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- CC utilization 57% = $21,053.76 / $36,690.00
- Installment loans: $332,860.01 remaining balance / $371,841.63 original balance
- No derogatory information, zero late payments
- Credit age 9 years, oldest open account 6y 8m, AAoA 2y 4m, newest account 4m
- 5 inquiries/1 year, 10 inquiries/2 years
- 5 open CC lines, 1 mortgage, 2 car loans, 1 student loan, 37 accounts on credit profile
- Opened 6 new accounts in the last 12 months: 1 car refinance, 2 personal loans, 3 credit cards
- CC limits: $16,500 Penfed, $6,425 AAFES, $8,000 Lowes, $2060 AlaskaUSA, $2,505 AlaskaUSA, $1,200 TireKingdom
- Income: $163,800
I thought my score was articifically high because my Penfed CC debt disappeared from my credit profile after I was alerted I was issued a new card because of the "Target Data Breach" incident. When I was issued a new card, my old account number reported zero balance and it took a couple of months for my new account number and correct balance appear on my credit profile. Made it seem like I paid off $15,000 in CC debt.
The other day, I was alerted that my credit score actually went up 1 point after the missing $15,000 finally reported on my credit profile.
Just today, I paid off $8,500 worth of installment debt, and $1,500 worth of CC debt. So I improved my CC utilization from 61% to 57%. Can't wait to see if my score will improve even more.
I know the rule of thumb is to keep CC utilization to under 9%. I however average 40%-60% CC utilization all the time and my credit scores from MyFico (Transunion) has been 723 in Nov 13, 732 in Aug 13, 728 in May 13.
I don't understand why my credit score is so high when I have very high utilization, have only 1 "prime" CC, and a lot of new accounts.
A couple of things come to mind.
One is that you have no derogatories, and another is that you have a thick file. This puts you in a different category than many of the posters on this forum.
Also, I don't think that scoring distinguishes you as only having one "prime" card, since the CU and store cards presumably fall into the same category.
I expect that paying down your utilization would put you in the upper 700s, assuming that your 750 is a FICO score and not a FAKO.
Thick versus thin definitely matters. I had >60% and scores in the low to mid 700's as well. Keep in mind that it's not just about the scores though. I was able to get approvals with high utilization but the limits granted were extremely low and APR's were extremely high.
@acleynes wrote:I don't understand why my credit score is so high when I have very high utilization
Even so they're being restrained by your utilization. Keep in mind that they would be higher with lowered utilization.
@acleynes wrote:- CC utilization 57% = $21,053.76 / $36,690.00
- Installment loans: $332,860.01 remaining balance / $371,841.63 original balance
- No derogatory information, zero late payments
- Credit age 9 years, oldest open account 6y 8m, AAoA 2y 4m, newest account 4m
- 5 inquiries/1 year, 10 inquiries/2 years
- 5 open CC lines, 1 mortgage, 2 car loans, 1 student loan, 37 accounts on credit profile- Opened 6 new accounts in the last 12 months: 1 car refinance, 2 personal loans, 3 credit cards
- CC limits: $16,500 Penfed, $6,425 AAFES, $8,000 Lowes, $2060 AlaskaUSA, $2,505 AlaskaUSA, $1,200 TireKingdom- Income: $163,800
I thought my score was articifically high because my Penfed CC debt disappeared from my credit profile after I was alerted I was issued a new card because of the "Target Data Breach" incident. When I was issued a new card, my old account number reported zero balance and it took a couple of months for my new account number and correct balance appear on my credit profile. Made it seem like I paid off $15,000 in CC debt.
The other day, I was alerted that my credit score actually went up 1 point after the missing $15,000 finally reported on my credit profile.
Just today, I paid off $8,500 worth of installment debt, and $1,500 worth of CC debt. So I improved my CC utilization from 61% to 57%. Can't wait to see if my score will improve even more.
I know the rule of thumb is to keep CC utilization to under 9%. I however average 40%-60% CC utilization all the time and my credit scores from MyFico (Transunion) has been 723 in Nov 13, 732 in Aug 13, 728 in May 13.
I don't understand why my credit score is so high when I have very high utilization, have only 1 "prime" CC, and a lot of new accounts.
Interesting position to be in! Agree with the others, your thick file is definitely an asset. And as the OP points out, the pull is TU from MyFICO...TU98. Would be very interesting to see what the OP's score would be from TU08 from WalMart, Barclays, Discover, etc. My guess is that it's even higher, probably in the 780s range.
Sounds good, I agree with the others the util is holding your already good scores back, congrats to your success
Congrats.. I think?
Your post leads me to believe that if I could just get my aaoa up to like 4 or 5 years, I'd be in solid mid 700's territory! lol
It seems like you might actually see your score go up if you opened up just a couple high limit cards to help out on the util.
but the real thought is are you paying any interest on your current debt? why do you only have 1 prime card as your statement says?
@acleynes wrote:
I balanced transferred $14,000 worth of debt to my Penfed card in February 2013. Before the Penfed CC, my highest none store credit card was for $2,500 and that was an AkaskaUSA Visa. I closed 8 credit lines when I got the Penfed card. My Penfed CC balance transfer is 0% until September 2014. I told myself no more store credit cards. I didn't think about keeping them open for the age and utilization.
so why not open up some other prime non store cards?
Amex, Chase, BofA?