@LadyJEsq wrote:I'm one of the ones who started out slow as it was suggested to me back in 2012 (my first post on myFICO). I started with two secured cards and managed them as suggested. I PIF and used them regularly. I generally had a low Util % posting, but occassionaly that wasn't possible. I saw little to no improvement in my credit scores. Once I had a couple baddies fall off my CRs then I saw improvements, but I saw very little with just the two secured cards I opened.
One day while on CK, I saw that my EQ score was over 700 and my TU was in the high 600s and I wondered if I could be approved for CCs. From experience, I knew my CK scores were at least 50points higher than FICO 8, so I decided to go for some fair/good CCs. I decided to apply to them in a short period of time because I thought this would give me a better chance at approval. To my surprise, I was instantly approved for my first two cards. I thought doing two a day was best, so I waited a bit, like 2wks, and then applied for 2 more. To my surprise, I wasn't instantly approved! I didn't know what to think but while I was waiting to hear back on the two (NASA and BofA), I applied for Discover it Miles and again, wasn't instantly approved. I received a call first thing the following morning and the CSR told me that they reviewed the documents that I attached to my application for verification and informed me that I was approved. It was at this point that I remembered the forum here and came to ask what I should do given that I wanted to use my rewards cards frequently. It's at this point that my Barclay's card had been supplying my FICO 8 score and I saw it go from an intial 666--->674---->687. To say I was shocked is putting it mildly, but I wanted to keep my scores decent and I knew that meant keeping my Util% low which meant i needed more CCs otherwise I'd have over 50% if I wanted to take advantage of my rewards. In short, I went on another mini spree (2/3 approvals) and now my FICO 8 score is 676. I suspect it'll rise again once all my cards are reporting given my low Util %.
I really wish I had taken a more aggressive approach to my rebuilding back in 2012. Fortunately for me, I don't plan on buying a home for about 2yrs, so that gives me plenty of time to get my scores and AAoA (now at 5+ yrs for both TU and EQ, and around 3+yrs for EX) back up. While I can't say that getting 20-30 new accounts in a short period of time is what's best for most rebuilding, I do think being more aggressive than opening 2-3 is what is best, in my experience. As with most things in life, it's all about moderation.
I really wonder if those two cards had been unsecured cards if it would have made a difference in your score.
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@Anonymous wrote:Well, I started rebuilding my credit in December of 2013 with Capital One. I got the 2nd CapOne card in March 2014. Then, I added 3 VERY subprime cards in 2014 along with Fingerhut. My scores remained deflated for most of 2014.
I learned about the individual credit limit thresholds: <1000; 1000 to 5000; 5000 to 10,000; 10,000 to 20,000; and >20,000 and beyond to the super-primes! I also learned about the total credit thresholds: <2500; 2500 to 15,000; 15001 to 50,000; >50,000.
I ran across an article about secured credit cards, and I chose to do it through the Library of Congress Federal Credit Union, which was my local bank at the time. So, I put the max of $5 thousand on the secured card and let it run for a year. I used it regularly and paid it off regularly throughout 2014. My scores only moved a few points throughout the year. When the year was up, I called the loan officer in July 2015 and called his attention to my payment history and asked that the card be converted. He immediately converted it to unsecured and released my funds. THAT was the first card that posted as unsecured for 5000.
Well, my scores jumped 150 points from the mids-600s to high-700s, after my Library of Congress FCU went unsecured- aided by the spotless records with the 2 CapOne cards, the 3 subprimes, and Fingerhut. Also, I had just opened 2 more secured cards in July of this year with USAA and the State Department FCU for $5000 each- not knowing whether Library of Congress would convert and the resulting impact on scores.
@When I saw that my scores soared, I immediately closed my 2 recent secured cards, Fingerhut, and my 3 subprimes- each just shy of a year of history. I knew that any new cards would see the sub-par credit levels and I didn't want that. I opened Penfed @ 7000; USAA @ 12,000; United Nations FCU @ 10,500; CapOne Venture One @ 7500; CapOne Quicksilver Visa @ 3000. All of these were opened in the August 2015. My other 2 builder CapOne Mastercards were upgraded, with modest increases to Quicksilver (1750) and Quicksilver One (2500).
As has been said, I didn't know about Chase's, Citi's and Discover's policies regarding "too many new cards in 2 years". Had I known, I would have applied for those first. I was summarily denied by Chase, Citi, and Discover- even with my 772 on all three scores.
I can state definitively that companies do look at your average limits and I was glad to get rid of the low-levels right away. I spoke to CapOne's executive office the other day because as you can see- my 3 lowest cards are from CapOne. My options were to wait until the next billing cycle to ask for an increase of my QS MC 1750 and then immediately combine the 2 QS/QS1 mastercards, or, combine all 3 quicksilvers now (or later) into another Venture One, or Venture with a waived annual fee for just one year.
I have also been doing the pre-qualified thingys you come across- you know, the ones without a hard pull? Just to see what else I could get and the result have been about half of them denied for the same reasons that Citi, Chase, and Discover denied me.
So, guess what I did? I opened accounts with Andrews FCU, Senate FCU, Congressional FCU and NASA FCU. Spoke to their loan officers about credit cards. All of them did softies- and all said to maintain my accounts with each of them in good standing for at least 90 days and they would likely match or do better than the card that has the best history/limit. It was like the same person worked at all 4 of the banks (lol) because they said virtually the same thing.
