topic Credit Cards I hate these things...... in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Credit Cards I hate these things......

susanto2826 — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 17:25:22 GMT

Everything I'm going to tell you was made with good intentions on my part....didn't work out tho.

The only CC that I have had for like 8 years has been the Military Star Card. Last year right about this time

I decided to get a CC so I can get some more payment history going to help my Credit score which was at like

745 at the time. I applied for a CC at my bank and got a limit of 15,000 I capped it at 1000 so they made a hard inquiry

on my Credit Score which dropped it by like 75points! kid you not. I then decided to increase it to 1,500 dollars and little

did I know they did anothe inquiry which dropped it again ( I know stupid on my part). My main question is about credit utilization.

I have 2 cards the Military Star card with a limit of 8,200 and my bank CC with a limit of 1,500...

balance of AAFES card is 1,777 and my bank CC has a balance of 1,418 soo..according to the credit util % I'm at 33% credit utilization..is this hurting my score? Also, I figured by using my CC a lot and paying it off every month faithfully it would help my CC score but looks like I used too much so today I made a payment of 970.00 to my CC dropping the balance to 448 and dropping my credit utilization number down to 22% did this today. I play on getting a new car in about 3 months so I am preparing my score to get the best available rate. If you are going to ask me if I have my score yet....I don't wanna know why??? because when I try to check on my score I am bombarded with all kinds of offers to drag it out of multiple systems can someone just give me a link to pay a minimal amount to check it and I will but I already know where mine hovers because of those 2 inquiries I'm sure it's at a low 600 right now my point is.....Did I lower my credit UTIL enough to warrant a boost in my Credit Score that's all I need to know...thank you for your time.

Re: Credit Cards I hate these things......

Anonymous — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 17:35:02 GMT

What likely happened with your original approval is that you cut your average age of accounts in half by adding a new card. Add to that the inquiry, and the drop isn't too bad. It will recover pretty quickly.

Why did you reduce your limit? That would have pretty much completely avoided your utilization issues if you'd left it where it was. The utilization is almost certainly reducing the score.

Re: Credit Cards I hate these things......

2GreenThumbs — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 17:38:20 GMT

It would help you out to know your real scores (Fico vs. Fako). You can get those at creditchecktotal for a $1 for the first week IIRC. But you have to remember to cancel before the first week is up or they'll charge you. To be honest, I remember having really difficult time cancelling. You can also get your real experian score on their website. Personally, if I know that I've got a major credit app coming up, I'll re-start MyFico subscription and monitor my scores. Then, when I'm gardening, I cancel my subscription.

Re: Credit Cards I hate these things......

HeavenOhio — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 17:39:33 GMT

If the addition of a second card caused a loss of 75 points, you probably weren't looking at a FICO score. You can sign up for a $1 trial at Experian. That'll get you your three reports, three FICO 8s, and a handful of other Experian FICOs. You may see better news within those scores.

33% is a bit above the 28.9% that generally puts one in the second best scoring tier, so you definitely have some points on the table. If you want to get the best scores possible, report a tiny balance on one card (between $5 and $25), with the other reporting zero.

Re: Credit Cards I hate these things......

CreditInspired — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 17:48:18 GMT

@susanto2826 wrote:
Everything I'm going to tell you was made with good intentions on my part....didn't work out tho.
The only CC that I have had for like 8 years has been the Military Star Card. Last year right about this time
I decided to get a CC so I can get some more payment history going to help my Credit score which was at like
745 at the time. I applied for a CC at my bank and got a limit of 15,000 I capped it at 1000 so they made a hard inquiry
on my Credit Score which dropped it by like 75points! kid you not. I then decided to increase it to 1,500 dollars and little
did I know they did anothe inquiry which dropped it again ( I know stupid on my part). My main question is about credit utilization.

I have 2 cards the Military Star card with a limit of 8,200 and my bank CC with a limit of 1,500...

balance of AAFES card is 1,777 and my bank CC has a balance of 1,418 soo..according to the credit util % I'm at 33% credit utilization..is this hurting my score? Also, I figured by using my CC a lot and paying it off every month faithfully it would help my CC score but looks like I used too much so today I made a payment of 970.00 to my CC dropping the balance to 448 and dropping my credit utilization number down to 22% did this today. I play on getting a new car in about 3 months so I am preparing my score to get the best available rate. If you are going to ask me if I have my score yet....I don't wanna know why??? because when I try to check on my score I am bombarded with all kinds of offers to drag it out of multiple systems can someone just give me a link to pay a minimal amount to check it and I will but I already know where mine hovers because of those 2 inquiries I'm sure it's at a low 600 right now my point is.....Did I lower my credit UTIL enough to warrant a boost in my Credit Score that's all I need to know...thank you for your time.

Hi and welcome to MyFICO

So yes, you're on the right track by wanting to know your FICO scores. Go to the CCT link and the end of this paragraph. The cost is $1 for a 7-day free trial and you will get your EQ, EX and TU scores. But you MUST cancel by day 7 or you will be automatically enrolled monthly. https://www.creditchecktotal.com/

Second, since you have a Military Star Card, I am also hoping and praying that you are a member of NFCU. If you are not, please join today.

