topic Re: Store card to improve utilization in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Store card to improve utilization

folks19 — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 06:09:01 GMT

My credit usage is at just about 10% due to taking advantage of professional 0% APR (which I have every penny for set aside which I won't spend unless an absolute emergency) and I wanted to reduce that %. Would the available credit on a store accomplish that? (I have a better chance of getting approved for a store card because I applied for 4 cards in the past 6 weeks.)

Re: Store card to improve utilization

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 07:30:58 GMT

@folks19 wrote:
My credit usage is at just about 10% due to taking advantage of professional 0% APR (which I have every penny for set aside which I won't spend unless an absolute emergency) and I wanted to reduce that %. Would the available credit on a store accomplish that? (I have a better chance of getting approved for a store card because I applied for 4 cards in the past 6 weeks.)

@folks19 10% utilization is not really something to worry about. In my opinion, I would not waste my profile getting a store card, unless it made serious financial sense to me. I regret my previous ones.

how many of those four cards did you get?

Re: Store card to improve utilization

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 07:40:10 GMT

I would not suggest applying for a card for the sole purpose of trying to lower temporary slightly higher utilization.

Re: Store card to improve utilization

Shooting-For-800 — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 13:44:55 GMT

8% is as good as 1%

I would not bother opening another account

Re: Store card to improve utilization

folks19 — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 18:45:54 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@folks19 wrote:
My credit usage is at just about 10% due to taking advantage of professional 0% APR (which I have every penny for set aside which I won't spend unless an absolute emergency) and I wanted to reduce that %. Would the available credit on a store accomplish that? (I have a better chance of getting approved for a store card because I applied for 4 cards in the past 6 weeks.)
@folks19 10% utilization is not really something to worry about. In my opinion, I would not waste my profile getting a store card, unless it made serious financial sense to me. I regret my previous ones.

how many of those four cards did you get?

That's just because I lost 20 points when the balance posted. No other changes were posted at the same time the balance posted.

I was approved for all 4!

Re: Store card to improve utilization

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 19:30:35 GMT

@folks19 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@folks19 wrote:
My credit usage is at just about 10% due to taking advantage of professional 0% APR (which I have every penny for set aside which I won't spend unless an absolute emergency) and I wanted to reduce that %. Would the available credit on a store accomplish that? (I have a better chance of getting approved for a store card because I applied for 4 cards in the past 6 weeks.)
@folks19 10% utilization is not really something to worry about. In my opinion, I would not waste my profile getting a store card, unless it made serious financial sense to me. I regret my previous ones.

how many of those four cards did you get?
That's just because I lost 20 points when the balance posted. No other changes were posted at the same time the balance posted.
I was approved for all 4!

@folks19 what was the age of your youngest revolver when you applied for those? I have a suspicion it was 12 months old or more and when your first new card reported, it caused Scorecard reassignment and that's where your 20 points went, not utilization!

you'll get your points back when your youngest revolver turns 12 months old, If that's the case

Re: Store card to improve utilization

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 19:31:15 GMT

Which 4 did you get if I may ask?

Re: Store card to improve utilization

folks19 — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 23:12:55 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@folks19 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@folks19 wrote:
My credit usage is at just about 10% due to taking advantage of professional 0% APR (which I have every penny for set aside which I won't spend unless an absolute emergency) and I wanted to reduce that %. Would the available credit on a store accomplish that? (I have a better chance of getting approved for a store card because I applied for 4 cards in the past 6 weeks.)
@folks19 10% utilization is not really something to worry about. In my opinion, I would not waste my profile getting a store card, unless it made serious financial sense to me. I regret my previous ones.

how many of those four cards did you get?
That's just because I lost 20 points when the balance posted. No other changes were posted at the same time the balance posted.
I was approved for all 4!
@folks19 what was the age of your youngest revolver when you applied for those? I have a suspicion it was 12 months old or more and when your first new card reported, it caused Scorecard reassignment and that's where your 20 points went, not utilization!

you'll get your points back when your youngest revolver turns 12 months old, If that's the case

My youngest account was just a few weeks old. I'm also 100% sure that it had nothing to do with that because the new account posted (with 0 balance) about a month before the balance posted.

Re: Store card to improve utilization

folks19 — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 23:16:27 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Which 4 did you get if I may ask?

