thanks for the tip. i agree with paying off accounts one at a time. your picture kinda freaks me out a little
It's freaking out the FICO formula too
crocpa wrote:I know they say that there are no tricks/tactics to the formula, but I've been analyzing my transactions religously now for months and have increased my score from 585 to 721. I've discovered a couple ideas that I haven't seen anyone discuss here yet:Strategy #1: Using Balance Transfers to increase your score: I recently opened an account and transferred a balance to it. When the account opened, my score went unchanged. However, when I transferred a balance my score increased by a few points. When the old acct gets cleared out my score increases and when I pay the acct in full in six months the score will go even higher.Strategy #2: Finance a car, refinance it and refinance it again. Every time you pay it off your score increases. When the new acct is created however your score in not affected. For some reason I think FICO penalizes opening revolving accounts more than installment accts. Finally, I like the inquiries increase game. Go ahead and try it for yourself, only if you have the stomach. Let's say that you're going car shopping. Apply with as many bank as you like on the same day. As FICO promises, you won't be penalized for more than one credit check since it's an auto purchase and you're conducting the inquiry within a two week period. Now the credit increase part. When your inquiries start to drop off, guess what, your score starts to increase for each inquiry that drops!!!Strategy #3: I call it the "one pop at a time" technique. FICO rewards you better for one change at a time rather than making many changes all at once. For instance, don't pay off several accts at once. Instead, pay off one at a time and this will increase your score higher than by paying them all at once.Please feel free to share your strategies.
"For some reason I think FICO penalizes opening revolving accounts more than installment accts."
Yes, this is definitely true.