How do you think 2 new credit cards will affect my FICO? (data provided within)

[Anonymous]

In the past month, I applied for and got 2 new credit cards. I did not add any debt, actually decreased it by a few hundred. Here are my numbers.

Before the new cards

Balance: $21,629      Available: $30,300       Utilization: 71%

After the new cards

Balance: $19,500      Available: $44,800      Utilization: 44%

I did not apply for any other credit (no denials). I am curious what you think this will do to my credit score. (All I have is the FICO that WAMU has. It was 619. 2 inquires damage vs. greatly increase utilization.

Also, do I have to charge something on both cards before they report to the credit organizations.

Thanks!

[smallfry]

That Wamu score you're looking at might be stale already and might not include the new cards or your new utilization. 44% is still much too high. Pay it down. 20K is a lot of debt. Some cards report before the first statement cuts others might take a couple of months maybe more. What are the cards?

[Anonymous]

chase freedom card (7.9% APR)

BOA Preferred Mastercard

[Anonymous]

Yes I know that score is stale - it definitely does not include these 2 new cards. I am curious what to expect. Thanks.

[smallfry]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Yes I know that score is stale - it definitely does not include these 2 new cards. I am curious what to expect. Thanks.

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You might see a bigger increase in your classic FICO than in the Wamu credit card enhanced score. 44% is still fairly high and the Wamu score hates new accounts. Might just be a wash. Those cards should report after the first statement cuts. My Chase did don't know about BOA never had one but i would venture to say after the first cut. Those are prime cards. Congrats.

[Anonymous]

Thanks - I am still shocked that I got 2 prime cards.I am going to be SOOOOO careful to make sure I keep them at their great rates.  I will let me default-APR cards rot like medieval street sewage.

[Anonymous]

WAMU card enhanced score acts a little different from Classic FICO. I'm lost on this one, my WAMU score doesn't like my big payoffs with UTL and dropped me -70 points. My Classic FICO from here is way way up month after months. I'll sit out on this one and read others responses. I don't understand Card Enhanced completely yet.

[haulingthescoreup]

My BofA reported the next day. Chase took a while. They seem to be a bit leisurely, slow to approve, slow to mail, slow to report. I just looked through my March Experians, and it looks like they reported with the first statement, which was one month after I applied, two weeks after I'd gotten the card and used it. But it had a $0 balance at reporting time.

This is a Chase-issued Borders Visa; don't know if it would be different for a straight bank card (non-affinity.)


edit to add: I don't know what else you've got going on with your reports, but there's a good chance that with the lowered util, you won't even have an initial score drop --you'll just keep going up. Congrats on the shiny new plastic!

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 05-16-2008 03:23 AM

[Junejer]

Ace, I guess my best guess is that you will experience some increase, all things being equal. Try the score estimator.