Worth getting a new card for a BT?

[Anonymous]

I had a few unexpected expenses come up, and put about 1200 (total) on two of my cards. At the moment, I won’t be able to PIF.

I had an issue with the place I am renting and I am going to try to purchase a home after my lease is up, as renting has proven to be a big headache.

Unfortunately, none of my cards have any offers to do a BT, so I am trying to decide if it is worth it to get another card to do a BT so that I’m able to pay down these expenses. Is an additional HP on my CR going to make a difference in me not being approved for a mortgage in 6 or so months? I have 5 inqs on TU and 6 on EQ.

Thanks everyone!

[Anonymous]

An inquiry won't likely impact your mortgage ability all that much.  I have no idea what your scores are but, 1200 isn't really worth the hit if you're so close to buying a house.  Just pay it off at an accelerate rate to avoid as much interest as possible but, save your apps for after buying the new place.

I guess the other thing to add is carrying very little CC debt going into it factors better for your DTI calculations since they calculate the CC min payments for each card that has a balance into the payment you can afford.  So, if you have a balance on 6 cards w/ $35/mo min's you're shooting yourself in the foot for $210/mo less in home that you can purchase.  $210/mo on a 30 year note is a ~20K in purchase power you lose.

[Anonymous]

2 of my inquiries are actually from when I was applying for a mortgage last year but we decided to just rent for another year.

The issue now is that we use cards for everything to earn rewards but I PIF each month.

I also have a BT I’m paying down and two promo purchases that are 0% APR that will still be showing at the time of the mortgage. I have been paying more towards the BT to get it paid down quicker so I guess I can use that to pay down my other cards instead

[Anonymous]

Yup, pay off the interest balances first and then revert back to the 0% balances.  Before applying for the mortgage pay them all down as far as possible to score the most points for your mortgage scores.