No change this month

Anonymous · ‎06-28-2008

My EQ score did not change one bit in the last month though there were small changes on my CR.

Revolving Acct Balance was $4753, now $3550

Installment Loans was $5578, now $5256

Number of Accounts the same at 23

Accounts with balances the same at 5

Oldest Account 12y 6m, now 12y 7 m.

Average age of accounts now 6 years, was 5 years

Ratio of revolving accounts was 6%, now 5%

How much of a change does it take? Pay off everything? I'll see how it updates next month since my revolving is now just one account and it's down to $3000, will be about $2000 sometime this month. Installment is loan is now $4900 and will be down to $4600 this month.

smallfry · ‎06-28-2008

@Anonymous wrote:
My EQ score did not change one bit in the last month though there were small changes on my CR.
Revolving Acct Balance was $4753, now $3550
Installment Loans was $5578, now $5256
Number of Accounts the same at 23
Accounts with balances the same at 5
Oldest Account 12y 6m, now 12y 7 m.
Average age of accounts now 6 years, was 5 years
Ratio of revolving accounts was 6%, now 5%
How much of a change does it take? Pay off everything? I'll see how it updates next month since my revolving is now just one account and it's down to $3000, will be about $2000 sometime this month. Installment is loan is now $4900 and will be down to $4600 this month.

I've gone as long as 6 months with the same scores on all 3 reports.

Anonymous · ‎06-28-2008

PittsburgPamela wrote:
My EQ score did not change one bit in the last month though there were small changes on my CR.

Revolving Acct Balance was $4753, now $3550
Installment Loans was $5578, now $5256
Number of Accounts the same at 23
Accounts with balances the same at 5
Oldest Account 12y 6m, now 12y 7 m.
Average age of accounts now 6 years, was 5 years
Ratio of revolving accounts was 6%, now 5%

How much of a change does it take? Pay off everything? I'll see how it updates next month since my revolving is now just one account and it's down to $3000, will be about $2000 sometime this month. Installment is loan is now $4900 and will be down to $4600 this month.

If you have a high score to start with (which I assume you do) it takes a lot more to increase your score. You might get a small boost from going below 5% utility or by lowering your number of accounts reporting.

Your account age and average age are good, but lengthy enough that you will no longer get a point or two every few months. In addition, aside from financial reasons, I would not worry about paying down installments. Installment utility is such a small factor and people rarely see point increases until they are below %15 or so.

You are probably near maxed out on points unless you have a baddie on your report you can get goodwilled or pfd. I recommend 1 card report a 1-5% balance if you want to max your score. Don't worry about your installment debt at this point.

Message Edited by debtisgood on 06-28-2008 01:31 PM

Anonymous · ‎06-28-2008

Pamela, you're pretty much at the horizontal asymptote for improving your FICO score. Past the 760s or so, you can expect progress to be very slow. On the other hand, if you mess up, FICO will be quick to whack your score.

The good news is that you're pretty much at the top of the food chain in terms of getting great interest rates on loans. Even if you DID push into the 800s, you'd probably only get a couple tenths of a percent shaved off your interest rates.

Anonymous · ‎06-29-2008

I actually got a ScoreWatch alert today... Says that my previously dormant Chase card had a balance increase of $28 but that it didn't effect my score. The card hasn't been dormant. If I use a card and pay in full before it reports then MyFico doesn't see a balance or use?

Wonder what it would do if Chase reports the $320 that I just put on the card Friday? It will be paid in full before it reports again.

That is the second alert that I got about a "dormant" card reporting a balance, the last one was $57 on a Citibank card. I decided to use a different card each month for incidental purchases so that they will report use.

smallfry · ‎06-29-2008

@Anonymous wrote:
I actually got a ScoreWatch alert today... Says that my previously dormant Chase card had a balance increase of $28 but that it didn't effect my score. The card hasn't been dormant. If I use a card and pay in full before it reports then MyFico doesn't see a balance or use?
Wonder what it would do if Chase reports the $320 that I just put on the card Friday? It will be paid in full before it reports again.
That is the second alert that I got about a "dormant" card reporting a balance, the last one was $57 on a Citibank card. I decided to use a different card each month for incidental purchases so that they will report use.

I think FICO has some type of internal code where they can see CC usage even if it doesn't report a balance.