newbie advice

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone!

First and foremost i just found this site today, and i have to say im in love- ok maybe that was a bit much, but there is so much useful information.

Im 22 just graduatesd from college and one of my goals this year is to build my financial future... my credit history is fairly new  and i dont have much on it last i checked my score was in the 640's....

i have one credit card which ive had for 2 year : balance is $400/ Credit limit is $1,500

I have 2 govt school loans (subsidized) that total $7,500

 in addition  have a car loan and ive never been late

my question is:

1. should i pay off both of my school loans if i have the money to right now..... or should i keep them open  so that i can build history.... which would look better?

2. which cc do you recomend i apply for... i dont want to get inquires or even worse rejected but i think i need more than one to help it go up.

  Im sure this is is a silly newbie question but i would really appreciate any advice you all have to offer. Thanks again!

[llecs]

1) Score-wise, just keep paying your car and SLs as scheduled. Your score won't improve by paying them off earlier. However, you'd save money.

2) Before apping for a CC, I would pay down your balance first. Make sure less than 10% is reporting ( < $150). Then I'd recommend pulling each FICO report and app for a CC based on the strongest report. Use sites like whogavemecredit.com to selectively apply for a card based on the CRA.

You can easily get your scores well into the 700s with the one card you have. Only time can help. And paying down that one CC would boost your score by an extra 25-30 points too. Maybe 30-45 if you pay it off and let it report at $0.

[Anonymous]

I would save the money and pay the student loans off early if u can do that