Simulator... I wonder what's it's going to tell me THIS time...

[Anonymous]

Best Action - Pay Down 90%-100% of Your Credit Card Balances - Over the Next 24 Months.

Does this simulator ever give a different message?  I have a total of $949 revolving/open credit and I'd really hate to pay that amount over 2 years...

Anyone else actually ever get a different message?  If so, which one(s)? 

[haulingthescoreup]

I get the don't-have-any-late-payments-in-the-next-24-months. Although it alternates with the one you have.

Cheer up, that is what I call the keep-on-keepin'-on message. And it could be worded better. It's trying to say to keep your util down for the next 24 months, and your scores will steadily grow. I got it when my total revolving balance was $7.85. Dragging that out over two years --that would definitely be a neat trick!

[MidnightVoice]

When one's CR is is reasonable shape, then only time will improve scores - perfect payment history and older accounts

[Anonymous]

That is the only one I have ever seen.

[haulingthescoreup]

Get yourself a bunch of lates, and you'll see this one:

Best Action - Pay Your Bills on Time for 24 Months

Paying your bills on time is a substantial factor affecting your FICO® score. Generally speaking, if you have no negative items on your file, your score will remain fairly stable as you continue to pay your bills on time.

If you have some history of late payments, how recent they occurred is important. The more recently they happened, the more impact they will likely have on your score. As they age, their impact on your score will gradually lessen.

This simulation was based on your making payments on all of your bills for the next 24 months.

Seriously, don't get yourself a bunch of lates. Too depressing!

[Anonymous]

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usafjay wrote:

Best Action - Pay Down 90%-100% of Your Credit Card Balances - Over the Next 24 Months.

Does this simulator ever give a different message?  I have a total of $949 revolving/open credit and I'd really hate to pay that amount over 2 years...

Anyone else actually ever get a different message?  If so, which one(s)? 

---

From my understanding, it is just saying that paying your balances down over the next 24 months would improve your score to the degree it specified (i.e. 730-780, or what ever it said).

Now I think that is taking into account:

• A future collective cc balance of 0%-10%,
• Two more years added onto your Credit history, and consequestly
• Two more years added to the life of each of your CCs and all of those benefits.

That being said, I believe that if you were to pay $320 this month, $320 next months, and enough on the third month to put you in that less than 10 % utilization range then you should see a score increase. Shoot you could probably get away with paying $900 this month and little bit next month to get you in that < 10% range. However, to get their projected score increase you will have to maintain your credit and not close these account for the remaining months (till you reach 24 months). Hence in 24 months you will reach their goal and don't have to play a game of rotating $949.

Of course this is according to what I've picked up here and there. Hopefully this is right.

[haulingthescoreup]

That's basically it. I think they were afraid that people would pay down to 1% within one month/ billing cycle and would be going, hey, where the heck is my 820??? I found that there is a great score hop as soon as the util goes down, and then every month that you keep it down, your scores keep going up. As you said, the combination of all the accounts (and any baddies) getting a little older every month plus the low util.

My biggest surprise was the 15 or more points that I got at the beginning of December from having only one cc report. I have 8 total open accounts --5 CC's, mortgage, HELOC, and small student loan. That meant only half (4 of 8) of all types of open accounts with a balance, and only 1 of 5 cc's. TU especially loved that!

So in my ongoing pursuit of KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid), I will use all my cards to some degree, but let only one report a balance at any given time. While I was battling the CRA's about reporting a dormant store card that was no longer dormant, TU still updated as $0 balance. So for now, TU shows me with no CC's with balances, and my score dropped 3 or 4 points, although it's hard to tell with the other updates. One CC seems to be magic for me! And really, with all the financial doodah going on recently, I'm a lot more comfortable with that.