All- I have a question regarding the optimal number of open accounts.....I know that this has been discussed, but I am looking for an opinion on my situation. I am asking as I just got a Providian Gold 'Pre-Approved' for 1000.00 in the mail today (I suspect a lot of us a going to get one) and I want to know if I should get another line of credit or not. My situation is (for those who don't know) 3.5 year old BK7, all good since, bad stuff coming off.... I have : Providian Gold Visa 4700 Capital One MC3400 Household Visa 500 Amex Green (pre BK, keot) Get Smart Visa (NEW) 1000 Target (NEW) 200 I also have an outo loan (just paid off) and mortgage showing on my credit. Would this new line of credit benefit me? Or would it hurt me more to open an additioanl line of credit? Thanks in advance for the advice! Shawn
I think to assess this you need to figure out what your total balances to credit limits on all the revolving accounts are (the ratio).
Mist- Currently all accounts are at zero balance, I paid everything off last month. I have been cycling charging up and paying off every other month. I am currently in my 'paid off' cycle. I am VERY careful about my cards..they are what got me introuble a few years ago (well, that and almost 6 months in the hospital). Thanks! Shawn
Shawn, I really don't see any reason to close any now. I'd let your inquiries age for 6 months and then check your score and try applying for some "prime" cards like Citi, Chase, MBNA, Juniper, another AMEX perhaps. If you get any of those, I'd close the Household first - in fact for each Prime card you eventually get you could close one of the sub-prime. As to the retail card you have (Target), you are not likely to get very big limits with that one. For a retail card you might want to try a Home Depot if you own a home they may give you a decent limit.
No Home Depot with Bk still showing. If you haven't included Citi in your bk... and are not on their blacklist they're the most lenient of the prime card issuere... try them if you can. Your cards are fine. Work on internally increasing the limits and getting better terms. Household will increase you every 3 mos or so if you call retention. they'll also rebate the annual fee at 13 mos. Good interest rate for them is around 15. Prov will always rebate your yearly fee and get your interest rate to 16.9 at the highest on both cards. You'll get Target to 500 in a year or 2 and that's plenty on a dept store card. Don't waste too much of your available credit on dept store cards... I mean, how much can you buy at Target anyway? With 500 I feel as though I can buy the whole store The only other thing I'd do if I were you is you can always add another Cap1. REason: you can later combine into the older tradeline... and 2/3 accounts increase much faster than 1. For this reason alone Cap1 is the better of the subprimers, in my opinion. No need for extra Providians.. they won't combine any products. Household will also combine.. .so that'd be your only other real subprime choice. If you want more balance, you can always add an installment loan into the mix but make sure to do 25 payments to really get the score bump... You've done a good job. Now work terms and limits on existing cards... get them to 24 or 36 mos old... then as you go to Prime... cancel out the subprimers.
THANK YOU BOTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is exactly what I was looking for and MORE! Great Posts!!!!!!!!!! Shawn
Shawn, Marie really knows her credit stuff. Take her advice. I didn't realize there was a BK and didn't see the "whole" picture. Good luck. Mist
No problem Mist, I appreciate it anyway... This board is full of great people, I only wish I knew about it a few years ago. ...and I am just in a really good mood today...met an AWESOME girl last night... ...HEY, she is the manager of a bank branch..maybe we can get some inside chexsystems info from her! Shawn (sporting the 'Hi-Pro Glow' today)
