cc and utilaztion ?

[red456]

My only credit was is now a zero balance and I lost a few points on that last month. This month I charged $74 and then paid half off before due date leaving a 7% UIT.  I am need 3 points on  Equifax to have all three over 640 for FHA loan. Anybody got any idea if this might do this trick.. Thanks. and if your reading this you must be thru Christmas shopping

[RobertEG]

You are under 10%, so have pretty much squeezed the max out of % util.  You may get a few points by going a bit lower, but I doubt that it will be much.  Usually, those who have played with utils say that it is best to keep above 0%  but under 9% for max scoring

In your specific case, having only one CC creates, in my opinion, a bit of a util scoring dilemma.  While you have hit the sweet spot of overall and individ card utils under 10%, another factor may be hurting.  FICO also scores, to what level is uncertain, the percent of cards reporting a balance.  With one card carrying even a dollar of balance, you are at 100% of cards reporting a balance.  Since the weightings of these factors are not known, it is hard to speculate, but there is a chance that by paying the card to $0, you might pick up more than you need by then showing 0% of cards with a balance in that sub-scoring category.  Kinda late to experiment, but that is all I can think of.....

While not directly related to your question, as you have to play with what is now on the table, in my opinion, your util is suffering not so much from its current level, but rather from the lack of plural lines of revolving credit.  If your file contained more than one revolving line of credit, you most likely would have the points you need.

I suggest that your future rebuilding might include at least one more revolving line of credit.

[Anonymous]

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@red456 wrote:

My only credit was is now a zero balance and I lost a few points on that last month. This month I charged $74 and then paid half off before due date leaving a 7% UIT.  I am need 3 points on  Equifax to have all three over 640 for FHA loan. Anybody got any idea if this might do this trick.. Thanks. and if your reading this you must be thru Christmas shopping

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I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Did you lose three points on EQ when you reported a $0 balance?  If so, I hope you'll gain the three points back with a small balance reporting.  YMMV on this - so it's definitely a finger crossing scenario.

What does your report list as the items most hurting your credit?  Sometimes that's the most helpful thing to look at when trying to gather a few points.

[Anonymous]

The Best question I would have for you is what is your time line. As a Mortgage specialist and a consultant on credit, more lines on the credit report will help, the best piece of advice I can give you is go to your present landlord, the one that pulled your credit to get the rental, ask them to make a call and place your rent history on your credit report. That will greatly boost your credit score and give you another line.

[llecs]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The Best question I would have for you is what is your time line. As a Mortgage specialist and a consultant on credit, more lines on the credit report will help, the best piece of advice I can give you is go to your present landlord, the one that pulled your credit to get the rental, ask them to make a call and place your rent history on your credit report. That will greatly boost your credit score and give you another line.

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More lines aren't necessarily better, and in fact, FICO will slightly ding you and/or red flag you (e.g. the annoying red flags on your FICO report) once you hit at or near 30 OC TLs (e.g. opened and clsoed loans, CCs, etc.).

IME, for best results, I found that adding 3 CCs over time, with one being a charge card (store, charge, etc.), tends to create the best mix of credit. Loans really don't do anything and certainly cost money and hurt your score in the short-term more than CCs. There are plenty of examples of posters in here hitting 800+ with no loans and just 3 CCs (provided there's some age too).

Someone correct me if wrong, but I recall reading that FICO will not score a lease or rent history, provided that history isn't a judgment or collection. Landlords don't report, but IIRC there's some sort of recent pilot program with Experian and apartment leasing companies. Seemed like an Admin here posted that rent is excluded from FICO scoring.

ETA...and that's not to say that lenders would ignore it too. They might factor it into their own consideration if reported.