Advice on when to apply?

[RW771]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@RW771 wrote:

Hi everyone,

Here is a quick rundown of what I currently have:

2 secured cards - both $0 balance

1 Home Depot card $1500/$3000 CL

1 furniture store card $2500/$3000 CL

1 Kohl's card - $0 balance

My most recent FICO score (EQ...which always is my lowest) is a 649. I closed on my first home back on 12/07/11 but it hasn't shown up on my CR's yet. I am wanting to apply for a major credit card and hoping for a decent CL. My question is should I wait and pay down the Home Depot card and furniture cards first? Would that help my chances any? Or should I apply now before the mortgage hits? I worry that a 649 may not be strong enough to qualify for much, if at all, but I'm pretty sure my scores will be higher with EX and TU. I'm willing to wait a bit if need be, but I'm getting married in July and we're paying for the wedding ourselves and wanting to put all the wedding expenses on the card. Any advice is, as always, very much appreciated! :-)

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Before I suggest some cards to apply for how do your credit reports look across all 3 CRA's? Do you have any baddies? How is your fiance's credit like? Also if for some reason you can't get the credit you need can you postpone the wedding till next year?

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My credit is pretty good actually, just very limited. It just recently dropped 15 points too due to the 2 new cards and the mortgage as of December. My fiancee's credit is pretty much out of the question...we couldn't even buy our house using his credit (ex-wife was court ordered to refinance home back in 2007 and never did and house went into short sale as of a few months ago) so I bought it on my own. We could post pone the wedding but we would lose all of the deposit money and a good portion of what we have already paid :-(

[Anonymous]

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@RW771 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

ok,, il never understand why some ppl wait for what they want to fall out of the sky, if u want or need something go for it, banks or CU's r not mind readers. if u need this go talk to them, and if the turn u down, try try again. take charge of ur credit life and get what u want,,,, just my 2 cents

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Trust me...it's taking all I have not to go ahead and go to the bank or apply online for a card. But if I get denied, or it's that 1 inquiry that put me over the top with too many inquiries, then I'm stuck trying to figure out alternate ways to obtain financing for the wedding. So I'm trying to play it safe but at the same time do it as fast as I can since July will be here before we know it!

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go talk face to face with ur CU, talking to a computer is no go when its this important

[Anonymous]

I'm going to have to agree with dale on this, go talk to them in person. Especially with a credit union, you have a better chance of actually being able to talk to a loan officer. With big banks, it seems to be either all computer-based, or you can't talk to any loan officers/underwriters since as a customer, you're just not important enough to them.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'm going to have to agree with dale on this, go talk to them in person. Especially with a credit union, you have a better chance of actually being able to talk to a loan officer. With big banks, it seems to be either all computer-based, or you can't talk to any loan officers/underwriters since as a customer, you're just not important enough to them.

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amen,,, some1 finaly agrees with me

[LS2982]

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@RW771 wrote:

Hi everyone,

Here is a quick rundown of what I currently have:

2 secured cards - both $0 balance What are the limits on these cards??

1 Home Depot card $1500/$3000 CL

1 furniture store card $2500/$3000 CL

1 Kohl's card - $0 balance

My most recent FICO score (EQ...which always is my lowest) is a 649. I closed on my first home back on 12/07/11 but it hasn't shown up on my CR's yet. I am wanting to apply for a major credit card and hoping for a decent CL. My question is should I wait and pay down the Home Depot card and furniture cards first? Yes. Get your util. down! Would that help my chances any? Or should I apply now before the mortgage hits? Wait until it hits, you should see a small increase.  I worry that a 649 may not be strong enough to qualify for much, if at all, but I'm pretty sure my scores will be higher with EX and TU. I'm willing to wait a bit if need be, but I'm getting married in July and we're paying for the wedding ourselves and wanting to put all the wedding expenses on the card. Any advice is, as always, very much appreciated! :-)

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[LS2982]

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@Anonymous wrote:

ok,, il never understand why some ppl wait for what they want to fall out of the sky, if u want or need something go for it, banks or CU's r not mind readers. if u need this go talk to them, and if the turn u down, try try again. take charge of ur credit life and get what u want,,,, just my 2 cents

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You can shoot for the stars when the time is right.....................

