topic Re: Need advice on opening a credit card in Rebuilding Your Credit

Need advice on opening a credit card

Cjethompson2017 — Tue, 07 Jul 2020 13:56:59 GMT

Hey there! I am trying to do all I can to raise our scores within the next month to purchase a home. I am looking at myFico, and I am playing around with the simulator. It says my scores will go up (not by a ton) if I open a credit card. My husband has a discover card that I am an authorized signer on, but it only reports to Equifax on my credit. I know to do the all zero except one, but I guess this doesn't work with a store card?? I don't have a regular card in my name. Just the one authorized signer on my husbands. Should I open a card? This is what my simulator shows. Also, I know it sometimes take a bit to report. So, I'm on the fence. Because it may mess things up if I open it and doesn't start reporting until after they've pulled credit. Should I just wait?

Re: Need advice on opening a credit card

AllZero — Tue, 07 Jul 2020 14:59:44 GMT

It is recommended not to open new accounts or incurr any hard pull inquiry for 12 months leading up to a mortgage application.

You want to follow your mortgage scores EX2, TU4, EQ5. I would recommend pulling those scores to see where you stand.

Re: Need advice on opening a credit card

AllZero — Tue, 07 Jul 2020 15:01:20 GMT

You can obtain your 3 bureau mortgage scores at . Cancel plan after you obtain your scores and reports to avoid re-occurring monthly charge.

Re: Need advice on opening a credit card

AllZero — Tue, 07 Jul 2020 15:07:00 GMT

@Cjethompson2017 .Do you have any revolving CC accounts of your own?

You may want to address any derogatories that may be suppressing your scores.

ETA I just reread. You only have a store card?

Re: Need advice on opening a credit card

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Jul 2020 18:01:14 GMT

@Cjethompson2017 wrote:
Hey there! I am trying to do all I can to raise our scores within the next month to purchase a home. I am looking at myFico, and I am playing around with the simulator. It says my scores will go up (not by a ton) if I open a credit card. My husband has a discover card that I am an authorized signer on, but it only reports to Equifax on my credit. I know to do the all zero except one, but I guess this doesn't work with a store card?? I don't have a regular card in my name. Just the one authorized signer on my husbands. Should I open a card? This is what my simulator shows. Also, I know it sometimes take a bit to report. So, I'm on the fence. Because it may mess things up if I open it and doesn't start reporting until after they've pulled credit. Should I just wait?

It will likely not help you. Simulators are strictly for entertainment purposes.

Now, before I get told it will help, my reasoning is this:

The mortgage app is in 1 month. This will likely not even be enough time for it to report to the 3Bs. Many cards don't report until after the 1st or even 2nd statement cuts.

Even if it immediately reported, 1 month is just not enough time to build any history.

Your scores may actually go down initially for the new TL penalty. Your scores start to increase afterwards, as the TL ages, but probably not when it first reports, but of course there is no guarantee. It may increase, but that would be a gamble.

This will also reduce your AAoA, it may also be a drastic reduction if your file is very thin (which it appears to be). This may also lower your credit scores.

As mentioned above, you need to check your current mortgage scores. I would not risk a new TL immediately before a mortgage app and especially if you are boarderline, as you do not want to get pushed under the minimum score. Also, I am not sure how mortgage scores react immediately when TLs are added, like if they have a new TL penalty too.

Good luck!

Re: Need advice on opening a credit card

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Jul 2020 22:09:02 GMT

My advice is to open an Open Sky acct that way you'll get the tradeline, without the impact to your reports for the hp. However, I do agree that if you're talking about applying for a mortgage within the next month or next couple of months, this attempt will likely be futile.

Best of luck to you and keep us posted on your progress!

Re: Need advice on opening a credit card

Cjethompson2017 — Wed, 08 Jul 2020 00:05:51 GMT

Thank you, everybody! I have my mortgage scores, but I was just seeing if the simulator means anything.