Applying for credit cards back to back

[getzbuzy]

Hi Everyone,

 

I just found creditboards and am excited to get some advice and suggestions!! Long story short my credit sucks (554 Transunion, 566 Equifax.) Although, in a week I have an educated guess that it will be rising around 20 points as I am dropping my credit utilization down from over 70% to 1% because I am paying off all but a few dollars on my only credit card (500.00 limit.) My credit score fluctuates considerably between 540 and 580 based on how much of my 500 credit limit I am using at the time of the report.

 

I am trying to refinance on my rental property wthin the next 30-60 days, and most importantly, I am looking to get another property (primary residence duplex) in the next 6 months. Needless to say, I need to get my butt in gear and start taking my credit seriously.

 

I am FINALLY tackling my credit head on. The only active account I have had for the last 3 years was my mortgage. I pay cash for everything, and my truck is paid off. So back in January I got a secured loan for a $1,000 and a secured credit card for $500. This paid off as my score jumped over 30 points initially.

 

However now that I see I won't have any more abrupt score increases with my current debt, I want to add a couple more credit cards to my credit profile for several reasons. One being more active accounts, two being more revolving debt, Three being a higher overall credit limit, and four being an even lower credit utilization percentage

 

So........

 

Can some of you with experience shine some light on the effects of applying for 2 credit cards at the same time? Credit Karma "recommends" the Capital One Platinum card, claiming I have a "very good" chance of being approved, and I've also gotten several credit card offers in the mail recently.

 

My main concerns is that hypothetically I will be getting 3 hard inquires over the next 30 days. That's 2 for the 2 credit cards, and 1 for my upcoming refinance.

 

Will these inquires do more harm than good? Will any of my applications be likely to be denied???

 

Any help, advice, or suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

 

[breeze]

I don't think your inquiries are going to have much of a negative effect on your scores.

 

Welcome to CB!

[iLoveCali]

those low scores are not only from high uti %.

 

"waiting" is your key. second key is "pay on time"

[Surreal Awakening]

Welcome to CB and congrats on getting serious about your credit!

 

Have you pulled your full reports from all three bureaus? Do you have any negatives (late payments, etc) on your reports? Finding out what's in your reports will give you a better idea of what's going on with your credit, and will give the people here the best chance to help you out.

 

I will go ahead and say it, because someone will. You will learn quickly here to ignore Credit Karma and the FAKO skores you get there. They are Vantage Score and not FICO, so they have no real bearing on anything. Also ignore their recommendations, which are just paid advertisements. You can use CK to monitor for changes and things posting to your reports, but that is about it.

 

Sign up for the $1 trial of Credit Check Total and get your real FICO scores, and you can cancel after your trial week is up. It will be far more useful.

 

INQ's are generally never a real issue. There is usually an underlying issue if you are denied for too many INQ's. And the cost of 2 or 3 INQ's will be negligible, especially if they pull different bureaus.

 

You should have a minimum of 3 credit cards to see the best results from your score, but I think you should pull those reports first and see if there is any baddies to deal with before jumping in.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[PotO]

There's something more than inquiries and utilization going on if your FICOs are 580ish.

[getzbuzy]

Welcome to CB and congrats on getting serious about your credit!

 

Have you pulled your full reports from all three bureaus? Do you have any negatives (late payments, etc) on your reports? Finding out what's in your reports will give you a better idea of what's going on with your credit, and will give the people here the best chance to help you out.

 

I will go ahead and say it, because someone will. You will learn quickly here to ignore Credit Karma and the FAKO skores you get there. They are Vantage Score and not FICO, so they have no real bearing on anything. Also ignore their recommendations, which are just paid advertisements. You can use CK to monitor for changes and things posting to your reports, but that is about it.

 

Sign up for the $1 trial of Credit Check Total and get your real FICO scores, and you can cancel after your trial week is up. It will be far more useful.

 

INQ's are generally never a real issue. There is usually an underlying issue if you are denied for too many INQ's. And the cost of 2 or 3 INQ's will be negligible, especially if they pull different bureaus.

 

You should have a minimum of 3 credit cards to see the best results from your score, but I think you should pull those reports first and see if there is any baddies to deal with before jumping in.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Thank you for the thorough response Glad to hear the inq's won't be much of an issue. I'll be applying for a couple more cards asap. I did read a very informative thread on credit karma and its inaccuracies. I'll definitely take your advice and give Credit Check Total a look. I'm curious though.....I know the credit score simulator is based on vantage 3.0. Do you think it is fairly accurate?

 

Soon as I accomplish this it's time to pay off those collection accounts. I have 4 accounts in collections, cumulatively totaling 1200.00. Could be a lot worse.

[Surreal Awakening]

The CK Vantage skore is worthless in that it is calculated differently than FICO scores. And almost every lender uses FICO, not Vantage. If lenders don't use it, it is worthless. I don't know if the simulator works, but even if it does, it is is only simulating a score that has no relevance in the marketplace. I find that my CK skores fluctuate a lot more than my real FICO scores, and are typically lower. YMMV

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[PotO]

What credit card offers have you received in the mail lately? I'm betting that your best offer would be for CapOne.

 

With multiple active collections and an extremely thin file as far as good revolving credit, you are in toy-limit-Land for the foreseeable future. It would be exceedingly rare to get approved for any prime cards. Right now I'd go for the CapOne and a good secured card that will graduate.

