Thinking about applying

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone, brand new to the forum but I've been reading through most of these threads and I love all of the information you guys give and I figured this would be the best place to ask for advice. I aplogize if this is in the wrong place. 

I'm brand new to credit and I finally reached six months credit history this month, my first card I got was the Discover It card at a 1,250 limit. I've kept my ulitization around 10 - 15% every month, I think my lowest might have been 9% or so. I finally got my score from Discover and my Transunion is at a 724, personally I was shocked to have such a high score but I have no idea what to do from there. 

My plan atm is to hopefully get a Chase Freedom card and a store card - the GAP since I do shop there pretty often and I believe the reward program they have would be great for me. I figured I should probably garden until I have a full year of credit history, but I was wondering if I could do anything at the moment. I don't really want to jump the gun and apply to early.

Overall since I feel like I'm kinda rambling ;

I'm 19 and I make about 15,000 a year, Transunion score of 724 from Discover It. No baddies on my reports. 3 inquires and I keep my ulitization between 10-15% and I pay in full each month 

Should I apply for the cards now or wait? Any advice is welcomed, I am interested in Amex but I feel like they along with Chase might like 1 year of credit history. Thank you all so much

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello everyone, brand new to the forum but I've been reading through most of these threads and I love all of the information you guys give and I figured this would be the best place to ask for advice. I aplogize if this is in the wrong place. 

I'm brand new to credit and I finally reached six months credit history this month, my first card I got was the Discover It card at a 1,250 limit. I've kept my ulitization around 10 - 15% every month, I think my lowest might have been 9% or so. I finally got my score from Discover and my Transunion is at a 724, personally I was shocked to have such a high score but I have no idea what to do from there. 

My plan atm is to hopefully get a Chase Freedom card and a store card - the GAP since I do shop there pretty often and I believe the reward program they have would be great for me. I figured I should probably garden until I have a full year of credit history, but I was wondering if I could do anything at the moment. I don't really want to jump the gun and apply to early.

Overall since I feel like I'm kinda rambling ;

I'm 19 and I make about 15,000 a year, Transunion score of 724 from Discover It. No baddies on my reports. 3 inquires and I keep my ulitization between 10-15% and I pay in full each month 

Should I apply for the cards now or wait? Any advice is welcomed, I am interested in Amex but I feel like they along with Chase might like 1 year of credit history. Thank you all so much

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Welcome to MyFico.

While your TU score is very good at this early stage you need to be careful and not overdo it to early.  As you seem to recognize creditors are also interested in how old your credit file is.  That doesn't mean you can't apply for any cards now.  Have you checked the prequalify do sites of Amex and Chase?  While not totally indicative of an approval or not they can give good you an idea of your chances of success.  Also check the Capitol One site for any preapprovals.  It's important to add another card or two so that you can strengthen your credit file but for now I would focus on major credit cards and leave any store cards for later.  See what those sites say and we can go from there.

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for your response. I've tried the preapproval already at Chase, Amex & capital one and nothing has ever shown up for me. I dont believe I'm opted out, I'm only 19 and I read somewhere that for pre approvals you need to be 21 and older. No clue if thats true or not. I bank with Wells Fargo but I'm not really interested in any of their cards, they do always send me inviations but half of my family gets them and they dont bank with them so I always figured its not worth it to even attempt. Theres not many major credit cards that totally catch my eye at the moment, so I guess its probably better to just wait it out than. Maybe I'll wait until the 200 signup bonus for the Freedom comes back and try than. I would just hate to not be approved for a low average age of account but I guess it may be for the better. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thank you so much for your response. I've tried the preapproval already at Chase, Amex & capital one and nothing has ever shown up for me. I dont believe I'm opted out, I'm only 19 and I read somewhere that for pre approvals you need to be 21 and older. No clue if thats true or not. I bank with Wells Fargo but I'm not really interested in any of their cards, they do always send me inviations but half of my family gets them and they dont bank with them so I always figured its not worth it to even attempt. Theres not many major credit cards that totally catch my eye at the moment, so I guess its probably better to just wait it out than. Maybe I'll wait until the 200 signup bonus for the Freedom comes back and try than. I would just hate to not be approved for a low average age of account but I guess it may be for the better. 

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I did forget about the age requirement for CapOne preapprovals.  That may hold true for other creditors as well.  Waiting on the return of the $200 bonus for the Freedom is a good idea.  I think you have a good chance at an approval for a CapOne card though I can't for sure say which one is the best chance.  It might be worth the inquiries to apply for one of their cards.  If you have had the Discover for six months now you should be able to get approved. 

[Jeff532003]

Try for the capital one Venture if you do any travel. I'm not sure how they'll feel about your limited profile but they sure have been handing out nice fat limits which would give your a boost if your able to get one.

[Anonymous]

+1

[Anonymous]

Thank you both again but at the moment, I'm not really interested in any cards from Capital one. I think I'll garden for a little more and hopefully my score can go up a bit more and I can go from there, unless I can find the courage to cold app for the freedom and see where that gets me.