Spreeing?

[TwistedAngel]

Hello.

Until last week, I only had one credit card (and thought this was a good thing, but now I know better).

Last week, I aplied for AMEX BCE (which after reading this forum, I realize was stupid) and was denied, and then for the Discover it card, for which I was approved.

I would ideally like to have four cards, 1 visa (already have a platinum preferred from my credit union), Discover (which I was approved for) AMEX (which I know better than to reapply for any time soon) and a Capital One Mastercard.

Should I extend my applying spree and go ahead and app for the Master card? I know it would add another inquiry, but if I get approved, it would mean that in a year when I reapply for AMEX I would have another account in good standing, and after a year, the app wouldn't count, where if I wait six months and apply, that would still be looked at by AMEX.

[creditnocash]

did you get the letter yet from amex? 

Since you already have a couple cards I personally would stay away from cap one. 

Maybe a chase freedom? 

Does your cu card report too all three bureaus? 

edit: btw there is a mastercard version of the chase freedom. 

[TwistedAngel]

No Letter yet.

Is Captial One bad?

I will look into the Chase Freedom Master Card, thank you.

I have no idea which bureau(s) the cu card reports to. All I know is that is a "platinum preferred" visa, but I don't know if that means anything on a cu card.

[enharu]

if i remember correctly, your entire credit history is <1 year right?
If so, I'll just stay away from apps for the next 6-12months. You don't want to seem as credit-crazy or credit-desperate by any lender when you're just starting out.

[TwistedAngel]

My CU Visa is three years old. Its the Discover it Card that is less than a year, but that does cut my AAoA.

[bettercreditguy1]

Garden and fertilize the cards you have. Yes it is spring!. It is possible to attempt to excell to rapidly. If you want an AMEX card, they like to see payment history. My suggestion is to wait for at least six months, a year would be better before apping for additional credit of any type.   

[dddewdrop]

    Capital One is not bad it is good. It is just that as the other poster was saying, if you were approved for a Discover IT then you are in a situation where you are eligible for other "prime" cards which have more prestige and clout than capital one. I don't mean prestige and clout in the sense of "look at me". I mean prestige and clout in that when a lender looks at your credit report they will see you in a more favorable light if you have credit card accounts with chase or citi than with capital one. Having a capital one account is better than having a say First Premier account or other sub prime fee sucker account however if you can get a "prime" card not only will it look better on your credit reports but it will also give you access to better features like cash back, warranties, discounts, etc.... 

     There are several different opinions on how many credit card tradelines is optimal. I will give you my opinion however. I believe that between 4 and 6 is optimal. This is based on being on several forums for the last 3 months and researching this stuff. One of the major strategies of an "app spree" is to apply for a bunch of cards at once. That way you can apply before any of the inquiries hit your reports. Once it has been a day or two then the inquires will have hit your reports and the value of an app spree is over. That being said, if you don't have a whole lot of inquires, you may wish to add more tradelines now. The theory behind this is to get the optimal number of tradelines going as soon as possible so they can get to aging. The older your tradelines are, the better your score. I am not sure if amex will not hold inquires against you after 6 months. Inquires' effect on the fico formula starts to go down after 6 months, however they still appear on your credit report for up to 2 years so amex will see them there for 2 years so it is hard to say how much weight they will hold after 6 months or 1 year or a year and a half. That is open to speculation. 

[enharu]

you dont have to limit your 4th card to be a MC.

I don't think there's a difference between MC and Visa since both are really similar and whichever place accepts visa will also accept MC and vice versa.

Your scores are good, just that your file is thin. However, I think you will be able to qualify for most CapitalOne cards. They're not that demanding, but it's best to check credit pulls database to see the approximate scores and stuff for people who got approved. Their venture card seems to be a pretty nice card in terms of rewards, so I definitely recommend that.

You can also check out Bank of America reward cards (there's a few), Citi Thank You or Diamond Prefered, US  Bank (most of the cards except Cash+), Chase Freedom, etc. So your choices are actually pretty good, but try to avoid those cards that are meant for established profiles (such as Chase CSP or Citi Thank You Premium for now. If you shop at a certain store, or travel with a certain airlines or stay at a certain hotel a lot, you can even check out store cards or retail branded cards.

[b_seeker]

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@TwistedAngel wrote:

No Letter yet.

Is Captial One bad?

I will look into the Chase Freedom Master Card, thank you.

I have no idea which bureau(s) the cu card reports to. All I know is that is a "platinum preferred" visa, but I don't know if that means anything on a cu card.

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Just FYI, I believe the only way to make sure you get the MC version is to apply from the link on Mastercard's website. Usually Chase will send out a Visa, but sometimes they will ask you which you want. The MC link should always give MC version.

As far as the above poster mentioning no difference between Visa and MC: It's always good to have multiple cards. Some places take Visa but not MC, or vice versa. Some places only take Discover. I like having multiple cards in case. I've read this is more on an issue going overseas.

[a3quit4s]

Capital One is often referred to as "Crapital One" on these boards. I've been hating on them since '09. They did give me my first card after my scores started to come up but when I called after 2-3 years of spending and no late payments EVER they wouldn't PC the card into something with rewards or even give me a CLI.

Everyone seems to say that they are getting better now; but do yourself a favor and get a national Bank (Chase, BoA) and start building a relationship with them. They offer everything from mortgages to car loans.

The Visa/Mastercard/Amex/Discover thing is pointless IMO, just get the cards that suit your spending. Why have an AMEX with an annual fee when you don't spend enough to justify it?

The first thing I would do in your shoes is hit up the credit union that has you at 1K that you have had for 3 years and get a CLI