New Credit Accounts

[sunnyday]

I recently opened up 3 new credit card accounts.  How long does it take to regain the points lost from opening up the new accounts?

[Anonymous]

The ding from the inquiries-- 1 year.

The ding from the new accounts-- 1 year.

[Anonymous]

Short term drop besides the dings is about 3-6 months.

[Candice]

Can sometimes the benefits of opening a new account outweigh the negatives resulting in a score increase? Like if I have a $500 CL with $430 util, and then open, say, a $1500 card with $0 util? Or will the ding from the inqs and new accts hurt too much?

[haulingthescoreup]

Some people, especially those with very few accounts, can open a CC and never have a dip, because their credit profile "needed" an additional account.

One thing you can do is to go to the sims on your current FICO EQ and TU reports and play with the options of adding a bank card, a retail card, a car loan, etc. If your current score is right in the middle of the projected score range, then it probably won't hurt you too badly.

But don't lose track of what will happen to your AAoA (average age of accounts), plus the newness ding, which can be very real indeed.

I find that usually my scores are about where they were 3 months after a new account, except for a longer recovery period on my app-o-rama in February. Still, the scores are all recovering, and it's been 6-7 months.

[Anonymous]

I've gained points right away for opening a new account. Yep, can happen.

[tonsers]

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@Candice wrote:
Can sometimes the benefits of opening a new account outweigh the negatives resulting in a score increase? Like if I have a $500 CL with $430 util, and then open, say, a $1500 card with $0 util? Or will the ding from the inqs and new accts hurt too much?

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Yes. I opened two new accounts about 6 months ago and my scores went up by about 20 points. I only had three accounts before. Both creditors pulled EX, that score only went up by about 10 points - I should see a little bump there once the INQs are a year old.