topic Re: 11 month or 1 year, does it really make a difference? in Understanding FICO® Scoring

11 month or 1 year, does it really make a difference?

mmmmmm — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 18:32:19 GMT

Okay, so I currently have a CC that is 11 months ago (shows opened 7/1/2011), and my biling period closes on the 19th, so my balance is reported to the CRAs on the 20th (usually). My question is, does having a card open for 11 months versus 1 year make a significant difference in FICO scoring? I heard FICO rounds down, so my AAoA would actually show 0, instead of the .9 years, is this true?

I'm going to be applying for 2 new CCs (only have 1 at the moment, and it's my only line of credit), and I'm wondering if I should give it another month so it shows up as 1 year on all my reports before applying for anything. Will waiting the extra month give my FICO scores a boost?

Here is where I currently sit:

EQ - one revolving account (never late, 11 mo. old), and 1 inquiry (6/5/11) Score: unknown

TU - one revolving account (never late, 11 mo. old), and 1 inquiry (6/28/11) Score: 698 (6/7/12 from myFICO.com)

EX - one revolving account (never late, 11 mo. old), and 1 inquiry (6/5/11) Score: unknown

Util is showing 8% for all 3 as well for my CC.

I suppose waiting an extra month would also make it so I wouldn't have any inquiries in the past year, which would probably also boost my score some.

Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Re: 11 month or 1 year, does it really make a difference?

sunshine7157 — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 19:14:03 GMT

mmmmmm wrote:
Okay, so I currently have a CC that is 11 months ago (shows opened 7/1/2011), and my biling period closes on the 19th, so my balance is reported to the CRAs on the 20th (usually). My question is, does having a card open for 11 months versus 1 year make a significant difference in FICO scoring? I heard FICO rounds down, so my AAoA would actually show 0, instead of the .9 years, is this true?

I'm going to be applying for 2 new CCs (only have 1 at the moment, and it's my only line of credit), and I'm wondering if I should give it another month so it shows up as 1 year on all my reports before applying for anything. Will waiting the extra month give my FICO scores a boost?

Here is where I currently sit:

EQ - one revolving account (never late, 11 mo. old), and 1 inquiry (6/5/11) Score: unknown

TU - one revolving account (never late, 11 mo. old), and 1 inquiry (6/28/11) Score: 698 (6/7/12 from myFICO.com)

EX - one revolving account (never late, 11 mo. old), and 1 inquiry (6/5/11) Score: unknown

Util is showing 8% for all 3 as well for my CC.

I suppose waiting an extra month would also make it so I wouldn't have any inquiries in the past year, which would probably also boost my score some.

Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Believe it or not, yes that one month can make a pretty big difference. I'd wait that month. Keep in mind that once your new accounts are no longer considered 'new' in addition to the inquiries no longer factoring into your score, you just might see a pretty nice jump in score. Not only will that aid in your approval(s), but will also impact the credit line(s) you may be given. IMHO, wait for it..... Also, see if you can get your util to <5% just to give yourself that extra cushion. My score rises when I'm under 5%.

Re: 11 month or 1 year, does it really make a difference?

mmmmmm — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 19:17:28 GMT

sunshine7157 wrote:
Believe it or not, yes that one month can make a pretty big difference. I'd wait that month. Keep in mind that once your new accounts are no longer considered 'new' in addition to the inquiries no longer factoring into your score, you just might see a pretty nice jump in score. Not only will that aid in your approval(s), but will also impact the credit line(s) you may be given. IMHO, wait for it..... Also, see if you can get your util to <5% just to give yourself that extra cushion. My score rises when I'm under 5%.

Thanks for the reply.

Yeah, what I plan on doing is getting like 1 or 2% util on my CC, which will report next month, which will also report the history as 1 year. So overall, I'll have no recent inquiries, no new accounts, util under 5%, and no baddies (never had any anyways). I'm hoping it will give me a signifcant boost, which would be great.

Re: 11 month or 1 year, does it really make a difference?

sunshine7157 — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 19:19:53 GMT

Yeah. Let us know when you find out. I expect a pretty decent bump in your score. Great job!

Re: 11 month or 1 year, does it really make a difference?

sunshine7157 — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 19:29:40 GMT

sunshine7157 wrote:
Yeah. Let us know when you find out. I expect a pretty decent bump in your score. Great job!

