@Anonymous wrote:
my equifax score is 612 and myfico is 588 which is so confusing especially when my TU is 688?!?! Looking to get preapproved in the next 30 days last month my cards reporting as carryong high balances i have a 2 month old HSBC discover limit $400 and the reported balance was $323 last month, capital one limit $750 balance reported $640, AU on another cap one limit $500 balance $380 and then another AU on a chase balance $523 limit $700 but i just removed myself from that one. Car lease loan balance $6200 and limit is $9000 so what do i do pay my cards to 0 and just leave car loan or pay the 1 capital one and leave the discover and car loan? along with this and getting a collection from last year deleted will i see a big increase by chance???? Thanks!!!!!!!
HI there.
It depends on where you are buying your scores. The EQ score from here is accurate. If you bought your TU score here it is accurate although it's an older version (TU98). You can't buy a TU FICO score anywhere else as far as I know. You can buy an EQ FICO score from the EQ website but you have to be very careful. EQ also sells their own "Equifax Credit Score" but this is not a FICO score.
Equifax will still sell you a FICO score found here: www.equifax.com/web-myfico-products/
As far as managing utilization 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.
Along with individual and overall utilization, FICO also scores the number of all types of accounts reporting a balance.at any one time Making sure less than half of all your accounts report a balance helps most people.
Now this approach really isn't necessary if you're not looking to apply for any credit in the near future or unless you are trying to tweak your score for maximum effect but some folks do this as a hobby just to see how high they can get their score.
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".
