topic Re: Credit Score Plateau in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Credit Score Plateau

Anonymous — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 18:15:50 GMT

I have a question..my credit score has hit a plateau EX 707 TU 734 EQ 741 I’ve paid all my credit cards on time, paying my installment loan on time (couch from Ashley Furniture), have nothing in collections and have nothing bad on my credit report. Why are my scores staying the same? I thought it would have at least gone up a few points by now.

DPs:
Ashley Furniture Loan: $1,559 left out of $3,500 11 mos old
USAA secured: $300 limit 11mos old
CapOne QS1: $500 limit 7 mos old
Chase FU: $2,000 limit 7 mos old
AMEX BCE: $6,000 limit 3 months old

AU Accounts (Closed):
Chase Freedom: $1,000 limit 8yrs old
AMEX Gold Delta: $1,000 limit 6 mos old

AAoA: 1yr 10mos
AoYA:3 mos

No late payments and no derogs on credit report.
Many thanks for replies in advance!

Re: Credit Score Plateau

AllZero — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 19:07:06 GMT

How long have you been waiting?

You need time.

24 months AAoA you will see scorecard segmentation.

<12 months AoYA bonus points.

Re: Credit Score Plateau

zerofire — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 19:33:03 GMT

You are suffering from a young file. All of your accounts are under a year which is where the damage is heaviest. Also your youngest account is barely 3 months which is really new. You can get some points by going past 1yr as well as more points for youngest account getting 6 months. For really good results you want to rack up 2yr. Also if you are using the USAA or Capital One Quicksilver One you will have high utilisation which will be another area where you will get a ding but can quickly recover from. In short you need to wait a bit for a solid profile. Credit is a marathon not a sprint. Those scores are within a few points of what I had when I started.

Re: Credit Score Plateau

Anonymous — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 20:38:29 GMT

@AllZero it has been the same for about 2 alMost 3 months I believe. I was hoping it would go at least a little bit over time.

Re: Credit Score Plateau

Anonymous — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 20:42:36 GMT

@zerofire I use USAA and CapOne for very small purchases ($40 or less) and practice AZEO for the most part. Sometime my Chase FU carries a balance of $90 and my BCE carries a balance no more than $150.00. My Experian app is showing my overall utilization at about 6%, would usage this low hurt my score as well?

I will just have to play the waiting game and let everything age

Re: Credit Score Plateau

Anonymous — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 20:49:30 GMT

what do your reason codes say? this can give a clue about how to improve your score

but your score is doing just fine, compare it to my score, my credit is about as old as yours if you don't consider the au cards.

Re: Credit Score Plateau

AllZero — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 21:59:29 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@AllZero it has been the same for about 2 alMost 3 months I believe. I was hoping it would go at least a little bit over time.

If you have a thin, young file, you might experience score improvement when AoYA reaches 3 months and again at 6 months.

Re: Credit Score Plateau

Anonymous — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 23:14:26 GMT

@AllZero wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@AllZero it has been the same for about 2 alMost 3 months I believe. I was hoping it would go at least a little bit over time.
If you have a thin, young file, you might experience score improvement when AoYA reaches 3 months and again at 6 months.

I read some posts here that 3 revolving + 1 installment is considered a thick file. I also read theories that it could be as high as 5 +1. With 4 + 1, would the OP move to a thick file by adding another revolving line?

Re: Credit Score Plateau

AllZero — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 23:25:03 GMT

^ I can't recall the exact number what was considered thin vs thick. I'll have to look it up.

For future readers, closed accounts is included in number of accounts until removed from credit report.

Re: Credit Score Plateau

AllZero — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 23:45:05 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@AllZero wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@AllZero it has been the same for about 2 alMost 3 months I believe. I was hoping it would go at least a little bit over time.
If you have a thin, young file, you might experience score improvement when AoYA reaches 3 months and again at 6 months.
I read some posts here that 3 revolving + 1 installment is considered a thick file. I also read theories that it could be as high as 5 +1. With 4 + 1, would the OP move to a thick file by adding another revolving line?

Well, had a read. Nothing conclusive. It would be based on the scoring model used. It could the 3, 4, or 5.

Re: Credit Score Plateau

Anonymous — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 23:53:07 GMT

File thickness is based on both open and closed accounts. That being said, the OP has 7 accounts on his CR, so his file can no longer be considered thin.

Re: Credit Score Plateau

Anonymous — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 23:56:51 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@AllZero it has been the same for about 2 alMost 3 months I believe. I was hoping it would go at least a little bit over time.

2-3 months is not "over time" when you're talking the credit game. The credit time line is over years, not months. Unless you have dramatic things changing with your file (dirty file becoming clean, massive utilization paydown, etc) score gains will be slow. One way to stunt score growth though without question is applying for credit. With your youngest account being 3 months old, you've got a decent amount of time to go before you see any real (more than a few points) gains IMO. I think your first benchmark will be when your AoYA reaches 12 months, where you may see 15-20 points gained at that time. That of course assumes no new accounts are acquired between now and then, otherwise the clock gets reset.

Re: Credit Score Plateau

zerofire — Sun, 27 Oct 2019 18:39:45 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@zerofire I use USAA and CapOne for very small purchases ($40 or less) and practice AZEO for the most part. Sometime my Chase FU carries a balance of $90 and my BCE carries a balance no more than $150.00. My Experian app is showing my overall utilization at about 6%, would usage this low hurt my score as well?

I will just have to play the waiting game and let everything age

If you are using AZEO then you are over optimizing the score. However the amount charged is not large enough to cause too much of a difference if you let it report. The things that are hurting you most are the young age and small limits. Mostly the former than the later. Sit back, relax, and wait 10 months.

Re: Credit Score Plateau

FireMedic1 — Sun, 27 Oct 2019 21:49:11 GMT

@zerofire wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@zerofire I use USAA and CapOne for very small purchases ($40 or less) and practice AZEO for the most part. Sometime my Chase FU carries a balance of $90 and my BCE carries a balance no more than $150.00. My Experian app is showing my overall utilization at about 6%, would usage this low hurt my score as well?

I will just have to play the waiting game and let everything age
If you are using AZEO then you are over optimizing the score. However the amount charged is not large enough to cause too much of a difference if you let it report. The things that are hurting you most are the young age and small limits. Mostly the former than the later. Sit back, relax, and wait 10 months.

Util is what matters. FICO doesnt care what the credit limit is. Its whats reported.

@Anonymous as long as you stay under 8.99% your fine.