topic Re: FICO score finally crossed the 750 mark in Understanding FICO® Scoring

FICO score finally crossed the 750 mark

joeyv1985 — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 22:10:36 GMT

This is a good day!! Finally crossed the 750 mark on my FICO 8 score on the Experian website. Score is 753 as of this writing. Folks, if I can do it, so can you. I know these are trying times for some of you, but hang in there. I ran into some financial hardships back in '08 and some medical issues as well, so I know the proverbial "feeling". With that said, does anyone know how correlated the Vantage 3.0 model on Credit Karma's website is compared to Experian's website. Per CK's website, I can expect an update in about 2 days(737 TU/734 EQ), so I'm anxious to see how their score's will stack up to EXPs' FICO 8 model. I always found that their scores were lower by about 10 points or so compared to the EXP website.

Re: FICO score finally crossed the 750 mark

AllZero — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 22:21:34 GMT

Congratulations on your success!

$1 you can obtain your 3 bureau FICO 8 reports at Experian.com or creditchecktotal.com. Cancel in 7 day or less to avoid the re-occurring monthly charge. Wash, Rinse, and Repeat as needed.

Re: FICO score finally crossed the 750 mark

joeyv1985 — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 22:24:41 GMT

@AllZero wrote:
Congratulations on your success!

$1 you can obtain your 3 bureau FICO 8 reports at Experian.com or creditchecktotal.com. Cancel in 7 day or less to avoid the re-occurring monthly charge. Wash, Rinse, and Repeat as needed.

Thanks AllZero,

I just might try that.

Re: FICO score finally crossed the 750 mark

thornback — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 22:27:09 GMT

Congrats on hitting 753 on EX FICO 8!! Big, big milestone !!

As for how Vantage will track.... who knows... lol. Do you know what made your FICO 8 jump? If it was due to utilization decrease, then you can reasonably expect an increase in Vantage as well... anything else is a like a flipping of a coin as to what Vantage may do, if anything at all.

Re: FICO score finally crossed the 750 mark

joeyv1985 — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 22:38:55 GMT

@thornback wrote:
Congrats on hitting 753 on EX FICO 8!! Big, big milestone !!

As for how Vantage will track.... who knows... lol. Do you know what made your FICO 8 jump? If it was due to utilization decrease, then you can reasonably expect an increase in Vantage as well... anything else is a like a flipping of a coin as to what Vantage may do, if anything.

Thanks thornback,

Couple of things. FICO 8 was at 645 back in August of 2019, dipped to 625 in November of 2019, then it jumped to 690 in December. The big jump in December was because a collection fell off my record. I refinanced my car at about 10% in November, unbeknowst to me that my score would make that jump a month later. More on this later. Once my score crossed the 710 mark in early 2020, I applied for procured "better" cards like Citi DC, Citi AAd and the CSP(Got initially denied for the CSP, then I was able to get approved by calling the recon line). That increased my credit limit. From there, I dumped 2 Credit One cards, and a Capital One card that I rarely used. Upgraded a Capital One Plat to a Venture One. As far as the car loan, I took that out back in August of 2017, and plan on paying off the remaining balance($17K or so) or pay most of it off. Car is costing me $667 per month.

Re: FICO score finally crossed the 750 mark

joeyv1985 — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 22:43:00 GMT

Also thornback, I brought my utilization down to 9%. It should have read 0%, however I purchased an iMac 1 day before the close. Oh well. It could have been a blessing because my Utilization accross all cards could have read 0 and as we all know, that can sometimes hurt your score.

Re: FICO score finally crossed the 750 mark

thornback — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 22:44:38 GMT

@joeyv1985 wrote:
Thanks thornback,

Couple of things. FICO 8 was at 645 back in August of 2019, dipped to 625 in November of 2019, then it jumped to 690 in December. The big jump in December was because a collection fell off my record. I refinanced my car at about 10% in November, unbeknowst to me that my score would make that jump a month later. More on this later. Once my score crossed the 710 mark in early 2020, I applied for procured "better" cards like Citi DC, Citi AAd and the CSP(Got initially denied for the CSP, then I was able to get approved by calling the recon line). That increased my credit limit. From there, I dumped 2 Credit One cards, and a Capital One card that I rarely used. Upgraded a Capital One Plat to a Venture One. As far as the car loan, I took that out back in August of 2017, and plan on paying off the remaining balance($17K or so) or pay most of it off. Car is costing me $667 per month.

