When is too much.....too much?

[Anonymous]

I have a quick question: What are the most CCs you have applied for in a year? 

**I do need some advice though. I applied and was approved for a GE Money Bank (Art Van) card to put some furniture on LAST DECEMBER. I only have $67 to pay off. Next I applied and was approved for Bank Of America Cash Rewards card in May. Just last week I opened a new high tiered interest checking account which I believe pulled something. Not sure though. I want to apply for a Chase Freedom Visa so I can do away with the lackluster Bank of America Visa but I don't wanna apply to too many things too quick and do damage to my credit report. I am still kind of new to all this guys.**

[HoldingOntoHope]

Too much is when you start receiving denials for "Too many recent inquiries" or "Too many new accounts". But other than that it's strictly a personal decision. We have members who have inquiries counted in the 20's, 30's and higher. And others with none for multiples of years. I currently have 7 on EQ within the last 2 years (only 2 less than a year old) but that was from a mortgage and a USAA credit card in the last year, and a move to a few prime lines the year before.

If you have a plan for your credit future it seems to work out better than just applying for cards and then closing them shortly afterward because you are disappointed with the card or the company. If you read and research I don't believe there is a card available in the U.S. that hasn't been discussed at some point in these forums. And I personally think that that sharing of info and opinions is invaluable for future decisions.

[LisaPA]

Pretty sure Chase pulls EX, and I think BOA is the same, so Chase would probably see the 1 inq from May, but that's not a big deal. Even if all 4 inquiries appeared on the same report, it probably wouldn't stop Chase from approving you if your report is otherwise clean. Especially since the inqs are spaced out instead of all being from, say, July.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have a quick question: What are the most CCs you have applied for in a year? 

**I do need some advice though. I applied and was approved for a GE Money Bank (Art Van) card to put some furniture on LAST DECEMBER. I only have $67 to pay off. Next I applied and was approved for Bank Of America Cash Rewards card in May. Just last week I opened a new high tiered interest checking account which I believe pulled something. Not sure though. I want to apply for a Chase Freedom Visa so I can do away with the lackluster Bank of America Visa but I don't wanna apply to too many things too quick and do damage to my credit report. I am still kind of new to all this guys.**

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When opening a deposit account, they use a reporting agency called Chexsystems. This report basically says whether or not you've written bad checks or have had unsettled overdrafts. Don't worry about an inquiry.

So you only have two accounts on your CR? that's nothing and you don't even have a handful of inquiries. I have 26 hard inquiries and 14 open accounts. Now that's too much

[TM82]

^ That's not necessairly true.  Some banks/CUs are known to hard pull just to join.  PenFed will hard pull, as will Charles Schwab.  I've heard that Alliant will as well.  Wells Fargo pulls credit when you open an account as well.  Most will be decent enough to just run you through Chex, but not all.

[MagicShot]

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@TM82 wrote:

^ That's not necessairly true.  Some banks/CUs are known to hard pull just to join.  PenFed will hard pull, as will Charles Schwab.  I've heard that Alliant will as well.  Wells Fargo pulls credit when you open an account as well.  Most will be decent enough to just run you through Chex, but not all.

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Yes, Wells fargo does a hard pull and runs through chex as well. most banks do nowadays.
BOA didnt though

[Anonymous]

Yeah the checking account I opened was with one of the previously mentioned banks.

[Anonymous]

Hi Jfeezy,

Welcome!

Do you have any additional open accounts other than the ones mentioned in the original post?

[Anonymous]

Hey!!! I have a federal student loan I'm currently paying back and a Wells Fargo CC as well. The student loan I'm just less than a year paying back. And the Well Fargo CC is the first credit card I have ever owned, 5 years ago. I'm paying it off as well. Used it a lil bit in college. Never late for either HOWEVER, this past payment for my student loan I was ONE day late because of their electronic transfer with business days.

[Anonymous]

Okay, so you have the following:

Federal Student Loan - being paid on time

Wells Fargo CC (5 yrs old) with balance - what's your balance and your CL on this card?

GEMB Art Van (8 mos old) with $68 balance (soon to be $0) - what's the CL on this card?

BofA (3 mos old) with  $0 balance (is that right?) - what's the CL on this card?

Chase Freedom Visa - on wish list

Generally speaking, and IMO only, I would wait 3-4 months before apping.  At that point your Art Van will be a year old an your BofA will be 6+months old.  Right now you have two revolvers that are less than a year old. 

It's also a good idea to know your FICO score and your utilization when prepping for an app.  If you know your current individual account utilization as well as your overall utilization (or if you share your CL's and balances folks will help you run the numbers) that's a great help in knowing how you might do on an app.