Got my foot in the door with AMEX Zync

[ramblin_wreck08]

Hey everyone! I have been lurking on here for a little while now and decided to join in on the conversation.  I'm hoping to be able to buy a home in 2-3 years, and am trying to get my score up to the 750-800 range before then so I can get the lowest rate possible.

As of right now, my Eqifax score is a 706 (FICO), and I still need to buy my TU and EX scores.

I noticed that one of the things that hurt my score was "the percentage of department store accounts or charge cards to all of the accounts in your file."  I had no "Other" accounts.  Also, my 2 revolving lines were sitting at 30% usage just off of my monthly expenditures (I have always waited till the end of the month to pay in full, but now realize I should have done it before the statement).

Bottom line - a charge card would help both my credit mix and use of my 2 revolving credit lines (as I could charge on the charge card and keep those accounts in just the 5-10% usage range).  So I applied for Zync and got instantly approved!  Ultimately I would like to get the PR Gold card, but was too afraid of being denied to apply.  I might go for it in January to take advantage of backdating and then cancel my Zync.

So for a hard pull and a drop in my AAoA from 2.6 years to 2.3 years, I get a bump in credit mix and utilization.  Hoping to get some more help from the forums here as I go forward so I can reach my goal.  Just really excited to get my foot in the door with AMEX, and can't wait to get the card next week.

[jsucool76]

Congrats. The zync is a pretty nifty card, it's got a pretty low AF, pretty easy to get, and a great way to get in with amex. Use it well, it seems you're on the right track.

[webhopper]

Zync is a great card. I personally don't see value in pr gold unless you travel a lot. Congrats on zync! Instead of a different charge card in January; you may consider blue cash everyday or even costco. true.earnings.

[migliogiorni]

congrats.  Btw

Ex score is no longer available for purchase

[ramblin_wreck08]

Thanks everyone! What's the most cost efficient way to stay on top of all my credit scores? I would like to keep track of them at least quarterly to see how my work is paying off.

[Repo-ed]

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@ramblin_wreck08 wrote:

Thanks everyone! What's the most cost efficient way to stay on top of all my credit scores? I would like to keep track of them at least quarterly to see how my work is paying off.

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My recommendation would be to subscribe to a few services:

1 & 2 - would be SW and TU Quarterly monitoring found within this link http://www.myfico.com/Products/Products.aspx

3 - would be USAA CMS found here https://www.usaa.com/inet/pages/creditcheck_monitoring_main so that when you get SW alerts, you can then log-in to USAA CMS and pull all 3 reports for free to find out what exactly changed.

I have all 3 and couldn't be happier with either of them!

[rosegardener]

Congrats to my fellow Zyncer!

+1 on USAA CMS.  It can be a tad slow to update sometimes I have found, but it is a great product and worth the price.  I have also seen various promo codes floating around and even success stories with asking USAA to lower the price.  Good luck!

[jamesdwi]

Wait untill January to AP for the PRG Gold or other AMEX card, for maximum backdating effect.