@MarkyB wrote:@Anonymous thank you. I will open it along with a "credit strong" secured loan (basically another version of self) so I can save some extra money in the process.
The reason I'm going for more accounts is because my best friend went to BMW to ask about the new M4. He has a credit score of 786 but only 2 credit cards on his file and the dealership told him his file is too thin to get approved for a loan that high ($100k). Mind you, one of his cards is well over 6 years old and never missed a payment on it. That just showed me how important having many open accounts is, regardless of your score.
Do you pay rent? There are quite a few rent reporters companies out there and they go back 2years and that helps a lot. It's worth the small price imo
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@RobynJ good to know. I will definitely look into that, thanks. I really hope capital one reports my card after this next billing cycle next week. That will help a lot as well.
How long did it take for you to get approved for the open sky card and how long until you received it in the mail? Did they report the card right away after the first month?
Capital one reported for me and many other from my research about 3 days after the close of your second statement full statement (73 days for me). The first short and the first full statement I didn't let any $ report and I heard this is why it took so long. If you had a balance on the first statement it would have reported already. This is what I was told anyways. Open sky is a simple approval process but took almost 3 weeks to get the card. Also the $75 fee is on it as soon as you activate it. Heck it was reported to the 3 CRA about 9 days after I had the card. I paid the fee immediately so when it reported it I left only a $5 balance
@RobynJ I'm reaching my 2nd statement cycle on my capital one on the 19th, 5 days from now. I had nearly maxed out the card on the first statement but I paid it down and left only $14 on it to report. I then almost maxed it out again and paid off the balance and left just $8 on it now to report for the 2nd statement. I guess like you said, they wait for the 2nd full statement to close before they report it. I use the cards thinking that's what these companies want but I pay them down just before the statement end date to report a low balance. I'm very conscious of keeping my balance below 9% my limit for reporting purposes. I feel if I don't use the cards at all they won't graduate it or give me a CLI in the near future. I take the same approach with my other cards. I use them almost fully and pay them down before the cycle end date.
That's good to know regarding the open sky card. I'll make sure to pay the fee right away once I activate it so it doesn't report the full $75 balance. Thanks for the tip!
@masscredit wrote:@RobynJ It sounds like I should let all of my new cards report a very small balance for the first statement. After that I plan to let one card report 5-7% each month. I might rotate which cards report. Actually, losing a few points for letting all of them report won't matter. I won't be looking for new credit for at least a year.
The research I've gathered, it's good to leave a tiny balance on each card rather than leaving them at 0. It's not a big difference but you could gain an extra few pts if you leave, say, a $5 balance on it and then pay it off before the due date. It helps with the payment history. Reporting your balance at 0 you're not making any payments at that point (no payment due date) so you're missing out on building that payment history record and lenders have a harder time gauging your creditworthiness. Again, this is based off my research (not stating as fact) and it's the approach I am taking for now. I've read people who have always left a 0 balance and tried leaving a tiny balance one month and their score actually jumped a bit cuz of it.
@MarkyB Actually leaving a small balance under 8.9% is ideal on one card only and let all others post with a $0 balance. This is called the AZEO technique. This gives you the maximum point increase for utilization. Also keep in mind Capital One is very stingy with CLI and does HP's for them unless they are auto CLI. Discover in my opinion is the card I would put the maximum spend on and pay multiple times a month as they seem to be much more likely to graduate faster and provide CLI more often. Still put some spend on Cap 1 but again I would push for pleasing Discover with the swipes over Cap 1.
@masscredit wrote:@RobynJ It sounds like I should let all of my new cards report a very small balance for the first statement. After that I plan to let one card report 5-7% each month. I might rotate which cards report. Actually, losing a few points for letting all of them report won't matter. I won't be looking for new credit for at least a year.
@masscredit yes I agree with you. What cards do you have now?
It sounds like you have a great start with your rebuild. Personally I wouldn't run any of your Util over 28% at any given time by paying multiple times a month. That is just me though.