You've made fantastic progress in a very short amount of time -- you should be very proud.

So, no one thing caused your score to increase to 753 today? Do you receive daily EX scores or only an update once per month (curious whether this increase happened overnight -- in which case we'd be able to determine the cause; or if it occured over the last 30 days)?

Re: FICO score finally crossed the 750 mark

thornback — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 22:46:16 GMT

@joeyv1985 wrote:
Also thornback, I brought my utilization down to 9%. It should have read 0%, however I purchased an iMac 1 day before the close. Oh well. It could have been a blessing because my Utilization accross all cards could have read 0 and as we all know, that can sometimes hurt your score.

Gotcha... so reduced util caused the extra boost. So yea - you should see some gains on Vantage scores as well.

Re: FICO score finally crossed the 750 mark

joeyv1985 — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 22:53:36 GMT

You've made fantastic progress in a very short amount of time -- you should be very proud.

Thank you for that.

So, no one thing caused your score to increase to 753 today?

I believe the 9 point increase was due to my utilization falling below 10%.

Do you receive daily EX scores or only an update once per month (curious whether this increase happened overnight -- in which case we'd be able to determine the cause; or if it occured over the last 30 days)?
I use EXP's free version, so once a month.

Re: FICO score finally crossed the 750 mark

thornback — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 22:58:38 GMT

@joeyv1985 wrote:

I believe the 9 point increase was due to my utilization falling below 10%.

I agree. Nice work!

Re: FICO score finally crossed the 750 mark

joeyv1985 — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 23:00:39 GMT

@thornback wrote:
@joeyv1985 wrote:

I believe the 9 point increase was due to my utilization falling below 10%.

I agree. Nice work!

Thank you. Next Goal is 780. Hopefully I can attain that by end of summer.

Re: FICO score finally crossed the 750 mark

thornback — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 23:06:05 GMT

@joeyv1985 wrote:
Thank you. Next Goal is 780. Hopefully I can attain that by end of summer.

Are you gardening? If you're gardening you can get there (or close) if your current accounts and inquiries will age over some thresholds between now and then.

Re: FICO score finally crossed the 750 mark

joeyv1985 — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 23:15:20 GMT

@thornback wrote:
@joeyv1985 wrote:
Thank you. Next Goal is 780. Hopefully I can attain that by end of summer.
Are you gardening? If you're gardening you can get there (or close) if your current accounts and inquiries will age over some thresholds between now and then.

thornback,

Can you give me a better idea of what "gardening" means? I have a good idea on what it is: pay bills on time, increase one's credit limit, keep utilization below a certain %, let accounts age, no derogs, etc..I just want to make sure I'm on the same page as everyone since I've heard that term a number of times, but I don't think I've ever found a clear definition on this board.

Re: FICO score finally crossed the 750 mark

Mr_Mojo_Risin — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 23:19:42 GMT

Certainly a good day!! Seems you've done a great job coming up! Congrats!!

Re: FICO score finally crossed the 750 mark

Mr_Mojo_Risin — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 23:25:14 GMT

@joeyv1985 wrote:
@thornback wrote:
@joeyv1985 wrote:
Thank you. Next Goal is 780. Hopefully I can attain that by end of summer.
Are you gardening? If you're gardening you can get there (or close) if your current accounts and inquiries will age over some thresholds between now and then.
thornback,

Can you give me a better idea of what "gardening" means? I have a good idea on what it is: pay bills on time, increase one's credit limit, keep utilization below a certain %, let accounts age, no derogs, etc..I just want to make sure I'm on the same page as everyone since I've heard that term a number of times, but I don't think I've ever found a clear definition on this board.

