thinkpink87 Posted November 13, 2012 Report Share Posted November 13, 2012 Hello, I have recently started monitoring my credit, and noticed that I have 6 hard credit inquiries on my report. All but one of them are over a year old, actually closer to the two year mark. The main question I have is about increasing my available credit. As of right now I have two credit cards, a secured card, and an auto lease. The credit cards have a limit of $1500 & $2500, my secured card is $300, and the lease amount is in the $9k range.Is it wise to try to add something to increase my available credit? Should I be worried about adding an inquiry to my 6, even though they're old? Is there anything else I should try to do to help my creditline? Thanks so much in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amerikaner83 Posted November 13, 2012 Report Share Posted November 13, 2012 Hello, I have recently started monitoring my credit, and noticed that I have 6 hard credit inquiries on my report. All but one of them are over a year old, actually closer to the two year mark. The main question I have is about increasing my available credit. As of right now I have two credit cards, a secured card, and an auto lease. The credit cards have a limit of $1500 & $2500, my secured card is $300, and the lease amount is in the $9k range.Is it wise to try to add something to increase my available credit? Should I be worried about adding an inquiry to my 6, even though they're old? Is there anything else I should try to do to help my creditline? Thanks so much in advance!Instead of trying to get another card, how about doing one of two things:Increase your secured card to at least $1k. This has the added benefit of acting sort of like a savings account for you as well. You can also try to get an increased limit to one of your other cards.What are your balances in relation to your credit limit - and more importantly, why do you think you need more available credit out of the blue? What does the rest of your credit picture look like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted November 13, 2012 Report Share Posted November 13, 2012 Sorry to disagree with another mod, but my advice would be to ditch the secured card and put the money in a savings account instead. If I could legally claim to have had anything to do with creating the FICO scoring system, I would tell you that secured cards are a scam and do nothing for your scores. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amerikaner83 Posted November 13, 2012 Report Share Posted November 13, 2012 Sorry to disagree with another mod, but my advice would be to ditch the secured card and put the money in a savings account instead. If I could legally claim to have had anything to do with creating the FICO scoring system, I would tell you that secured cards are a scam and do nothing for your scores.OP already has a secured card, so it wouldn't hurt to add more to it. It acts as a savings account, so basically we're recommending the same thing, just a different way of going about it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted November 13, 2012 Report Share Posted November 13, 2012 Depends on the card. If they charge a fee, you're paying them to hold onto your money. A savings account pays you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thinkpink87 Posted November 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2012 My credit cards hold about a 20% balance, and the same with the secured. I have no other credit history or open lines of credit.The reason I was considering trying to increase my available credit is because I keep hearing that my 'credit is good, but I don't have a lot of available credit/ high limits' so I was trying to find a way to change it to help my overall credit picture.Thanks for all the responses so far! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted November 13, 2012 Report Share Posted November 13, 2012 I love giving this lecture...FICO has like 17 different scoring models. Having lots of available credit (i.e., CCs) only has a positive effect on the FICO Bank Card score...the one that predicts whether or not CCs are going to make money off you. That's why there is a "utilization" component...it indicates you carry a balance and therefore pay them interest.The FICO Mortgage score would prefer low available credit...the FICO New Car score doesn't care much one way the other.ONE unsecured card with a credit limit of 5-10k for emerencies and a $0 baloance is all you need.Read my signature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amerikaner83 Posted November 13, 2012 Report Share Posted November 13, 2012 I love giving this lecture...By this time you should just have it in a word doc or something, just copy/paste it in here ONE unsecured card with a credit limit of 5-10k for emerencies and a $0 baloance is all you need.Very true. I am having this internal dillemma with myself on this very subject. I have three open credit card accounts right now (down from 5), and I really don't need 'em. I've got plenty of credit...but something is telling me I need to keep them. I don't. I know, cognatively that I can keep one and be fine (7K limit) but for the last 29 years I have been indoctrinated into thinking "you need a credit card for damn near everything" and you don't. It's tough to change not only your habits, but your entire methodology of thinking sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts