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So I'm 20 years old, a rising sophomore in college and I got my first credit card back in August of 2017. Before that I had no credit history and I am not an authorized user on anything.
Here is my credit profile at the moment:
Discover IT $1500 (started as a secured card with a $200 limit August 2017)
Capital One Secured Platinum $500 (Started at $200 October 2017)
Deserve EDU $800 (Started at $300 in February 2018)
Banana Republic Store Card $1000 (Started in at $200 in February 2018)
Apple Barclays $1000 (February 2018)
Quicksilver One $400 (Started at $300 in March 2018)
Amazon Store Card $1700 (June 2018)
My income is aout $15,000 and I'm a full-time student. I also have $7500 in student loans for my first two years of college.
Looking for some advice as to what cards I should consider in the future and how to get there. Perhaps an AMEX or a Chase card? I got rejected by both of them back in February, as well as CITI, BoA and USBank. I have 15 inquiries on Equifax and about 7-10 on the other two reporting agencies. Rejections were primarily due to too many inquiries and not enough credit history. I would like to get a solid travel card as well some point soon because I do quite a bit of that and it would be nice to rack up points.
Love the screenname.
Many of the major lenders will prefer you to have at least one year of credit history before they extend credit to you. It appears that you've bitten off quite a lot in the past few months so my advice would be to quit applying for a while and allow your existing credit lines to mature. Did you by any chance apply for a Chase Sapphire card?
@Anonymous wrote:So I'm 20 years old, a rising sophomore in college and I got my first credit card back in August of 2017. Before that I had no credit history and I am not an authorized user on anything.
Here is my credit profile at the moment:
Discover IT $1500 (started as a secured card with a $200 limit August 2017)
Capital One Secured Platinum $500 (Started at $200 October 2017)
Deserve EDU $800 (Started at $300 in February 2018)
Banana Republic Store Card $1000 (Started in at $200 in February 2018)
Apple Barclays $1000 (February 2018)
Quicksilver One $400 (Started at $300 in March 2018)
Amazon Store Card $1700 (June 2018)
My income is aout $15,000 and I'm a full-time student. I also have $7500 in student loans for my first two years of college.
Looking for some advice as to what cards I should consider in the future and how to get there. Perhaps an AMEX or a Chase card? I got rejected by both of them back in February, as well as CITI, BoA and USBank. I have 15 inquiries on Equifax and about 7-10 on the other two reporting agencies. Rejections were primarily due to too many inquiries and not enough credit history. I would like to get a solid travel card as well some point soon because I do quite a bit of that and it would be nice to rack up points.
I don't remember which card I applied for but it wasn't a Sapphire. I just checked AMEX and it looks like I'm prequialified for the BCE and a couple others but I think you guys are right about taking a break. My credit utlization is around 15% and I'm going to work on bringing that down even more.
As a college graduate so recent it still feels weird to say I can't give you anything based on a lifetime of experience, but I can tell you it's more than likely time to slow it down. I opened my first card in December of 2014 and by August I had 9 or 10 cards. Recieving approval after approval was exhilarating and made me feel financially independent, but if I knew what I knew now, I never would have opened so many cards. While I have yet to pay a single cent in interest, I look over my reports and wonder what if anything half of the cards I opened did for me. Sure, there were some nice signup bonuses and interesting reward structures, but now I'm left with more than half a dozen closed accounts I never intended on using that will stay on my reports for a decade. You've got a lineup so far that will help you build a strong profile, and by the time you graduate if you're responsible with them they should grow with you. As far as the denials go, take it as a lesson. Lenders are looking at a thin file with a lot of recent requests for credit. That's going to raise a lot of red flags in review. If it were me, I wouldn't look into opening anything for atleast a year while you let your accounts and inquiries age.