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I am going to do the 10-day trial and just cancel... Free and I get 2 FICO scores, plus credit report. Will post back in a few minutes with results.
Ok, this is worse than I thought. Here is what Equifax is saying:
Score: 629
Payment History: GREAT
Amount of Debt: Bad
Length of Credit History: Not Good
Amount of New Credit: Not Good
Summary: My Equifax FICO score is Not Good.
Hurting your score
1. Short account history (Oldest is 3 years, 4 months)
2. High credit usage (98% ratio of revolving credit)
3. Seeking credit (4 inquiries)
4. Accounts with balances (8 accounts - most are student loans, again deferred until graduation. Mortgage has not yet been reported.)
Helping your score
1. No missed payments (0 accounts with missed payments)
2. Many accts. paid on time (8 accounts paid on time)
@Anonymous wrote:Ok, this is worse than I thought. Here is what Equifax is saying:
Score: 629
Payment History: GREAT
Amount of Debt: Bad
Length of Credit History: Not Good
Amount of New Credit: Not Good
Summary: My Equifax FICO score is Not Good.
Hurting your score
1. Short account history (Oldest is 3 years, 4 months)
2. High credit usage (98% ratio of revolving credit)
3. Seeking credit (4 inquiries)
4. Accounts with balances (8 accounts - most are student loans, again deferred until graduation. Mortgage has not yet been reported.)
Helping your score
1. No missed payments (0 accounts with missed payments)
2. Many accts. paid on time (8 accounts paid on time)
Ok its actually not as bad as you think. Your score is much lower than it can be and there is an easy fix - pay off all your bills BEFORE the statement cuts so that the balance that gets reported is 0 or near 0.
It doesn't make much sense but a huge part of FICO scoring (30%) is your debt to available credit ratio. For example, lets say you spend $450 on your card with a $500 limit. EVEN IF YOU PAY YOUR BILL ON TIME EACH MONTH, what gets reported is $450/500 or 90% credit usage. FICO doesn't distinguish between someone who spends $450 and pays it off after the statement cuts and someone who carries a $450 balance from month to month. For scoring purposes, the highest scores go to people who maintain 1-9% utilization since it shows you can use credit reponsibly. 0 utilization all the time is just as bad as since it comes off as you not using the credit you have at all.
So let a small balance report each month (<10% of your available credit) and you will see some dramatic score improvement as soon as the report gets updated next month.
As far as the other things hurting your score don't pay too much attention to it. 4 inquiries is really not much and you have 2+ credit cards open for longer than a year which gets you in with Citi and many other prime lenders.
Thanks again for the info. So it would be smart to wait till I pay off the one card (which I plan on doing this month) and then apply for Citi Forward? I looked on their website, there is a Citi Forward and a Citi Forward for Students (which I am)... any difference in the process of applying and the possible credit limit?
Again, thank you, thank you for helping me.
Your current score is a guaranteed denial so don't apply right now. Since you have 3 cards with fairly low limits, pay off most of the balance several days in advance of the statement closing date on all the cards. That way it will give the banks enough time to post the payment and reduce your balance. For the $500 accounts, let less than $50 report. For the $300 account, let less than $30 report. I know it sounds like a PITA but it will be worth it. It may take 1-2 months to have everything updated and reporting but once your utilization drops to below 10% you will have a much much better score and a really good chance of approval.
I believe there is only 1 version of the Forward application. It does ask for student status and I guess that is how they decide which card you may qualify for, but the regular and student cards are identical when it comes to rewards and terms. The only difference is the student card may have a lower starting CL and higher APR. I am a student myself but was approved for the regular card,
Sounds great... I will do that. I need to pay off all 3 anyways for a vacation that I am taking in May... I will check score again sometime before trip and see if I can get a good card before I go away and lock it up for the cruise. I appreciate all your help. It makes a lot more sense now.
No problem, glad I could help!