Building and Boosting

[Anonymous]

We're still trying to wrap our heads around this term "utilization" even though we've read over and over again that its "balance divided by credit limit equals percentage" and that "lower than 10% is recommended" per account.  I think once we get into receiving our first CC bill, and we see how quickly payments are received, and annotated, maybe we will get the hang of things.  Charging less than 10% is great for our meager budget.  We don't need any heavy burdens while we are trying to save some money for a down payment on a car. 

Wow! To have a car again one of these days, we won't know how to act.  

[Booner72]

HI discernment - yep, you've got it right.  It's the percent of available credit you are using.  FICO also scores TOTAL utliity, so say your card limits are 500, 400, 300.  Your total available credit would be 1200.00 -  ( you wouldn't want to be using much of your total credit either )

FICO also scores HOW MANY of your revolving accounts (cc's) are reporting balances.  They don't like to see them all report balances, either.

So for optimal pointage, have only one account report one small balance 1-9% of your total available limit.

[Anonymous]

This is kinda confusing. On one hand you say you and your husband have no FICO score, yet when you pulled your credit reports, you just mentioned the deragatory information listed in them. If a vehicle was repo'd, then you had installment loan which definately adds & subtracts from your score. Even more so then a credit card.

[llecs]

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@Anonymous wrote:

This is kinda confusing. On one hand you say you and your husband have no FICO score, yet when you pulled your credit reports, you just mentioned the deragatory information listed in them. If a vehicle was repo'd, then you had installment loan which definately adds & subtracts from your score. Even more so then a credit card.

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The repo would have to be actively reporting and reporting as "open". Assuming the OC still owns the debt and reporting a balance, they aren't likely updating monthly and reporting as open as being a two-yr old repo. A requirement of FICO scoring is that at least one account most be open and actively reporting. FICO scores CCs much more heavily than installment loans too. I bet OP would see a very significant increase one the first CC reports, well, had there been a score now. In 6 months OP will have one.

[Anonymous]

Thank you IIecs for your input regarding the accounts "last reported" date.  The ONLY account that is currently and actively reporting anything, and there is "one," is a CA called: "Progressive Managment Sysems" who are reporting that the OC on that account  was Southern California Gas Company.  Why they are reporting anything at all is a mystery to us because when we paid the final bill before moving from that residence 6 years ago, we even got a refund back from the Gas Company for "overpaying" too much on their final bill.  We wrote a DV letter to the Gas Company enclosing photocopies of the final bill and the refund on the 15th of August (last month), but, we've yet to hear anything back from them.  The only CRAs reporting this nonsense are Experian and Transunion. 

Our repo was handled by Toyota Financial ONLY, and, it is reporting a zero balance because, when the truck sold at auction, we got more than $600 back from the sale. The "last reported" date on that account is October of 2009. 

Hopefully, that will clear up any confusion that JoeyBagadonuts24 had.  

When I tried to open an account here on this website with the Equifax product this is the message I received:

Thank you for visiting myFICO.com®.

We regret that we cannot provide you with your FICO® score report as your report at Equifax does not meet the minimum scoring criteria. If you were using a credit card, it was not charged.

If you have not already done so, you may want to try ordering your credit report from the other national credit bureau - TransUnion. In addition, your non traditional credit data may be reported to alternative credit reporting agencies and Fair Isaac Credit Services, Inc. can help you get access to this information if present.

Please call Fair Isaac Credit Services at 1-866-838-3427 to obtain a copy of your Fair Isaac Credit Services consumer report.This report does not include a score.To expedite the call, please specify to the representative that you are interested in obtaining a copy of your Fair Isaac Credit Services consumer report. For any additional questions regarding myFICO.com, please call myFICO.com customer service at 1-800-319-4433 Monday - Friday 6:00AM - 6:00PM or Saturday 7:00AM - 4:00PM PST.

Thank you
myFICO® Customer Care

--------------------------------------------------

When I tried to open an account here on this website with the TransUnion product this is the message I received:

Thank you for visiting myFICO.com®.

We regret that we cannot provide you with your FICO® score report as your report at TransUnion does not meet the minimum scoring criteria. If you were using a credit card, it was not charged.

If you have not already done so, you may want to try ordering your credit report from the other national credit bureau - Equifax. In addition, your non traditional credit data may be reported to alternative credit reporting agencies and Fair Isaac Credit Services, Inc. can help you get access to this information if present.

Please call Fair Isaac Credit Services at 1-866-838-3427 to obtain a copy of your Fair Isaac Credit Services consumer report.This report does not include a score. To expedite the call, please specify to the representative that you are interested in obtaining a copy of your Fair Isaac Credit Services consumer report.

For any additional questions regarding myFICO.com, please call myFICO.com customer service at 1-800-319-4433 Monday - Friday 6:00AM - 6:00PM or Saturday 7:00AM - 4:00PM PST.

Thank you
myFICO® Customer Care

----------------------------------------------------

I did not check to see if we had a FICO score with Experian because after everything I've read on here, I would not be getting a true FICO score from them. 

Hopefully, this clarifies everything for any other readers who may have had any confusion.

[llecs]

MarineVietVet outlines the scoring requirements on the previous page. If you open an account now, then in 6 months you'd have a FICO score assuming that account reports as open and reports monthly (and is undisputed).

[Anonymous]

Well, an interesting development!  I stated in my previous post here that the FICO product for TransUnion told me they would NOT charge my bank account the $4.95, however, when I signed on to our Chase account to take a look at my online balance, I see that indeed MyFICO did debit our account the $4.95 and also made two other debits of $1.00 each.  What's up with that?  

We don't mind having the TransUnion service for $4.95 but, I don't know how to access it and clicking on "My Accounts" doesn't tell me anything.  I don't see any Credit Report available there nor any Credit Score. 

Can anyone help me with this?