Basically gardening is not applying for any new lines of credit. Taking time to age you're existing accounts.

@thornback can probably give you a more in depth answer.

Re: FICO score finally crossed the 750 mark

thornback — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 23:28:01 GMT

@joeyv1985 wrote:
thornback,

Can you give me a better idea of what "gardening" means? I have a good idea on what it is: pay bills on time, increase one's credit limit, keep utilization below a certain %, let accounts age, no derogs, etc..I just want to make sure I'm on the same page as everyone since I've heard that term a number of times, but I don't think I've ever found a clear definition on this board.

Gardening means no new apps or inquiries. So, no new accounts and no CLIs that require a hard pull (soft pull CLIs are OK). You just take care of what you have and let accounts age / let inquiries reach their 1 year mark so they become unscoreable. You set a time frame - 6 months, 9 months, a year - to which you commit to staying in the "garden".

It can be tough to stay away from apps for an extended period of time - especially if you frequent these forums and constantly hear about the new best credit thing and/or everyone else's approvals -- but it's so worth it. Aged accounts and no scoreable inquiries will do wonders for your scores and solidifies your credit profile since age is the most important factor next to payment history. Also, while gardening, you can relax on micromanaging util. You're not apping for anything so there's no real reason to keep your util super low, or to practice AZEO. If your total balances are generally below 29%, you can just let them all report naturally and just pay in full by the due date.

Gardening works -- and lenders like to see it. The best approvals come after time spent in the garden, that time between apps is a big plus.

Re: FICO score finally crossed the 750 mark

Mr_Mojo_Risin — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 23:40:51 GMT

@thornback wrote:
@joeyv1985 wrote:
thornback,

Can you give me a better idea of what "gardening" means? I have a good idea on what it is: pay bills on time, increase one's credit limit, keep utilization below a certain %, let accounts age, no derogs, etc..I just want to make sure I'm on the same page as everyone since I've heard that term a number of times, but I don't think I've ever found a clear definition on this board.
Gardening means no new apps or inquiries. So, no new accounts and no CLIs that require a hard pull (soft pull CLIs are OK). You just take care of what you have and let accounts age / let inquiries reach their 1 year mark so they become unscoreable. You set a time frame - 6 months, 9 months, a year - to which you commit to staying in the "garden".

It can be tough to stay away from apps for an extended period of time - especially if you frequent these forums and constantly hear about the new best credit thing and/or everyone else's approvals -- but it's so worth it. Aged accounts and no scoreable inquiries will do wonders for your scores and solidifies your credit profile since age is the most important factor next to payment history. Also, while gardening, you can relax on micromanaging util. You're not apping for anything so there's no real reason to keep your util super low, or to practice AZEO. If your total balances are generally below 29%, you can just let them all report naturally and just pay in full by the due date.

Gardening works -- and lenders like to see it. The best approvals come after time spent in the garden, that time between apps is a big plus.

This ☝️is the kind of answer that you needed. Excellent response

Re: FICO score finally crossed the 750 mark

joeyv1985 — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 01:04:33 GMT

Ahhh. And that's what I will do. I have everything I need: Mortgage, Car Loan, 4 Credit Cards with relatively high CL's. There really is nothing I need in the near future, so this strategy is perfect. Thanks again.

Re: FICO score finally crossed the 750 mark

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 01:51:10 GMT

Congrats! I crossed 750 on Experian about 2 weeks ago and just crossed it with TU this week. My EQ is way behind the times with 1 derog in it. I can say that my CK is about 30 points behind my Fico score for TU and about 1 points below my Fico EQ. My CK scores are 722 TU and 711 EQ but my Fico scores are 750 TU and 712 EQ.

It's such a good feeling to make a goal. Good job and keep it up, you will be at 800 before you know it!

Re: FICO score finally crossed the 750 mark

joeyv1985 — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 01:52:39 GMT

Thanks Bowiefan