Garden? Next Steps?

[Anonymous]

Hi All-

Been rebuilding for about two years now. Started out low and managed to get up around 650 recently. Cards are in my sig. I am buying a house in January, I have a Judgement on there that I never paid (5k) , I also have a collections on there that I paid, maybe one more. An auto account with a lot of late payments and a utility bill with some late payments. It's mostly all old stuff from 7 years ago when I got divorced. Most of the baddies are gone.

My plan is as follows, I want to get a chase freedom and a capital one ventureone next, sit on them for a while and then get an Amex Cash Preffered 6% gas card and a Chase Sapphire. I travel a lot and I have two kids so the cash back cards fit well with my monthly spending. I spend about 3k a month on my cards and PIF. I also make well over 100k a year and have a large amount of savings.

What do you think my next steps should be? I know i'll be getting CLI increases on Barclays and Capitol one by the end of the year. I wanted to cancel my capitol one secured and credit one and try to get my AF deleted on the quicksilver one. When should I do that?

Should I just Garden until the end of the year? I have 4-5 inquiries as of now. I'm going to applying for a mortgage in January but i'm already pre approved through CHFA. But will I be able to get cards after that? I won't have a late payment in two years as of 11/1/14 so that helps right? A couple baddies might fall off here and there over the next 6 months. What do you think my score will be in 6 months if I just sit on what I have now?

Sorry for all the questions, i'm pretty thourough. lol

[coldnmn]

Welcome to the forum. Until you have keys in hand garden! 

[-NewGuy-]

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@coldnmn wrote:

Welcome to the forum. Until you have keys in hand garden! 

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Exactly right. Being pre-approved now doesn't mean that you won't have your credit run again before the house closes. You have enough credit cards for scoring puroses right now, just treat them right and don't apply for anything until after you close on your house.

[Anonymous]

ok, cool. Agreed. What do you think about closing the capital one secured and creditone? Should I sit on them and close the accounts after I close on the house?

[kalani91]

I would sit it out and don't add on more inquiries until you get your Home loan

[Anonymous]

I am going to just sit on everything until I get my home loan. i'm at 650 average for Fico score right now. If a couple baddies fall off and I keep a good history with my current cards, how long do you think it will take for me to get to 700? My Bureau reports are between 630 and 660.

[-NewGuy-]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I am going to just sit on everything until I get my home loan. i'm at 650 average for Fico score right now. If a couple baddies fall off and I keep a good history with my current cards, how long do you think it will take for me to get to 700? My Bureau reports are between 630 and 660.

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It depends on how many baddies you'll have left, how old they are, what kind they are, etc. At the very least, no new inqs coupled with time passing, on time payment history, and baddies falling off will be pretty favorable to your score.