Deconstructing one's score

[vanillabean]

What would your score be with a utilization ratio of near 0%? And what would it be without any inquiries? And so forth.

RobertEG provided in a present thread his assumptions on the exponential cost in points for various utilization, 2 CC's; Best strategy for better Utilization score. haulingthescoreup not long ago did likewise on inquiries in a newly revived thread, FICO Score down 9 points for "You've recently been looking for credit.".

The first step for me is to reduce the number of cards with a balance from two of three to one. Let's say the card to be zeroed is now at 5% util, while the last card with a balance will stay at 1%. Is RobertEG's table saying the increase from doing this is only 1 point x 2?

And I can't imagine that the second step of moving three inquiries outside the one year window will give all that much of an increase?

Aging by itself probably wouldn't amount to much for say a period of six months.

The myFICO simulator however paints a rosier picture for me than the above. Gotta love those forecasts! A myFICO TU simulation recently suggested my wife could be at 848 within six months

[RobertEG]

I, really, and forgive me, dont see a focus for your post.

If the focus is on % util, and your overall % util, and each indiv acct, is also under 10%, then you are there,   You can continue to try to fine tweak based on the lesser signigicant factor of nummber/% of acounts showiing balances.  A very few points. You are already there for % util scoring,.

New inquireis are a totally different segment of credit scoring..

A new inq, depending upon your scoring bucket, can hit you for approx 1-10 pts.

So, yes one new inq, based on your credit category, or bucket, can initially hurt more than your revolving util,

[Anonymous]

Yes  I recently had inquiry fall off and

picked up 8 pts.

[llecs]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Yes  I recently had inquiry fall off and

picked up 8 pts. 

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I remember your post; that was based on a FAKO score. It stopped impacting your FICO score a year prior.

[Anonymous]

They only checked one CRA and that was EX.

So the other two FICO scores were not in the

picture.

However I lost 8 pts from EQ for having 3

accts show balances.

Maybe that's what you are referring to

[llecs]

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@Anonymous wrote:

They only checked one CRA and that was EX.

So the other two FICO scores were not in the

picture.

However I lost 8 pts from EQ for having 3

accts show balances.

Maybe that's what you are referring to

---

You have an EX FICO score, but you can't see it.  I was pointing out to others that if you had access to your EX FICO, you would not have seen any gain due to that inquiry because any gain would have occured a year prior (at the 1 yr mark vs. 2).

I hear you on the point loss for having balances. My overall util on TU decreased by only 3%, but my TU FICO today went up 15 points. Why? Because two more TLs showed a zero balance.

[vanillabean]

RobertEG wrote:

"I, really, and forgive me, dont see a focus for your post."

You have been forgiven

The focus I had in mind is about what's left when you strip away bad stuff. You pay off credit card debt. Inquiries age and go away. But that alone is not enough; you have to do good stuff (use credit) without doing bad stuff.

If you do that (as a lifestyle, not a temporary weight loss), does that somehow change your outlook on what to expect from where it'll take you tomorrow? Sure. You can loosen up a bit. The outcome is not quite as important.

I'm still curious of course. The 2nd card that has now been zeroed reached its statement cycle cutoff last night, and I'm utterly clueless whether it'll be a 2 point increase or 20 points.

(I'm pretty sure rebucketing isn't a variable here, just in case you were wondering. A topic I'll likely ask you about once I have read Evan Hendricks' Credit Scores and Credit Reports.)

As for otherwise already being there, I'm not. Yes, 760 will give you the best mortgage rates, but will it give you the best cards and the highest credit limits on those cards?

Not that I need them, but you know. No chase, no focus

--
I'd like a Hooters card, but my wife won't let me.

[RobertEG]

Just my personal opinion.

I would not strive first to get the number/% of cards reporting a balance to zero as a primary payment strategy.

First, I would focus on getting overall % util down.

Second, getting % util of each card down.

Last, worrying about the number of cards reporting $0 balance. That is a minor tweak.

[fused]

+1, I agree with Robert!

[vanillabean]

fused wrote:

"+1, I agree with Robert!"

I have been wondering about that +1 stuff!

Of course it depends on how far "down" he meant.

If the overall util is 9% and the util of each card is 9%, then I would go for the $0 balance thing first.

Doesn't EQ highly reward that approach?

But if we're talking 50% utils, then certainly +1.