Too open new accounts or not?

[Anonymous]

My scores are currently sitting around 690.

I have 3 department store cards, one Citi credit card, and a line of credit reporting.

I also have a student loan reporting.

New mortgage is not reporting yet.

I have prior mortgage lates (18-30 months old), some lates on line of credit, and 2 of the credit cards (last late 14 months old)

My AAoA is about 11 years, may drop to 9 years with new mortgage.

Should I get another 1-2 major credit cards and maybe a Lowes card?  We are building in 1.5 years.  I don't want to have new accounts out when I apply for that loan!  I am thinking that the additional credit cards will give me some additional never late trade lines, but I worry about lowering my AAoA too much!  

My only major cc is a Citi cash back.  I am not sure what other cards would be ideal.  I am guessing that the mortgage will bump me to 700 since I've already taken the inquiry hit.

[Anonymous]

Hi CF!  You write that " I don't want to have new accounts out when I apply for that loan!"  Which loan are you talking about?

It sounds like the biggest reason your scores are in the 600s is because of repeated lates on many different accounts.  In my view the most important thing to do, if you haven't done this yet, is to sit down and try to figure out how it was that all these lates happened in the past, not just once but many times.  Was it absentmindedness?  Was it that money got tight and you couldn't afford to pay on time?

Regardless, I would not open any more cards if I were you until you are certain that you analyzed carefully how they happened in the past and that you are certain that no late payments could ever happen again on any account.  Until you are certain of this, you aren't (in my opinion) ready to open yourself up for even more opportunities to miss payments. 

I would definitely wait for at least three months before opening any cards, to allow your new mortgage to report.  What is your CC utilization like?  How many cards have balances? 

PS.  Since your mortgage has not yet reported, your AAoA has not yet taken a hit from the mortgage. 

[NRB525]

The future loan you are talking about, is that a remodelling or new construction loan in 1.5 years?

Do you get any prequalification offers if you go to the Chase website? One card to consider is the Freedom, with the 5% categories for cashback. With Chase cards, Freedom, Slate or CSP, they don't issue them if someone has 5 new cards in the last 24 months, so if this card is available, it's a good idea to get the no-AF Freedom card, before going for others.

Which Citi card do you have? Do you get a prequalification for the DoubleCash at the Citi website, or you already have the Double Cash?

Capital One Quicksilver is another card to check out, it is simple 1.5% cashback, no games, no other fees including no FTF.

Discover is also worth looking into. They have a "first year double your cash back" that runs for a short time longer for new apps. 5% rotating categories with gasoline as Q1. Regular spend would be 2% ultimately, the 5% categories would be 10% when all is said and done.

[Anonymous]

My late payments were mostly over the time period of a move.  I do not intend to have any other late payments, and am thinking that the new accounts may be an opportunity to have a few more completely clean account.  We also have 2 incomes now rather than one.  I have a long credit file, and most my previous accounts are longer, so guessing on the AAoA drop from 11 to 9 based on total accounts on file.  Shouldn't be less than 8 year AAoA.  

We are planning a new construction loan in 1.5 years.  Thinking the CCs may be somewhat useful during the build, and definitely don't want to open them during the build!  My Citi is a dividend card.

[Anonymous]

Also, I am in the 600s, but almost at 700.  My mtg Ficos were around 720 for all 3.  My utilization is only on one card and less than 10% on that card.

[NRB525]

If you go to the Citi website and use the Credit Card Prequalification tool, looking for cash back, does the DoubleCash turn up? If so is it a single APR? The card offers 1% when you buy, 1% when you pay the amount, and from what I see, 18 months of 0% on purchases and BT (which seems the BT may not be something you use). The prequalification tool, if you get one APR as the offer (after the introductory 0% APR of course) then it is highly likely you will get the card and that APR. With prior history with Citi, you could do well with the Double Cash.