Few currents accounts VS Hard Inquiry (Mortgage in 6 months)

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,

I have a question.

I have 4 Hard Inquiry on my account and when I check "Why hurting my score" on Experian, they say I don't have enough accounts... "Your FICO® Score considers the number of accounts where you are paying your bills as agreed - in your case this number is too low. This is because you have very few accounts or because you've missed payments recently on some of your accounts." (I never had a late payment in 7.5 years so is not that for sure).

I don't carry balance on any cards and I have 30.5k total limit. Do you think it can hurt to take an other card or not? (knowing I will apply for a mortgage in 6 months with a small bank). (They will be able to see that I don't use my credit limit and maybe don't worry).

Because on an other topic that "hurt" my credit, its written "no installment loan", so it's two differents things.

Thanks for your help!

[Tonya-E]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi everyone,

I have a question.

I have 4 Hard Inquiry on my account and when I check "Why hurting my score" on Experian, they say I don't have enough accounts... "Your FICO® Score considers the number of accounts where you are paying your bills as agreed - in your case this number is too low. This is because you have very few accounts or because you've missed payments recently on some of your accounts." (I never had a late payment in 7.5 years so is not that for sure).

I don't carry balance on any cards and I have 30.5k total limit. Do you think it can hurt to take an other card or not? (knowing I will apply for a mortgage in 6 months with a small bank). (They will be able to see that I don't use my credit limit and maybe don't worry).

Because on an other topic that "hurt" my credit, its written "no installment loan", so it's two differents things.

Thanks for your help!

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Hi,

Can you provide more information... Do you have anything else on your report besides the 3 cards?  Like, maybe a car loan or any installment loan?  If not, that may be what is referring to and you will get help with that once you have a mortgage.  Fico score factors in a credit mix too. Your score should be good if that is the fico in your siggy... You should be cautious on taking on new accounts. You don't want to lower your score trying to prep for a new mortgage.

[Anonymous]

Thanks you for your answer Tony. I'm a Permanent resident, and paid cash for my old volvo and we are renting at the moment (apart on my fiancee name).

Everything is clean on my credit, just the 3 credit cards (one business credit card with 11k but i don't see it on my report). 

I'm new at checking my score, on my experian account, on the left it say Fico Score. So yes, I don't do new application now, and by time I will apply for the mortgage I will have only 3 hard inquiry (during last year period).

Thank you!

[Tonya-E]

Ok that helps me a bit.   I remember getting that before I had a car loan or mortgage but for me it was the mix of different types of credit as i had 5 credit cards.  So it could be the mix or adding a credit card may help. But you need to factor in how that is going to affect your age of accounts. I don't know if that will recover in time for your mortgage in 6 months and you certainly don't want too big of a drop when you are ready for that. It will depend on how long you have had the credit you have open.  I would like to see if someone else chimes in as well just to give additional insight.

Here is a link I found up here that may be helpful:

http://www.scoreinfo.org/FICO-Scores/Pages/Score-F​actors.aspx

This thread talks about calculating the age of your accounts:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/AAoA/m-p/449181/highlight/true#M34114?fil...

[Skye12329]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks you for your answer Tony. I'm a Permanent resident, and paid cash for my old volvo and we are renting at the moment (apart on my fiancee name).

Everything is clean on my credit, just the 3 credit cards (one business credit card with 11k but i don't see it on my report). 

I'm new at checking my score, on my experian account, on the left it say Fico Score. So yes, I don't do new application now, and by time I will apply for the mortgage I will have only 3 hard inquiry (during last year period).

Thank you!

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I dont think Business cards report. As for not having enough accounts, usually 2+ is fine for Fico Scoring purposes. In my opinion those reasosn that the bureaus come up is odd, i think you could have a 800+ score and it will still say something of why your score is hurting. I wouldnt worry too much about it. 

If your applying for a mortgage in 6 mos, i would wait before applying for anything else until the mortgage is secured.

[Tonya-E]

Ok...what you should do is factor how a new account will affect average age of your account.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/AAoA/m-p/449181/highlight/true#M34114?fil...

It could be that a card may be helpful OR it may do a bit of harm if it significantly lowers your AAOA.  I think you may have the time to recover though since you aren't doing the mortgage for 6 months. 

Here is a thread that explains the different fico factors:

http://www.scoreinfo.org/FICO-Scores/Pages/Score-F​actors.aspx

Maybe someone else can chime in as well to give another point of view.  I am definitely no expert.

[MyDataMyChoice]

If you have a 755 FICO on all three bureaus (not fakos) get the FICO 5 Score from this site....  Its the one used for mortgage lending... what does it come up as?

I would not Apply for a single card if you are looking for a mortgage

I would however apply for a LINE OF CREDIT (overdraft)  (Get a Credit Union) NASA, PenFed