No credit card required
Browse credit cards from a variety of issuers to see if there's a better card for you.
My score, at 2 years 7 months, is 767. In a month when my auto loan inquiries reach 6 months, I expect 770+. My overall utlization is just under 10%, and about half of my credit cards are reporting balances, so I have room for further improvement. If I really try, I think I can reach 780 in a month or two.
@abundancejones wrote:Around the 3 year mark if you have no file. AU cards can ge you there in a year.
This is what I experienced, 3 years for me. It didn't stay at 800 or above long, maybe a month.
@abundancejones wrote:Around the 3 year mark if you have no file. AU cards can ge you there in a year.
+1, you can easily start at 720/730 from no score/report and reach 800 in 3 years 'naturally'. It could be sooner if you can AU backdate or use the SSL technique.
DW score reached 800 after 2 years 8 months. No apps in the last year and a car loan of 15 months out of 60. BT and new cards/HPs keep her current score around 765.
My score reached 800 after 1 year 5 months thanks to backdating, only credit cards no loans. It could've been sooner but the backdating was done a couple of months before reaching 800.
@HiLine wrote:My score, at 2 years 7 months, is 767. In a month when my auto loan inquiries reach 6 months, I expect 770+. My overall utlization is just under 10%, and about half of my credit cards are reporting balances, so I have room for further improvement. If I really try, I think I can reach 780 in a month or two.
If you want some extra points, you should be able to get some by keeping your utilization at under 8.99%. Because FICO always rounds percents up, your utilization of 9.x% is being rounded to 10%. Even a utilization of 9.03% gets rounded up to 10%. The crucial breakpoint is 8.99%.
You may also be able to get some points by keeping less than half of your cards at $0, rather than roughly half. Also, I think that the official language used in FICO's reason codes and in its published accounts simply describes the problem of having too many "accounts" with a positive balance -- not revolving accounts specifically. Thus depending on how many installment loans you have showing a positive balance you might IMO get some benefit from making almost all of your cards showing $0 rather than focusing on just under half of your cards.
Both of these steps can be done in the 40 days before an important credit pull, so I am not suggesting that you need to do them all the time. You are fine where you are. But any time you do want the extra points, I'd try executing AZEO (All cards at Zero Except One) with the remaining card reporting a small positive balance.
I'm 9-10 months in from having no score. My highest now is EQ08 at 770. It could be higher if I applied for all my accounts at month 0 and never applied again.
@Anonymous wrote:
How did you get your cards on your signature to do that? Pretty.
There's a pinned message in Smorgasboard on how to put your cards in your signature.
Least on last info I saw it takes about 2 years to get to 800, but I don't think we've seen the test run from a no-file to 800 yet using all the tricks that have been learned since then.
This is all such great perspective. It's helping me to shape my goals.