Student loans by themselves are unlikely to tank your credit scores. Given that you are starting school and presumably these loans are for the education that you are pursuing, unless they are private loans you will likely receive some sort of deferment in payment.
Note: if you do have to start paying it back, make sure you stay on top of it, a good payment history on loans is just as important to your credit history as managing credit cards.
So the only immediate impacts would be:
- A new tradeline reporting which may impact your account age (though your account age is not that high to begin with)
- Your debt to income ratio which given your unique situation, lenders are likely to give some special consideration, especially if you applied for cards targeted at students
I think the problem with your app spree is that you chose lenders who are known to not be friendly towards thin files. It's not your fault, and most people aren't aware of such nuances unless they are regular visitors to forums such as this or websites on these topics.
But since you are here now (belated welcome btw!), you obviously want to learn more and get advice before making more decisions which is always a good thing. I'd say the best thing to do is to wait another 6 months at the very least, a year would be better.
Your Discover IT is a flat cashback card at 1% after your initial year is up (2 more months of 2% left!), it should also give you 5% on some commonly used categories like gas, restaurants, Amazon, etc. Your Amex BCE is good for rewards on gas and grocery and is also a flat 1% card. Between those 2 cards you are getting at least 1% (and more for a few commonly used categories) and that's pretty decent for someone at the start of building credit history. Chasing that extra 1% on the DC or that extra 0.5% on the FU or USB Cash365 just isn't worth it compared to waiting and then getting a better card down the road with higher CLs.
If you think about it, if you spend $10K a year on the CC, an extra 1% is only $100 more, an extra 0.5% is only $50 more. You can easily make that up with a nice SUB down the road.
OK enough lecturing. Here's a plan:
1. Wait at least 6-9 months until both of your cards are over 1 year old. Longer is better
2. If you still want a flat 2% CB card, then apply for something like the Paypal 2% CB MC from Synchrony. Sync is generally not a fussy bank and is pretty generous with CLs. I find the card to be much better than the DC anyway.
Final thoughts: remember this is a marathon, not a sprint. Think long term and be patient.
