New to this, could use a couple pointers!

[Anonymous]

Hello all; just looking for a little input after being a longtime lurker here. After making some mistakes fresh out of high school and in college, my credit paid the price. Since then, all of those mistakes have fallen off my record and I found myself with a fresh slate and literally no credit history. In the next few years I'm anticipating buying or leasing a car, and possibly leasing or buying a home, so it's become a priority to build my credit. Six months ago, I joined a local credit union and they took a chance on me and gave me a $500 SL platinum visa. I also signed up with capital one and got a $300 SL platinum mc. For the most part I keep my utilization below 30%, and I usually pif every month and if I don't I pay more than the minimum. After lots of reading on here, I started scoping out prequalifcation pages, and found myself preapproved for the Amex blue cash everyday, so I applied and was approved with a $5000 SL! I also received a cli to $750 on the cap1. I decided that while my AAoA is still low now is the time to bulk up a bit so I snagged a $1500 overstock card via the SCT, and I applied for and was approved for the neiman Marcus card with $750 SL. Of course neiman Marcus doesn't tell you your SL unless you call and when I called I asked when I can get a cli and hey said why not now, and bumped it to $1100.

Unless you guys think I should keep on this course, I think for now I'm done opening up credit cards for a year or two. Thoughts?

Also, I know types of accounts are something that factor into your score, so I was thinking about taking out a 2 year $500 'credit builder' loan from my credit union. Any input on that subject?

According to credit karma, they have me at 661 EQ and TU (showing the inquiry from Amex app and neiman marcus but not yet showing those accounts and their respective limits and 0 uti), but I recieved a decline email after looking at a personal loan prequal that gave my TU score of 696. Also, according to discover credit scorecard, my Fico is 705 (before the Amex overstock and neiman cards and inq). Am I on the right track? Should I get the credit builder loan then head to the garden? Also, the cu doesn't do an HP for the loan

[Anonymous]

Your idea about a secured installment loan is great.  The lender we recommend is Alliant.  The product is called a Share Secure Loan.  There is a whole technique associated with it which involves paying almost all of it off during the first month.  The following link explains everything -- you just need to rread the first 2-3 posts:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Adding-an-installment-loan-the-Share-Secu...

You do not need any more credit cards.  If I were you, I would avoid opening more store cards.  There is nothing wrong with them from a FICO scoring perspective.  But they are more of a hassle to keep open.  When you have a Neiman Marcus card, for example, you necessarily are committing yourself to making an NM purchase at least once a year just to prevent it from being closed due to inactivity.  NM is an expensive store.  If you had a general major credit card, then you could use that anywhere and for necessary purchases, like a loaf of bread or a tank of gas.

As far as your credit cards go, you should always pay them in full each month.  If you are preparing for any credit application, you should make sure that 3 of the 4 cards are reporting $0 with the remaining card reporting a small amount, like $10.  That "all zero except one" approach (AZEO) will maximize your score in the month before you apply for the new loan or CC.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the tips! The reason I went with the Neiman Marcus card is they are a capital one card so I figured since I'm already good with them I'd have a good shot plus the card is good at their closeout store lol

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Hello all; just looking for a little input after being a longtime lurker here. After making some mistakes fresh out of high school and in college, my credit paid the price. Since then, all of those mistakes have fallen off my record and I found myself with a fresh slate and literally no credit history. In the next few years I'm anticipating buying or leasing a car, and possibly leasing or buying a home, so it's become a priority to build my credit. Six months ago, I joined a local credit union and they took a chance on me and gave me a $500 SL platinum visa. I also signed up with capital one and got a $300 SL platinum mc. For the most part I keep my utilization below 30%, and I usually pif every month and if I don't I pay more than the minimum. After lots of reading on here, I started scoping out prequalifcation pages, and found myself preapproved for the Amex blue cash everyday, so I applied and was approved with a $5000 SL! I also received a cli to $750 on the cap1. I decided that while my AAoA is still low now is the time to bulk up a bit so I snagged a $1500 overstock card via the SCT, and I applied for and was approved for the neiman Marcus card with $750 SL. Of course neiman Marcus doesn't tell you your SL unless you call and when I called I asked when I can get a cli and hey said why not now, and bumped it to $1100.

Unless you guys think I should keep on this course, I think for now I'm done opening up credit cards for a year or two. Thoughts?

Also, I know types of accounts are something that factor into your score, so I was thinking about taking out a 2 year $500 'credit builder' loan from my credit union. Any input on that subject?

According to credit karma, they have me at 661 EQ and TU (showing the inquiry from Amex app and neiman marcus but not yet showing those accounts and their respective limits and 0 uti), but I recieved a decline email after looking at a personal loan prequal that gave my TU score of 696. Also, according to discover credit scorecard, my Fico is 705 (before the Amex overstock and neiman cards and inq). Am I on the right track? Should I get the credit builder loan then head to the garden? Also, the cu doesn't do an HP for the loan

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I would advise you to:

1.  chill out on making any new applications

2.  get no more store cards

3.  manage the cards you have well. optimally you should let 4 of them report a zero balance, and the 5th card a sub 10% balance

4.  not pay attention to Credit Karma. it's very valuable for providing weekly updates of your TU & EQ credit reports, but its scores and its recommendations are worthless