Early Score Datapoint and Questions

[Anonymous]

I applied for my first card, the Secured Discover, around July last year and was added as AU to my parents' Chase Freedom Unlimited cards when they applied around the same time. Since then, I've been looking forward to the six-month mark to see what my first FICO score would be.

Today, I finally made my Discover Scorecard account (Discover statement didn't show yet until the 12th) and it showed a 769 from Experian. Some info on that report: 1 account, 6 mo. length of credit, 0 inquiries, 0% utilization, 0 missed payments. I've been using the card and paying it early; I think this is the first time having 0% reporting. I'm pretty happy with my score but I was wondering a few things if there should be concern.

When I check my report on Creditkarma and Wallethub (just for the info!), the AU accounts from my parents' Chase show up and presumably affect the VS 3.0 score from them, but it seems that the FICO from the Discover Scorecard isn't factoring in the AU accounts? Those accounts are also about the same age so maybe that's why, but should I notify somebody about this mistake?

One more thing, I've read a ton about AZEO and its effects on scoring, but in my situation as it currently stands with just one account, would it technically be better to have 0% utililization on the card (like this time) or a small balance similar to AZEO? My score might be a little inflated due to Discover not pulling Experian so 0 inquiries show up and just having one account. 

Once I check my scores from the other bureaus and if they are about the same, what would be the timeline to start applying for new cards? I hope to get a 2% card and the Chase Freedom Unlimited w/ $300 sign up bonus.

Thanks everyone for the useful info during my time starting out building credit and I hope this early datapoint helps in any way.

[HeavenOhio]

With one card, it's better to allow it to report a small balance. With two cards, one of the two should report a small balance.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure why your AU accounts aren't showing up with creditscorecard but are with those VS 3.0 tied services.  I'd suggest doing a $1 trial with CCT so that you get your 3B reports.  Perhaps EX for some reason didn't pick up those AU accounts yet, but maybe they are present on TU or EQ (which CK uses)?  No way to know without pulling your 3B from CCT.  For $1, you can't beat it and you'll get your 3 FICO 08 scores so you can see how the other 2 compare to the 1 you already know.

As for applying for credit, so long as your AAoA is > 1 year it would be a good idea to scoop up 2 more revolvers.  You mention both a 2% card and the Chase FU, which is only a 1.5% card.  If you were going to get a 2% card, the FU really isn't relevant.  I think getting a 2% general spend card is a great idea.  What about unsecuring your Discover since you've had it 6 months?  I'd think now is about the time to do that.  Are there any specific categories that you tend to spend a lot in?  If you're considering Chase, maybe the plain Freedom with 5% rotating categories would be a better match to go along with a 2% card if you pick one up.

[Anonymous]

Yeah it is probably likely since this is the first time I've gotten info from experian but I'm not in a huge rush so I'll see if it sorts out in a few months. The two contenders for a 2% card are the citi DC and blispay and I'm mostly looking at the Freedom Unlimited for that bonus because I'm doing alright with my current cards and the bonus is hard to pass up. I know it's not the best way to do things but cards aren't essential for my spending.

So at the anniversary of my discover my age of accounts should be a year, does anyone know if the targeted $300 chase offer will last that long?

I am expecting the discover to unsecure next month since nothing should? prevent that.

[Anonymous]

I have both the Citi DC and Blispay.  FWIW I've probably put $20k-$25k through the Citi DC in the last 7 months and I've put probably $50 on Blispay over that same period of time.  My Blispay limit is less than half of that of my DC limit, so when I'm putting a solid spend on the card I'm simply not comfortable doing so on my Blispay limit, as I'd be nearly maxing out the card.  I'm a PIF type of person, so the 0% financing on Blispay while a nice perk isn't one I'd really use much.  I thought it sounded cool when I applied (1.5 years ago) but I've used the 0% financing exactly 0 times. 

I'm sure the FU offer will still be there whenever.  If you're about the bonus, though, why not go for the CSP or CSR and grab the $500 bonus and PC the card to the FU later on?  That's precisely what I'm in the process of.  I scored the CSP last May, met the bonus requirements and collected the $500.  I've used the card for essentially nothing since then other than a swipe every month for something small.  In March or May before the first AF will hit my plan is to PC the card to the Freedom, which with its 5% categories can actually be useful some quarters for me.

[Anonymous]

What you say makes me lean even more towards the citi since I can't imagine doing anything but PIF in the near future. And category cards may also work really well for me. I'm not as certain that I'll be able to meet the spending requirements for higher end Chase cards. Plus, I don't want to go through any trouble associated with PCing the card and having the off chance that I will have a legitimate use for it in the far off future, many years after college is done ha!

Anyways, going at the current rate, ~769 score so far, would a year's credit history give pretty good chances of getting accepted for cards like the citi and even the sapphire level cards?

[Anonymous]

I would think so.  Check out the credit pulls database and see what data points are there for those with around the same length of credit history as you and with a similar score for the products you are most interested in.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure if I have the page, but from what I saw people with scores of 652 to 800 were all approved for the freedom unlimited which is a good sign. Now just to wait six more months sadly haha

[Anonymous]

Wanted to update: the Transunion scorecard from the Discover card account itself shows a 777 with same age etc. and still just one account, ignoring the AU accounts. Curiously, under what's helping is no missed payments but the only item under what's hurting is "too many accounts with missed payments". I haven't missed any payments and it might be just number of accounts worded weirdly.

[HeavenOhio]

Are you sure that's the exact wording? We've seen "too few accounts paid as agreed," and people think it involves missed payments. But if there are no missed payments, it could mean too few accounts, period.