@Anonymous wrote:First post, and I apologize if there's another thread on this but I haven't found it:
I tried applying for credit cards for many years without success until finally, last September, I was approved for a Quicksilver One with a $300 limit. I managed the card extremely carefully, got a CL increase to $1,300 in February, was up to a 741 TU in late May when I applied in branch for a CSR and was approved for a $25k CL. Same thing with managing carefully, and that brought me to where I am now, which is 730 TU, 728 EF, 723 FICO. I'm 100% happy with the way I've done everything so far, including the CSR app, because I was ready to aborb the hit to my score in exchange for a rewards card and vastly more available credit. My plan WAS to wait until October, and apply for an FU to make my AAoA far more sturdy down the road. However, I've now got a really tempting targetted Amex offer that expires in mid-August, I have been sitting on it for almost two months, and I don't know what to do. I'm pretty sure I'd be approved -- that's not the point.
I am confident that I will continue to do everything right in terms of payment strategy, but I don't want any compounding opened-too-many-cards-in-too-short-a-span credit damage that sets me back further than simple hard inquiries and the new account dings. Given the above, would it still be possible for me to get to 750 by the end of 2018 if I opened that new Amex in the coming days --- that is, 75 days after my CSR --- and then the FU a little later this year? Or would I have dug myself into too deep of a hole? The 750 score by the end of 2018 remains the goal.
Thoughts welcome -- and apologies for the length. (If tl;dr is still a thing: how long does the damage from a flurry of new cards opened in a short span last?)
In my opinion it won't keep you from attaining 750 by the end of 2018.
@Anonymous wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:First post, and I apologize if there's another thread on this but I haven't found it:
I tried applying for credit cards for many years without success until finally, last September, I was approved for a Quicksilver One with a $300 limit. I managed the card extremely carefully, got a CL increase to $1,300 in February, was up to a 741 TU in late May when I applied in branch for a CSR and was approved for a $25k CL. Same thing with managing carefully, and that brought me to where I am now, which is 730 TU, 728 EF, 723 FICO. I'm 100% happy with the way I've done everything so far, including the CSR app, because I was ready to aborb the hit to my score in exchange for a rewards card and vastly more available credit. My plan WAS to wait until October, and apply for an FU to make my AAoA far more sturdy down the road. However, I've now got a really tempting targetted Amex offer that expires in mid-August, I have been sitting on it for almost two months, and I don't know what to do. I'm pretty sure I'd be approved -- that's not the point.
I am confident that I will continue to do everything right in terms of payment strategy, but I don't want any compounding opened-too-many-cards-in-too-short-a-span credit damage that sets me back further than simple hard inquiries and the new account dings. Given the above, would it still be possible for me to get to 750 by the end of 2018 if I opened that new Amex in the coming days --- that is, 75 days after my CSR --- and then the FU a little later this year? Or would I have dug myself into too deep of a hole? The 750 score by the end of 2018 remains the goal.
Thoughts welcome -- and apologies for the length. (If tl;dr is still a thing: how long does the damage from a flurry of new cards opened in a short span last?)
In my opinion it won't keep you from attaining 750 by the end of 2018.
If you don't mind my asking -- why not? I mean, good news for me obviously, but still interested in how you got there.
I guess I wish there were more information on how much (if any) of an additional score penalty there is for applying for a series of credit cards in a short span of time. I'd assume the hard pulls and new credits are always a given, but would they tack on an additional, say, minus 5 points? Minus 10? If so, what's the you'll-get-an-additional-score penalty timeframe? (i.e. 3 new cards in 6 months = 3 hard pull score drop + 3 new accounts score drop + too-many-too-fast score drop? Or is it 3 new accounts in 3 months for the additional penalty? Or 3 new accounts in one month? Etc.). Or is all anyone really saying when they advise "you shouldn't apply for too much too fast" that you'll get the hard pull dings, the new credit dings, and a decreasing likelihood of approval with each successive new account? Because that I can deal with, as long as I could be at roughly the same place by the end of 2018 as I would have been had I not opened the new accounts at all. (I cannot imagine there being a strategic or personal excuse for having more than 4 cards for the foreseeable future. I'll have one Amex, one MC, and two Visas -- one annual fee, one no-annual-fee. Oldest account would be 2 years, 4 months by the end of 2018, and assuming I applied for the Amex this month and the FU in October, I'd have 4 accounts with AAoA of 1 year, 7 months by the end of 2018.)
<sigh> The best laid plans.
Because at the rate you're going you'll be at 750 before the end of 2017.
Short answer to your question is that (a) the 'newness' penalties -- such as 'inquiry', 'new account', 'age of recent account', average age of accounts, etc -- are a relatively small component in your FICO score, and (b) your 'newness' demerits will be infinitesimal compared to those of a miscreant like myself.
You have to asked yourself OP. "What is the purpose of having good credit, if I'm afraid to use it?"
I agree with SJ, you'll have no issues making 750 by the end of 2018.
My step daughter has 1 year of AAoA with 5 or 6 accounts reporting. Her scores are all in the 760 to 780 range. I added over 30 accounts in a 24 month period. All of my scores are over 750 now. They weren't two years ago. Two of them were in the mid 600's. I believe you're over thinking it a little. Lol
@Anonymous wrote:
@Gmood1 wrote:I believe you're over thinking it a little. Lol
What gave you that idea? The 300 word walls of text in my posts? ;-)
Just new to this, and I don't really have a barometer yet for long-term score recovery after applying for new credit. Real reason for the (extra) worry, I guess, is that Vantage Score's stupid "Credit Simulator" for some reason predicts my score going nowhere even if I pay my bills on time for the next 24 months and do nothing else. (730-->730). Increase my limit by $50,000 and still nothing. It's baffling. So I very much like the idea of diving into the points game, but of course not at the expense of getting, say, an offsettingly higher interest rate on a mortgage when the time comes for my score to matter. (Can't see it being sooner than 2019, hence the 750 goal.) I guess we'll see.
Do you have an active installment loan reporting? That will give you a score boost if you don't. The secured shared loan works. Don't worry about those predictors. They are meaningless. All you have to do is pay your bills on time, no lates. And keep your utilization low..the scores will take care of themselves. Scores are only one factor in the credit game. They certainly help, but won't gaurantee an approval for every thing.
Please don't be one of those folks that worries if their scores drops 5 points from 820 to 815 that it's going to matter when buying a home or anything else for that matter.. ridiculous. Lol
Many intelligent folks around the forums... common sense just runs a little short sometimes.😀
You'll be more than fine.