Posted by SteveA (FL) on November 06, 2005 at 05:54:03:
That’s how I’m financing my current rehabs, but I don’t want to continue risking my personal residence any longer than I have to. I have a $40K heloc on it now that’s about maxed out that I plan to pay off when I sell in the Spring.
Should I get credit cards now while I can? - Posted by SteveA (FL)
Posted by SteveA (FL) on November 05, 2005 at 16:04:54:
I receive multiple offers for cc’s in my REI mailbox. I have excellent credit and plan to go full time with REI in the next 1 to 2 years. I’ve always heard I should get the credit now while I’m working.
Should I just get multiple credit cards now? How many is too many? I know having too much credit available can hurt your FICO score too. Mine’s in the high 700’s now. I have no probelms getting mortgages for my properties. But it would be nice to not have to shell out so much cash for repairs until after the sale, ie. credit cards.
Thanks in advance.
Re: Should I get credit cards now while I can? - Posted by michaela-ATL
Posted by michaela-ATL on November 05, 2005 at 17:16:35:
Steve,
if you go to the forums at www.creditboards.com and www.creditnet.com - one of them has a list of which credit card companies pull which credit report. Preferably, you want to get CC that always only pull
1 report. So, one may report to TU, 1 to EQ and 1 to EX. That way if you have those 3 cards it won’t have as much an effect on each report, as if you have cards, that report to all 3 bureaus.
Keep in mind, that CC are considered revolving debt. So, if you use them for rehab , if you have more than 50% of total available credit utilized, it may pull your score down pretty bad. That’s fine, if you sell and pay them back down. But it can be detremental, if you’re trying to refinance and pull you cash out and then pay them off (can’t refi because of potentially low score)
Michaela
Yes - Posted by Sharyn
Posted by Sharyn on November 05, 2005 at 19:06:25:
Your balance-to-limit counts for 30% of your credit score. Be careful of charging even up to 1/3 of your credit cards. Do you currently own your personal residence? How about a home equity line for the cost of repairs on rehabs?
FYI - Posted by michaela-ATL
Posted by michaela-ATL on November 06, 2005 at 06:01:38:
Depending on the lender, a lot of HELOCs are being considered revolving debt, which means it’s being lumped in with credit card debt. A2nd mortgage isthe better option.
Michaela