Amex BCE, Bank of America, Chase student card, and Amazon.

Re: Store card to improve utilization

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 23:32:36 GMT

Don't get a card just to lower your 10% utilization. You'll take a hit for a new account and resetting your youngest age. If it's that big a deal, use the money you've set aside for the expense and pay enough to get it under 9%. Points regained, no useless card added, and you won't run further risk of spooking Chase than you already may be. They don't like lots of accounts being opened along with theirs and they do "supwichu" pulls for a bit after approving you to see if you're opening accounts that they don't want to see opened.

Re: Store card to improve utilization

folks19 — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 23:30:06 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Don't get a card just to lower your 10% utilization. You'll take a hit for a new account and redetting your youngest age. If it's that big a deal, use the money you've set aside for the expense and pay enough to get it under 9%. Points regained, no useless card added, and you won't run further risk of spooking Chase than you already may be. They don't like lots of accounts being opened along with theirs and they do "supwichu" pulls for a bit after approving you to see if you're opening accounts that they don't want to see opened.

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll put any further application on hold.

I'm not really concerned about AAoA because it is very low now (I think 6 months) because of all the new accounts I just opened. My oldest account is a little over 1 year. Opening a new account now may lower by AAoA by no less than 1 month. In regards to AAoA, I would actually want to open as many accounts as possible now because I won't loose more than 1-3 months of age, depending on how long I wait from now, and that would also minimize the affect on age when I apply for more credit later on in my life. But I do agree that I should make sure I'm not to spooky to Chase and other lenders, and that's why I'm going to waid at least 6 months until the next card.

Re: Store card to improve utilization

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 23:34:06 GMT

That's a very good plan.

Re: Store card to improve utilization

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 05:15:54 GMT

@folks19 well if you already had a revolver report a couple weeks previous to that, then you're right, it surely wasn't scorecard reassignment to a new account scorecard. Although, how many accounts do you have in total now? And what number account was that when it reported?

looks like you had a nice spree. And I totally agree with @Anonymous and your plan to chill out a little while in light of Chase and I totally agree with your strategy of getting accounts in the beginning and letting them age so you have a buffer down the line. Better to be top-heavy!

Re: Store card to improve utilization

folks19 — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 05:38:51 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@folks19 well if you already had a revolver report a couple weeks previous to that, then you're right, it surely wasn't scorecard reassignment to a new account scorecard. Although, how many accounts do you have in total now? And what number account was that when it reported?

looks like you had a nice spree. And I totally agree with @Anonymous and your plan to chill out a little while in light of Chase and I totally agree with your strategy of getting accounts in the beginning and letting them age so you have a buffer down the line. Better to be top-heavy!

I had to 2 accounts before I went wild with applications. I than applied for 4 credit cards in a less than 2 months time period. 2 of those were actually on the same day! Each card had unique benefits (besides for the chase card, which got only because I wanted to get a foot in with chase, amd it was either now or in 1.5 years due to the 5/24 thing, and even that is assuming I don't get another card or loan during that time).

After doing a little research, it seems like my score drop could have been because the utilization was high on that card which is a little over 50%.

I don't I'm going to anything about that now because I don't plan to apply for anything, and it should be paid down significantly when I'm ready to apply for another card.

I just want to make sure that my balance history doesn't affect my score even once it's paid

Is that the case? I know there was a time where that definitely wasn't the case, but I read in the news recently that there's going to be a change to how balance history affects the score.

Re: Store card to improve utilization

Slabenstein — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 05:48:19 GMT

@folks19 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@folks19 well if you already had a revolver report a couple weeks previous to that, then you're right, it surely wasn't scorecard reassignment to a new account scorecard. Although, how many accounts do you have in total now? And what number account was that when it reported?

looks like you had a nice spree. And I totally agree with @Anonymous and your plan to chill out a little while in light of Chase and I totally agree with your strategy of getting accounts in the beginning and letting them age so you have a buffer down the line. Better to be top-heavy!
I had to 2 accounts before I went wild with applications. I than applied for 4 credit cards in a less than 2 months time period. 2 of those were actually on the same day! Each card had unique benefits (besides for the chase card, which got only because I wanted to get a foot in with chase, amd it was either now or in 1.5 years due to the 5/24 thing, and even that is assuming I don't get another card or loan during that time).
After doing a little research, it seems like my score drop could have been because the utilization was high on that card which is a little over 50%.
I don't I'm going to anything about that now because I don't plan to apply for anything, and it should be paid down significantly when I'm ready to apply for another card.
I just want to make sure that my balance history doesn't affect my score even once it's paid
Is that the case? I know there was a time where that definitely wasn't the case, but I read in the news recently that there's going to be a change to how balance history affects the score.

