New to FICO... I have some quick questions

[Anonymous]

Ok, great... yeah I am about to pay off both my Credit Cards... I have a car now but have no payments.... I do not plan on buying a house right now just because where I live is stupid expensive.... 2br 2ba in my area is 500k for a condo... that is just stupid....

I guess I need to keep some money on my Credit Card... as for my Circuit City card that is about paid off

wow I am glad you guys think my credit is excellent... I did get a 20k loan on a car at 5.5% apr for 60months from my bank

[Anonymous]

Ok, I just found out that there are 2 CC with $0 balance that belong to my dad.  They also had a former name of mine as my Dad's

I did the correction for equifax and I have to mail in a form.... do I need to do this for the other 2 credit agencies that myFICO offers? or will this cover it?

[Tuscani]

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SSTUDVII wrote:

Ok, I just found out that there are 2 CC with $0 balance that belong to my dad.  They also had a former name of mine as my Dad's

I did the correction for equifax and I have to mail in a form.... do I need to do this for the other 2 credit agencies that myFICO offers? or will this cover it?

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You will need to send letters to the other two as well.

[Anonymous]

does that mean I have to get subscriptions to the other two as well... or can I just go to their website and do it?

[Anonymous]

*Pay off credit balances

*Use credit cards often, but pay the FULL balance monthly

*Sign up for another card (or two), use them, pay the balance in FULL monthly

*Congrats on a great score!

[Anonymous]

A note on my last post: pay your debt over time...monthly payments until you pay off (not the minimum though) and, of course, pay on time.

About your dad's name/card on your report--letters to all three; however, I just read something about FICO removing accounts (the credit cards, etc.) established by parents for their children's benefit.

[Anonymous]

This is a simple one

1) Pay off one of your Credit Cards completely. It is best only to leave a balance, if you need to leave a balance, only on one Credit Card but not more then 34% on the available credit limit. or Just use one even though it is important to keep at least 4 trade line open and active for 2 year with more then a $2000 limit.

2) I think you said you have 2 CC one at a $1,000 limit and another at $8,000. The $1,000 limit is older. Increase this credit limit and most likely there you go.

[Anonymous]

Goto www.annualcreditreport.com to get the other credit reports.

[Anonymous]

The different types of credit will help. A installment loan for a vehicle was your best choice considering our real estate crunch. 

It does not matter if you keep a balance on your cards for reporting.  It is better if you do not.  All you want is to have a timely payment reported, not a balance. Just make sure you have activity on the card to make the payment.  The lower your percentage the better. Top scores are usually under 10%. 

You are going down the right path.  Keep learning.  You already know how important your scores are.  The biggest thing for you is time differnt types of credit.  The longer you have account history the better for your score. 

[Anonymous]

Installment debt can help your FICOs, but I wouldn't buy a bigger car on a loan just to boost my FICOs. Anything over 720 is gold for a mortgage.

Keep your student loans and everything else current.

Follow up on medical visits by checking your health insurance company's website to ensure a claim gets submitted, processed and paid.

Don't let unpaid parking tickets linger.

Don't let overdue library book fees linger.

Medical bills, parking tickets, and library fines (believe it or not) are some of the nitpickiest things imaginable, but they get used to screw over a lot of people.