments @remedios I'll hold off on adding them all like you said and work at building up the 2 CC's i have and getting the 2 AU accounts reporting right and see how that shakes out.

I've been extremely responsible this time around and am activley using and paying off both cards every month. I just want to continue to work at and extending my credit lines.

Regarding my comment on the Citi TL; I meant i'll add another AU account with Citi prior to applying for that card myself. Similar to what I'm doing with the Cap1 account. I'll piggyback to show more of a history with that creditor which should give me some slight improvement on my chances of approval.

My goal is to take advantage of cards with points - again maintaining them responsibly while continuing to extend each credit line over time. All about patience!

It will happen, it just takes a little bit of time.

By adding junk tradeline, you'd shoot yourself in the foot, really. Pay down your cards and work on those negative accounts. Once those are paid off, scores will start recovering over time and you will be in a better position to apply for the actual cards you can use.

If you add a bunch of accounts now, you'll be dealing with "excessive credit seeking" for a long time. All that happens is you're out of money used for deposits/purchases and nothing to show for it.

I hate breaking your heart, but lenders really do not pay too much attention to AUs. They encourage adding them because it increases possibility of more people spending money, but AU status has no bearing on future applications with the same lender.

AU's are good for spouses and artificial inflation of AAoA. It does not help with apps.

Each lender will review application based on profile strength at the time of application.

Rebuilding is not easy because there really aren't that many short cuts. In the end, it all comes down to making no more boo boos, taking care of existing derogs, low utilization and holding off on applying till situation improves.

Good luck with your future efforts. You can do it!

Re: Your thoughts on when adding tradelines: what is too much too fast

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 16:39:26 GMT

Great thank you @Medic981 for that I wasn't certain about that info but sounds like i'm on the right track then with the accounts I do have already and no need to add those others. Which yeah defintely leave a sour taste in your mouth on the price gouging.

There's so much chatter out there about these accounts like Jewelers club etc and having over 10 accounts. Even Credit Karma says i have a thin credit file at the moment. Experian says it's ok.

I'll focus my energy on building the CC accounts i do while I work towards adding a larger rewards based card and then in fall 2020 work on buying a house so I'll implement the AZEO method as you described - haven't heard that before so thank you for that!

I'm following it loosely now by paying everything off on the 2 cards i have now monthly. About every other month or two i let a small balance stay on as you mentioned. Rinse and repeat with some more patience sprinkled in lol - thanks!

Re: Your thoughts on when adding tradelines: what is too much too fast

dynamicvb — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 17:16:26 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Great thank you @Medic981 for that I wasn't certain about that info but sounds like i'm on the right track then with the accounts I do have already and no need to add those others. Which yeah defintely leave a sour taste in your mouth on the price gouging.

There's so much chatter out there about these accounts like Jewelers club etc and having over 10 accounts. Even Credit Karma says i have a thin credit file at the moment. Experian says it's ok.

keep in mind that Credit Karma makes money when you apply and are approved for something through one of their links, so their advise is not unbiased at all. Take anything you see on that site, other than the tradelines that show up, with a grain of salt. The only real thing CK is good for is monitoring your reports to see what is getting posted or removed. The rest is just fluff. As others said time and getting rid of your baddies is the best you can do right now.

Re: Your thoughts on when adding tradelines: what is too much too fast

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 18:23:54 GMT

Thanks for your comment @dynamicvb

yeah that's all i use CK for these days. I also have and use the experian account to monitor as well. So in your opinion, it would be worth the effort to pay off the accounts that went in to collections 2.5+yrs ago?

I hear conflicted reports on it is why i'm asking. If I did close them i was told to not remove it but to change the status to paid off so i still have the history.

Appreciate any thoughts on the matter.

Re: Your thoughts on when adding tradelines: what is too much too fast

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 18:57:53 GMT

TIME is your friend. I understand how you want to move things along. I feel the same way! If I could, I would have dozens of credit cards by now! But thanks to my inability to get approved, and the good advice of the folks at MyFICO, I'm in a much better place and without too many wasted hard pulls and junk cards.

My FICO scores were in the mid-500s less than a year ago. Now, they're in the mid-600s and the day before yesterday I got approved for a $17,000 credit limit AMEX card from Navy Federal Credit Union. (Pinch me! I still can't believe it's true! LOL.)

I had one big baddy that I got paid off and caught up. That helped my score a WHOLE lot. But I still have a 90-day-late that will continue to haunt me. But still, things are so much better than they were less than a year ago.

You have two cards already. The Cap One card is a "real" card that you can keep indefinitely if you like. I wish I had a card like that a year ago! You're fortunate! The other one will be useful for now but you'll outgrow it soon enough.

All you have to do is take care of the accounts you already have, don't apply for anything new, keep your nose clean and fix your baddies as best you can, and give it time... You might be shocked at how soon things start to look better.

Being patient is very hard, as I know too well! But you can't push it before it is time because that just sets you back and makes things worse.

Hang out here on MyFICO and learn and study as you wait. It makes the time go by faster!

Re: Your thoughts on when adding tradelines: what is too much too fast

AllZero — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 20:11:55 GMT

Lots of good advice up thread.

What is your current:
AAoA Average Age of Accounts
AoYA Age of Youngest Account

Keep in mind the more new (not aged AU) accounts added can negatively affect the above with lower FICO score. Example, AAoA less than 12 months.

Keep your slots open for prime cards you actually want when you're ready.

I would recommend addressing any derogatory that is suppressing your score if they are updating monthly.

Cleaner profile, higher FICO -> better approval odds, higher starting credit limit, better APR.

Re: Your thoughts on when adding tradelines: what is too much too fast

Anonymous — Fri, 20 Sep 2019 00:21:42 GMT

Hi AllZero and thanks for commenting!

To give you some more insight;

Only have 1 inquiry on my report
my average account age is 7 years 9 months
AoYA is 1 month as i just added the Milestone account in August

Right I hear ya that adding newer accounts will drive down my AAoA further impacting my score. Which is originally what prompted me to ask this question since I was considering adding all of those accounts.

My ultimate goal is to pick up a Cap1 Venture account and Citi AA rewards cards then purchase a house - spread across the next 12 to 24 mos.

@AllZero wrote:
Cleaner profile, higher FICO -> better approval odds, higher starting credit limit, better APR.

Roger that, makes sense. So when I went in to look for my age of account data I realized that one of my charge off acounts is actually still reporting monthly "failure to pay".

The account was charged off Mar 2018 - anyone know if they can still report to my credit like that? (it's an AmEx)

My other two accounts that went down at the same time stopped reporting Dec 2018. (these two were both Chase).

Again, appreciate all comments, tips and suggestions!

Don

Re: Your thoughts on when adding tradelines: what is too much too fast

AllZero — Fri, 20 Sep 2019 00:53:37 GMT

You have a good AAoA and low inquiry.

With the house goal in mind, you'll need to take action soon to clean up your reports.

It's recommended no new accounts, credit seeking, 1 year prior to home application.

The charge off "failure to pay", is going to keep on hurting you until it stops monthly updates.

Depending on the amount owed, ability to repay, it's something you should look into with AmEx, Chase or the collection agency.