FICO 10T, which hasn't been released yet, will use trended data that takes historical utilization into account. On all FICO versions currently available to lenders, utilization is a snapshot metric that only looks at balances and limits at the time a score is pulled.

Re: Store card to improve utilization

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 06:12:32 GMT

@folks19 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@folks19 well if you already had a revolver report a couple weeks previous to that, then you're right, it surely wasn't scorecard reassignment to a new account scorecard. Although, how many accounts do you have in total now? And what number account was that when it reported?

looks like you had a nice spree. And I totally agree with @Anonymous and your plan to chill out a little while in light of Chase and I totally agree with your strategy of getting accounts in the beginning and letting them age so you have a buffer down the line. Better to be top-heavy!
I had to 2 accounts before I went wild with applications. I than applied for 4 credit cards in a less than 2 months time period. 2 of those were actually on the same day! Each card had unique benefits (besides for the chase card, which got only because I wanted to get a foot in with chase, amd it was either now or in 1.5 years due to the 5/24 thing, and even that is assuming I don't get another card or loan during that time).
After doing a little research, it seems like my score drop could have been because the utilization was high on that card which is a little over 50%.
I don't I'm going to anything about that now because I don't plan to apply for anything, and it should be paid down significantly when I'm ready to apply for another card.
I just want to make sure that my balance history doesn't affect my score even once it's paid
Is that the case? I know there was a time where that definitely wasn't the case, but I read in the news recently that there's going to be a change to how balance history affects the score.

@folks19 Ahhh ha!!! When the second credit card reported, it made 4 accounts and you were reassigned from a thin profile to a thick profile, I believe.

Was the score change when the second new card reported? Should see a difference in before and after score codes as well. Welcome to a thick scorecard, congratulations you're moving on up! That will benefit you, just like having the age buffer will benefit you. You probably already told us but what is the age of the oldest account?

Re: Store card to improve utilization

folks19 — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 06:41:22 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@folks19 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@folks19 well if you already had a revolver report a couple weeks previous to that, then you're right, it surely wasn't scorecard reassignment to a new account scorecard. Although, how many accounts do you have in total now? And what number account was that when it reported?

looks like you had a nice spree. And I totally agree with @Anonymous and your plan to chill out a little while in light of Chase and I totally agree with your strategy of getting accounts in the beginning and letting them age so you have a buffer down the line. Better to be top-heavy!
I had to 2 accounts before I went wild with applications. I than applied for 4 credit cards in a less than 2 months time period. 2 of those were actually on the same day! Each card had unique benefits (besides for the chase card, which got only because I wanted to get a foot in with chase, amd it was either now or in 1.5 years due to the 5/24 thing, and even that is assuming I don't get another card or loan during that time).
After doing a little research, it seems like my score drop could have been because the utilization was high on that card which is a little over 50%.
I don't I'm going to anything about that now because I don't plan to apply for anything, and it should be paid down significantly when I'm ready to apply for another card.
I just want to make sure that my balance history doesn't affect my score even once it's paid
Is that the case? I know there was a time where that definitely wasn't the case, but I read in the news recently that there's going to be a change to how balance history affects the score.
@folks19 Ahhh ha!!! When the second credit card reported, it made 4 accounts and you were reassigned from a thin profile to a thick profile, I believe.

Was the score change when the second new card reported? Should see a difference in before and after score codes as well. Welcome to a thick scorecard, congratulations you're moving on up! That will benefit you, just like having the age buffer will benefit you. You probably already told us but what is the age of the oldest account?

I'm 100% sure it's not because of that because the new card was reported (with no balance) about a month before the balance was reported. In fact, my score (EX FICO via the free app) went up by 8 points when the card reported!

Thanks for the amazing news though about my file becoming thick.

