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Should I garden or not?

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Should I garden or not?

Well my current fico score is between 670 and 680 depending on the bureau. I plan to buy a small house 1 year down the road. I am planning my budget around that. I currently opened following new cards recently:

 

Amazon Chase card - $1500 CL

Capital One - $1000 CL

American Airlines CU Visa Rewards - $2000 CL

Citi Diamond Preferred - $2000 CL

 

Which brings my total amount of cards to 9. I don't carry over balance on any of the cards except citi where its 0% interest until December 2013 I haven't paid a single cent in interest or fees past 2 years or so. My utilization is around 12%. I do have a collection/charge off thats should come off in 6/2013 or 9/2013. My AAoA is very short though, only 8 years or so.

 

I want some cards, so should I hold off until I get mortgage or should open some accounts?

Message 1 of 13
12 REPLIES 12
creditnocash
Valued Contributor

Re: Should I garden or not?

only 8 years? mine is only 8 months. 

when in doubt garden.... 

 

only app for what you need not what you want. 

 

what were you looking at apping for?



Current: Fico ScoresEQ~706 TU~719 EX 709 4/28/23

Inquiries (24 Months): EQ 0 TU 0 EX 0| Most Recent: A LONG WHILE
Over 12 Months:0


2023 Goals:
Buy A Home
Earn Cash Back

Amex Zync(Unicorn)
Chase Freedom$1500
Discover IT$7,400
Citi DC $10,000
Citizens Mastercard$7,000

Message 2 of 13
Revelate
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Should I garden or not?

8 months is short AAoA (comparitively) 8 years is way more than sufficient Smiley Happy.

 

I have to ask, what cards do you want that provide you with something you're not already getting?  You have plenty from a total number standpoint, some decent mix of rewards, and enough aggregate balance for most things especially if you're not carrying a balance which your 0 interest paid in two years suggests you're managing that just fine.

 

End of the day, unless there's a card which is a wholesale upgrade for you for some reason, focus on the big picture which from your description is getting the house.  Once the mortgage closes, quite likely your old negatives will have dropped off, you'll be in a fantastic place for potential credit card approvals.

 

There's not much sense in doing more applications now, when you're nearing the range of the top-end cards, when you have one of the biggest ticket items of your financial life coming up which more credit cards aren't going to help you with, and might wind up hurting you.

 

I'd garden till mortage close, then apply for pretty much whatever you want as a reward as almost everything will be in reach at that point.




        
Message 3 of 13
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Should I garden or not?

I wanted an American Express card, because my family shops at Costco a lot and they don't accept any other credit cards (at least in my region) so I have to use my debit card. I don't really like exposing my liquid assets directly to a vendor. Maybe I will get a prepaid AMEX and go from there. Since I hear they turned off Zync.

Message 4 of 13
LS2982
Mega Contributor

Re: Should I garden or not?


@Anonymous wrote:

Well my current fico score is between 670 and 680 depending on the bureau. I plan to buy a small house 1 year down the road. I am planning my budget around that. I currently opened following new cards recently:

 

Amazon Chase card - $1500 CL

Capital One - $1000 CL

American Airlines CU Visa Rewards - $2000 CL

Citi Diamond Preferred - $2000 CL

 

Which brings my total amount of cards to 9. I don't carry over balance on any of the cards except citi where its 0% interest until December 2013 I haven't paid a single cent in interest or fees past 2 years or so. My utilization is around 12%. I do have a collection/charge off thats should come off in 6/2013 or 9/2013. My AAoA is very short though, only 8 years or so.

 

I want some cards, so should I hold off until I get mortgage or should open some accounts?


I think you'd be OK for 1 or 2. Just don't get crazy with it.

 




EQ FICO 548 3/3/16
Message 5 of 13
migliogiorni
Established Contributor

Re: Should I garden or not?

LOL @ AAOA 8 yrs.  mines 1 year and I've seen ppl with AAOA of 5 years in the 800 scores.

 

BOA: 8.9k
CSP: 5k
Discover: 5k
Citi TY Preferd: 5k
Wally: 5k
JCP: 4.9k
citiForward: 4.7k
ChaseFreedom: 4.5k
DFS: 2k
Message 6 of 13
creditnocash
Valued Contributor

Re: Should I garden or not?

do you have baddies? lates or co? 

 

idk i would wait if you could get by. 

 

is the membership yours? 

if you were doing it nov of 13' id say go for the trueearnings. 

be warned though if you have bk they will deny you. 



Current: Fico ScoresEQ~706 TU~719 EX 709 4/28/23

Inquiries (24 Months): EQ 0 TU 0 EX 0| Most Recent: A LONG WHILE
Over 12 Months:0


2023 Goals:
Buy A Home
Earn Cash Back

Amex Zync(Unicorn)
Chase Freedom$1500
Discover IT$7,400
Citi DC $10,000
Citizens Mastercard$7,000

Message 7 of 13
bobebob
Frequent Contributor

Re: Should I garden or not?

In general, I think it's like asking "Do these jeans make my butt look big?"

 

If you're asking the question, you probably know the answer. Smiley Happy

 

 

That being said, if you have the conditions required to get the Costco Amex I recomend the card. 

 

Then sit on them all for the next year and you should be sitting pretty for a mortgage.

bobebob || Nov: My FICO SW EQ(Upgraded Version) = 822 ||Sept: Walmart TU Fico=838Goal = FICO's>800 || In my wallet: CostcoAmEx(20k), DCU Visa Platinum (10k), BoA Visa Signature (17.1k), Walmart Discover (7.5k), AmEx Corporate (5k). All PIF every month.
Message 8 of 13
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Should I garden or not?

All of these cards are mine. I do have a collection/charge off thats expected to come off in 6/2013 and one or two late payments in 2007. The reason I am asking is I am getting conflicting opinions in RL, I can manage my budget fine but these credit scores get confusing. Some people in close circle and banking professionals say I should hold off on applying for more cards and some tell me I should open one more card and build a history on it.

 

I lurk these boards a lot, so I thought may as well try asking here.

Message 9 of 13
creditnocash
Valued Contributor

Re: Should I garden or not?


@Anonymous wrote:

All of these cards are mine. I do have a collection/charge off thats expected to come off in 6/2013 and one or two late payments in 2007. The reason I am asking is I am getting conflicting opinions in RL, I can manage my budget fine but these credit scores get confusing. Some people in close circle and banking professionals say I should hold off on applying for more cards and some tell me I should open one more card and build a history on it.

 

I lurk these boards a lot, so I thought may as well try asking here.


i meant about the costco membership lol(because if your not on the account they wont offer it to you and if you dont renew your membership there is a 55 annual fee for the card)

i tell you as a teller/banker(in training start as banker next week) 

they say build the cards you have now. 

they usually want an explatnation for any credit you apply for within a year before your morg 

so hence why i said if itll be in nov 13, one more card wont kill you. 

with those collections falling off though it will do good unless your aaoa is horrible which obv its not. 

 



Current: Fico ScoresEQ~706 TU~719 EX 709 4/28/23

Inquiries (24 Months): EQ 0 TU 0 EX 0| Most Recent: A LONG WHILE
Over 12 Months:0


2023 Goals:
Buy A Home
Earn Cash Back

Amex Zync(Unicorn)
Chase Freedom$1500
Discover IT$7,400
Citi DC $10,000
Citizens Mastercard$7,000

Message 10 of 13
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