How long should I garden for? Is it better to just wait for all hard pulls to fall off?

[Anonymous]

How long is it recommended to garden for a thin credit profile? Is it recommended to just wait til all my hard inquiries fall off? My credit history is less than 10 months old and I've already opened 8 credit cards. Dates opened are as follow.

Barclay Apple Rewards - SL 2.5k the  Auto CLI to 5k - February 2017

Capital One Platinum - SL 300 - March 2017 - CLOSED June 2017

Discover Secured Credit Card - 500 - May 2017

Capital One Quicksilver One - SL 500 - June 2017

USAA Visa Signature - SL 5k - August 2017

USAA Amex - SL 5k - September 2017

Amex Platinum - NPSL - September 2017 

I feel I have enough credit at the moment. But my goals include getting another travel  card such as CSR or Citi AA in the future 

[simplynoir]

Depends on what your financial plan is. Do you plan to get a mortgage or auto loan? Have a card you've been eyeing for awhile? More info would help us give you advice. I will say tho with all those recent apps I would hold off til at least next year to let the pulls and AAoA age a bit.

Edit: saw you addendum. Well, unless you bank with Chase the CSR is out of the question with the 5/24 rule coming into play. Citi AA is a good possibility but i don't know from personal experience how sensitive Citi is to recently opened cards. Honestly, if that's the only real need you want I think you're sitting fine with that lineup.

[Anonymous]

Another travel card such as the CSR or Citi AA. But a mortgage in the next five years is planned. But I've heard of having too many credit cards could also negatively impact you for a mortgage. 

[simplynoir]

If you're next mortgage is 5 years out I wouldn't worry about that and the number the cards they don't really care about as long as responsible usage is demonstrated. They just want to see how you handle your debt to make sure you're a reliable payer.

[Anonymous]

I was declined with Citi in September for too many inquiries and new opened accounts. I may try again in a year.

Didn't even bother attempting with Chase due to their 5/24 rule 

[simplynoir]

Yeah I would let your accounts settle for at least a year. By then the HPs dings you took will be minimal at best and the one year AAoA on those new cards will make your credit profile better as a whole. For Chase assuming you don't app further can be revisited sometime in October 2019.

[Anonymous]

6 months means you are out of the new account scorecards and you get a small FICO boost.

6-12 months inquiries affect score less and after 12 months not at all.

AAoA will grow together nicely so use an AAoA calculator there and try to get above 12 months minimum but 24 months for less FICO ding. Keeping your AAoA over 24 months should be really good for scoring purposes but if you're new to credit it's probably wise to have more than a few accounts so they age nicely together and protecting AAoA from getting reduced majorly.

I'd garden for 6 months in your case and then wait until inquiries are below 3-4 that are under 12 months before pulling that bureau again.

[Anonymous]

So there is really no benefit FICO score wise to wait for the inquiries to completely fall off? I'll give it another shot with Citi some time next year then. 

[simplynoir]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So there is really no benefit FICO score wise to wait for the inquiries to completely fall off? I'll give it another shot with Citi some time next year then. 

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@Anonymous. A year is sufficent enough to have the dings from the HPs be basically null. Now, depending on the lender they might not like the HPs themselves for being so many (recon may be needed) but score wise it won't have any effect after the first year as @Anonymous pointed out.

[BronzeTrader]

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@Anonymous wrote:

How long is it recommended to garden for a thin credit profile? Is it recommended to just wait til all my hard inquiries fall off? My credit history is less than 10 months old and I've already opened 8 credit cards. Dates opened are as follow.

Barclay Apple Rewards - SL 2.5k the  Auto CLI to 5k - February 2017

Capital One Platinum - SL 300 - March 2017 - CLOSED June 2017

Discover Secured Credit Card - 500 - May 2017

Capital One Quicksilver One - SL 500 - June 2017

USAA Visa Signature - SL 5k - August 2017

USAA Amex - SL 5k - September 2017

Amex Platinum - NPSL - September 2017 

I feel I have enough credit at the moment. But my goals include getting another travel  card such as CSR or Citi AA in the future 

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With your cards and total CL, your credit is still weak.  You have enough credit to use.  I'll recommend you stay low for at least a year.  If you really want to get with Chase, stay really quiet and take a long break.