Hi everyone. I am interested in obtaining a few rewards credit cards that i am already pre approved for; including the Truist 123 Cashback card, but I just got my last new account back in Jan and have a total of 3 new accounts reporting (2 are over a year old already) and three inquiries on transunion but zero inquiries on experian lol. My oldest accounts are both 10 years old and my newest ones are Cap 1 at 1 year and PenFed at 6 months.
My scores are all over 720. My utitlization is 5% total. Will it hurt my credit to accept the Truist, which shouldn't be a hard pull, and Wells Fargo which usually pulls experian in my area? Is having 4 or even 5 new accounts, reporting for a year, going to hurt my score or make other creditors think i am credit seeking and lower my limits?
Thank you in advance for any advice on this matter. I would like to get at least one new one if I can before gardening for another year and a half but i'll wait if it's a big deal.
@user979797 wrote:Hi everyone. I am interested in obtaining a few rewards credit cards that i am already pre approved for; including the Truist 123 Cashback card, but I just got my last new account back in Jan and have a total of 3 new accounts reporting (2 are over a year old already) and three inquiries on transunion but zero inquiries on experian lol. My oldest accounts are both 10 years old and my newest ones are Cap 1 at 1 year and PenFed at 6 months.
My scores are all over 720. My utitlization is 5% total. Will it hurt my credit to accept the Truist, which shouldn't be a hard pull, and Wells Fargo which usually pulls experian in my area? Is having 4 or even 5 new accounts, reporting for a year, going to hurt my score or make other creditors think i am credit seeking and lower my limits?
Thank you in advance for any advice on this matter. I would like to get at least one new one if I can before gardening for another year and a half but i'll wait if it's a big deal.
There's no bright line answer to this. It's all relative. The more inquiries and the more new accounts, the more the downward pressure on your scores. I resigned myself to this when I was in card acquisition mode. Every new account "hurts your credit". It's just a question of finding the right balance between your various priorities.
That being said, if you're in card acquisition mode, spacing them out at 6 month intervals is a decent place to strike a balance. It was years before I went 12 months without a new account, and let me tell you.... I got a great score boost of 26 points when I did. But then I lost each of those points when I added a new card.
The problem with gardening when you don't have many cards or much limit is that your score will never be great while you are using your existing cards. New accounts take a temporary hit, but the hit goes away fast enough. I think you are fine to get that Truist card now, and I think 3 new cards a year is very reasonable ...
13Oct22 Exp F8: 812
Thank you all for such insightful replies I really appreciate it. Since it's already been at least 6 months since my last new account, and based on what everyone has said here, I think it will be okay for me to add at least one new account now and I may go ahead and do that. I'm hoping tomorrow PenFed has a pre approval for me but if not I may just go with the Truist card or even the Wells Fargo which would suit me better despite it being a hard pull.
Thanks again!
@calisig wrote:The problem with gardening when you don't have many cards or much limit is that your score will never be great while you are using your existing cards. New accounts take a temporary hit, but the hit goes away fast enough. I think you are fine to get that Truist card now, and I think 3 new cards a year is very reasonable ...
1. I agree that 3 new cards a year is ok, if you're not trying for 800's or even high 700's in the near future, but I don't agree that one's scores will never be great with a small number of cards. Your scores can reach perfection with 3 cards. Adding cards after that will not increase scores. The only valid reason to add cards after that is that you would like to have more or different types of credit.
2. We don't know how many cards, or what limits, OP has. But I do see 6 open cards and limits totalling around $35k in OP's signature, so I guess those are the totals.
@SouthJamaica wrote:1. I agree that 3 new cards a year is ok, if you're not trying for 800's or even high 700's in the near future, but I don't agree that one's scores will never be great with a small number of cards. Your scores can reach perfection with 3 cards. Adding cards after that will not increase scores. The only valid reason to add cards after that is that you would like to have more or different types of credit.
2. We don't know how many cards, or what limits, OP has. But I do see 6 open cards and limits totalling around $35k in OP's signature, so I guess those are the totals.
My thinking behind my comments was that it appears the OP only has $9100 credit between two major credit cards. And assuming PIF, I know you know that means if the OP intends to stay below any chosen utilization % threshold but still use his cards, the OP will need more limit. And by growing his major cc limits, the OP will be able to run spend through those CCs more freely without sacrificing score reduction or having to pay off next month's balance before this month's statement closes.