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Building my credit. What should I do next?

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Building my credit. What should I do next?

Ok, so 3 months ago I did not have a credit score, I had 2 car loans showing up on my credit but one was paid off 2.5 years ago and the other 6 years ago. No credit cards or any type of credit ever. I am 40 years old, income is $92,000, I was just not into using credit. I am thinking about some business investing possibly in 1-2 years and might need extra cash above my savings. After running a few prequals with no luck for unsecured cards I ended up getting a Capital One secured card with they asked for $49 to give me $200, I ended up giving them $351 to get $500. After 1 month I suddenly had a credit score on all 3 bureaus (670-685), so CreditKarma showed Discover It as a match and I went ahead and applied and well...they approved me for $7,500. So after that I was feeling like this credit thing was easy and applied for another match, the CITI double cash card, pre-quald at their website and everything, my application ended up being declined on the spot, after looking for prequals everywere and finding none, I understood discover kind of screwed up let's say with my generous approval and I still need to proove myself. After discover showed up on my reports my scores actually went down lik 20 points, just because I read they take think files I whent back to the Amex prequal page and this time got a couple of matches, ended up being approved for the Cash Magnet with a $500 limit. So what should I do next? I figure no more applications for at least 6 months, but what do I do in the meantime? Use Amex the most and pay it a couple of times of month so they are more likely to give me a CLI? use the CapitalOne more? Only run a couple of hundred a month through the Discover since it already has a decent limit? And what should be my next card to get a good CL? When? 6 months? 12? Sorry for all the questions and thanks in advance for your help.

Message 1 of 9
8 REPLIES 8
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Building my credit. What should I do next?

Credit Karma gets paid when they refer you so naturally they will recommend 20+ cards.  Don't listen to CK's recommendations.  You already have nice starter cards that are keepers.  In the future get cards that fit your lifestyle and do not base your applications on which one can give you the highest CL.  You have a Disco, Capital One, and an Amex in the last 3 months so I would say no more apps for now.  

Message 2 of 9
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Building my credit. What should I do next?

Understand that part, just wondering the best way to use my cards for now (pay in full is an obvious one), is it more advantageous to use one more than the others even if it means multiple monthly payments in order to get a CLI in a few months. Thanks

Message 3 of 9
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Building my credit. What should I do next?

I would be the most popular person here if I had a guaranteed way to get auto CLIs from creditors.  Since your credit is new, I would say concentrate on doing the obvious things right such as paying on time, maintaining low UTI, and not applying for too much too fast.  You may or may not get autos but the nice thing is requesting increases from the creditors you have are soft pulls.

Message 4 of 9
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Building my credit. What should I do next?

Your card usage in the meantime should be based on maximizing rewards (why we get CCs). In your case most of your spending should go on your Discover IT and its cash back match, 10% on quarterly category (grocery 1st quarter) and 2% everything else, put a token charge on Magnet (after meeting SUB spending) and CapOne every month and set all 3 cards on autopay for full statement balance on due date.
Message 5 of 9
CreditInspired
Community Leader
Super Contributor

Re: Building my credit. What should I do next?

Welcome and congrats on your approval.

So now it’s time to take a breath and realize creating a great profile is a marathon and not a sprint. IMHO, don’t apply for any more cards for 6 mos and then, only one if you still feel you need another one.

So you have 3 cards—great one’s actually—for maximum scoring.

On day 61, go for the 3X CLI on AmX. Since your SL was so low, you may get declined and have to wait 6 mos.

After 3 statement cuts and 90 days, ask for a CLI on Discover.

Also, make sure to get your 3 FICO scores so you really know where you stand.

GL2U

|| AmX Cash Magnet $40.5K || NFCU CashRewards $30K || Discover IT $24.7K || Macys $24.2K || NFCU CLOC $15K || NFCU Platinum $15K || CitiCostco $12.7K || Chase FU $12.7K || Apple Card $7K || BOA CashRewards $6K
Message 6 of 9
Caardvark
Frequent Contributor

Re: Building my credit. What should I do next?

