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I signed up for score watch, which gives me the EQ Fico report with it.
The TU and XP are extra ($40). I was thrilled when I ran these today and my median score is around 600, right where I need to be with a few mos left before I pull for my mortgage. I just acquired a new CL which won't report right away and I currently have a WF card that reports by the 12th. I would assume the new line of credit will report near or by this date as well, when I figured out the billing dates and due dates (just 2 days apart). Here's the thing I need to know. I don't think my new CL will hit my report til April at this point, so I am wondering if I should still keep my other CL at 2 - 3% UTI OR should I pay it off completely. I heard that when you have multiple cards you are supposed to have 1 card with a CL with less than 5% util and the other a 0 balance. So next month, should I pay my WF CC CL to 0 and put the uti on the new card to 5% or less? Does it matter if both cards carry a balance of less than 5% overall?
Also, how often should I acquire a new 3 score report from myFico? I have only been doing this for less than 60 days and so grateful for all of your help!!
Thanks again and thanks to the many folks who have been so helpful!!!
The advice I see most around here is that all cards should be paid down to $0 except for one card, which should have a UTIL of 1-9%.
As for how often to pull your scores, I would say it depends on your progress. I pulled mine in January, and will not pull them again until April, when I hope to be finished getting rid of my baddies. I will pull it then to see the effect my work has had on my scores. I've added 3 cards and deleted a few baddies, so with my on-time payments and good util, I want to see what my scores will be. In the meantime, I use SW to get my EQ score, and CreditKarma to get a general idea of which direction my TU is going. I have no clue whether my Experian has changed.
If you are working on getting things removed, I'd suggest waiting until all the stuff you're working on is done, and then get the scores. No point in paying another $40 only to have them change drastically the very next week. Maybe 2-4 times a year, depending on what you're working on.
@MortgageMinded wrote:I signed up for score watch, which gives me the EQ Fico report with it.
The TU and XP are extra ($40). I was thrilled when I ran these today and my median score is around 600, right where I need to be with a few mos left before I pull for my mortgage. I just acquired a new CL which won't report right away and I currently have a WF card that reports by the 12th. I would assume the new line of credit will report near or by this date as well, when I figured out the billing dates and due dates (just 2 days apart). Here's the thing I need to know. I don't think my new CL will hit my report til April at this point, so I am wondering if I should still keep my other CL at 2 - 3% UTI OR should I pay it off completely. I heard that when you have multiple cards you are supposed to have 1 card with a CL with less than 5% util and the other a 0 balance. So next month, should I pay my WF CC CL to 0 and put the uti on the new card to 5% or less? Does it matter if both cards carry a balance of less than 5% overall?
Also, how often should I acquire a new 3 score report from myFico? I have only been doing this for less than 60 days and so grateful for all of your help!!
Thanks again and thanks to the many folks who have been so helpful!!!
TheGardner wrote:
Sign up for credit karma and credit sesame for TU and EX.
Only pay to check when something changes, if you dispute a few baddies and one or more fall off for example.
Use the free FAKOs to monitor progress.
Good luck!
Thanks for the advice. I was thinking on getting rid of my FAKO accts as they cost me 60 mos, and are really only good for monitoring and not actual score. I had heard different things about CK and will check it out. I will keep my MyFico as it seems its worth the cash. But they should have a deal where you can scorewatch on all 3 accounts without having to keep purchasing them at $20 a piece.
@MortgageMinded wrote:
Thanks for the advice. I was thinking on getting rid of my FAKO accts as they cost me 60 mos, and are really only good for monitoring and not actual score. I had heard different things about CK and will check it out. I will keep my MyFico as it seems its worth the cash. But they should have a deal where you can scorewatch on all 3 accounts without having to keep purchasing them at $20 a piece.
Paying that much for FAKOs could make sense if you're also getting daily CR updates and you have a lot of rebuilding going on. But if you need to monitor only once a week, CK is great for TU and free. Credit Sesame is adequate for EX once a month (and also free).
I don't think it's worth it to pull all three reports from MyFICO very often, not at the prices they charge and not considering that their TU model is old and obsolete. But the EQ model they use is a current one and people often report that their ScoreWatch EQ is exactly the same as the score their mortgage banker pulled.
Maybe pull the three MyFICO scores right before apping for a mortgage just to make sure you're good.
@MortgageMinded wrote:@TheGardner wrote:
Sign up for credit karma and credit sesame for TU and EX.
Only pay to check when something changes, if you dispute a few baddies and one or more fall off for example.
Use the free FAKOs to monitor progress.
Good luck!Thanks for the advice. I was thinking on getting rid of my FAKO accts as they cost me 60 mos, and are really only good for monitoring and not actual score. I had heard different things about CK and will check it out. I will keep my MyFico as it seems its worth the cash. But they should have a deal where you can scorewatch on all 3 accounts without having to keep purchasing them at $20 a piece.
At this point I couldn't justify paying that much. And as stated below myFico isn't really worth the money often either. As you are rebuilding maybe set yourself a qtrly goal and just check fico once a qtr.
as your scores improve get a walmart card for a free TU fico and apply for membership in DCU for EQ fico both free and monthly! ( DCU need a checking account with estatements)
@Gunnar419 wrote:
@MortgageMinded wrote:Thanks for the advice. I was thinking on getting rid of my FAKO accts as they cost me 60 mos, and are really only good for monitoring and not actual score. I had heard different things about CK and will check it out. I will keep my MyFico as it seems its worth the cash. But they should have a deal where you can scorewatch on all 3 accounts without having to keep purchasing them at $20 a piece.
Paying that much for FAKOs could make sense if you're also getting daily CR updates and you have a lot of rebuilding going on. But if you need to monitor only once a week, CK is great for TU and free. Credit Sesame is adequate for EX once a month (and also free).
I don't think it's worth it to pull all three reports from MyFICO very often, not at the prices they charge and not considering that their TU model is old and obsolete. But the EQ model they use is a current one and people often report that their ScoreWatch EQ is exactly the same as the score their mortgage banker pulled.
Maybe pull the three MyFICO scores right before apping for a mortgage just to make sure you're good.
I am just a few mos away from doing just that. I plan on applying in April/May for an FHA mortgage, my scores should be in the vicinity of 620 median score. I am optimistic and will only pull the myfico score before I go to application. Thanks for your suggestions.
@TheGardner wrote:
@MortgageMinded wrote:@TheGardner wrote:
Sign up for credit karma and credit sesame for TU and EX.
Only pay to check when something changes, if you dispute a few baddies and one or more fall off for example.
Use the free FAKOs to monitor progress.
Good luck!Thanks for the advice. I was thinking on getting rid of my FAKO accts as they cost me 60 mos, and are really only good for monitoring and not actual score. I had heard different things about CK and will check it out. I will keep my MyFico as it seems its worth the cash. But they should have a deal where you can scorewatch on all 3 accounts without having to keep purchasing them at $20 a piece.
At this point I couldn't justify paying that much. And as stated below myFico isn't really worth the money often either. As you are rebuilding maybe set yourself a qtrly goal and just check fico once a qtr.
as your scores improve get a walmart card for a free TU fico and apply for membership in DCU for EQ fico both free and monthly! ( DCU need a checking account with estatements)
I am agressively monitoring my score for a mortgage, but I am willing to do this until May as long as necessary to make sure there are no surprises.
Thank you for your comments.