I would also suggest trying to get a credit limit increase on the cc you already have, but only if it can be done without a hard inquiry (and that depends on the cc). But if you can pull that off it would report at the higher line next time it reports & that also tends to influence future credit lines.

Re: 11 month or 1 year, does it really make a difference?

mmmmmm — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 23:12:16 GMT

sunshine7157 wrote:
sunshine7157 wrote:
Yeah. Let us know when you find out. I expect a pretty decent bump in your score. Great job!
I would also suggest trying to get a credit limit increase on the cc you already have, but only if it can be done without a hard inquiry (and that depends on the cc). But if you can pull that off it would report at the higher line next time it reports & that also tends to influence future credit lines.

Yeah, I'll probably be contacting my CCC tomorrow to see about a CLI. I used their chat support today, and they said there is a good chance it wouldn't have ot be a HP, so I'll call in tomorrow to actually request it, and they'll let me know whether or not it will require a HP before they actually submit the request.

I'm assuming I have a good chance at getting a decent increase considering I've been with them almost a year now, always PIF, never late, and I've never requested a CLI thus far.

I'll let you know.

Re: 11 month or 1 year, does it really make a difference?

OhioCPA — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 23:55:30 GMT

mmmmmm wrote:
I heard FICO rounds down, so my AAoA would actually show 0, instead of the .9 years, is this true?

FICO does round down for AAoA with the minimum being one year. Thus, your AAoA won't change for at least another year.

Re: 11 month or 1 year, does it really make a difference?

mmmmmm — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 03:14:49 GMT

OhioCPA wrote:
mmmmmm wrote:
I heard FICO rounds down, so my AAoA would actually show 0, instead of the .9 years, is this true?

FICO does round down for AAoA with the minimum being one year. Thus, your AAoA won't change for at least another year.

How is that possible? You're saying that someone with a credit history of 1 month, and someone with a credit history of 1 year, 11 months would have the same score if we were basing it on AAoA alone?

Re: 11 month or 1 year, does it really make a difference?

DaveSignal — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 03:45:10 GMT

mmmmmm wrote:
OhioCPA wrote:
mmmmmm wrote:
I heard FICO rounds down, so my AAoA would actually show 0, instead of the .9 years, is this true?

FICO does round down for AAoA with the minimum being one year. Thus, your AAoA won't change for at least another year.
How is that possible? You're saying that someone with a credit history of 1 month, and someone with a credit history of 1 year, 11 months would have the same score if we were basing it on AAoA alone?

If the banker is right, then on AAoA alone, yes, but that is not the only factor that comes into play by waiting another month. You will get points for not having new accounts or inquries in the last year which is a whole diferent scoring factor.

But you will probably get points also for having a second or third positive revolving account if you open them.

Re: 11 month or 1 year, does it really make a difference?

MarineVietVet — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 03:43:07 GMT

mmmmmm wrote:
OhioCPA wrote:
mmmmmm wrote:
I heard FICO rounds down, so my AAoA would actually show 0, instead of the .9 years, is this true?

FICO does round down for AAoA with the minimum being one year. Thus, your AAoA won't change for at least another year.
How is that possible? You're saying that someone with a credit history of 1 month, and someone with a credit history of 1 year, 11 months would have the same score if we were basing it on AAoA alone?

It's built into the system that you can't (for scoring purposes) have an AAoA of less than one year. And since AAoA is rounded down then yes a history of one month and a history of one year, 11 months is scored the same.

Re: 11 month or 1 year, does it really make a difference?

mmmmmm — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 17:27:01 GMT

So sad, they said it would require a HP for them to completely submit my CLI request, so I turned them down.

I'm at $1,000 at the moment, and asked for $2,000-2,500. I suppose that may have been a bit aggressive, but I've been with them a year, never requested a CLI before, and PIF the day my statement comes out, and use their card a lot, so I figured why not.

I suppose I'll just wait until I app for the 2 cards I was looking for to get the CLI from my current CCC.

Do you think it's worth a shot going through the automated system again and putting in a lower amount to see if it will auto approve, or would it look bad if they saw multiple attempts (if they can even see it)? Or wouldn't I have a chance a lower amount anyways?

Re: 11 month or 1 year, does it really make a difference?

sunshine7157 — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 18:59:46 GMT

mmmmmm wrote:
So sad, they said it would require a HP for them to completely submit my CLI request, so I turned them down.

I'm at $1,000 at the moment, and asked for $2,000-2,500. I suppose that may have been a bit aggressive, but I've been with them a year, never requested a CLI before, and PIF the day my statement comes out, and use their card a lot, so I figured why not.

I suppose I'll just wait until I app for the 2 cards I was looking for to get the CLI from my current CCC.

Do you think it's worth a shot going through the automated system again and putting in a lower amount to see if it will auto approve, or would it look bad if they saw multiple attempts (if they can even see it)? Or wouldn't I have a chance a lower amount anyways?

....because the auto-approve is only a soft pull or what? If that is the case, I'd say try it. Maybe put in for slightly less than double. Like $1800....

Re: 11 month or 1 year, does it really make a difference?

mmmmmm — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 04:31:48 GMT

sunshine7157 wrote:
....because the auto-approve is only a soft pull or what? If that is the case, I'd say try it. Maybe put in for slightly less than double. Like $1800....

Yeah, I wasn't sure to be honest with you. Discover only allows CLI requests over the phone and sometimes through a form online. It's automated prompts, and then at the end it says, we may need some more info, and transfers you to a live CSR.

I spoke with another rep and she said regardless of the amount they usually always require a hard pull. Sad.

Do people go on app sprees because the inquires don't show up to the other creditors right away, or just so they can clump the inquiries together?

Re: 11 month or 1 year, does it really make a difference?

DaveSignal — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 04:50:19 GMT

mmmmmm wrote:

Do people go on app sprees because the inquires don't show up to the other creditors right away, or just so they can clump the inquiries together?

They do it because when you app all at once, you don't have to wait more than 1 year for ALL of the inqs to fall off. If you spaced it out and apply regularly, you might always have inqs on your report. They lenders see the inqs, but not the new accounts. If it was spaced out and a lender saw three or four new accounts then they might be leary to lend to you. But all at once, you could have just opened multiple new accounts but they probably wont show on your credit report for another month.

Re: 11 month or 1 year, does it really make a difference?

mmmmmm — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 17:04:02 GMT

DaveSignal wrote:
They do it because when you app all at once, you don't have to wait more than 1 year for ALL of the inqs to fall off. If you spaced it out and apply regularly, you might always have inqs on your report. They lenders see the inqs, but not the new accounts. If it was spaced out and a lender saw three or four new accounts then they might be leary to lend to you. But all at once, you could have just opened multiple new accounts but they probably wont show on your credit report for another month.

Okay, that's what I assumed. So basically the inquiry is placed on your report the second you apply and your report is pulled, there isn't a delay?

If you apped for 3 or 4 things, would the 4th app have the lowest score, or is there some kind of 30 day rule where none of the recent inquiries affect your score until they're a month old?

Re: 11 month or 1 year, does it really make a difference?

OhioCPA — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 20:27:52 GMT

An INQ should show on the next pull of your credit file by a creditor.

If you time an app spree correctly the fourth INQ might only be the second for that CRA. Thus, the creditor might not be aware that you are applying for four different TL's within a short period of time. If you wait until the new accounts hit your reports then the creditors will see the recent accounts on any of the reports. This assumes that all creditors only pulled one of your three reports. CapOne and Amex on ocassion are known to pull all three.

Re: 11 month or 1 year, does it really make a difference?

mmmmmm — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 05:17:24 GMT

Is there any real advantage to applying for a CC over the phone versus online? Both are able to provide instant approvals/denials, and also the wait 5-7 days message. Would you have a better chance to get approved if you spoke with someone about it over the phone and went through everything, or is that mainly a false sense of security?

Re: 11 month or 1 year, does it really make a difference?

Revelate — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 19:49:04 GMT

mmmmmm wrote:
Is there any real advantage to applying for a CC over the phone versus online? Both are able to provide instant approvals/denials, and also the wait 5-7 days message. Would you have a better chance to get approved if you spoke with someone about it over the phone and went through everything, or is that mainly a false sense of security?

My opinion only, do what everyone else does and apply online. Then if you get denied or get stuck waiting, you can call in and recon.

The problem with any phone conversation is unless you're *really* good on the phone, it can go against you if the analyst on the other end is just having a bad day for whatever reason. From my own CS experience, I suspect most people have a larger chance to damage their approval by applying over the phone. Leverage the psychology on a recon that maybe someone wants to help people out: you just don't get that without a long-winded dicussion you probably don't want to have in applying for a new card anyway.