From ZERO to 700 club across the board in 10 months! Thank you guys!

[Anonymous]

Hey everyone,

I have been lurking here since January, following a lot of the advice given, and just wanted to thank everyone: I went from zero across the board to 700's across the board in just 10 months thanks in large part to the wisdom on these forums.

I'll share more of my story when I get the time, and excuse the fact that I don't know a lot of the acronyms used here on the board yet.  But basic story is this:

I'm an American expat who left the US 14 years ago and 'never looked back,' until January of this year, when I started getting the urge to 'restablish' my self in the US should I decide to move back there in the future.

No credit activity for 14 years so I started with a totally clean slate in January of this year - 0's across the board.

App'd for CapOne Platinum unsecured in January and got a $300 SL.  That has been bumped to $500 and then $750 over the last 10 months, and PC'd to QS a few days ago.  Also back in January I set up a secured loan with 'SelfLender.com' which is now paid off to the 'sweet spot' below 10%.  

In June and July, I got the Indigo MC ($300 line that can't be increased) and also CapOne Sony with a $500 SL that hasn't been increased since.

August, Amazon store card with $700 SL (this got bumped up to $5,000 after hitting the love button several times in a row about a month ago).

A couple of weeks ago I set up the Alliant SSL, though that still isn't reporting.

Now for the fun stuff - I went on a bit of a 'spree' last month and got my first decent SL's.  Discover-It $3k, BofA Travel Rewards $1.9k, PenFed PowerCash Sig Visa $2.5k!

I'm now in the 700 club across the board (EQ 731, TU 717, EX 712) - and PenFed and Discover haven't even started reporting yet.  Honestly never thought i'd make it that far in less than a year from ZERO, and without being added as an AU or anything else.  

Total util is below 10%.  Of course, never late and I pay each card several times per month.  

I plan on going into the garden until early 2019, besides requesting a couple of CLIs in 6 to 9 months (maybe).

Only thing dragging me down now is a AAoA measured in months instead of years and 12 to 20 inquiries depending on report.

Just wanted to thank the regular contributors here.  And should any of you have any suggestions for even further improvement, I'm all for it!

I'll be closing the (barf) Indigo card I'm sure.  I'd like to do an account combo on the CapOne QS and Sony but apparently it can't be done on co-branded cards so I guess I'll just stick The Sony one in the sock drawer, it doesn't really serve me any purpose as I don't care about Sony rewards.  Hoping for a decent increase on the QS in the next 6 months.

At any rate, I'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions to get me to yet the next phase!  First goal is to get to 740+ across the board, then hopefully into the 800 club.

[Anonymous]

Congrats!

Be aware that the age of your oldest reported account has a huge effect on your maximum FICO score, so for getting into higher tiers, you just need to age the oldest account.

Also be aware that new account activity can ding you for quite a bit more than people realize: inquiries start hurting less after they're 6 months old and not at all at 12 months.  Any brand new accounts penalize your FICO the most for 0-3 months, then less for 3-6 months, the they're no longer a new account penalty on them after 6 months of aging.

So just gardening for 6 months may have a HUGE effect on your FICO scores!  Consider doing that and I bet you'll be closer to 740 than you realize.

Once that Alliant SSL reports under 8.9% utilization and that self lender loan is also under 8.9%, you should see a small boost as well.

Super congrats again -- please consider now focusing on your emergency nest egg instead of new accounts.  The more savings you sock away, the less financial anxiety you will have for the rest of your life!

[Anonymous]

You my friend are on the same journey, started at almost the same time.

I started in March, at 520.

Now my highest score is 709 (lowest still 656 so I am not there yet)

Come to the garden, stay there.  Become strong.

Only thing, drop that indigo.  You dont need it.  I am going to drop mine in a couple months myself.  It will never grow.

[HeavenOhio]

@Anonymous wrote:

Be aware that the age of your oldest reported account has a huge effect on your maximum FICO score, so for getting into higher tiers, you just need to age the oldest account.

In this case, the OP's cards are close in age and relatively new. If the oldest account were lousy, I woudn't worry about closing. But the OP's oldest card is a Quicksilver, which is a useful card with no fee. That makes the point moot at this time. Down the road, it could become significant, though.

