I plan to send additional fund in on both cards as well in order to increase cl before first statement cuts.
Starting Score: 492-TU04, 480-EX FICO V2, 467-EQ Beacon 5 (Via Mortgage PreQual March '12)
@jordanmedical wrote:
I plan to send additional fund in on both cards as well in order to increase cl before first statement cuts.
You can do that at any time in the future, use the extra cash to open up a third tradeline would be my recommendation. Save up for a month or two if you don't have enough for a reasonable security deposit now.
You only need to worry about CL manipulation (much like revolving utilization in general) in the month or two prior to an application assuming you can afford the increase or the payment to clear your balances.
The absolute, unarguable, most important thing you can do right now is just make your payments on your cards on time when it comes to FICO. That's something like 95% or even 99% of the ballgame, the rest in your situation is gravy and not worth worrying about in the near future. Adjust to the cards first and a regular payment schedule, then worry about silly FICO tricks of maximizing your score or trying to goose future CL's later. On that second point, unless you have enough of a deposit to bring your CL's to the 1K or higher mark, it's not worth it for future underwriting.
I have dd in my NFCU Savings so do plan to bring that to 1k in the next month. I see the NFCU card has been added to my online account with a 15.99% APR.