My score Stuck At 802..How to go higher?

[Anonymous]

Hello All,

Posting to see if anyone can suggest what I can do to go a little higher than 802.

I have come a long way paying down my 50K of debt over 2 years and about 4 months ago I got it down to zero and my score went to 802. I am really happy with the 802, but would like to go just a little higher. 

Here is what I got:

235K total credit

Zero balance across 10 credit card accounts.

The oldest account is 20 years old and the newest is one year old.

The average age of my all my accounts is 10 years

1 inquire that is 1 year old

Highest credit limit is 45K and lowest is 5K

I don't have any installment loans

There is nothing left for my to pay and was wondering what else can be done? Is not having any balances report hurting me or helping me. I read to have just $5 report on one account and the rest zero.  That did nothing for me.

[Pway]

Having no installment loan could be hurting you as well as having all your cards report a zero balance.  You should have one card report between 1-9% each month.

BTW congrats on getting your debt paid off.

[pipeguy]

Run a small balance on one or two cards and that'll pop you up a little, adding an installment loan will add to that. I'm NOT suggesting that you go into debt with an installment loan, I'm just saying that having one helps increase scores. As far as  carrying a balance on 1 or 2 cards, this is done by letting a small amount "report" each month and then paying it right away so there is no interest charged, it's just the timing of your payment in full.

Fico score(s) is a risk measurement of past and present factors toward future usage, if you have no reported revolving or installment debt there is NO current risk factor to grade/score. While a Fico score grades your history, it's more of a look forward for lenders as far as potential risk and your current credit usage is a strong factor - with no current usage there is nothing to grade so you lose points. 

That being said, there is nothing to gain credit-wise from having a 850 over your current 802, it's a nice ego boost and feels good to be graded A+++, but as far as credit lines, loans, mortgages, approvals, et al.... 802 will get you anything 850 will 

[Anonymous]

The typical score boost that people appear to get from adding an installment loan and then promptly paying off most if it is 30-35 points.  (This assumes that they have no open installment loans of any kind.)  If you are curious to read up more about this technique, take a look at the the first two posts on this thread.  Then if you want to move forward with it, read the step by step instructions in the third post.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Adding-an-installment-loan-the-Share-Secu...

[Anonymous]

I would try letting 2-3 of your 10 cards report a small balance, say $10 each.  You should see a 10 point gain minimum, more like 15-20 across each bureau.  With all of your balances paid off you aren't using any revolving credit (in the eyes of FICO) so you lose out on those points.  I'd estimate you'd like an 820 if you do this.

The share secure loan technique is also something you can do which would certainly give you at least that many points again, but there's really no need.  As others have stated, your score is already golden and pushing it higher really isn't necessary.  If it's "just because" that's fine, I get it.  By knocking out both of these techniques you'd be just about as close to 850 as you can get, IMO.

[Anonymous]

Going to try and let $10 report to 3 of my 10 cards and see what happens.

[manyquestions]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Going to try and let $10 report to 3 of my 10 cards and see what happens.

---

I'd recommend doing  the Alliant secured loan trick if you are interested in trying to hit 850.  From what you have described of your current situation, you have a good chance to get to that level. It might be worth 35 points on your clean, aged, no installment loans report..

[Anonymous]

If the OP is willing to test it out, I would be interested to see how his scores turn out.  I'd estimate 835-845 out of the gate by implementing both ideas (reporting 3 small balances only and the share secure loan technique) and in sustaining this for 3-6 months I believe 850 could be achieved.

[Anonymous]

That is so very awesome - 50K debt gone is over 2 years! ...and I love your 802. Good luck in getting it even higher!

[Anonymous]

We had a test case on Aug 31 a guy who went from 820 to 850 simply by implementing the SS Loan approach.  Since 850 is the absolute ceiling, it's quite possible that his boost would have been even greater if his initial score was a bit lower, e.g. 810.

The most recent test case got a boost of 46 at EQ and 34 at the other two.  46 is high but not precedented.  34 (give or take a point) is much more common.

Our OP is a prime candidate for the technique, since he not only has no open installment loans, he doesn't have any closed ones either.  If he really wanted to take a swing for the sake of science, he could change his CC balances now and wait for the score increase.  Then he could add the Alliant loan in early November (the loan will not appear on his reports until early December).  By checking his FICO scores in late November, he'd know for certain how much benefit he got from optimizing his CC's.  Then in mid Dec he could check again for the score increase due to the loan.

BBS can explain to our OP how he can get a pull of his scores timed for exactly when he wants it, only for $1.