Would this help my credit rating?

[jmcoreymv]

Currently I have an Amex Blue for Students card and I was thinking about applying for the standard Amex Blue card. If I was approved, would that help my credit rating?

 

[FrustratedUser]

It will probably go down. You already have one. if you use it it should be good enough.

 

[Ryan]

Yea, initially it'll probably go down. YOu score will only go up if you show that you can be fiscally responsible, and pay on the card. If you want your score to shoot up pretty fast, get a secured visa from a nation or local bank/credit union. Use it for one year, and pay off the balance every month. After one year, your credit should be up considerably. I know, because that's what I did and my FICA score jumped to 695 with just that single credit history.

 

[Vic]

I'm assuming you have very little credit history anyway (couple of years), so getting a new card will probably have no effect at all on your score.
After having it for a period of time, with responsible credit use and timely payments, your score should improve edit: just like with any account.

 

[yllus]

I've taken some more advice I've read here on AT and put it into a tidy summary article on my personal website: How to build good credit. The part that pertains directly to your question...

--

Breakdown of your FICO credit score.

One. Payment history. Making up more than 33% of your FICO score, your payment history weighs the logical data available on a credit user: The percentage of late payments versus how often you make good in a timely manner on your debt.

Two. Outstanding debt. Approximately 30% of your FICO score comes from your current level of outstanding debt. To a lender, a credit user carrying a high balance for an extended amount of time implies they may be living beyond their means, making the user increasingly unable to repay their debts.

A classic related lending question is, "Is it better to carry a small balance from month to month, or pay the entire amount off every month?" While the notion of making yourself out to be a moneymaker for your lender holds some weight, that's simply not how it works. Pay off your entire balance religiously, and in a tight bind always have enough to at least pay the minimums on your cards.

Reasoning? From the point of view of a lender, you have no clue whether or not you'll ever see your money again. Watching someone seemingly barely scrape by making the minimum payments for a few months isn't confidence inspiring. Better to have one regular payee in your books than ten minimum payers.

Another classic question, "If I pay it all off every month, where is it that my lender makes money on me?" Remember that every time you have your credit card swiped, the merchant pays a percent of that purchase back to your lender. Lenders also take the valuable intellectual property they've built in their customer lists and resell that information to mailing lists and the like. So don't worry about your lender going broke on you. It isn't likely to happen anytime soon.

Three. Length of your credit history. Making up 15% of your FICO score, a longer credit history with an established record of good payments earns you, in the eyes of a lender, the chance to obtain larger credit amounts and preferred rates. This portion of your FICO weighting takes into consideration how long your various credit accounts have been established, the average age of your accounts, how long it's been since certain accounts have been used, etc.

Four. Recent inquiries for new credit. A square 10% of your FICO scoring, a large number of inquiries on your part for new credit tends to insinuate you're desperate for new credit sources. From that, lenders commonly assume the credit user currently holds too much credit that they are unable repay and thus need more.

However, for the purposes of practicality FICO is programmed to allow you to make a number of hard inquiries towards credit within a ~5 day period without penalty, so that you may reasonably explore your options on large borrows, such as for car loans or mortgages.

Five. Types of credit = 10% of your FICO score. Credit cards, retail accounts, installment loans, finance company accounts and mortgage loans are the big hitters here. This last ten percent also considers the total number of accounts the credit user has for different loan types - and while it is possible to have "too many" accounts of one type, how many is too many differs from lender to lender.

 

[NutBucket]

Uhm😕I'm not even sure why I replied but I noticed somehow I had a blank reply so yeah......😕

 

[jmcoreymv]

Thanks for the replys guys, I guess Ill just stick with what I have.

 

[boyRacer]

Originally posted by: yllus
I've taken some more advice I've read here on AT and put it into a tidy summary article on my personal website: How to build good credit. The part that pertains directly to your question...

--

Breakdown of your FICO credit score.

One. Payment history. Making up more than 33% of your FICO score, your payment history weighs the logical data available on a credit user: The percentage of late payments versus how often you make good in a timely manner on your debt.

Two. Outstanding debt. Approximately 30% of your FICO score comes from your current level of outstanding debt. To a lender, a credit user carrying a high balance for an extended amount of time implies they may be living beyond their means, making the user increasingly unable to repay their debts.

A classic related lending question is, "Is it better to carry a small balance from month to month, or pay the entire amount off every month?" While the notion of making yourself out to be a moneymaker for your lender holds some weight, that's simply not how it works. Pay off your entire balance religiously, and in a tight bind always have enough to at least pay the minimums on your cards.

Reasoning? From the point of view of a lender, you have no clue whether or not you'll ever see your money again. Watching someone seemingly barely scrape by making the minimum payments for a few months isn't confidence inspiring. Better to have one regular payee in your books than ten minimum payers.

Another classic question, "If I pay it all off every month, where is it that my lender makes money on me?" Remember that every time you have your credit card swiped, the merchant pays a percent of that purchase back to your lender. Lenders also take the valuable intellectual property they've built in their customer lists and resell that information to mailing lists and the like. So don't worry about your lender going broke on you. It isn't likely to happen anytime soon.

Three. Length of your credit history. Making up 15% of your FICO score, a longer credit history with an established record of good payments earns you, in the eyes of a lender, the chance to obtain larger credit amounts and preferred rates. This portion of your FICO weighting takes into consideration how long your various credit accounts have been established, the average age of your accounts, how long it's been since certain accounts have been used, etc.

Four. Recent inquiries for new credit. A square 10% of your FICO scoring, a large number of inquiries on your part for new credit tends to insinuate you're desperate for new credit sources. From that, lenders commonly assume the credit user currently holds too much credit that they are unable repay and thus need more.

However, for the purposes of practicality FICO is programmed to allow you to make a number of hard inquiries towards credit within a ~5 day period without penalty, so that you may reasonably explore your options on large borrows, such as for car loans or mortgages.

Five. Types of credit = 10% of your FICO score. Credit cards, retail accounts, installment loans, finance company accounts and mortgage loans are the big hitters here. This last ten percent also considers the total number of accounts the credit user has for different loan types - and while it is possible to have "too many" accounts of one type, how many is too many differs from lender to lender.

Great post. :beer: