How bad did I just hurt myself

[Anonymous]

So...I just discovered this forum. I will be continously checking this place out! Seems awesome and informative. A couple of months ago, I decided to start working on my credit. Will be getting married this summer, and looking to purchase a home early next year. I hired a place that was local to me to help dispute things, and they have done an amazing job. Credit karma said my scores for TU were 540, and EQ was 522. After reading online about being added as an authorized user to someones card, I did just that. I was added to a AMEX blue, and discover card. The discover card has updated, and instantly raised my fako scores to 755, and 708. Last week, before the update, I applied for a capital one quicksilver one card and got it! only a 500 limit though. So today, I got the card...I had read some people were able to get a CLI right away? Maybe I was wrong...They said they would let me know the decision. Given my new score...I got a little trigger happy and applied for a chase slate (they will let me know) a barclay cash back, and a capital one venture. All I wanted was a card with a higher limit so that I could actually utilize it and earn rewards, all while floating a 10% balance, or pay it off. They flat out denied me for the venture card, and all others said they would let me know, which i figure means denied. I feel so stupid for letting mysel put those inquiries on my report. Hopefully it will be offset when my capital one card, and the AU amex card finally start showing. Also...how different are FAKO and FICO? is there a chance this stuff isnt actually reflecting with FICO yet? Any and all help is apprciated from you guys!

TLDR

[wmweeza]

My FICO score is 20 points higher then my FAKO's in general, but some people have the opposite issue. It's different for everyone. I took about a 9 point dip for my last app

[Anonymous]

Yes. You need to slow your roll. Let your new au & capital one card report for at least six months before you apply for anything else.

[SunriseEarth]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So...I just discovered this forum. I will be continously checking this place out! Seems awesome and informative. A couple of months ago, I decided to start working on my credit. Will be getting married this summer, and looking to purchase a home early next year. I hired a place that was local to me to help dispute things, and they have done an amazing job. Credit karma said my scores for TU were 540, and EQ was 522. After reading online about being added as an authorized user to someones card, I did just that. I was added to a AMEX blue, and discover card. The discover card has updated, and instantly raised my fako scores to 755, and 708. Last week, before the update, I applied for a capital one quicksilver one card and got it! only a 500 limit though. So today, I got the card...I had read some people were able to get a CLI right away? Maybe I was wrong...They said they would let me know the decision. Given my new score...I got a little trigger happy and applied for a chase slate (they will let me know) a barclay cash back, and a capital one venture. All I wanted was a card with a higher limit so that I could actually utilize it and earn rewards, all while floating a 10% balance, or pay it off. They flat out denied me for the venture card, and all others said they would let me know, which i figure means denied. I feel so stupid for letting mysel put those inquiries on my report. Hopefully it will be offset when my capital one card, and the AU amex card finally start showing. Also...how different are FAKO and FICO? is there a chance this stuff isnt actually reflecting with FICO yet? Any and all help is apprciated from you guys!

TLDR

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IIRC, Chase doesn't consider AU accounts, so applying there probably wasn't a good idea.   Cap One has a very good pre-qual, so applying for anything there without reviewing that first also isn't a a good idea.  Applying for Barclay with a ton of INQs also wasn't a good idea.   But treat this all as a learning experience; we've all made mistakes in our credit paths.   I've made plenty of them.  

I would suggest not applying for anything else for at least 6 months (the impact of the INQs sharply drops at 6 months, but completely drops from scoring within one year).   Let your history on your QS1 build.  Also, please go over the "Rebuilding Your Credit" forum to help on your credit report issues.   Anything you can do to help your standing will be good.   You should definitely review your denial letters and use the baddies they point out as action items in addressing your scores.   The denials will also allow you to obtain free credit reports directly from the CRAs used in your apps.  

Also, bear in mind that from a score perspective, 10% UTIL on a card with a $500 CL is just as good as a 10% UTIL on a card with a $25K CL.   Percentage is what is key.   So I'd advise using your QS1, but paying the balance down to below $50 before statement cuts.  

[Kevin86475391]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on embarking on your credit journey!

No worries, if a few too many inquiries are the worst mistake you make during this process that will be the least of your concerns. Inquiries ding your credit score when they first hit and they continue to have a progressively diminishing effect on your credit score for 1 year. Then they remain on your report for 2 years before 'aging off' completely and no longer being shown. So after 1 year, they won't affect your score, but are visible to creditors who pull your report - and some creditors can be inquiry sensitive.

For this reason, if you want to apply for a mortgage it's usually recommended that you don't apply for any other credit for at least 6-12 months beforehand. Realistically if you're just starting to build/rebuild your credit you may want to push back the home buying date a bit longer since it sounds like you're already considering a 1-2 year time frame and IMO that's a bit soon for someone just starting out. You may not qualify for a home loan or if you do, you may not get favorable terms. On the other hand your spouse may have strong scores or you may have other factors offsetting the new credit problem. Please note though that this is just my personal opinion and I'm certainly not a mortgage/lending expert, so take what I say with a grain of salt. Also, I'm not even saying this due to the little app spree you went on, so don't kick yourself too much for that. Just in general you may need a bit more time before buying a house (again just my opinion).