OP, you've done a great job so far. There's only one lousy card in the mix. A lot of rebuilders can't say that. You might decide that you want to close the Sony card at some point, just to get it out of your hair. But there's no rush to make that decision.

[Anonymous]

congrats!! and welcome back?! lol

my BF went from 0 to 735/709/709 in 8 months.. its kinda hilarious to me!

his started with snap-on(yes yes i know)- they gave a kid with no credit a $3500 toolbox...

now hes got the Cap1 which just went from 300-500 and a $3000 paypal 2%mc (we both almost fell in the floor 😂)

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone for the great advice and encouragement.

I'm a little concerned about where the 'dust will settle' once Discover, PenFed, and Alliant SSL start reporting, all at the same time.  I'm expecting a ding, but that's fine because it will age off.  Just hoping that the newly opened BofA+Discover+PenFed don't get 'spooked' by each other all coming on at the same time and lower my new credit lines (I do realize that those lines aren't much compared to some posters here with $25k+ lines etc but those are the largest lines on my file, all opened just last month).  

Re: the Indigo card, I have an itching to close that account on Monday after paying off a token $81 I put on there a couple weeks ago.  However, the annual fee isn't due until July of next year, so even though I'd prefer to just get rid of it now, would it better to keep it until say June, use it for some minor stuff and pay it off every month in full so that it has more months of history before being closed?  Any 'benefit' to keeping it until close to the annual fee due date?  Like another poster said, its the only totally garbage card or credit line in my file so I'm keen to get rid of it but if there is any benefit into racking up some more billing cycles before closing it out, I'll hold onto it until then.

Hope you guys have a great weekend.

[Anonymous]

personally i think if your over it and want to close it then do it.. i closed a couple of store cards cause i was spending money i didnt need to be spending just to try for cli..

i dont understand how people manage 25+ cards lol..

[Anonymous]

Thanks Sasha.  Honestly, I don't suffer from temptation to over-spend, even to increase CLIs or FICO.  I'm very disclipined.  If I was tempted by anything, it would actually be the Amazon card haha So I'm really only looking at this from a FICO perspective, if it would be better to leave the Indigo open until June/July next year to have another 6 or 7 months of history.

As far as spending goes though, I would be interested to know if anyone has had any experience with my CC lenders (CapOne, BofA, PenFed, Discover) as far as charging obviously business-related expenses to those cards (which are 'personal' cards, not biz cards, but I am self-employed and I have been running - and paying off in full, or 90%+ each month - some biz expenses through, often times paying 4+ times per month).  When I say 'obviously business related' I'm not talking about hotels and flights, I'm talking about things like fees from public relations companies, online advertising (Google) etc.  

I am asking because I saw recently another thread here on the boards where someone claims their CapOne personal card was shutdown because (allegedly) CapOne took offense to "consumer" cards (like QS) being used for "business" purposes. 

Curious if I should be concerned about this with any of my current CC providers - namely, CapOne, BofA, PenFed or Discover.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
personally i think if your over it and want to close it then do it.. i closed a couple of store cards cause i was spending money i didnt need to be spending just to try for cli..

i dont understand how people manage 25+ cards lol..

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Of the 22 cards I have, five are in my wallet and have a purpose.  Only two of them are used on the regular.  The other three of those five are kept for just in case for specific spending at specific places I go to a lot.  

The other 17 are rubber banded inside of a folded up envelope in my safe.  Each one has been used at least once, but I do not keep them on me or even near me.

Every account that can be has autopay for double the minimum payment enabled, is electronic billing, and is linked to my email.  My budget software also tells me 3-5 days in advance of when each payment is due or if it has been made.

It was a lot of work to set up, and any changes are a pain in the buttocks, but with 22 cards, a car payment, 3 utility bills, a housing payment, and everything else, I have never missed a single payment since I started the system.

[Anonymous]

Also RE:  Indigo

Yeah mine rolls over the AF in August or Sept, id have to look.

Thats why I said a few months for me, i plan to close around april or may, keeping it til the month before probably wouldnt hurt unless somehow you got stuck on the customer service line and couldnt speak to a live rep in time to cancel.

Not that Celtic is like that, but another grrrrrr card I have is very much like that, dropped calls, mysterious hangups on transfers, etc.  That would be Credit One.  -_-