topic Re: I got the house!!!! in Understanding FICO® Scoring

I got the house!!!! How do I continue to raise my credit score?

Tankee — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 21:49:54 GMT

I worked on my credit for about 8 months. I was able to secure a FHA loan and bought a house. Now what? How do I continue to raise my credit score? Here are my details below. My scores decreased about 20 points each. Also, I want to buy a new car soon but can wait.

Current credit scores TODAY 3/3/2021-

Equifax- 685

TransUnion-682

Experian- 684

Credit Cards: limits/ balance owed

Capital one- $600/$ 110

Capital one- $500/$40

Capital one walmart- $3000/$10

Credit one- $650/$232

Credit one-$500/$44

I've been paying each card down to $10 every month

I've had my car since June 2020

Never missed a payment

Any suggestions that will help increase scores is welcomed.

Re: I got the house!!!!

coldfusion — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 21:49:54 GMT

@Tankee wrote:

Credit Cards: limits/ balance owed
Capital one- $600/$ 110
Capital one- $500/$40
Capital one walmart- $3000/$10
Credit one- $650/$232
Credit one-$500/$44

I've been paying each card down to $10 every month

If I understand this correctly you're letting each individual card report a $10 balance each month.

If that is correct you want to change your strategy such that you only have 1 card reporting a balance at any time - search the site for the AZE1 (All Zero Except One) technique - as that's a quick and easy way to help boost your scores a bit.

Congrats on getting the FHA loan.

Re: I got the house!!!!

coldfusion — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 21:53:46 GMT

Well, that was funny. I was about to flag this thread right after my above post and in about that 5 second span it got relocated lol

Re: I got the house!!!! How do I continue to raise my credit score?

SouthJamaica — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 21:58:01 GMT

@Tankee wrote:
I worked on my credit for about 8 months. I was able to secure a FHA loan and bought a house. Now what? How do I continue to raise my credit score? Here are my details below. My scores decreased about 20 points each. Also, I want to buy a new car soon but can wait.

Current credit scores TODAY 3/3/2021-
Equifax- 685
TransUnion-682
Experian- 684

Credit Cards: limits/ balance owed
Capital one- $600/$ 110
Capital one- $500/$40
Capital one walmart- $3000/$10
Credit one- $650/$232
Credit one-$500/$44

I've been paying each card down to $10 every month

I've had my car since June 2020
Never missed a payment

Any suggestions that will help increase scores is welcomed.

1. Let most but not all of your cards report a zero balance; i.e. pay them down to zero before the statement cuts.

2. Go as long as you can without applying for new credit or for CLI's that would cause a hard pull.

Congratulations btw!!!

Re: I got the house!!!! How do I continue to raise my credit score?

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 22:05:32 GMT

Did all of those cards you listed with reported balances have reported balances at the time you applied for the home loan? If so, you definitely left quite a few points on the table. Congrats on securing the loan though, as that was clearly priority number one.

Re: I got the house!!!! How do I continue to raise my credit score?

Tankee — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 03:27:46 GMT

Nope. They were all at $10. That was the most optimal improvement I was able to make.

Re: I got the house!!!! How do I continue to raise my credit score?

Iusedtolurk — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 06:07:43 GMT

@Tankee wrote:
Nope. They were all at $10. That was the most optimal improvement I was able to make.

Many times getting a mortgage is the main goal of improving your credit and you have accomplished that so Congrats! Following all advice given so far as utilization and # balances reporting will take you further up the credit score hill.

Re: I got the house!!!! How do I continue to raise my credit score?

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 12:54:51 GMT

@Tankee wrote:
Nope. They were all at $10. That was the most optimal improvement I was able to make.

All at $10 means they all had [non-zero] balances reported. Just so you are aware, this does not optimize your mortgage scores and you certainly left points on the table. What you'd want to do going forward is leave $10 (or other small balance) to report on just 1 major bank card, while reporting $0 on the remainder of your cards.