Also if you're concerned that the denials will show up on your credit report that isn't true, and it's also unlikely that any lender would hold a past denial (for one of their own products, they wouldn't even be aware of a denied application with a different lender) against you. The inquiry will show up for two years and so potentially a lender could guess that it was a denial based on the fact that you don't have a corresponding account on your credit report, but that would still just be speculation on their part and would only be relevant at all if they do a manual review.

So slow down, focus on aging your new accounts, managing them responsibly, and gradually growing the limits, but don't dwell on the past or blame yourself. You live and learn and this really isn't a serious problem at all.

Good luck with this process!

[Anonymous]

I was hoping all this would be settled down and reflecting because I was wanting to apply for a car loan. If I have to wait, I will. My intent was to start looking around august and apply with penfed or USAA, I definetly won't be touching any card applications again for 6 months. I did read here, that after 2 billing stattements I can contact capital one for a CLI? the LUV button? what exactly does that mean. How do I find olut when the statement cuts? So I can make sure to pay it before then?

[Kevin86475391]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I was hoping all this would be settled down and reflecting because I was wanting to apply for a car loan. If I have to wait, I will. My intent was to start looking around august and apply with penfed or USAA, I definetly won't be touching any card applications again for 6 months. I did read here, that after 2 billing stattements I can contact capital one for a CLI? the LUV button? what exactly does that mean. How do I find olut when the statement cuts? So I can make sure to pay it before then?

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Capital One has an online, request a credit limit increase option that will only result in a soft pull/soft inquiry, rather than a hard pull/hard inquiry. The SP won't affect your credit score at all.

You should call Capital One after activating your account to determine your statement due date, closing date, and reporting date. Generally however the closing date will be a day or so after the due date. So for example if you have a balance of $125 and a minimum payment of $25 and you pay $95 by the due date then generally a balance of $30 would be what reports.

Ideally, please try to always pay your statement balance in full each month in order to avoid interest charges. However, this doesn't mean you have to always pay your balance down to $0 since new purchases won't be charged interest as long as you're within your grace period. So for example if your previous statement balance was $30 you just need to pay $30 by the next statement due date in order to avoid interest charges. You can allow new charges to report. So let's say your statement balance for the month starts at $30 and you spend $75, for a balance of $105. You would just need to pay at least $30 (the previous month's statement balance) to avoid interest. However, you'll probably want to pay more than that because allowing $75 to report on a $500 limit would be fairly high (15% utilization, not terrible, but not ideal either). So you could maybe pay $95 instead of just $30 and allow $10 to report. Then you'd just need to pay that $10 in full by next month's due date to avoid interest, and would potentially want to pay more depending on your next round of charges.

Bottom line: Try to pay at least the previous month's statement balance by the due date to avoid interest. Try to also pay enough on new charges to keep overall utilization between about 1-9% of total limit when the card reports (which again is generally a day or so after your due date, but check with Capital One to be sure).

[sr383]

Welcome! Be sure to check out the mortgage forum, too. There are lots of helpful people there who have encountered just about every loan scenario you can imagine.

As others have said, no long-term damage for a few inquiries. You've got a year for the impact to fade.

[SunriseEarth]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I was hoping all this would be settled down and reflecting because I was wanting to apply for a car loan. If I have to wait, I will. My intent was to start looking around august and apply with penfed or USAA, I definetly won't be touching any card applications again for 6 months. I did read here, that after 2 billing stattements I can contact capital one for a CLI? the LUV button? what exactly does that mean. How do I find olut when the statement cuts? So I can make sure to pay it before then?

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(1) Some members have reported early success with Cap One CLIs for new accounts.   Their website suggests three months, but some have had success as early as 45 days.   I'd recommend waiting three calendar months from the date of account opening and then use the "LUV button".  The "LUV Button" is any button or link that allows for a CLI request.  On Cap Onesite, you'll be taken to a new page under Services>More

(2)  If you don't know this (since you haven't received a first statement), you can either call in or chat and ask a CSR for the statement date.

[Anonymous]

No lasting damage. The inqs will fade over time, stop affecting your score after a year, and drop off your report after two. It sounds like your scores are heading in the right direction, so you'll be able to qualify. If you must get a car loan, that's okay, but set it up in advance and don't use the dealer's financing UNLESS you know that they only use a specific bank (Subaru uses Chase, for example). Otherwise, there are horror stories of people receiving 10-20 inqs for a single car loan, which can have a big negative impact on your score. I would also hold off on credit card apping for a year ahead of applying for a mortgage, two if you have the time. Best to make those reports as clean and nice as you can before you apply, since small APR changes can have big effects on your payments. However, it might also be prudent to make sure you have three cards reporting. To that end, you might want to consider either store cards or a card through your credit union, if you need reporting cards to get you to the three card limit.