FHA, Credit Scores, Credit Card Util, and Calling CCC to Report Lower Balances

[MarineVietVet]

---

@ftomasze wrote:

Just purchased ScoreWatch -- and guess what, the score is IDENTICAL to the mid score my LO told me.

So can someone tell me how often I can expect the scores to change -- say, I contacted Discover cards to update, they say they do...when will I see that reflected in the CR / score?

---

This means the score quoted to you by the LO is Equifax because that's the score sold through ScoreWatch, The version of that particular EQ score is Beacon 5.0. I said in my first post that lenders have access to all FICO scores so it's no surprise that the 598 score was accurate.

I didn't read where anyone recommenced you cancel that service. The reports are fine but just ignore the scores AND the advice given as to how to improve your scores. The suggestions from FAKO reports is very often the exact opposite of what actually should be done.

As far as the utilization question I agree that going from 100% to 40% utilization will give you a nice boost but won't guess how much because everyone's credit profile is different and is constantly changing. Lowering utilization is the fastest way to raise a score. Even 40% though is too high. FICO scores both overall and individual account utilization and the number of accounts reporting balances at any one time. You can read What's In A FICO Score?

Going forward from this point as I said everyone's situation is different and there is no one size fits all approach to this but what seems to work well for most people is to have only one of their cards report a small (<9% of it's credit limit) balance each month and then pay in full before the due date. You can use it as much as you want during the month but what's important is the reported balance because for most cards whatever is reported on the monthly statement is what is used to calculate utilization for the month.

You might have to play around with the percentages for a few months to see what works best for you. Some people say that 1-3% utilization helps the most. For others it might be 5-9%. As I said it's not one size fits all.

On any other cards always try and have them report a zero balance each month. That doesn't mean you can't use them just make sure that the desired zero balance on these accounts is achieved several days before their statements post.

Your question about when scores change. I look at scores as a potential. They don't really exist until someone (yourself or a lender) pulls them. If information changes daily on your reports then your scores will change to reflect that. If Discover updates their information to the CRA's that doesn't mean it gets changed by the CRA's immediately. They update their information once a month so it's hard to say when you might see a change on your reports.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 3/11 pulled by lender- 835, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

 

[mauve]

You'll see a score change within 7-10 days of any time the information changes such that your score would change.  So if one card updates one week and another the next and both would change your score, you should get 2 in about 2 weeks.  Don't forget to change your target score in the settings to the CURRENT score.

[ftomasze]

Mauve -- Thanks for clearing that up for me