Bottomline: I have decided that I'm not even going to apply for Citi, Chase, Amex, or Discover after gardening. The credit unions and CapOne have done really well with accommodating me with good limits and APRs as my scores have improved! My credit unions all have cards with rewards and cash back, etc. I'm with some excellent credit unions and do not miss Chase, Citi, BOA, AMEX, Discover, and others of that ilk. So, I'll likely get cards with the 4 credit unions I just mentioned and then, who knows?
As it stands, I started with $800 with the 2 CapOne builders a year ago... and now... I got $49000 and change. Most of my cards are at prime levels and I'm within striking distance of reaching the >50,000 total credit category.
So, to others who are opening large numbers of accounts... THINK about what your end goal is for your portfolio BEFORE you spree yourself into an unnecessary 2 year wait for some cards that you could qualify for now.
This is a great post. For someone who wants to eventually get into travel rewards they could really shoot themselves in the foot by being too aggressive early on. Luckily it seems like that was not a high priority for you to begin with so it worked out.
I figured I would add my experience over two years as a point of comparison. When I started out I had zero active revolvers, although I did have a payment history from my student loans, so there was some stuff on my credit report. I was denied a Chase CSP and Amex PRG. I managed to get a Chase freedom with 3k line and Cap 1 venture with 5k line. I just used those two cards for six months. During which time I got an auto cli on my freedom to 3.7k. Six months later when I went to app I contacted cap 1 and got a cli to 10k. I then reapplied for the CSP and got an instant approval for 18k. I also picked up an amex prg and an amex BCP with instant approval of 5.7k. 61days later I got a 3x CLI on my BCP to 17.1k. My scores have stayed somewhat consistent because of my AAoAs and the baddies I still have on my credit reports. I feel like the baddies are keeping me down even though its been over six years and that when they drop off my scores should see a significant increase. Since those initial rejections I have been able to get every card I want (ran in to issue with ink bold the first time around where they wanted one year revolver history but then got the card after one year) including some with 21k+ credit lines on instant approval. I wouldn't have minded picking up three cards to start with, but I was not willing to get cards just for the sake of getting the cards for my credit report. In the end within six months I had many of the cards I wanted and within two years I have obtained pretty much every card I want. For me it was a little different in that I had prior loans on my credit report, so I was able to skip the secured credit card step of the process. Although I figure if I had to go that route it would likely have added about six additonal months than it actually took me for me to get where I wanted to be.
@Anonymous wrote:I opened 5 CCs and a secured loan all quickly to get started ( Iwanted to buy a house and had no credit). After a year, I purchased my house, and made a significant spree. During the time I was building and preparing for the house purchase, I figured out exactly what i needed and went forward with adding 8 (now 9 after Citi DC approval) cards. I have also closed 2 (will soon be 3) of the original starter cards. Scores sit in the 720s despite 15ish inquiries on each and 10 new accounts (mortgage and 9 cards.) I use all of my current cards regularly. I think the bigger thing is to have a plan and add as much of it as you can quickly. Just understand your spend and make a plan, rather than just throwing darts and see what sticks.
+1 Totally agree. I think it's fine to apply for a lot of accounts if you want them, but sometimes it's best to have a long term plan/goal.
I was/am a slow builder; started off with a car loan. Got my first CC 6 months later. Got my second CC 6 months after that (and pretty much every 6 months, I get a new CC, lol). I have/had no interest in getting 20-30 accounts since I will never use all of them and frankly, I can't be bothered to manage all of them. Plus I like having all my rewards concentrated on just a few cards. My AAoA most likely isn't that great but it doesn't really bother me since I don't have any baddies and util is low. According to the myFico chart (http://www.myfico.com/CreditEducation/WhatsInYourScore.aspx), New Credit is 10% of my score and 15% is Length of Credit History which equals 25%. Once I get the last card on my wish list, I will not be applying for more cards for a long time so then my current accounts will have plenty of time to age then. 
Quicksilver $10,000 | Better Balance Rewards $2000 | Sallie Mae $3500 | Freedom $3500
@Anonymous wrote:This is a great post. For someone who wants to eventually get into travel rewards they could really shoot themselves in the foot by being too aggressive early on. Luckily it seems like that was not a high priority for you to begin with so it worked out.
You have good scores right now to qualify for travel rewards. All of my credit union cards have rewards/cash back/etc. CapOne showed me some love, too. Got any ideas what you are looking to add to your portfolio?
If you are asking me I'm in the garden for rest of the year and have most of the top travel rewards cards out there. For when I come out of the garden I will probably look to add a Citi AA business card, maybe a chase ink plus business card as well. In terms of personal cards it would be based upon signup offers. I am watching for the chase ritz signup offer to go back up to 140k and when I am off my bonus cool down I will look at picking up another citi hilton reserve and AA exec card, but that will be at least another year to year and a half from now and things can change. I may consider a discover it card just to have a relationship with them, get some additional credit and use their promos etc. I'm letting my inqs age at this point and will just monitor cards for new developments. Waiting to see what barclays does with jet blue, since you can redeem with SQ airlines using jet blue miles now.