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About a year ago all of my FICO 8 scores were in the high 400's to low 500's.
I am currently sitting at:
EQ: 641
TU: 670
EX: 656
I have a late pay from the VA that is nearly 5 years old, but nothing else negative on my reports.
USAA Visa: $250/$500
USAA AmEx: $0/$1000
Cap1 Quicksilver: $0/$500
Cap1 Plat: $350/$750
Amazon: $900/$1500
Surge MC: $0/$500
Build MC: $0/$500
Credit One: $0/$500
Total Visa: $0/$400
1st Premier: $0/$500
1st Premier: $0/$700
Personal loan of $1200 ($800 left to payoff)
I plan on closing the Total, Build, Surge, and Credit One cards soon, but they are my oldest cards. I'm also thinking about applying for a NFCU card.
And other than paying off the cards that have balances and requesting CLI when appropriate, should I just garden?
Thanks for any advice!
With your scores and portfolio, I think at least 6 mos. in the garden would do you a lot of good.
And definitely get rid of the bottom feeder cards ASAP
If you acquired all of these cards in the last year, I would definitely pay down balances, keep utilization low, and garden for 6 months to a year. Whenever someone asks..."should I garden?"....the answer is almost always Yes!
I am the worst to ask because they haven't built a garden wall yet that can hold me...But, I think we both could benefit from it.
@Anonymous wrote:About a year ago all of my FICO 8 scores were in the high 400's to low 500's.
I am currently sitting at:
EQ: 641
TU: 670
EX: 656
I have a late pay from the VA that is nearly 5 years old, but nothing else negative on my reports.
USAA Visa: $250/$500
USAA AmEx: $0/$1000
Cap1 Quicksilver: $0/$500
Cap1 Plat: $350/$750
Amazon: $900/$1500
Surge MC: $0/$500
Build MC: $0/$500
Credit One: $0/$500
Total Visa: $0/$400
1st Premier: $0/$500
1st Premier: $0/$700
Personal loan of $1200 ($800 left to payoff)
I plan on closing the Total, Build, Surge, and Credit One cards soon, but they are my oldest cards. I'm also thinking about applying for a NFCU card.
And other than paying off the cards that have balances and requesting CLI when appropriate, should I just garden?
Thanks for any advice!
Closing Total, Build, Surge and Credit One won't hurt you . . you'll keep the history. Wait until you get your balances under control (AZEO) as to not blow up your overall utilization.
What's your average age of accounts? If these cards were all obtained in the last year that you've been rebuilding, you should definitely garden. You'll be stuck with low limits if you get too many cards too fast.
While you're gardening, focus on good financial habits to serve you when you eventually do have more credit at your disposal. If you're finding it necessary to carry the debt you've listed above, it's not the time for more credit but rather budgeting and saving.
I pay off the USAA and Cap1 Plat every month. Those are just my current balances. I do carry a balance on the Amazon card for now because it's still at $0 interest. Before it starts to accrue I will have that at or near $0.
Average age of my accounts is just under 3 years. I did, however, get all of these cards within the last year. I have a couple of old CC's that I closed that are nearing 10 years old.
I will be closing those cards mentioned ASAP.
@Anonymous wrote:About a year ago all of my FICO 8 scores were in the high 400's to low 500's.
I am currently sitting at:
EQ: 641
TU: 670
EX: 656
I have a late pay from the VA that is nearly 5 years old, but nothing else negative on my reports.
USAA Visa: $250/$500
USAA AmEx: $0/$1000
Cap1 Quicksilver: $0/$500
Cap1 Plat: $350/$750
Amazon: $900/$1500
Surge MC: $0/$500
Build MC: $0/$500
Credit One: $0/$500
Total Visa: $0/$400
1st Premier: $0/$500
1st Premier: $0/$700
Personal loan of $1200 ($800 left to payoff)
I plan on closing the Total, Build, Surge, and Credit One cards soon, but they are my oldest cards. I'm also thinking about applying for a NFCU card.
And other than paying off the cards that have balances and requesting CLI when appropriate, should I just garden?
Thanks for any advice!
Being "oldest cards" during a rebuild cycle in which all open accounts are under 1-2 years old is simply NOT relevant to whether they should stay open. The only cards that should stay open are "no fee" cards that have the potential to grow.
Carrying these balances are hurting your score a little bit each:
USAA Visa: $250/$500 (50.0%)
Cap1 Plat: $350/$750 (46.7%)
Amazon: $900/$1500 (60%)
Personal loan of $1200 ($800 left to payoff) (66.7%)
What you want to do with those cards is pay them down as far as you can before statement cuts, preferably to zero. You do want one card reporting a small balance every month that isn't $0, but isn't greater than 8.9% of the limit. This is called the AZEO Method and it gets you as much as a 20 point FICO8 boost versus all cards reporting $0.
The personal loan helps just by being open and active, but getting it below 8.9% left to pay ($106) would actually boost your score, but once you pay it to $0 and it closes, it HURTS your score if you have no other active installment loan reporting (student, mortgage, auto).
So pay all your cards to $0 and let $5 report one any one card at statement cut (pay it to $0 after it reports). Pay your installment loan down to $106 left to pay and you will have the maximum FICO8 you can have right now. Time your next 3B FICO8 pull to after everything reports, and report back. From that point we can tell you if you should garden or what you might qualify for.
While nothing is guaranteed in life, especially not FICO8 forecasts, I wouldn't be surprised if your FICO8s went up 20 or even 40 points by managing your balances better. My scores dropped almost 60 points in September because cards I never report a balance on actually saw balances (two maxed out) because I didn't have internet for 4 days during Irma and couldn't get my PIF in. 60 point drop!
Update:
USAA Visa: $0/$500
USAA AmEx: $0/$1000
Cap1 Quicksilver: $0/$500
Cap1 Plat: $350/$750
(Called and combined each credit line into one card...So now I have $250 balance on $1300 limit)
Amazon: $900/$1500
($700)
Surge MC: $0/$500-Closed
Build MC: $0/$500- Closed
Credit One: $0/$500-Closed
Total Visa: $0/$400-Closed
1st Premier: $0/$500
1st Premier: $0/$700
Wells Fargo Rewards Visa- $0/$1000
NFCU Visa $0/$3000
Personal loan of $1200 ($800 left to payoff)
I will now be gardening for the next 6-12 months! Who made the iced tea?