Suggestions? Help!

[Anonymous]

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@MarineVietVet wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
Hello, I recently bought my Equifax and TU scores and came up with Equifax: 759 and TU: 779. I also bought my Experian one on their site and it showed 763. I'm 20 years old and I only have 1 credit card on file, and the age of it is 3 years 7 months. (It's my moms) I want to build up my credit more and am considering getting a car loan to make my profile more diverse I guess you can say. Should I do that or try to get some more credit cards first? If so which ones? Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated. Thank you!

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One thing I will ask is where did you get your scores? No one has been able to buy their own Experian FICO score since February of 2009. Creditors can pull Experian and also there is a CU in Pennsylvania that supplies that information to it's members only. You can only buy true FICO scores at a few places. One place is here at myFICO. I suggest you do an internet search for "myfico discount codes" to save a little money. You can also purchase your Transunion score at www.transunioncs.com. I keep reading you can buy your Equifax score at www.equifax.com but I have yet to find the option of buying just a score.

What you get from the Experian site is called a Plus score and is not an Experian FICO score.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 9/09 pulled by lender 802
EQ - 7/06-663, 3/10-800
TU - 8/10-772
You can do the same thing with hard work

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Yeah, I saw another post about that a few days ago, because I was wondering why this site didn't offer Experian FICO scores. Is the PLUS score what everyone pretty much uses now to measure their Experian?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thank you. I applied for the Chase Student +1 card a few months ago and they declined me due to lack of credit history. I'll just wait a while and try to get a MC through them sometime down the road. Would 2 cards on my CR be enough for one of their MCs 6 months to a year from now? Or would another bank be more ideal for my situation. Thanks for help!

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I think 2 cards is good enough for now and you can qualify for a lot more in 6 moths to a year.   You will have a lot of choices in the future.

As for other bank cards, you might consider Capital One.  They have a no fee on international charges, if you travel or order someting international.  They have a student rewards card. 

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Yeah I'm just going to do that. I kind of want a Chase MC so I have to wait anyway before I can reapply and who knows..they might accept me a while down the road, since I have two things on my credit.

Also, is there any reason I would want to upgrade my Zync card in the future if the oppurtunity arose? Like say to their Gold or Gold Rewards or does that make no difference on my CR? I was thinking about that and if a credit line would be good through them down the road.

[Anonymous]

I tried having my mom add me to her Sears Citi Gold MC earlier but they said they could only add me as an AU and that it wouldn't show up as "joint" on my CR. I guess there's no way around this?

[MarineVietVet]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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Yeah, I saw another post about that a few days ago, because I was wondering why this site didn't offer Experian FICO scores. Is the PLUS score what everyone pretty much uses now to measure their Experian?

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Experian decided to stop selling their FICO score to individual consumers. No one can sell you a true EX FICO score as far as I know.

You can't use the Plus score for anything. In no way does it compare or correlate to your true EX FICO score. It's purely a guess as to how close it is to the real thing and when it comes to your scores guessing IMO is not good enough. 

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 9/09 pulled by lender 802
EQ - 7/06-663, 3/10-800
TU - 8/10-772
You can do the same thing with hard work

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I tried having my mom add me to her Sears Citi Gold MC earlier but they said they could only add me as an AU and that it wouldn't show up as "joint" on my CR. I guess there's no way around this?

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Anderson235, I wouldn't be so anxious to become a "joint" account holder with anybody...even Mom. 

An AU can take himself off of an account that goes bad at will, removing the trade line entirely from his report, and he is also not responsible for repaying any portion of that debt.  A  joint account holder is fully liable for the entire debt (no matter which one of the account holders actually incurred it),  and is subject to any negative reporting that goes along with it.  One mistake on Mom's part and you're toast.

Things happen.  Always have an exit strategy.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I tried having my mom add me to her Sears Citi Gold MC earlier but they said they could only add me as an AU and that it wouldn't show up as "joint" on my CR. I guess there's no way around this?

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+1 to MVV on the AU-vs-joint advice.

The question is whether it will show up on your credit reports. Not all AU accounts report.

[Anonymous]

The thing is when my mom added me to her Chase Southwest card as a joint holder, she gave me the card they sent her for me, then just shredded hers so I was fully responsible for it and she, in theory, didn't have anything to do with it. So really, I've been the only person using the credit line for the past few years. I know we're both still liable though. She was planning on doing the same with this other card of hers, but they only can do AU from what she was told.

AU accounts don't have the same effect on my credit then? If we were to try it and it did show up, would it effect my credit score in the same way her other card did that shows up as "joint"? Or do creditors check to see what type of account each of your cards is?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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Also, is there any reason I would want to upgrade my Zync card in the future if the oppurtunity arose? Like say to their Gold or Gold Rewards or does that make no difference on my CR? I was thinking about that and if a credit line would be good through them down the road.

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There is no advantage to upgrading the zync charge card from a CR or score point of view.    You need to determine if the extra annual fee is justified in additional perks.

You might consider adding one of American Exress's credit cards in the future for credit mix.   Also, the backdating on any of their cards can help your AAoA,

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The thing is when my mom added me to her Chase Southwest card as a joint holder, she gave me the card they sent her for me, then just shredded hers so I was fully responsible for it and she, in theory, didn't have anything to do with it. So really, I've been the only person using the credit line for the past few years. I know we're both still liable though. She was planning on doing the same with this other card of hers, but they only can do AU from what she was told.

AU accounts don't have the same effect on my credit then? If we were to try it and it did show up, would it effect my credit score in the same way her other card did that shows up as "joint"? Or do creditors check to see what type of account each of your cards is?

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I think your mom did good.  Now that you have some credit of your own,  I don't see the point of doing more joint accounts or AU.    

AU usually help your score, but they are not always reported, may not be included, and some creditors may not give them the same weight.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I think your mom did good.  Now that you have some credit of your own,  I don't see the point of doing more joint accounts or AU. AU usually help your score, but they are not always reported, may not be included, and some creditors may not give them the same weight.

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Yeah, I'd rather just not have AU accounts on my report then.

Another question: Initially, with this AMEX should I expect to see a decrease in my scores because it's new? Also, should I just charge everything I can on the AMEX since I'll be paying it off in the same day or week or does the amount I spend have no effect on my credit and only effect the limit they give me?