@Anonymous wrote:
My Fico score (according to barclaycard) is 708 . According to Credit Karma - my Transunion is 700 and my Exquifax is 699 (down from 702 a couple of days ago due to 2 inquiries).
Always consider the specific model when referencing scores and also consider the relevance of the model & CRA to a given creditor/product. Barclaycard provides a TU FICO 8. It is only relevant to creditors/products that use a TU FICO 8. Credit Karma provides TU and EQ VantageScore 3.0. They are only relevant to creditors that use one of those VantageScores.
Auto lenders are not likely to use any of those scores. See also the Understanding FICO Scoring subforum and its stickies for info on the different FICO models used by creditors. You cannot use a score generated by one model to determine a score generated by another model. Your TU FICO 8 and TU and EQ VantageScore 3.0's will not be the same as your FICO auto scores.
@Anonymous wrote:
I am ending a lease on a car and looking to get into a new one between now and May - my Auto CS was 738 on Saturday - a car dealership ran my credit (after I told them not to until we were sure I was getting the car - I didn't end up getting the car).... now I have a new inquiriy on my credit report from this car dealership and will be putting a 2nd inquiry on it when I actually get the car I want . HOw much do I need to worry about my score or my credit report getting inquiries between now and when I get the new lease? * currently my Exquifax only shows 2 inquiries - one being the car dealership on Sat. and a Sun Trust inquiry on Saturday as well.
We have no idea. It depends on a couple of things:
First, properly coded auto inquiries within a given timeframe will count as 1 for scoring purposes. They will show up separately on reports but will be scored as 1. "Properly coded" is important as some have found inquiries improperly coded.
Even if the inquiries are counted separately the impact isn't just about the inquiries themselves. Impact also depends on one's credit profile. Generally, inquiries are a small factor but those with thin credit profiles and/or credit profiles with issues can see a bigger impact.
If you want to control inquiries then do not allow dealerships to pull your credit and sort out your financing ahead of time. Even then, a dealership may need to pull for verifiation purposes. However, at this point inquiries are the least of your concerns given what you've posted about your revolving utilization.
Don't overlook the Auto subofurm as a resource on auto topics.
@Anonymous wrote:
I ask above question for the following reasons: I did my first balance transfer ever in Nov. 2015 - and didn't realize I shouldn't put my entire balance (from a surgery) on one credit card - $11,300 on a $11,400 limit card. - 0% apr through March 2017. Now I am looking to get another card that let's me move part of that money to a different card so that my balances are not as high on each card. I'm trying to plan out smartly when I apply for another credit card vs. when I get the car etc and which one affect the other. My credit was 768 before my surgery - I put $10,000 on a care credit account and my score dropped a ton. Then when I did the balance transfer a few months later my score went down to like 658 in November. I got it back up to 702 as of last week. I applied on Sat. for a 3.5% (prime variable rate) sun trust credit card that has 36 months at that rate on any balance transfers that are done within 60 days, zero fee for the balance transfer - and I'm still waiting to hear about my approval and limit.
Your scores dropped because you not only had high revolving utilization (balance/limit) on the card that you BT'ed to but it was also maxed. 11,300 / 11,400 is 99%. Anything above 90% is generally considered maxed and you're getting double dinged for that. Keep in mind that the general recommendation is do not exceed 30%. 30% isn't ideal. It is a suggest maximum. Lower is generally better with revolving utilization as long as you don't have all revolvers reporting 0 balances as there is a hit for that. Both individual revolving utilization on each card and your overall revolving utilization matter.
The problem with relying on a new card to BT when you already have high revolving utilization is that your approvals are impacted. Even if approved, high revolving utilization can constrict the limits that you'd qualify for. Keeping in mind the revolving utilization concerns above, ideally you'd want probably nearly $35K on a new card to transfer that balance and I don't see that as likely given what you've stated. The best you can do is to pay down that balance as quickly as possible. If you can transfer part of the balance to another card to get it down without incurring too much in BT fees that could help. You don't want to leave that card maxed or at high revolving utilization for too long or you could run into adverse action (credit limit decrease, balance chasing, account closure, etc) which will make matters even worse.
When you do find the limit on the new card, transfer whatever amount would lead to the lowest revolving utilization on each card and then pay down those balances as quickly as possible. Generally speaking, if you do have to use cards to carry the debt you'll want revolving utilization as low as possible on all cards. With your current cards (not counting the store cards) you could spread the expected $17.3K over 3 cards and be in the high 60's to 70% on each of them. That said, I'm not sure cards are the best tool for the job.
If you do end up using cards then you won't want to apply for an auto loan until you get that revolving utilization down.
@Anonymous wrote:
I was hoping to do balance transfers for like 6 years on that surgery amount
6 years is a very long time and probably won't be feasilble for BT's -- especially if you're running your revolving utilization up and expecting to repeatedly rely on new cards to transfer. If your revolving utilization increases over that time then your credit profiile will suffer. You've already seen some impact and you're epecting to incur more revolving debt. Your profile will appear to be more risky to creditors. You're going to have more and more difficulty getting usable limits and approvals. You may want to see if you can get a loan. Balance to loan ratio on installments isn't seen as risky as revolving utilization on reovlving accounts. However, if you are able to get a loan then you don't want to rack up credit card debt on top of that.
@Anonymous wrote:
a business chase ink card (recently they just increased my limit to $8000 without me asking
Business cards don't report on your personal reports unless delinquent. Any balance on the business card wouldn't factor into your personal revolving utilization though it would factor into your business credit profile. I can't advise you to transfer to your business card as it may not be in line with the terms of the card. Just pointing out that the balance on your Ink won't factor into your personal revolving utilization. However, the revolving utilization on the business card still matters for your business credit.