My oldest account is about a year and 4 months old (Discover secured card. Now unsecured with a limit around 5,000).

Re: Store card to improve utilization

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 07:57:23 GMT

@folks19 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@folks19 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@folks19 well if you already had a revolver report a couple weeks previous to that, then you're right, it surely wasn't scorecard reassignment to a new account scorecard. Although, how many accounts do you have in total now? And what number account was that when it reported?

looks like you had a nice spree. And I totally agree with @Anonymous and your plan to chill out a little while in light of Chase and I totally agree with your strategy of getting accounts in the beginning and letting them age so you have a buffer down the line. Better to be top-heavy!
I had to 2 accounts before I went wild with applications. I than applied for 4 credit cards in a less than 2 months time period. 2 of those were actually on the same day! Each card had unique benefits (besides for the chase card, which got only because I wanted to get a foot in with chase, amd it was either now or in 1.5 years due to the 5/24 thing, and even that is assuming I don't get another card or loan during that time).
After doing a little research, it seems like my score drop could have been because the utilization was high on that card which is a little over 50%.
I don't I'm going to anything about that now because I don't plan to apply for anything, and it should be paid down significantly when I'm ready to apply for another card.
I just want to make sure that my balance history doesn't affect my score even once it's paid
Is that the case? I know there was a time where that definitely wasn't the case, but I read in the news recently that there's going to be a change to how balance history affects the score.
@folks19 Ahhh ha!!! When the second credit card reported, it made 4 accounts and you were reassigned from a thin profile to a thick profile, I believe.

Was the score change when the second new card reported? Should see a difference in before and after score codes as well. Welcome to a thick scorecard, congratulations you're moving on up! That will benefit you, just like having the age buffer will benefit you. You probably already told us but what is the age of the oldest account?
I'm 100% sure it's not because of that because the new card was reported (with no balance) about a month before the balance was reported. In fact, my score (EX FICO via the free app) went up by 8 points when the card reported!
Thanks for the amazing news though about my file becoming thick.
My oldest account is about a year and 4 months old (Discover secured card. Now unsecured with a limit around 5,000).

@folks19 OK well whenever your fourth account reported to your credit report, yes you did switch Scorecards to a thick one. You say it was only eight points? Do you know what the other bureaus?

And just for your knowledge, whenever your youngest Revolver is 12 months old, you switch Scorecards to a No New Accounts Scorecard. Also whenever your oldest Account turns three years old, you will switch to a Mature Scorecard.

Re: Store card to improve utilization

dragontears — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 16:02:52 GMT

@folks19 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@folks19 well if you already had a revolver report a couple weeks previous to that, then you're right, it surely wasn't scorecard reassignment to a new account scorecard. Although, how many accounts do you have in total now? And what number account was that when it reported?

looks like you had a nice spree. And I totally agree with @Anonymous and your plan to chill out a little while in light of Chase and I totally agree with your strategy of getting accounts in the beginning and letting them age so you have a buffer down the line. Better to be top-heavy!
I had to 2 accounts before I went wild with applications. I than applied for 4 credit cards in a less than 2 months time period. 2 of those were actually on the same day! Each card had unique benefits (besides for the chase card, which got only because I wanted to get a foot in with chase, amd it was either now or in 1.5 years due to the 5/24 thing, and even that is assuming I don't get another card or loan during that time).
After doing a little research, it seems like my score drop could have been because the utilization was high on that card which is a little over 50%.
I don't I'm going to anything about that now because I don't plan to apply for anything, and it should be paid down significantly when I'm ready to apply for another card.
I just want to make sure that my balance history doesn't affect my score even once it's paid
Is that the case? I know there was a time where that definitely wasn't the case, but I read in the news recently that there's going to be a change to how balance history affects the score.

That's the reason, going >50% utilization on a single card is costing you points and has little to nothing to do with aggregated utilization. Even though you have already decided to not apply, I wanted to point out that a new card wouldn't "fix" your score loss

Re: Store card to improve utilization

folks19 — Wed, 06 Jan 2021 04:03:11 GMT

@Anonymous It was an 8 point gain and not an 8 point loss. Unless that's what you meant.

I'm not sure about the other bureaus, but I do know that I did gain some points, but I can't say for sure when and why because those only update monthly.