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Does anyone know how accurate is myfico Simulator?
Unfortunately, none of the simulators are accurate, including MyFico.
Simulators are garbage and a reasonable guess at best. They can be relatively close or off by 100 points. You never know.
@Amiashu12 wrote:Does anyone know how accurate is myfico Simulator?
it's like a clock that's stopped running. it's accurate twice a day.
I love score estimators and simulators - I search for them and give them all a test drive.
Most I have tested provide helpful results comparing condition A1/B1 to condition A2/B1, A2/B2 and A1/B2 with other attributes (C and D) factored in - or not - as the calculator allows. These tools can be rather insightful in how they treat various scenarios.
Never use a simulator or score estimator for absolute score predictions. They are a compass that can point you in the right direction when at a crossroads - if you know how to use it. Good estimators and simulators should be "accurate" from an order of magnitude perspective when comparing alternatives. Use the tools accordingly.
Side note:
1) Simulators by definition should be incorporating CRA profile data as a basis when evaluating impact of changes.
2) Estimators/calculators provide results based on user input data only - CRA profiles not considered. These are less rigorous but actually may offer better "what if" comparisons.
Mine keeps showing me getting around a 10 point bump in the next few months if I get a second credit card. My average account age is 1 year, 3 months & my % of available credit in use is very low.
From what I think I know, I'd take a hit from the HI & lowering my average account age without much, if any improvement in my % of available credit being used.
Adding 1 more card may not help much, as you'll still need to report 50% of your cards with balances (1 of 2) which won't help your scores really. Adding 2 cards, though, would allow you to report 33% of your cards (1 of 3) with balances which would result in a scoring increase. If I were you I'd either stick with just the 1 card, or if you are going to app go ahead and get 2 that you think would be worthwhile in your wallet so that you can maximize FICO scoring with respect to utilization.
Thanks for the advice. I had the idea to show a $2-$5 balance on one to show use & keep the other paid off in full each month. My only card is an 8 month old $1000 secured card from my credit union.
I was gunning for a decent rewards card for my second & final one. I planned to apply for a new one at the same time I ask to have my secured card go unsecured to minimize the HP hit. I guess I'll scoop up a 3rd while I'm getting that HP out of the way. It's gonna be cool to have all that plastic gleaming back at me from my wallet less than a year out from the start of my credit mission.
A couple of things. Adding 1 more as I said earlier may not help you much scoring wise. You will be able to allow 50% of your cards to report a balance as opposed to 100% now, but that improvement likely wouldn't be significant. Maybe 5 points, just throwing a number out there. The real scoring benefit is introduced when less than 50% of your cards are reporting balances. That number, of course, can only be achieved with 3 or more cards, which is why it is often recommended that those starting out shoot for 3 cards relatively early on.
Next, be careful with $2 balances. $5 is more that sufficient for all creditors, but $2 is often not enough. There are some creditors such as Discover, Amex, etc. that have been known to report < $3 balances as $0. While this doesn't seem to be consistent, it has happened, so if you want to ensure that a balance does get reported if that's your goal I would suggest a value in the $5-$10 range just to be sure.
What do your credit scores look like currently? What benefits rewards wise interest you the most with respect to credit cards?
My Eq. FICO is at 723 (via myFICO). It was at 736 last month but I had $280 on that $1000 card last month when it reported, My TU Vantage (via CK) also dropped 14 points to 743 this month for the same reason. My Exp. FICO is still at 738 (via Discover's free FICO deal) despite showing that same 27% jump in revolving utilization from last month.
I took out a secured credit card 2 1/2 years ago but accidentaly killed it before I ever used it by moving the secured money out of my savings (new to online banking & didn't understand what I was looking at). The account is closed, but in good standing, giving me an artificially inflated 2.5 years of credit history. I did nothing with my credit for a while after that.
The only real credit history I have is a $2000 secured credit builder loan I took out 10 months ago (on autodraft & paid down around 50%) & my 8 month old secured credit card. When I went to get that credit builder loan the officer told me I already had a 699 score somehow, so I had a good start.
My primary rewards interest with credit cards is the basic cash back that I can put toward the payments. I use my card for a bit of everything & don't want to keep up with revolving categories. I only need one of those, so I imagine a good gas rewards card would make for a handy 3rd card.