how many inquiries are too many?

[Anonymous]

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@kerplunkSimiliarly to when you should buy new underwear, if you are asking the question, then you probably already have your answer.

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Perhaps, but inquiries matter with respect to the rest of your profile.  Using your example above, it would matter with respect to the rest of someone's underwear inventory.  If they have 15 brand new pairs and are considering replacing 3 shot pairs, that's a lot different than someone with 15 shot pairs and 3 new pairs that's also considering replacements.

[Anonymous]

Brutalbodyshots,
So like me I have 10 new accounts this year(from rebuild, and not fully understanding credit) but low 700 ficos
5-15-7 inquiries (my scores are 695,707,698,ex,tu,eq) very close scores
Aooa20 months
Aaoa- 7 months
Aoya-1 month
Just had a collection fall of years early otherwise would have went about credit in a different way.

What I'm getting at is will 6 month's of gardening increase my odds for a good card(I want a BT card then I'll garden for a year minimum) that much? I could gain 20 points if I brought utilization back to 5 where it was last month.

[Anonymous]

If you've got 10 new accounts in the last 2 months, I'd stay away from apps for a solid year to be honest.  That way all of your inquiries will become unscoreable and your AoYA will reach 12 months.  You'll also cross AAoA of 12 months, which will further help as will 24 months on AoOA as well.  When that happens your scores based on where they sit now would be 720-735 easily, without any changes to your utilization.  Depending on if you can cross utilization thresholds as well between now and then, there's no reason to believe you couldn't exceed that score range.

That being said, if all of your scores are 720-735+ you'd stand a very good chance at being approved for most credit products if you're talking a clean file with respectable (but not perfect) utilization.  Your file will still be relatively young of course, but 2+ years AoOA, > 1 year AAoA and > 1 year AoYA is still a fairly reasonable look and start that most lenders would be comfortable with. 

[UpperNwGuy]

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@Anonymous wrote:

If you've got 10 new accounts in the last 2 months, I'd stay away from apps for a solid year to be honest.

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+1

[Anonymous]

Ten accounts in past year. 3 in last 6 months
Most opened March/18- june-2018
Since June I've opened 3 store cards.

I still have one secured capital one card. The limit is 500. when I am going to apply for my next card would it be smart to close that account? Since it is one of my lower limit cards. I figure they somewhat go by the average credit limit on your accounts for their decision on your starting limit. I am not positive but have heard this.
the secured card is my oldest credit card but only buy one month.the last two cards I have got including when discover became unsecured have been $2,000 credit limit. Would rather combine the two capital one accounts but not holding my breath on becoming unsecured.
I would close it right now but I only have $8,700 total credit limit so if I do I am going to wait until I am ready for my next card. Then garden for at least a year since I will not have a need for a another card.
My FICO Experian score went up to 705 from 695 today. The reason had to be age of accounts. I think only one inquiry became one year old in March.
Another question about utilization threshold. It shows 29% I have read to keep it 28.9. will my score go up when I go down below 29% or is it 30%?

[Anonymous]

It depends on how that rounding is being done.  A displayed "29%" could a true (say) 28.6%, or if the rounding software goes down it could also be a true 29.4%.  Just do the math yourself and know that the FICO algorithm rounds any decimal up to the next whole number.  If you're at 29.xx%, it is being rounded up to 30% in the eyes of the algorithm and you are above the threshold that you're close to.

As for your secured card, have you contacted CO about unsecuring it?  Perhaps that could be done and you could ask for a CLI right after and make the card more workable for you.  From that point maybe you could PC it to something worthwhile like a Quicksilver.

[Anonymous]

Ty. I am right at 28.9
I call every month. And get different responses from capital ones representatives.
Every simulator I do says no change if I close that card but I'm hesitant..
Ty