What do I do now?

[Anonymous]

So I'm 19, and in college. 

I have been an authorized user on my dad's Amex Plat for over 3 years, and this helped me gain some credit history.

I got an unsecured installment loan in April of this year, which has been since paid in full and the account has been closed.

Last month, I was bored, and went on the Amex pre-approval site thinking I wouldn't actually get approved (because I have been turned down in the past from other lenders). To my suprise, I was pre-approved for two cards. The Delta Skymiles Gold card, and the Hilton Honors card.

I decided on the Hilton card, and was instantly approved with a $1,000 credit limit.

I then decided yesterday to see if I could get the Delta Gold card, since I was pre-approved previously, and I got that with a $1,000 limit.

My FICO is currently 641 with Experian.

I plan on paying all the balances off on these cards in full every month, but, I'm not sure what I should do after that. I like travel rewards cards with high sign-up bonuses, and would like to move on to Chase once I build my credit history up. But not sure how I should go about that.

[ToxikPH]

Use the two cards you got for 6 months to a year, make sure to hit both sign up bonuses as they are once in a lifetime (would suck to lose those at 19). Make sure you read up on Chase's 5/24 rule and make sure to move on to Chase before hitting that. Make sure you know the earning categories on both of those cards as you'll want to maximize your points. Amex is a great way to enter this game as you can see I might be a bit biased. You've come to the right place to learn!

[pinkandgrey]

I would use and pay the cards you have for about a year before going for Chase. Also, as another poster said, don't apply for many things before going for a Chase card. If you decide to go for ONE more card (and I won't advise any more than that), check the prequals for Discover. 

Good luck!

[AllZero]

If you have any derogatories or delinquencies on your credit report, I would recommend addressing those.

It'll make your file more attractive to lenders, better approval odds, starting limit, APR, etc.

[coldfusion]

If you aren't in a position to be able to meet the required significant spend that comes with large sign up bonuses organically and pay every month's balance in full you should probably rethink your plans and goals.   As an example, the Chase Sapphire cards have a $4K mininum spend in 90 days to qualify for the SUB - an average spend of nearly $1350/month.  You don't want to be eroding the net gain of a SUB because of interest payments, nor do you want to be spending more than you can easily handle each month by buying stuff you don't need or can't easily afford simply to meet the required spend.

Are you in such a position?  If you are than good for you; I don't know many 19 year olds who are.

[HeavenOhio]

Welcome, @Anonymous.

Hold off for a while. Don't attempt a Chase application until your new AMEX cards are a year old. Being an AU won't impress them.

I'd suggest that your next card be a Visa or Mastercard given that all of your cards are from AMEX.

Is there any reason why your score is so low? Do you know which version of FICO you're looking at?

[Anonymous]

Is there any reason why your score is so low? Do you know which version of FICO you're looking at?

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If I where to guess it's because the AU card he's on is an AmexPlat, a charge card, and therefore the utilization is $XXXX/$0, since the balance is considered in utilization but there is no PSSL.

Since the profile is becoming $XXXX/$2000 next month a considerable score change wouldn't surprise me.

[Anonymous]

you might have already did this but go link your bank account and set up autopay on your cards right now to make sure you don't miss any payments. even one missed payment can tank your score.

chase is very very picky, you have to meet all their expectations to get in, and one little mistake they'll boot you out. if you try adding a card a month after getting your chase card they won't like it, they could shut you down for it. its a good idea to read up on chase and see what to expect.

[coldfusion]

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@Anonymous wrote:

you might have already did this but go link your bank account and set up autopay on your cards right now to make sure you don't miss any payments. even one missed payment can tank your score.

chase is very very picky, you have to meet all their expectations to get in, and one little mistake they'll boot you out. if you try adding a card a month after getting your chase card they won't like it, they could shut you down for it. its a good idea to read up on chase and see what to expect.

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1 missed payment will typically get you a late fee and an APR reset to the penalty value per the card agreement but not a reported derog.  It takes 2 missed* payments in a row to get a 30 day late reported, and that is a derog that knocks ~100 points off a FICO score and takes 7 years to fully recover from.

* "missed" in this context is either a failure to pay or a failure to make the mininum required payment for that month

[redpat]

Stop, graduate and make some real money before getting another card.

Use what you have and be happy.