I agree with all of what has already been said but will add a few things:

  1. CLIs should not be your primary focus right now as they have zero impact on your score. One can have an 850 with $500 limits
  2. I would use the cards in the manner most financially advantageous. For example, Discover It has double cash back the first year so, unless there is a SUB for the Amex, Disco should be your primary card. 
  3. If there is a SUB for the Amex, I'd put groceries on the Disco (10% cash back for you in Q1) and all other spend on the Amex until the SUB is met. Then, use Disco for all spend for the remainder of the year (Disco 2% > than Amex 1.5%) 

Message 7 of 9
SouthJamaica
Mega Contributor

Re: Building my credit. What should I do next?


@Anonymous wrote:

Ok, so 3 months ago I did not have a credit score, I had 2 car loans showing up on my credit but one was paid off 2.5 years ago and the other 6 years ago. No credit cards or any type of credit ever. I am 40 years old, income is $92,000, I was just not into using credit. I am thinking about some business investing possibly in 1-2 years and might need extra cash above my savings. After running a few prequals with no luck for unsecured cards I ended up getting a Capital One secured card with they asked for $49 to give me $200, I ended up giving them $351 to get $500. After 1 month I suddenly had a credit score on all 3 bureaus (670-685), so CreditKarma showed Discover It as a match and I went ahead and applied and well...they approved me for $7,500. So after that I was feeling like this credit thing was easy and applied for another match, the CITI double cash card, pre-quald at their website and everything, my application ended up being declined on the spot, after looking for prequals everywere and finding none, I understood discover kind of screwed up let's say with my generous approval and I still need to proove myself. After discover showed up on my reports my scores actually went down lik 20 points, just because I read they take think files I whent back to the Amex prequal page and this time got a couple of matches, ended up being approved for the Cash Magnet with a $500 limit. So what should I do next? I figure no more applications for at least 6 months, but what do I do in the meantime? Use Amex the most and pay it a couple of times of month so they are more likely to give me a CLI? use the CapitalOne more? Only run a couple of hundred a month through the Discover since it already has a decent limit? And what should be my next card to get a good CL? When? 6 months? 12? Sorry for all the questions and thanks in advance for your help.


1. Correct. No more applications for the next 6 months. But if you wait longer, your scores will be even better.

 

2. You have 3 cards by my count. All 3 of those lenders report the statement balance as the balance that will be figured for utilization. To optimize all your FICO scores you should let one card report a small balance, and pay it off, while the other 2 cards report a zero balance.

 

3.  You can use the cards as much as you want. What matters for scoring purposes will be the balance as of the statement date.

 

4.  Since (a) you don't need credit personally, (b) you're not doing this for personal spending, (c) you already have enough cards to get yourself perfect credit scores, and (d) you're looking to be able to borrow actual money down the road for your investments, my recommendation would be to join one or a couple of good credit unions which have low interest, no fee, platinum cards, such as Unify FCU, Langley FCU, or some credit union that is local and has you in its field of membership. Then when the time comes, apply for those cards, and use them when you need them for extra cash.

 

5.  After you've been with Capital One for a good while, you might want to give them a call and ask if there are any upgrade offers for your card.

 

6.  With Discover you can do soft pull CLI requests whenever you feel like it.

 

7.  With Amex you can make a soft pull CLI request 61 days down the road, and every 6 months thereafter.


Total revolving limits 741200 (620700 reporting) FICO 8: EQ 701 TU 704 EX 685

Message 8 of 9
DIYcredit
Frequent Contributor

Re: Building my credit. What should I do next?

Agreed,whats most important is how you manage what accounts you have not always the credit limit.Keep in mind the more charges you have an any particular cc account the more credit limit increase they are are more likely to give you, because they make money about 1-3% on merchant fee per charge.

Message 9 of 9
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