 

I wouldn't rush out and pay off your collections yet. Start a thread with your COMPLETE credit profile and plenty of folks will advise you on how best to attack collections and other derogatories. Just because a collection is paid does NOT necessarily mean you still don't have crappy credit.

[getzbuzy]

What credit card offers have you received in the mail lately? I'm betting that your best offer would be for CapOne.

 

With multiple active collections and an extremely thin file as far as good revolving credit, you are in toy-limit-Land for the foreseeable future. It would be exceedingly rare to get approved for any prime cards. Right now I'd go for the CapOne and a good secured card that will graduate.

 

I wouldn't rush out and pay off your collections yet. Start a thread with your COMPLETE credit profile and plenty of folks will advise you on how best to attack collections and other derogatories. Just because a

 

What credit card offers have you received in the mail lately? I'm betting that your best offer would be for CapOne.

 

With multiple active collections and an extremely thin file as far as good revolving credit, you are in toy-limit-Land for the foreseeable future. It would be exceedingly rare to get approved for any prime cards. Right now I'd go for the CapOne and a good secured card that will graduate.

 

I wouldn't rush out and pay off your collections yet. Start a thread with your COMPLETE credit profile and plenty of folks will advise you on how best to attack collections and other derogatories. Just because a collection is paid does NOT necessarily mean you still don't have crappy credit.

I received a Merrick Bank and a Capital One offer. Ther Merrick Bank was a 600.00 limit doubling to 1200.00 in 6 months. I can't recall the exact Capital One card. I'd think it would be a low 300.00 limit to start.

 

As soon as the next update hits on my large credit card payment, I am going to start the trial offer from Credit Check Total and I will start a thread....thanks.

[PotO]

 

What credit card offers have you received in the mail lately? I'm betting that your best offer would be for CapOne.

With multiple active collections and an extremely thin file as far as good revolving credit, you are in toy-limit-Land for the foreseeable future. It would be exceedingly rare to get approved for any prime cards. Right now I'd go for the CapOne and a good secured card that will graduate.

I wouldn't rush out and pay off your collections yet. Start a thread with your COMPLETE credit profile and plenty of folks will advise you on how best to attack collections and other derogatories. Just because a collection is paid does NOT necessarily mean you still don't have crappy credit.

 

I received a Merrick Bank and a Capital One offer. Ther Merrick Bank was a 600.00 limit doubling to 1200.00 in 6 months. I can't recall the exact Capital One card. I'd think it would be a low 300.00 limit to start.

 

As soon as the next update hits on my large credit card payment, I am going to start the trial offer from Credit Check Total and I will start a thread....thanks.

Ok, just as I figured. Shred the Merrick Bank offer; it smells like sh!t. They generally have a $150 fee the first year and every year thereafter $100.

 

I would take the CapOne offer. There is probably an annual fee, but it will be nowhere near $100. Plus with CapOne you have other options down the road.

 

If you need one more card, get a secured card that will graduate. Bank of America is good, but they are fussy about approvals. Some credit unions are also good. Search on this forum about secured cards.

 

What is the one secured card you currently have?

 

And start researching here how to deal with your derogatory tradelines. Those are killing you. Keep in mind that paying these off may NOT increase your credit scores, if you are trying to get higher scores. Search through the newbie threads, look for things like "pay for delete" and other methods to get them off your credit reports completely.

 

Do it NOW before you inadvertently make things worse.

Edited August 8, 2016 by PotO

[getzbuzy]

 

 

What credit card offers have you received in the mail lately? I'm betting that your best offer would be for CapOne.

With multiple active collections and an extremely thin file as far as good revolving credit, you are in toy-limit-Land for the foreseeable future. It would be exceedingly rare to get approved for any prime cards. Right now I'd go for the CapOne and a good secured card that will graduate.

I wouldn't rush out and pay off your collections yet. Start a thread with your COMPLETE credit profile and plenty of folks will advise you on how best to attack collections and other derogatories. Just because a collection is paid does NOT necessarily mean you still don't have crappy credit.

I received a Merrick Bank and a Capital One offer. Ther Merrick Bank was a 600.00 limit doubling to 1200.00 in 6 months. I can't recall the exact Capital One card. I'd think it would be a low 300.00 limit to start.

 

As soon as the next update hits on my large credit card payment, I am going to start the trial offer from Credit Check Total and I will start a thread....thanks.

Ok, just as I figured. Shred the Merrick Bank offer; it smells like sh!t. They generally have a $150 fee the first year and every year thereafter $100.

 

I would take the CapOne offer. There is probably an annual fee, but it will be nowhere near $100. Plus with CapOne you have other options down the road.

 

If you need one more card, get a secured card that will graduate. Bank of America is good, but they are fussy about approvals. Some credit unions are also good. Search on this forum about secured cards.

 

What is the one secured card you currently have?

 

And start researching here how to deal with your derogatory tradelines. Those are killing you. Keep in mind that paying these off may NOT increase your credit scores, if you are trying to get higher scores. Search through the newbie threads, look for things like "pay for delete" and other methods to get them off your credit reports completely.

 

Do it NOW before you inadvertently make things worse.

 

Merrick Shredded. Thanks for the advice. The Capital One was the QS.....39.00 annual fee which is fine. Also, I've been thoroughly reading Psycho Doc's Transcripts and going through the other beginner threads. A lot of great stuff there. I'm developing a game plan to attack my baddies.

[PotO]

$39 for CapOne is fine. At least CapOne can grow and ultimately be combined into future additional CapOne cards. It's also possible to call and get the AF waived.