New AMEX card but no score ding

[Imhotrodcrazy]

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@tntexans72 wrote:

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@Imhotrodcrazy wrote:

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@CS800 wrote:

You might get ding if your AAoA goes down, your Util goes up.

So even with it reporting (reduce util , lower AAoA) no change huh?

How many inqs do you have on EX?

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My aaoa is 7 yrs on TU and 5 yrs on EQ.  EQ deleted 2 accts with a total of 24 yrs of history.  They still show up on TU.

My util is <1%

I only have one inquiry on EX, none on TU and EQ

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That's very solid.

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I don't app for cards very much.  In fact, I have a thin file.  It consists of only,

1 closed mortgage

2 older closed revolving accts

1 open mortgage

US Bank LOC

US Bank cc

Amex

Nex month my oldest acct will turn 20 yrs old.  It will be interesting to see if I get a score bump out of that. 

[tntexans72]

I don't app for cards very much.  In fact, I have a thin file.  It consists of only,

1 closed mortgage

2 older closed revolving accts

1 open mortgage

US Bank LOC

US Bank cc

Amex

Nex month my oldest acct will turn 20 yrs old.  It will be interesting to see if I get a score bump out of that. 

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Do you have any baddies? Lates?

Thin file with long history is a great file IMHO.

What kind of rewards does the US Bank CC and Amex gives you.

Ever though about a Chase Freedom or Discover card for rewards???

[Imhotrodcrazy]

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@tntexans72 wrote:

Do you have any baddies? Lates?

Thin file with long history is a great file IMHO.

What kind of rewards does the US Bank CC and Amex gives you.

Ever though about a Chase Freedom or Discover card for rewards???

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My EX file is spotless.  I have a civil judgment against me showing on TU an EQ.   It will show until 2014.  Other than that, those reports are otherwise spotless too.

I have a plat acct with my US Bank cards, their rewards are 1 1/2% on everything.

Amex rewards range from 1% to 3% depending on the category.

I won't deal with Chase for many reasons of my own.  I don't do business with dishonest banks. 

[drkaje]

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@tntexans72 wrote:

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@drkaje wrote:

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@tntexans72 wrote:

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@drkaje wrote:

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@tntexans72 wrote:

I am no expert in Fico scoring formula but the % #s are there.

My AAoA is 5.5yrs...I went from 747 -----> 718 is the exact figure today.

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No change aside from the new card?

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That's my EX score. I have a total of 3 hard IQs on my EX report....2 from Amex in 2011 (April/Nov) and that's it. I got punished big time

But than again...YMMV.....my util is around 35% right now. I am sure if I get that down to under 10%...my score will jump back up.

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You can't really compare FICO to Plus or some other non-FICO for a change like that.

As far as being coveted goes: Amex, is Amex.

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You are correct...but because Amex gave me my EX Fico, I have a general idea where my EX Fico stand based on the infor I received from EX Plus score. And that # is around 10pts of each other.

But at the end of the day...I am not throughly concern at all regarding my Fico score...what's important to me is Util %, AAoA and my income along with Fico scoring. They all play a key role for me. I can have a high Fico score but short AAoA and High Util % = declined or approved for a low CL, etc.....

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I use ScoreWatch, USAA Credit Check Premium, and CK. It's been my experience that the scores never trend in the same manner. My Ex Plus score hasn't changed in months from 720 but FICO was 725 Jan 5th and 741 Jan 27th. TU Vantage is 722, other CK score is 711, TU plus score is 720, but TU FICO was 699 on Jan 5th. EQ Plus is 720 while EQ FICO is 721.... that being said, the Plus Score was still 720 when my FICO was 708 on Jan 5th.

The scores just don't happen to trend well together, in my case. There was a time where I felt guestimating where my actual FICO score would be based upon Plus or other sites was reasonable but after getting a few pulls in a short period of time that doesn't make sense anymore. My gut says Plus scores give utilization more weight than FICO.

[jamesdwi]

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@BobbyJ wrote:

How long did it take for your BCE to report to the CRAs?  I opened my Amex PR Gold and Zync on 1/6/12 and they are still not reporting.  Just curious of the time frame for reporting.

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Both of my AMEX cards started reporting a couple days after my first stement cut. At least for TU, creditkarma transrisk score reported them, not sure about the other CR's since i don't have a way to monitor them daily.

[jamesdwi]

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@Anonymous wrote:

It seems like AMEX is a coveted card.  Why is that?  When I compare their terms to other cards, they don't seem that great.  Yet, it seems tough to get approved by them.  I have not been able to get an AMEX card yet.

I recently added a handful of credit cards to my score and it went from 702 to 711.  I assumed I received an increase rather than a ding because this brought my credit-to-debt ratio down.  

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Here are few of the reasons

1. AMEX is PRIME territory, and not that hard to get. 

2. Multiple types of cards Charge and Revolvers

3. Charge easier to get, and you can work towards very good limits by just spending money and PIF on the charge cards NPSL

4. Rewards going from decent to great depending on your AF

5. Up to 3x CLI after 61 days and again after 6 months if you have the income and spending/paying habits to make them happy

6. Backdating.. Every AMEX card you get are backdated to the year your first card you ever received from them if you have never burned them

7. Good to Awesome Customer Service depending on your AF. 

8. Concierge service if your AF is high enough

9. After you have a relationship with AMEX they ignore your credit score to an extent and extend credit based on there internal scoring not your FICO

[Tonya-E]

Same thing happened here OP,  at least on Equifax. It went up 1 point. Then I lost 12 on TU.  However, I immediately gained the TU points back in roughly 2 weeks.   I went down to 743 on 01/30 and back up to 755 02/09.  I paid a big chunk of balance down on my Citi account too tho so I am pretty sure that contributed to the rapid increase; but whatever the case may be, I am happy about it.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Imhotrodcrazy wrote:

I don't app for cards very much.  In fact, I have a thin file.  It consists of only,

1 closed mortgage

2 older closed revolving accts

1 open mortgage

US Bank LOC

US Bank cc

Amex

Nex month my oldest acct will turn 20 yrs old.  It will be interesting to see if I get a score bump out of that. 

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Bingo. You're the forums counter-balance to CreditAddict.

FICO rewards the presence of (clean) open revolving credit, because it's so much easier to get into trouble with revolving credit. If you have it, and you haven't messed it up, that's a huge positive. Those without open revolving credit take a big hit on their scores.

Before this card, you only had the US Bank CC and the line of credit, which also counts as revolving.

Most people find that when they open their first revolving account (assuming that any others were closed, or that they have never had any others), their scores take a nice jump. The second card, a decent jump. The third (which is where you are), kind of even-Steven.

After that, most of us see an initial drop followed by a gradual rise in scores due to the helpful presence of clean revolving history.

The third card is usually the last one that helps right out of the gate, and that's where you are.

With everything FICO-related, YMMV, but this is the first thing that I thought of when I read your original post.

For all those readers who are endlessly obsessing about how to finagle their apps to squeak out another 3 points, OP's credit profile is what it's all about in FICO-land. Yes, there are other ways to have great scores, but this is a classic example of conservative and responsible use of credit resulting in high scores.

Take a look at the FICO High Achievers thread. It summarizes what the old-school good credit people look like. Yes, there are other ways to high-score Nirvana, but this is the classic one.

btw OP, you probably won't see a change when your AAoA hits 20. As best as we can tell, 19 is the magic year, so you've already moved into the official grey-beard score bucket. But again, YMMV, and you might see something different happen.