How many credits lines at once is too many?

[haulingthescoreup]

Well, I do understand that, but sometimes you have to take that risk in order to move forward. If these are literally the only accounts on your credit reports (no closed reports still showing, etc.), you are definitely being hurt.

Every post I've seen about adding new accounts up to a total of three indicate an immediate score boost. I'm guessing that in your case, the benefits of adding two more revolving accounts will more than cancel out any ding for new accounts. At some point, you have to get good, clean credit history going in order to present a respectable credit profile to future lenders (auto loans, mortgages, etc.)

The one big drawback to Cap 1 is that they hard all three reports. Not the end of the world --inqs don't generally hurt that much unless you have long long history, and you're in the 780's range --but it's definitely something to be aware of.

I have found on my own reports that I did not get a ding for the first inq in 12 months, but i got a small ding for the second. Then the 3rd and maybe 4th didn't hurt, but the next one did. And so forth.

[Anonymous]

what kind of a point deduction am I looking at? Just trying to understand.

[Anonymous]

Well.... wait a minute, if I'm pre-approved for this card already - that means they already did an inquiry, correct?

Currently my FICO Eq  says the amount of new credit ive applied for and received is "Not good"... and all i have is this two month old $300 orchard bank unsecured card....and my 10 month old car loan...?

Does this mean I'm safe accepting this offer and paying off the balance every month and keeping it below 9% utilization?

[haulingthescoreup]

No, all they've done is "soft" you. If you apply for the card for real, despite any pre-approvals, they will do a hard inquiry. That's part of the requirements for reporting credit --that's how other creditors know if you've been app'ing 38 ways from Sunday.

If you are just getting your credit going, don't worry so much about the new credit ding. You have to start somewhere. It will go away soon enough. Unless you have a time machine out in the garage and you can go back five years and pick up some cards, you're going to be getting new credit.

If you are convinced that this is a good card, one that will benefit you over time, and that you will want to keep for at least several years, I'd advise getting it.

[Anonymous]

If you have unresolved baddies on your CBR's be glad for an approval.

The main drawbacks to Cap1 are 1) 3 hard INQ's and 2) probable lack of growth.

You could always approach BofA for a secured card that would convert in the future and continue to grow with you.

Many have found that the "sweet spot" for revolving account is around 5. You don't really want more that 2 until your CBR's are fixed up and your scores up. HTSU's advice is wise. It is a slow process and you must remain patient. Being in a hurry now will saddle you with many marginal CC's which you will not be happy with in a few years. Parcel out your app's and always try for the best products you can qualify for. If that is a quality secured card that will convert in the future so be it.

[Anonymous]

Hi,

This is a great discussion thread -- very helpful to read.  I see in the thread it's mentioned multiple times that it's best to get a "good" card that will grow with you if possible and not a "rebuilder" card.   So, where does one find a "good" card?  How would I know if I'm applying for a "good" card or a rebuilder card or a card that will not grow with me?  Are the rebuilder cards actually labeled that in their literature or online info, or do you have to decipher that on your own based on certain criteria?

I would like to apply for a "good" card that will grow with me as I improve my credit scores and want to make sure that's what I get.

I just pulled my credit reports/scores in August and was shocked to see that the credit card I had been using a lot and paying on diligently for the past two years didn't show up on my reports.  I thought about it and figure it's because it's a business credit card (despite the fact that I'm a sole proprietor and the business is just an LLC and not incorporated.)  Because I'm a single member LLC, all of my business income and expense pass through to my personal income tax, but apparently the credit doesn't pass through to my personal reports.

Anyway, the only other credit card I have is an electronics store card that I've used, been making monthly payments on and just paid off this September.  This card limit dropped $1,800 in January 2009 and though I had no negatives with them, they said it was due to negatives on my credit report.  Then, in March, 2009, my business card limit dropped $1,200, they also claimed it was because of negatives on my credit report.  The business card currently has an on-going balance at about 95% of the limit .  I know I need to pay that down, but when I made a large payment to them in March 2009, 6 days later is when they dropped my limit so much.  I'm sure there's a trigger programmed in to their system to lower my limit whenever my balance is low enough to do so...therefore, I don't want to pay down that card right now because they'll keep dropping my credit limit and it would take a very long time (if ever) to get it back up with them.

Ok, so I've digressed into my whole backstory.  Bottom-line is I have 2 negatives (write-offs) on my credit reports and only one open "personal" credit card with a $200 limit and I need to open another card.  I want to be sure I get a "good" cad that will grow with me and need to know where to get one of them, or how to distinguish one for the rebuilder/starter/non-growing cards. 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

08/31/09: TU=670, EQ=648

Message Edited by ficostuff on 09-24-2009 08:52 AM

Message Edited by ficostuff on 09-24-2009 08:55 AM

Message Edited by ficostuff on 09-24-2009 08:56 AM

Message Edited by ficostuff on 09-24-2009 08:57 AM

[Anonymous]

    Well I have been reading and learning a lot here for the last maybe four months and have to disagree with this one for someone like myself.

In my case (in mid 50's) I canceled almost all of my cards 10 years ago and had very very good credit. When debit cards came along I used them. When my kids started getting older and could not get anything on their own, I started reading on all the forums and learned hey they need to be AU's on someone else's cards to help them establish beginning credit.  So I read and read some more pulled my reports, fixed all the details like name spelling variations simple things and then pulled my scores Well they were EQ 803, TU 736 and not true EX was like 760. SO I learned here about what to apply for and in one month added 10 new accounts! Yes my scores crashed but now 3 months later after adding my kids as AU's and paying for 3 and 4 billing cycles Scores went up again TU is now 790 and EQ is 736  EX non Fico is 760. Now the best part o this is this week I applied (because I was bored and felt compelled to apply for something) a new world elite with a 30k limit and an airline card with a 4.5k limit. They posted 2 days later and score dropped around  15 points to 25 points each.

