Splurges..What is the philosophy

[ScarletFever]

behind appling for several lines of credit at the same time in order  to build up available credit lines?

Thanks for any help...

[Anonymous]

No hard and fast rules there. It's more of a sense....a feeling, and what your FICO scores are at the time you get the urge, and what's contained on your credit reports

It's normally NOT a good idea to apply for cards you don't need...anytime. If you are in repairing/rebuilding mode, you can justify applying for cards if:
1. your utilities are less than 20%...the less the better. 1%-9% utils are ideal.
2. your scores are in the mid 600's, for rebuilding; vry high 500's for repairing(very limited selection of avail cards though)
3. very few baddies on your cr, up to and including lates. If you have a recent 60 day late or worse, don't even try. Those considered major derrog's bordering on collection.

(note: the above is ONLY my opinion, and is NOT the consensus of the other folks here on this forum).

Others will chime in with their thoughts shortly, I'm sure.

[MidnightVoice]

---

ScarletFever wrote:

behind appling for several lines of credit at the same time in order  to build up available credit lines?

Thanks for any help...

---

My splurge lasted 13 months and resulted in 6 applications giving me 1 new car, 1 HELOC and 4 new credit cards!  But I am done - one CC is now over a year, and the rest start ageing next month.  No more new credit in 2008 - age, age, age.

[Anonymous]

See, I think the philosophy folks have is to dilute bad credit with good credit. This will very likely increase your scores. Which is not a bad philosophy.........'cept that bad credit you are trying to dilute is still there. It won't go away no matter how much new (good) credit you are able to add. Now, folks who had some baddies to begin with have access to more credit - and more temptations.

I don't know this for a fact, and I am sure it is not applicable to everyone, but it sure would be interesting to see some stats on how many people get in trouble again and again with new cards. Those cards that were added to dilute the bad stuff are now bad themselves.

Sylvia is right - don't add cards you don't need.

Keep utility down - and never be late.

[MidnightVoice]

---

cobra19 wrote:

I don't know this for a fact, and I am sure it is not applicable to everyone, but it sure would be interesting to see some stats on how many people get in trouble again and again with new cards. Those cards that were added to dilute the bad stuff are now bad themselves.

Sylvia is right - don't add cards you don't need.

Keep utility down - and never be late.

---

I have carried a balance twice in 6 years - once deliberate, once a typo where I didn't transfer the amount I intended.

The other finance charges I have paid in that time are all because I used it overseas 

[Anonymous]

MV..........I kinda doubt many folks are as responsible, or as knowledgable about, their credit as you.

[haulingthescoreup]

---

@ScarletFever wrote:

behind appling for several lines of credit at the same time in order to build up available credit lines?

Thanks for any help...

---

Hi, good question, and welcome to the forums!

I did my 8-hour splurge because I had been waiting for my scores to get where I needed them to be, I was waiting for late payments to hit specific age marks, and I knew exactly what cards made sense for my credit needs. I did it all at once because I would rather all the score damage to hit at once, because I'm not anticipating app'ing again for a long, long time, and because sometimes new lenders get freaked if they see that you've recently gotten new credit. I went with PenFed first, so that they wouldn't see any other inqs (they're VERY twitchy this way), and then kept going in order of how important the card was to me. Each subsequent lender could see the inqs from the previous ones, and I wanted to make sure that if they were bothered by them, I could live without that creditor.

Word of warning: several creditors, and American Express is the most well-known for this, will soft the accounts of their new members for a while, as often as several times a month, to make sure that they're not on an app-o-rama. I'm hoping that PenFed doesn't do this, she typed nervously.

[marty56]

If you are going to spluge, keep in mind that a new cell phone, cable TV, and bank out may add to your splurge list.  Out of 2 TU inqs and 3 EQ in qs only 2 are for credit.  No new apps for me until the Fall when I go for a car loan.

[ScarletFever]

Thanks hauling, and everyone that responded to my inquiry. As always, you guys provide good insight and info, are a tremendous help.

I considered doing a splurge for strategic reasons: I want to significantly increase my available credit because I have low limits, and I also wish to increase my FICO. Currently, my util is around 5%. I would not splurge  to buy anything. I don't even want to use the cards, but need to boost my scores. I have 3 inqs from November 2007 that occured in the same week to buy a car, which I was extended a loan for. My fico's currently are in a state of flux right now, as I am disputing several items, and can't give an accurate assessment.

My strategy was to do a credit app approx every 6 months. I am considering doing a splurge with cards that forum members seem to like i.e. WAMU, Amex Delta, Hooters etc...How much of a hit will I take if applying for 3-4 cards?