CC chasing and mortgage approval
 

Not sure if this is the right place for it. Move it if necessary

In the last 18 months, wife and i have applied for 20 or so credit cards between the 2 of us. Only got completely denied once. Had to talk Chase into another but it was very easy.

We are buying a house in the next 6 months or so and just got approved for a jumbo mortgage at the lowest rate possible. have cancelled a few of the cards in the last 6 months and lowered the credit line on most of them.

Highest of the 3 FICO scores for each of us was about 745 for me and 765 for the wife.

Laying low for more offers until after the home closing

cool story bro

In all seriousness, if you were unable to find a mortgage because of credit problems and had to rent.....maybe you would be saving money if home prices continue to fall?

not investment advice

Thank you for once again confirming that churning and opening many cards that credit scores don't get super killed and that a mortgage is still possible to do.

I would exercise extra caution if one needs a mortgage, either buying or re-financing, in the near term. Just recently, I knew that someone with 740 FICO couldn't get a rate while another with 775 got it.

I agree with you that you should exercise extra caution if you are looking for a mortgage in the near future - sure, they are reports of folks getting mortgages and churning heavily, but the downside of not getting approved for a mortgage (or getting a higher rate) is far greater than the upside of extra miles (at least for me).

That doesn't mean that I will not apply for any credit card, but perhaps limit myself to 4 or 5 every year in the 2 years leading up to when I'll need a mortgage.

I would have thought cancelling cards and having them reduce your credit lines would be more harmful to your credit rating than recent inquiries as it would increase your % utilization. Be prepared to explain any inquiries in the last 90-180 days based on my recent experiences refinancing.

I have 20 inquiries over the last 2 years... refinanced with Penfed 15 years at 4% (no cost) in March. Their rate on the 5/5 ARM became so attractive and OUR current situation is such that it made sense to refinance into this loan (again no cost refi - will have to cash out $50k) so we applied and again was approved. Its not so much the inquiries but the credit score and ratios (front end and back end) that determines qualification. Obviously if you get the cards and run up the balances, your score will go down and so will the amount qualify for. Having said that knowing that I was going o do the first refi,i did lay off applying for CCs.

cancelling lowers your score. decreasing limits will actually help as it lowers the amount of available borrowed money. Keeps the debt to income ratio lower

I just closed on my mortgage
 

The number of credit card applications (10) was listed as a negative factor, but my score was still > 775.

Thrilled to hear the success stories. This has been my biggest fear with opening up cards. My wife and I both have FICO scores at around 770, but I was worried that churning (I just started, only 4 cards each) could disqualify me.

I will exercise caution, but happy to hear that it is not a big issue! :D

Everything quoted here is completely false.

Cancelling cards may lower your score if it increases overall utilization. Decreasing limits may lower your score for the same reason.

Available credit is NOT debt and therefore is NOT included in one's DTI ratio.

I agree. Nothing in that post was remotely accurate. Creditboards or myfico should really be read by folks who do not understand credit scoring. Especially those trying to offer advice.

Im not a mortgage broker but id be willing to guess that income is just as important (if not more) than your credit score. Who cares what the score is if you cant make monthly payments.

That being said, churning cards actually raised my credit score as my combined credit limit is well over 100k now and debt nonexistent.

I also secured a line of credit for a start up business and received no mention of the 15+ inquiries that show on my report.

so if you make say 100k/yr and have numerous cc with a total credit line of 200k, this is a good thing? mortgage company will think low risk?

Firstly, jmw2323 - thanks for giving me hope that my credit score might still be intact after my year of mileage chasing through CC signups.

I'm not a professional, so I'm not here to answer your questions, but I do think it would be wise for everyone to understand how their own scores are calculated:
http://www.myfico.com/crediteducatio...yourscore.aspx

You might find a relevent answer in the last two bullet points of the "Amounts Owed" section.