So now on to the Military Star Card. I am confused--if you got a CL of $15K, why did you ask for it to be capped at a $1K SL unless I'm reading that wrong. That $15K CL alone would have been a lifesaver for your UT.

Next, if your credit score dropped 75 points, either one of two things happened: (1) it wasn't FICO scores and/or (2) something else occurred at the same time. Examples of this are a late payment, a collection, a lien/judgement, or a returned check.

Now on to UT:

Star card $8,200 CL/$1777 balance (22%UT)

Bank card $1,500 CL/$1418 (95%UT) -- maxed out THIS IS DEFINITELY HURTING YOUR SCORE

So, I definitely suggest getting your FICO scores before going car shopping and before applying for anything really. Also, if you join NFCU you will get your FICO 9 scores and they offer great products to include loans and CCs.

So once you get your scores, come back here and let us know what they are, and we will guide you further.

GL2U

Re: Credit Cards I hate these things......

susanto2826 — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 17:48:34 GMT

I replied to you guys but this forum crashed and it was a lot typed sorry not typing it again but thanks for all your replies I appreciate all the info.

Re: Credit Cards I hate these things......

susanto2826 — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 17:52:25 GMT

I just paid off that one Bank CC which is a federal credit union so I have a good bank. so now my balance is 448 which puts it a little below 30% which is like 29% something like that but I thought credit utilization was a cummilation of all your credit cards not just one?

Re: Credit Cards I hate these things......

Anonymous — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 17:57:32 GMT

OP, you were given a starting limit of $15,000 but self-initiated a credit line decrease to $1000? May I ask why? In doing that you dramatically hurt your utilization, since you're basically running that card maxed out (~$1400 on the increase to $1500 limit). Now, if you lowered that limit because you didn't feel you had the self-restraint to avoid spending all of it, you made the right choice; add a "0" to those balances above and you'd be at $14k in debt on the original SL of $15, which would be much more financially straining.

I agree with the others that you're probably not looking at Fico scores, as an inquiry isn't going to drop a score 75 points. Even the inquiry with the age of accounts reductions once the accoutn reports 9 times out of 10 won't drop a score that much.

If you go to creditscorecard.com or creditscore.com you can grab a free EX Fico 8 score to know where you really stand.

Also, "usage" of your credit limit (spending a lot and paying it off verses spending a little and paying it off) does not impact your Fico score at all. This is a common misconception where people think they get more points for a heavier spend. The Fico algorithm doesn't care about spend dollars. All it is looking at is that your payments are made on time and whatever the reported balance is on the card at any given moment in time.

For example, one month you spend $10 on the card and pay off $5 of it, allowing the remaining $5 to report to the bureaus. The following month you spend $10,000 on the card, making many payments throughout the month (since the limit wouldn't allow that spend otherwise). The combinations of all of your payments total $9995, so you again leave behind a $5 balance to report to the bureaus. All other things being equal, if you pulled your scores both months your scores would be identical. Case in point, spend doesn't impact Fico scoring.

Re: Credit Cards I hate these things......

susanto2826 — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 18:06:24 GMT

Yah I know I probably shouldn't of decreased the credit card limit I didn't know that it was going to impact me so hard on the credit score I worked very hard to get my score up above into the 700's finance co. of my car gave me the readout 5 years ago it was at 765 at one point so hopefully keeping the second cc low will help me increase my score in the next 3 months....thats why my title said I HATE CREDIT CARDS.

Re: Credit Cards I hate these things......

CreditInspired — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 18:17:59 GMT

@susanto2826 wrote:
@
CreditInspired

I just paid off that one Bank CC which is a federal credit union so I have a good bank. so now my balance is 448 which puts it a little below 30% which is like 29% something like that but I thought credit utilization was a cummilation of all your credit cards not just one?

UT applies to each credit card and also across the board. So across the board, less than 28.9%; and each card less than 8.9%. The more CCs with a $0 balance is also great. But never all cards reporting $0.

Also, and I learned this the hard way, when the system crashes and comes back up, click on your avatar, go to My Profile, and scroll down to Drafts. You will find the draft post there.

Re: Credit Cards I hate these things......

susanto2826 — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 18:32:23 GMT

current scoreSo this is what I got with Experian much higher than I thought or do they just want me to apply for credit cards? and how accurate is this the last time I checked my credit score was 12 months ago and it was about 745

Re: Credit Cards I hate these things......

2GreenThumbs — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 18:58:43 GMT

I'd say you look like you're in great shape! Congrats...excellent score!

Re: Credit Cards I hate these things......

susanto2826 — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 19:09:13 GMT

Thanks for all the help today I guess I'm just being paranoid but I learned about UT didn't even know about that so I learned something today thanks folks for all the help.....

Re: Credit Cards I hate these things......

Anonymous — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 19:41:15 GMT

your score changes often. a year is a long time to go w/o checking. my scores change at least 15 times per month with the # of accounts I have reporting at different times w/ different balances.

utilization is easier when you grow your CL's and then you can be a bit more lax with the spending reporting and taking away points. just set a mental limit and leave the actual limits intact.