Should I apply for third credit card with no credit history for building credits?

[BK903S]

I had already applied, got approved for both Amex and Discover this month, and activated both cards. Credit Karma alerted me that Amex did a hard pull, and I cannot find pull information on Discover. Should I apply for a third card as a beginner this early to build credits? I had no loans, and my credit reports looked empty from all three credit bureaus. 

[Anonymous]

Nope, let me be a cautionary tale: wait for a year then apply for Chase.

[citymunky]

Discover would have pulled your report from Experian which Credit Karma doesn't monitor only TransUnion and Equifax, but they display your VantageScore 3, not your FICO 8.

If you want to monitor one of your FICO 8 scores for free, download the Experian phone app.

To answer your question better, more info about the starting credit limit and the name of bank would be helpful to help you out.

The main factor we would be looking from is your total available credit to get the bigger picture.

[BK903S]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Nope, let me be a cautionary tale: wait for a year then apply for Chase.

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That's what I was thinking as well. However, I found so much conflicting information on how many cards a beginner with no credit history should get. Some say you need at least three and apply every six months; some say the same but get them as soon as possible because they will not stack on top of each other once they become less critical and fall off the credit report. What is the truth?

[BK903S]

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@citymunky wrote:

Discover would have pulled your report from Experian which Credit Karma doesn't monitor only TransUnion and Equifax, but they display your VantageScore 3, not your FICO 8.

If you want to monitor one of your FICO 8 scores for free, download the Experian phone app.

To answer your question better, more info about the starting credit limit and the name of bank would be helpful to help you out.

The main factor we would be looking from is your total available credit to get the bigger picture.

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My start credit limits are 1000 for Discover and 2000 for Amex. I use Bank of America as my only bank. Hopefully that helps!

[Anonymous]

You could get BOA CCR I guess, since u bank with them, and all 3, Amex Disco BOA grow fast I heard.

[citymunky]

The truth is understanding what makes up your credit score and what how they effect your score.

Currently with no history, the banks don't have any info to go off of (ie: 35% of your score is payment history). With literally zero account reporting, besides being 30 days late on your first payment I can't see how you can drop your score further if you apply of other card.  With 15% of your score is length of credit history, your average age of account is not going to drop because your current age is 0 months, on the flip if you wait until year to apply for a new card that your average age will drop from 12 months  to 8 months (12+12+0= 24// 24÷3=8).

So if you can manage one card, I don't think opening other card would kill you, BUT it is important that you don't over extended your self as amount owed makes up 30% of your score. In order to maximize this you must maintain your credit utilization under 30% of your total credit availability (in your current case, 30% of $3000 is $900). However to really optimize your score, maintain credit utilize under 10%).

If you do get a third card, that STOP applying after that, and your lock your reports. Now it's time to build your file by paying off your debt on time and managing you utilization rates.

Also here is the Credit Pull Database:

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Which-Report-Will-They-Pull-Part-2/td-p/63797...

[BK903S]

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@citymunky wrote:

The truth is understanding what makes up your credit score and what how they effect your score.

Currently with no history, the banks don't have any info to go off of (ie: 35% of your score is payment history). With literally zero account reporting, besides being 30 days late on your first payment I can't see how you can drop your score further if you apply of other card.  With 15% of your score is length of credit history, your average age of account is not going to drop because your current age is 0 months, on the flip if you wait until year to apply for a new card that your average age will drop from 12 months  to 8 months (12+12+0= 24// 24÷3=8).

So if you can manage one card, I don't think opening other card would kill you, BUT it is important that you don't over extended your self as amount owed makes up 30% of your score. In order to maximize this you must maintain your credit utilization under 30% of your total credit availability (in your current case, 30% of $3000 is $900). However to really optimize your score, maintain credit utilize under 10%).

If you do get a third card, that STOP applying after that, and your lock your reports. Now it's time to build your file by paying off your debt on time and managing you utilization rates.

Also here is the Credit Pull Database:

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Which-Report-Will-They-Pull-Part-2/td-p/63797...

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Got it, but why would I need to lock my reports if I get third card? Is it because that's a bigger drop threshold? If I went that route, when should I unlock it?

[FinStar]

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@BK903S wrote:

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@citymunky wrote:

The truth is understanding what makes up your credit score and what how they effect your score.

Currently with no history, the banks don't have any info to go off of (ie: 35% of your score is payment history). With literally zero account reporting, besides being 30 days late on your first payment I can't see how you can drop your score further if you apply of other card.  With 15% of your score is length of credit history, your average age of account is not going to drop because your current age is 0 months, on the flip if you wait until year to apply for a new card that your average age will drop from 12 months  to 8 months (12+12+0= 24// 24÷3=8).

So if you can manage one card, I don't think opening other card would kill you, BUT it is important that you don't over extended your self as amount owed makes up 30% of your score. In order to maximize this you must maintain your credit utilization under 30% of your total credit availability (in your current case, 30% of $3000 is $900). However to really optimize your score, maintain credit utilize under 10%).

If you do get a third card, that STOP applying after that, and your lock your reports. Now it's time to build your file by paying off your debt on time and managing you utilization rates.

Also here is the Credit Pull Database:

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Which-Report-Will-They-Pull-Part-2/td-p/63797...

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Got it, but why would I need to lock my reports if I get third card? Is it because that's a bigger drop threshold? If I went that route, when should I unlock it?

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There's no requirement to lock or freeze your reports. There's no scoring impact for locking them. Often times some individuals do it as a measure to avoid the quick temptation to freely apply for anything under the sun.  More of a discipline or control thing to keep oneself from applying.

[BK903S]

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@FinStar wrote:

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@BK903S wrote:

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@citymunky wrote:

The truth is understanding what makes up your credit score and what how they effect your score.

Currently with no history, the banks don't have any info to go off of (ie: 35% of your score is payment history). With literally zero account reporting, besides being 30 days late on your first payment I can't see how you can drop your score further if you apply of other card.  With 15% of your score is length of credit history, your average age of account is not going to drop because your current age is 0 months, on the flip if you wait until year to apply for a new card that your average age will drop from 12 months  to 8 months (12+12+0= 24// 24÷3=8).

So if you can manage one card, I don't think opening other card would kill you, BUT it is important that you don't over extended your self as amount owed makes up 30% of your score. In order to maximize this you must maintain your credit utilization under 30% of your total credit availability (in your current case, 30% of $3000 is $900). However to really optimize your score, maintain credit utilize under 10%).

If you do get a third card, that STOP applying after that, and your lock your reports. Now it's time to build your file by paying off your debt on time and managing you utilization rates.

Also here is the Credit Pull Database:

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Which-Report-Will-They-Pull-Part-2/td-p/63797...

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Got it, but why would I need to lock my reports if I get third card? Is it because that's a bigger drop threshold? If I went that route, when should I unlock it?

---

There's no requirement to lock or freeze your reports. There's no scoring impact for locking them. Often times some individuals do it as a measure to avoid the quick temptation to freely apply for anything under the sun.  More of a discipline or control thing to keep oneself from applying.

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I see, but are there pros and cons of getting third one this early vs 6 months vs 12 months so on and so fourth if I kept 6% utilization? From the looks of the analyses, it looks like one should open as many as they possibly can when they started, but that sounds too risky because of the drops per each hard pull.