do not get a apple credit card will mess it up your credit

Proper use of a credit card over the next 6 months will raise your score and make it go even higher than more you opened the account.

Your FICO credit score is based on 5 major factors, Payment History (35%), Amount of Debt (30%), Length of Credit History (15%), Amount if New Credit (10%) and Mix of Credit (10%). FICO makes different scoring models for different types of loans, such a as Auto, Mortgage and Credit Cards. The most widely used model by banks in determine the score they use for credit cards is FICO 8, however FICO 9 is becoming popular as is the latest FICO 10. Goldman Sachs the issuer of Apple Card used FICO 9 as part of the determination of your credit worthiness.

As you make monthly payments on your credit card, you Payment History will show improvement because you’re making payments. If you miss a payment or are late paying, even just one month it will be recorded here and will remain on you report and lower your score for 7 years. Late or skipped payments cause the most harm to you score. High scores have perfect payment history.

Amount of Debt is sometimes referred to as Utilization. Try to keep your usage of credit to 30% or less. In other words if you Credit Limit on the account is $1,000, try not to spend more than $300. It’s OK to spend more, just make sure you pay off the amount each month. Utilization changes every month as your charge more or less each month. It’s the easiest score to raise, just pay the card to zero $0.

Length of Credit, sometimes referred to an Age of Credit, just takes time. The longer you have the account open, the older your Credit Age becomes and it demonstrates good behavior to the bank. High scores typically have an average of 8 to 10 years of age. The age is determined by averaging the age of all your accounts. If I have a credit card open for 10 years and I open a second credit card account, my average age will be 10 + 0 = 10. Divided total age (10) by number of accounts (2) and your Average Age is 5 years. Opening a new account always lowers your score because Length of Credit drops. Account that are open and closed (including paid off like an auto loan) stay on your report. Closed accounts stay on the report for 7 years and are still used in calculating the age.

Amount of New Credit (sometimes referred to as Inquiries or Hard Pulls). FICO looks at new inquiries or hard pulls in the last year. Your report will show hard pulls for the last 2 years, but only the last year affects your current score. Having too many inquiries makes you look desperate for credit and lowers your score. High FICO score typically have only 1 or 2 hard pulls. Having 7 or more may really lower your score, but there are many factors to your score. If you’re strong in 4 of the 5 areas you can have a lot of inquires on your report. Opening a new account is also reflected here, because a bank almost always does a hard pull when you open your account. New accounts, less than a year old can’t be helped, but scored return and go up when the inquiry falls of and the account is no longer thought of as a new account.

Lastly, is Credit Mix. It’s good to show you can manage multiple accounts and different types of loans. Credit card accounts are referred to as Revolving Accounts. You also have Auto Loans, Mortgages, Student Loans, Home Equity Loan, Cash Advances and about a dozen other types. Having 3 or more different types typically help achieve high FICO scores.

Goldman Sachs used your FICO 9 score from TransUnion, one of the 3 major credit bureaus. Experian and Equifax are the other two credit bureaus. FICO scores are not to be confused with your VantageScore 3.0 or the newer 4.0 scores. Very few banks use VantageScore and they use a different scoring model that uses 6 factors, not the 5 that FICO uses and scores on a scale of approximately 300 to 900. FICO uses just 5 factors I explained above and score 350 to 850, depending on which FICO score. Apps like Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, Wallet Hub, Credit Wise (Capitol One) show you your VantageScore 3.0 score. That score is not what major banks use.

If you want to track you score download the app from Experian or FICO and create a free account. Equifax will show your report online, but your score will be for a fee. TransUnion offers free VantageScore, but not FICO. You must be care to view your FICO score and only compare a FICO score to another FICO score.

Happy to answer any questions.