AAOA: Is applying for two cards in the same day right for me?

[mazinaige]

In an attempt to have my credit cards age together I am wondering if applying for two cards in the same day is right for me. I have a pre-approval for Discover More and Citi Platinum 9.99% APR. My credit profile looks like this: TU reports 21 lines, 20 with balances. All but two are student loans. I am a doctoral student graduating 2011, will be enrolling in Income Based Repayment & Public Service (10 year) loan forgiveness program. I have two credit cards: AMEX Blue and Wells Fargo Platinum. Today I applied and was approved for Citi CashReturns. I have 3 new accounts reported opened this year on TU: AMEX, and two student loans. I have 3 recent inquires: AMEX, SallieMae x 2. TU reports: 15 year 7 month history, AAOA 5 years, 13% ratio on revolving credit. Car is paid for. I live in BF's home. I will not be apply for a mortgage in the foreseen future. EQ reports: 17 year 9 month history, 4 year AAOA, 33% ratio, 24 accounts, 19 accounts w balances (student loans), 2 accounts opened in last year, newest account is 2 months old (also student loan), 1 recent inquiry. No late payments on either report. Should I apply for another pre-approved credit card today or wait another six months to apply? My current FICO scores are listed below in my signature. Thanks for you help.

[Tazman81]

I guess the question is really whether you need another credit card?  You seem to be doing well with the cards that you currently have.  If you need/want another credit card, then I would go ahead and apply for it.  You likely will be approved.  Just be careful managing all of those cards because that is how a lot of people end up in trouble.  IMHO, you will have to start paying back your student loans soon and you don't want credit card debt lingering out there. 

[mazinaige]

My long term goal is to acquire six credit cards so that in the future, after my student loans have been consolidated, less than half of my accounts will report a balance. I will not be carrying monthly balances on each card. I normally pay in full each month but leave just enough balance on one card to have it report to the bureau as active and then pay it off before I have to pay interest. My concern is not that I would be denied a card, I'm confident that I will be approved. My concern is more about the impact on my FICO score, whether or not I need to worry about a short term score drop since I am not going to be applying for a car loan or mortgage in the near future. However, I will be applying for another federal student loan in September.

My trade lines could look like:

1 consolidated student loan

1 WF Platinum credit card

1 AMEX Blue credit card

1 Citi-CashReturns credit card

* possible car loan in future (within three to five years)

* possible mortgage in distant future (after five years)

For more info on why I would want six cards, please read: Can people with 6-8 credit cards share their experience with us?

[MarineVietVet]

One thing I will ask is where did you get your scores? No one has been able to pull their own Experian FICO score since February of 2009. Creditors can pull Experian and also there is a CU in Pennsylvania that supplies that information to it's members only. You can only buy true FICO scores at a few places. One place is here at myfico. I suggest you do an internet search for "myfico discount codes" to save a little money. You can also purchase your Equifax score at www.equifax.com (If you look hard enough) and your Transunion score at www.transunioncs.com.

From a BK years ago to:
9/09 EX pulled by lender 802
3/10 EQ- 800
6/10 TU -772

You can do the same thing with hard work

Credit Scoring 101
Common Abbreviations
Frequently Requested Threads
Whats In Your FICO Score

[Tazman81]

Your credit score will likely take a 20-30point hit with opening the new account.  And that is just based on the AAoA.  Normally that will start to rebound within 6-12months.  It should not affect your ability to obtain a Federal Student loan because Federal loans do not pull your credit in order to qualify.  So, in that case, I would say go ahead and get it so that you have the number of cards that you want and they all start aging.

[mazinaige]

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@MarineVietVet wrote:

One thing I will ask is where did you get your scores? No one has been able to pull their own Experian FICO score since February of 2009. 

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I registered with myFICO.com on 2008-10-22 and have since been monitoring my FICO scores and credit reports through Score Watch and FICO Quarterly Monitoring. I realize that we are no longer able to pull our own Experian FICO score. The one I have posted for Experian was the last score reported to me in January 2009. My current TU score is from 7/2/2010 and EQ is dated 12/29/2009. My highest score yet, 788, was posted by TU on 2009/30/09.

[MarineVietVet]

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@mazinaige wrote:

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I registered with myFICO.com on 2008-10-22 and have since been monitoring my FICO scores and credit reports through Score Watch and FICO Quarterly Monitoring. I realize that we are no longer able to pull our own Experian FICO score. The one I have posted for Experian was the last score reported to me in January 2009. My current TU score is from 7/2/2010 and EQ is dated 12/29/2009. My highest score yet, 788, was posted by TU on 2009/30/09.

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I understand. May I make one small suggestion? If you would put the dates of the credit pulls beside the actual scores you might avoid being asked in the future where you got your EX score. 

The reason I and others ask where people get their scores is because many of them don't realize most "credit scores" for sale out there are not true FICO scores. Education is a big part of these forums.

From a BK years ago to:
9/09 EX pulled by lender 802
3/10 EQ- 800
6/10 TU -772

You can do the same thing with hard work

Credit Scoring 101
Common Abbreviations
Frequently Requested Threads
Whats In Your FICO Score

[mazinaige]

Thanks for the tip. I'll do that.