[Anonymous]

Pay down  the cards and apply in May.   You need the lower utilization and some actual age on your accouts.

[RW771]

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@LS2982 wrote:

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@RW771 wrote:

Hi everyone,

Here is a quick rundown of what I currently have:

2 secured cards - both $0 balance What are the limits on these cards??

1 Home Depot card $1500/$3000 CL

1 furniture store card $2500/$3000 CL

1 Kohl's card - $0 balance

My most recent FICO score (EQ...which always is my lowest) is a 649. I closed on my first home back on 12/07/11 but it hasn't shown up on my CR's yet. I am wanting to apply for a major credit card and hoping for a decent CL. My question is should I wait and pay down the Home Depot card and furniture cards first? Yes. Get your util. down! Would that help my chances any? Or should I apply now before the mortgage hits? Wait until it hits, you should see a small increase.  I worry that a 649 may not be strong enough to qualify for much, if at all, but I'm pretty sure my scores will be higher with EX and TU. I'm willing to wait a bit if need be, but I'm getting married in July and we're paying for the wedding ourselves and wanting to put all the wedding expenses on the card. Any advice is, as always, very much appreciated! :-)

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 The limits on the secured cards are low...$500. My LO advised me to just open a few up and put only a couple hundred dollars on them for rebuilding purposes only, since I needed a boost in my score and my credit was so limited in order to qualify for a mortgage loan.

Wouldn't my credit do the opposite and take a bit of a hit once the mortgage reports? It just stinks cause I was almost at a 680 before the 3 inquiries and now I'm down to a 649 (EQ).

Once that tax money comes in my fiancee and I are paying those suckers off! That will leave me with all 5 cards paid completely off (well I'll keep a small balance on 1 of them).

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[Anonymous]

Just a thought. It won't improve your FICO score immediately but you could take the 4K that you would use to pay off the cards and use that cash money for your wedding. Continue to pay the minimum or whatever above it you can afford on the cards.

If the 4K isn't enough then you may want to re-think your plans somewhat. If your fiance is married before and you bought a home then you are 1. Not just starting out in life as a youngster. 2. Somewhat careful and knowledgeable about finances yourself to be able to accomplish the home purchase.

Why would you want to start your life together in the credit hole too deeply?

[RW771]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Just a thought. It won't improve your FICO score immediately but you could take the 4K that you would use to pay off the cards and use that cash money for your wedding. Continue to pay the minimum or whatever above it you can afford on the cards.

If the 4K isn't enough then you may want to re-think your plans somewhat. If your fiance is married before and you bought a home then you are 1. Not just starting out in life as a youngster. 2. Somewhat careful and knowledgeable about finances yourself to be able to accomplish the home purchase.

Why would you want to start your life together in the credit hole too deeply?

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Unfortunately we have to put the money we get back from our taxes towards the cards. The Home Depot card is what we used to buy a washer and dryer (we didn't have them since we lived in an apartment) and the furniture store card was for our couches we needed. The Home Depot card only gives us 6 months (so until June) to pay it off with 0% int and then jumps up to something like 20 something %! The furniture store card only gives us a year with no int and then jumps up even higher! So in order to avoid getting ourselves into a major financial mess of only paying the minimums, we absolutely have to pay these cards off.

I am only 27 but have been working on my credit for some time in order to purchase my first home. It only makes sense, considering rates are so low and my house payment is less than my rent was, not to mention I'm actually building up equity and not flushing it away in rent each month.

If I paid off the HD and furniture cards like I'm wanting to, then get the cc I'd like to get and pay the wedding finances off with it, that would be my only revolving debt.

Thanks for your input!