Where to start?

[Anonymous]

I have already opened a new secured cc, when do i open the other 2 to maximize good results? Should i open them at the same time?

[racer-x]

ASAP if possible, IMO.

[robbulous]

Open them all at the same time. Charge up to 10% of the limits and pay them off each month. Do this for 6 months and you should have a credit profile. Then you can apply for a Capital One card, or whatever medium range card you want really and you should be approved, assuming you don't have any collections, etc.

[JSS3]

When I was starting out, I applied for an unsecured Cap1 Platinum with a $39 annual fee. Got it with a 500 limit. A month later, I went back for another Platinum with $19 annual fee, and got that with a 500 limit as well.

Cap1 is great for builders and rebuilders.

[Anonymous]

Yes apply one after the other.

[Anonymous]

For rebuilders, is it necessary to have more than one credit card?  I understand the whole 1-9% on one card trick, but fundamentally if you have one card and keep it in good standing for a year, your credit profile will be established and moving in the right direction.  Is the difference between 1 and 3 secure cards closer to a 5 point swing or a 50 point swing.  I'd consider a 5 point swing marginal, something you can talk your way through in a recon call.  NOT worth paying an extra $75 in AF over 2 cards or placing 2 more deposits.

As always, YMMV.  I've never had to build/rebuild credit, I lucked into a solid profile due to AU accounts, so I'd wait until my opinion was validated before taking it for gospel.

[kdm31091]

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@Anonymous wrote:

For rebuilders, is it necessary to have more than one credit card?  I understand the whole 1-9% on one card trick, but fundamentally if you have one card and keep it in good standing for a year, your credit profile will be established and moving in the right direction.  Is the difference between 1 and 3 secure cards closer to a 5 point swing or a 50 point swing.  I'd consider a 5 point swing marginal, something you can talk your way through in a recon call.  NOT worth paying an extra $75 in AF over 2 cards or placing 2 more deposits.

As always, YMMV.  I've never had to build/rebuild credit, I lucked into a solid profile due to AU accounts, so I'd wait until my opinion was validated before taking it for gospel.

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I get what you are saying. The difference between one well managed account with low utilization and 3 secured cards, etc may not be a major swing in your score at all. I had merely a Discover card open for over a year and that was it. My score was not exactly horrible at the time -- I think 700 ish. But then I did also have a positive student loan, so I dunno.

But I agree that there isn't a huge reason to rush into obtaining more cards just because.

[Anonymous]

Are you building or rebuilding?

If you're building, you can just use one secured card until you have a credit score (6ish months), then you can probably qualify for a low limit unsecured card to nurture as well.  I will second Cap One here, because of credit steps - it's always nice to see a CLI after a few months of dilligence and the higher limit granted at that point will look better to other companies that will try to match credit limits when you start looking into 'better' cards.  Not to mention, if you get a bunch of secured cards that don't graduate eventually you may want your money back so that would mean your first tradelines are all closed (not a gigantic negative, but it does mess with AAoA a little bit).  I always will recommend a secured card that graduates over one that doesn't.

if you're rebuilding, a couple positive trade lines will help you in outweighing some of the negative and may help you boost enough to get to the point where you qualify for unsecured a little faster.  Again, I suggest looking into secured cards that graduate if you're going this route because then you don't have to close the trade lines after a while to get the money back, and the ones that graduate and convert have better potential to grow far beyond the "subprime" levels of the secured offerings (looking at you, BofA, and all of you that have reported going from secured to 5 digit credit lines).

But really, the biggest factor in both scenarios is time.  We all want more instant gratification - I know I do! - but the best step is to nurture your card(s) for a while.  

[gdale6]

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@Anonymous wrote:

For rebuilders, is it necessary to have more than one credit card?  I understand the whole 1-9% on one card trick, but fundamentally if you have one card and keep it in good standing for a year, your credit profile will be established and moving in the right direction.  Is the difference between 1 and 3 secure cards closer to a 5 point swing or a 50 point swing.  I'd consider a 5 point swing marginal, something you can talk your way through in a recon call.  NOT worth paying an extra $75 in AF over 2 cards or placing 2 more deposits.

As always, YMMV.  I've never had to build/rebuild credit, I lucked into a solid profile due to AU accounts, so I'd wait until my opinion was validated before taking it for gospel.

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For both builders and rebuilders it is advisable to open 3 revolving accounts as there is typically a Fico score boost for the first 3 cards, the exact number of points is unknown and the 2nd is smaller than the 1st on down the line. You could open 1 secured card and get a history of 3-6 months on it and then app for unsecured for the other 2. Its up to you how fast you want to build up your profile.

[Anonymous]

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@gdale6 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

For rebuilders, is it necessary to have more than one credit card?  I understand the whole 1-9% on one card trick, but fundamentally if you have one card and keep it in good standing for a year, your credit profile will be established and moving in the right direction.  Is the difference between 1 and 3 secure cards closer to a 5 point swing or a 50 point swing.  I'd consider a 5 point swing marginal, something you can talk your way through in a recon call.  NOT worth paying an extra $75 in AF over 2 cards or placing 2 more deposits.

As always, YMMV.  I've never had to build/rebuild credit, I lucked into a solid profile due to AU accounts, so I'd wait until my opinion was validated before taking it for gospel.

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For both builders and rebuilders it is advisable to open 3 revolving accounts as there is typically a Fico score boost for the first 3 cards, the exact number of points is unknown and the 2nd is smaller than the 1st on down the line. You could open 1 secured card and get a history of 3-6 months on it and then app for unsecured for the other 2. Its up to you how fast you want to build up your profile.

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+1