Higher starting credit limit.

[Anonymous]

So I’m the last week I got approved for boa cash rewards card at 7k if I recall, cap 1 savor 3k, and just on a whim this morning 5k amazon credit card by chase. Boa approval letter arrived and said I had a 788 credit score and credit karma says 755. Love these approvals but I want better lines. How would I go about improving it? I’m literally the ideal credit candidate on all boards except younger history.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
So I’m the last week I got approved for boa cash rewards card at 7k if I recall, cap 1 savor 3k, and just on a whim this morning 5k amazon credit card by chase. Boa approval letter arrived and said I had a 788 credit score and credit karma says 755. Love these approvals but I want better lines. How would I go about improving it? I’m literally the ideal credit candidate on all boards except younger history.

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I am not aware of any lender who uses the VantageScore 3.0 scores provided by CreditKarma to make credit decisions so you can ignore those.

Lending decisions are not made solely on the basis of your credit score; instead they are based on the entirety of your credit profile, of which your credit score is only one portion.  Lenders understand you can have high scores especially if new to credit and they discount them accordingly.  If your credit history is brief its unlikely you will be initially approved for large credit lines until you demonstrate you can responsibly handle what you currently have.

[HeavenOhio]

First, I'd garden for a few months. Nine months sounds good for most cards; twelve would be a bit better.

After gardening, go for an AMEX revolver. The limit they give you might surprise you. If the limit turns out to be moderate, it can likely be increased quickly. I think it'd probably be OK to apply with AMEX with about six months of gardening. In the meantime, learn about the AMEX rewards programs (MR vs. Cash) so you'll know which route you'd like to take.

During your gardening period, feel free to ask for a BoA CLI as it's a soft pull. Someone here can advise on timing better than I can. Because of the hard pull or pulls, I'd wait at least a year before requesting a CLI with Chase.

[Anonymous]

So far I have a lot of good cards open with good limits. Just curious how folks score a opening limit of 15k or so. Boa sent my approval letter saying it’s 788. I then applied for cap 1 savor and amazon by city and both got instant approval. ( I can post pic if it helps figure how and what scoring they use)

[Anonymous]

In another thread you just mentioned that you would like to buy a home very soon, but I see in this thread you are opening many credit cards.  That's not a good strategy when preparing for a home loan.  Just an FYI.

[Anonymous]

Yes we are wanting to buy within the next 2 years or so. In preparation for that; her and I pay our cards off monthly, we haven’t gotten any personal loans. I did get 3 new cards in the last week I admit. But before this I’ve had 0 inquiries on my report for about 9 months. I figured the extra credit line would offset the hard pull. Plus I figured a boa credit card would maybe help me with a home loan from them.

[Thomas_Thumb]

Ok - Now is the time to clamp down on new credit. Avoid new credit during the 12 months prior to getting a mortgage.

I advise waiting 90 days before asking for any credit line increases. Then confirm/verify the CLI requests can be processed without a hard inquiry. Ultimately, since you are over 1.5 years from mortgage, you could afford a couple hard pulls for CLIs in the next 6 months - but best to stick with soft inquiry tactics.

[Anonymous]

Ok I can do that. Yah with the new cards I got approved I’m more then content for now. 3-4 months ask for clin for a soft pull, got it. Any other advice for mortgage prep? We have paid out cards off (new boa has 800$ but I’m paying it in 5 months since I have the cash for it saved) our personal loans paid off so far.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Yes we are wanting to buy within the next 2 years or so. In preparation for that; her and I pay our cards off monthly, we haven’t gotten any personal loans. I did get 3 new cards in the last week I admit. But before this I’ve had 0 inquiries on my report for about 9 months. I figured the extra credit line would offset the hard pull. Plus I figured a boa credit card would maybe help me with a home loan from them.

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Typically when most people here on the forum mention they plan to buy a home soon, they usually mean in a few months.  Two years is a much longer timeframe, so that is good.

You write "I figured the extra credit line would offset the hard pull."  Extra credit lines do not in themselves improve your score.  They actually harm your score, by lowering your AAoA.  Nor does a higher total credit limit help your score (not even by a point).

An exception would be if you had only one card -- then adding more cards in preparation for a home purchase two years from now would be a smart scoring decision.  But it sounds like you already had a number of cards before adding the three new ones.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for letting me know that. Yah we are looking for homes and finishing up school so 2 years is our timeframe. Sorry for the confusion. Ok so I’ll take a hit on credit for now but should easily recover (hope). Besides continued perfect payment record and keeping utilization ratio less then 5% how else can I keep climbing the score?