Getting a third card?

[Anonymous]

I currently have Discover and Citi secured cards. I've been reading and 2-3 cards seems to be best for building a score.

Should I apply for a third (possibly a BoA secured)?

After April of this year I'd prefer not to have anymore hard pulls because I know they take affect for 12 months. I plan to move in April/May next year and want to have an optimal credit score.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Have you thought about Capital 1

[Anonymous]

I applied for Capital 1 on my birthday a few weeks ago (I bank with them), but they used auto-fill on their forms and it kept giving me the error of I "can't use a non-physical address"

So technically no, because of technical difficulties. Some people recommended using a previous address for the "residential" and then entering the mailing address separately. Maybe I'll try that.

[SouthJamaica]

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@tothephonebooth wrote:
I currently have Discover and Citi secured cards. I've been reading and 2-3 cards seems to be best for building a score.

Should I apply for a third (possibly a BoA secured)?

After April of this year I'd prefer not to have anymore hard pulls because I know they take affect for 12 months. I plan to move in April/May next year and want to have an optimal credit score.

Thanks!

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IMHO you're fine with 2. You can get 850 scores with only 2 credit cards.

[manyquestions]

When I was starting out, my score went up with each of my first three cards.   It's also easier to manage your score with three rather than two because of percent of cards reporting a balance.  I'd definitely get a third card if you want to maximize your score.

[Anonymous]

I would, what is your score and what cards are you eyeballing?  You might not need secured.  How long have you had the two in your sig?

[newhis]

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@tothephonebooth wrote:
I currently have Discover and Citi secured cards. I've been reading and 2-3 cards seems to be best for building a score.

Should I apply for a third (possibly a BoA secured)?

After April of this year I'd prefer not to have anymore hard pulls because I know they take affect for 12 months. I plan to move in April/May next year and want to have an optimal credit score.

Thanks!

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1.- No, you shouldn't

2.- Don't be afraid of HPs, there are more important things on your credit

3.- We need more information about your current cards, like limit and age

4.- What is your goal? Why you want an 'optimal credit score'?

5.- Are you still waiting for a true FICO score?

EDIT: by 'plan to move in' you mean getting a mortgage by April/May 2018?

Ok, if you want a mortgage in a year and you want max score possible by then:

- if you have money to secure a product go with BofA secured and put the most money you can. You can go as high as 10K.

- if you don't have an open loan, read about the SSL technique

- get the 2 as soon as possible

- don't app for anything else for the next year until you get your mortgage

- you can try to get your cards unsecured in 6-7 months, even increase the limits after that (BofA HP for increases, that's why it is better to put more money and wait for auto-CLI)

If you don't have a score yet, I bet you could be around 780 FICO in 1 year if you do this and report a low util. I think having your newest account over 1 year will help your mortgage score too.

After your mortgage you can get a few cards you want. Your score will drop for all new accounts, HP and maxed loan, but you will get them back with time. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

How long have you had the Citi and Discover cards? If it is less than 6-7 months, I'd just let them age. Discover should graduate to an unsecured IT card after the 7th statement is cut (assuming on time payments). Generally I don't think you should open a ton of cards while you're still in the secured card/sub-prime card stage of your credit journey. If you open all available secured cards and subprime cards (like CreditOne and FirstPremier), then you end up stuck with a bunch of crappy cards for awhile. It's better off to just let the two secured cards you have now age and have Citi and Discover eventually graduate you. Then you can apply for some good AMEX and/or Chase cards down the road and be in with four of the reputable big banks.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone, I think that's what I will do. 

I do not have any scores yet (just recieved the cards in the last week or so).