So true. Having obtained a mortgage 2 years ago, I thought the mortage lenders knew everyplace I had ever had lunch Depending on your near term plans, I would be very hesitant on playing the musical chair games with new credit cards. Someone said that every "hard" credit pull from a creditor reduces your fico score by a couple of points whether you get the credit or not. Future creditor do not like alot of inquiries on one's report in a short period of time and they do like to see accounts that have been in good standing for many years.

I'm with you, Ned. I got 3 new airline cards and two hotel cards for racking up a lot of miles and points in buying bonds in the second half of the year last year.

Utilizing the 0% interest rate for 12 months, I had very high balances but pay at least the minimum and while bonds are redeemable after 6 monhts, I started paying a lot down. Due to such high balances in proportion to my total credit line (close to 40%-50% ratio), my credit score from TransUnion was 662! I was so devasated.

Ever since I knew my FICO score, I started paying off a lot more this year from redeeming bonds and cancelled two cards and make no new inquiries (hard pull) in an attempt to fix my score until at least one year past the last hard pull I had.

Good thing is that I ain't planning to applyu for car or mortgage loans in the near future, but I, OY, certainly learned my lesson not to apply for so many cards in a short period of time.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I just heard about an excellent Web site PrivacyGuard.com. One gets 3in1 credit reports and 1 score from Equifax for $1 for a 3 month trial. If you want, addtional $10 gives you 2 more scores from the TransUnion and Experian. The best deal I've found so far.

Anyway, my score was 662 in mid January from TransUnion but after paying back at least a half of my balances from redeeming bonds, my scores now are 742, 742 and 736. I can't be happier more than the results I see

I think debt/credit ratio stands a big portion of the overall score.

------------------
- I am a Freqnt Miles Maniac and a Ballroom Dance Miniac :-) -

[This message has been edited by FrequentMilesManiac (edited 07-26-2003).]

Have a different experience. Have opened up several new airline cards and hotel cards during the past year to maximize miles as we'd be charging alot. Closed on a new home 13 mos. ago and have refinanced twice since (Febuary and June). Have obtained good mortgage rates and our credit report has always come back "excellent". Have not inquired about a "score" but our last mortgage rate was 4.375% with no points or origination fee. So obviously the several cards opened did not adversely effect the ability to get a good mortgage rate.

E-loan offers free credit SCORE only then offers a credit report also (free but may involve a charge if you subscribe to updating service)


https://www.eloan.com/s/show/checkcr...4&user=&mcode=

Same here. I think a lot of credit cards with zero balance and always paid in time is O.K.

FrequentMilesManiac's story is a little different. He had some debts, which he paid off and his FICO score went up dramatically.

Well, you might as well just keep going.

Your credit score is probably pretty shot by now.

All that glitters ain't gold.

To all the naysayers - you are wrong.

I cancelled the card, received two new ones - with another 20k miles - checked my credit score in two places and it was excellent. If you keep a long good credit history, no late payments, no balances, then changing cards will do little, if any, damage.

I do agree. Your main concern with applying for credit is the inquiry count on your credit record. Something like five in the last six months is considered excessive. But if you stop applying for credit for the next six months, any points lost for inquiries should be less, since creditors usually just count up your last six months of inquiries, even though they stay on your credit record for two years. So as long as you're paying your bills on time, applying for a couple of credit cards and then cancelling them shouldn't really hurt you.

Inquiry is NOT the only factor that affects your credit score.

Let me give you my example, I have NO late payment whatsoever. I have never done anything negative such as chargeoff or unpaid loan. I had about 15 cards, opened and closed in the last 3 years. I only kept 3 of them active now. All these closed accounts are still recorded and will remain there for 10 years. The are not "aging" any more because the last activity stopped at the time of account closing. They however are part of average age calculation.

My score is affected by this average and the negative reason is quoted directly from my Equifax credit report.

As you can see, my claim is based on official statement released by Equifax bureau, if you feel like playing with your credit future then it's up to you whom to believe.

[This message has been edited by MoreMiles (edited 07-27-2003).]

Point taken. All I was trying to say is excessive recent inquiries do have a negative effect. So if you're going to be applying for some real important loan soon (like a mortgage/mortgage refi or car loan) don't start applying for credit cards you don't need until after that's done.
But, I myself, used to collect credit cards. Got hundreds of them. Most all are closed due to inactivity, but many, many show on my credit report as current with a zero balance. My credit score with all of this is still extemely high, due to me consistently paying bills on time while keeping my balances low. So whatever your score is, the act of paying bills on time obviously is the most important factor.

I card hop quite a bit, as does my husband. It does worry me, although it didn't hurt our ability to get a good mortgage rate.

If one spouse applies for a new credit card and it is NOT a joint account, does that still affect both of our scores?

Let's see how wrong we are when you check again 3-6 months down the road, when the banks report to the agencies, the agencies do their recalcs, and issue updated reports.

Congratulations for the 20,000 miles. I had the same experience like you ... hopefully it will stay that way, still I am not sure how this FICO scoring really works.
Two hints:
-Don't order a second card for your partner right away. Wait until they over you miles (2,500 +) for the second card.
-Your partner/friend(s) should wait to apply until the CC company offers you referral miles. I got 5,000 United miles from Visa for referring Mrs. USAFAN.
The number to call is/was 1-800-297-4691

I've applied for several cards to get miles and then used them to fullfill the minimum requirements and have not had any credit problems whatsoever from it. I have an unsecured line of credir below prime and I'm pretty happy with that since I applied for it only a few months ago having hoped around different cards a few times.

So where are you guys seeing your credit score anyway?

I've got copies of all my credit reports from 3 agencies and don't see the FICO score that everyone is describing. Where should I be looking to see the score and the comments about it?