     What I learned is this if I had not been so impatient the 4.5k limit card would have been 5k or more (this makes a huge dif. Because you need at lest 5k limit to get a world elite card (that"s when they give you enough miles for a free ticket) The score was 10 points below threshold for the world card and they do not upgrade cards just limits!

    So I think it is all relative on what your short term goals and long term requirements are.

The experts here say remove negative information, pay down debt, and add positive accounts then it just works out.

  When my score was in the 800's I just got what ever I applied for no questions, when my EQ slipped to low to mid 700's then I had to explain the whys and what forums of the new accounts and was approved just for lower limits than anticipated. I thank it does make sense, if you apply for a lot of new credit it looks like you will be spending more money in my case I was just replacing credit I had for years and years.

  The AU accounts I added my kids to will help them long term and is the main reason I started exploring this had to understand credit world!

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

    Well I have been reading and learning a lot here for the last maybe four months and have to disagree with this one for someone like myself.

In my case (in mid 50's) I canceled almost all of my cards 10 years ago and had very very good credit. When debit cards came along I used them. When my kids started getting older and could not get anything on their own, I started reading on all the forums and learned hey they need to be AU's on someone else's cards to help them establish beginning credit.  So I read and read some more pulled my reports, fixed all the details like name spelling variations simple things and then pulled my scores Well they were EQ 803, TU 736 and not true EX was like 760. SO I learned here about what to apply for and in one month added 10 new accounts! Yes my scores crashed but now 3 months later after adding my kids as AU's and paying for 3 and 4 billing cycles Scores went up again TU is now 790 and EQ is 736  EX non Fico is 760. Now the best part o this is this week I applied (because I was bored and felt compelled to apply for something) a new world elite with a 30k limit and an airline card with a 4.5k limit. They posted 2 days later and score dropped around  15 points to 25 points each.

     What I learned is this if I had not been so impatient the 4.5k limit card would have been 5k or more (this makes a huge dif. Because you need at lest 5k limit to get a world elite card (that"s when they give you enough miles for a free ticket) The score was 10 points below threshold for the world card and they do not upgrade cards just limits!

    So I think it is all relative on what your short term goals and long term requirements are.

The experts here say remove negative information, pay down debt, and add positive accounts then it just works out.

  When my score was in the 800's I just got what ever I applied for no questions, when my EQ slipped to low to mid 700's then I had to explain the whys and what forums of the new accounts and was approved just for lower limits than anticipated. I thank it does make sense, if you apply for a lot of new credit it looks like you will be spending more money in my case I was just replacing credit I had for years and years.

  The AU accounts I added my kids to will help them long term and is the main reason I started exploring this had to understand credit world!

---

ken, there is a difference between having many open TL's and app'ing for ten new CC's within a one month period of time. Opening that many new accounts is a red flag to issuers. Those who have issued your cards are constantly softing your CBR's and know what you are up to. Radical changes like ten new accounts in one month can potentially lead to AA from your issuers. Members have even posted here that TL's they had recently been approved for were almost immediately closed when an issuer became aware of the magnitude of their appy spree. You have to wait now until that mass of fresh INQ's and new accounts ages - probably at least one year before you resume app'ing and even then only for what you really want. Hold out for quality. Always app for the best credit products you can at any given time!

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Hi,

This is a great discussion thread -- very helpful to read.  I see in the thread it's mentioned multiple times that it's best to get a "good" card that will grow with you if possible and not a "rebuilder" card.   So, where does one find a "good" card?  How would I know if I'm applying for a "good" card or a rebuilder card or a card that will not grow with me?  Are the rebuilder cards actually labeled that in their literature or online info, or do you have to decipher that on your own based on certain criteria?

I would like to apply for a "good" card that will grow with me as I improve my credit scores and want to make sure that's what I get.

I just pulled my credit reports/scores in August and was shocked to see that the credit card I had been using a lot and paying on diligently for the past two years didn't show up on my reports.  I thought about it and figure it's because it's a business credit card (despite the fact that I'm a sole proprietor and the business is just an LLC and not incorporated.)  Because I'm a single member LLC, all of my business income and expense pass through to my personal income tax, but apparently the credit doesn't pass through to my personal reports.

Anyway, the only other credit card I have is an electronics store card that I've used, been making monthly payments on and just paid off this September.  This card limit dropped $1,800 in January 2009 and though I had no negatives with them, they said it was due to negatives on my credit report.  Then, in March, 2009, my business card limit dropped $1,200, they also claimed it was because of negatives on my credit report.  The business card currently has an on-going balance at about 95% of the limit .  I know I need to pay that down, but when I made a large payment to them in March 2009, 6 days later is when they dropped my limit so much.  I'm sure there's a trigger programmed in to their system to lower my limit whenever my balance is low enough to do so...therefore, I don't want to pay down that card right now because they'll keep dropping my credit limit and it would take a very long time (if ever) to get it back up with them.

Ok, so I've digressed into my whole backstory.  Bottom-line is I have 2 negatives (write-offs) on my credit reports and only one open "personal" credit card with a $200 limit and I need to open another card.  I want to be sure I get a "good" cad that will grow with me and need to know where to get one of them, or how to distinguish one for the rebuilder/starter/non-growing cards. 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

08/31/09: TU=670, EQ=648

---

Welcome to the forums!

Why don't you open a new thread for yourself and post specific details regarding the TL's on your CBR's and what you would like to achieve. You will get some specifically tailored help regarding how to further improve you CBR's and what type of cards may work well for you. One thing you will get here is plenty of ideas!

[smallfry]

I personally think that 5 revolving credit limits is perfect.