Good Credit Mix

[OptimalCS]

What does FICO consider to be a good credit mix?

I use to think it was;

• One car loan account (Installment-Type Account)
• One Visa card account (Revolving – Type Account)
• One American Express card (Revolving)
• One Department Store card (Revolving)
• Something else – Gas card (Revolving)? 90 day same as cash loan (Installment)? Another Department Store card (Revolving)?

But now I not sure anymore?

[geronimo2008]

I am not sure that there isa single right answer for all.

However the standard guidance---at least in terms of having balances reporting is to have only one revolving account and for that to be at 3-9% (and they round uop0  of the available credit.  I don't think they care if the account happens to be associated with CISA, MC or Amex or even another retailer.

as for the car loan it might help or hurt, there really is not enough info to say  The same could be said of a mortgage account.

I am sorry to not be more precise but the actual scoring algorithms are pretty complex and can't really be fully explained withouta lot more info----and even then the algorithms are propriestary and we would be making educated guesses based on the experience of others.

[llecs]

Ditto. It'll always be a YMMV situation based on a number of things. IME, I saw improvements when I added my first 3 CCs, of which 2 were revolving and one was a store. Anything beyond that dropped my score. IME, a loan never helped (auto) and one report did increase (which means it hurt vs. help) and the other FICO (TU) dropped which means it helped, both by single digits. The initial drop that would have been measured due to the new credit would have outweighed any gain on TU. My new mortgage dropped both our scores, though others have reported small gains. Always YMMV.

[Anonymous]

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@Aim720 wrote:

What does FICO consider to be a good credit mix?

I use to think it was;

• One car loan account (Installment-Type Account)
• One Visa card account (Revolving – Type Account)
• One American Express card (Revolving)
• One Department Store card (Revolving)
• Something else – Gas card (Revolving)? 90 day same as cash loan (Installment)? Another Department Store card (Revolving)?

But now I not sure anymore?

---

FICO looks for one bank/national CC (FICO Reason Code #3).  You only need one to satisfy that FICO code. 

After that, it's what works best for you.

DH's pattern was a major score increase for the first bank/national CC, then a small increase for the second one, and no change for the third one.

On the auto loans, we just refinanced ours and DH saw a 16 point drop.  My FICO didn't budget.  I have another installment reporting - a student loan.  He has no other installments reporting - just the car loan that was replaced with the refinance, and they're from the same CU so they reported on the same day.

There are so many constantly moving points on your CR, that it's very hard to come up with a universal one-size-fits-all recommendation.

IME and IMO, sometimes folks tend to open more accounts than they need to (or even prefer to) in an effort to keep FICO happy. 

So, the bottom line is, we're all not exactly sure.  You're in good company!!!

[haulingthescoreup]

The store/ gas card thing appears to be a non-starter.

I'd say

• 3 CC's of any kind, as long as at least one is a bank card (Visa, MC, Discover, AmEx) from a big-boy bank, and ideally at least one reports credit limits.
• 1 open installment
• maybe a mortgage, although there are plenty of people with scores in the 800's without a mortgage