topic Re: Adding revolving account... in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Adding revolving account...

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 17:31:45 GMT

Hi Everyone!

I posted this on the credit card board - but someone suggested I may get a better response here.

I currently have no revolving accounts. I asked a question yesterday - and Ilecs stated that I would see a nice bump in my score if I added one revolving account.

My question is, does anyone know how much of a bump I may see? Is it 5 points, 10, 15, 20, 25? Just curious and I know all situations are different... but what have you all seen or experienced. Thanks!

Re: Adding revolving account...

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 18:29:36 GMT

Hi Fresh!

Hmmmm. Someone posted yesterday or the day before that when their new first revolving card showed up on their CR's, that they received about a 35 point increase? Hopefully someone will have a more accurate memory than mine.

When DH added his first, he gained 29. When I added my first, I gained 20. Both DH and I, however, had closed CC's on our CR's. I believe the poster I mention above had no older closed revolving accounts reporting.

FICO likes to see a revolver - most especially a bank revolver or national cc account.

Now, the fun is finding out which option will work best for you with your current scores. It's important to do your homework because you'll want to try to avoid tons of inquiries.

I Re: Adding revolving account...

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 18:36:54 GMT

Thanks Beam!

I was looking at public savings bank - is that a national or bank cc? What are some examples of those cards (bank/national)? I just filed BK7 in 10/10 - so I don't qualify for any unsecured cards yet.

Re: I Re: Adding revolving account...

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 18:56:58 GMT

A great place to check for good unsecured cards is the Credit Card Center on the tab at the top of this page.

Then you can compare - it's also a good idea to google reviews of the card(s) you're most interested in.

Looks like your EQ is higher than TU - it may (or may not) be helpful to shoot for an EQ puller, but not necessarily.

Are there some things you can do to pull up your scores a titch before apping for your first card?

Re: I Re: Adding revolving account...

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 20:46:07 GMT

Thanks Beam,

As far as pulling up my score before I apply - I don't think there's anything I can do besides making sure everything reports as "included in bankruptcy" - some (almost half the accounts on TU) are still reporting as late or charge off.

I don't know if that will improve my score, but it is something I am definately working on.

I am thinking of Public Savings - its recommened by myfico and it doesn't pull a score.

Re: I Re: Adding revolving account...

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 20:53:38 GMT

Wow FreshStart,

Looks like you're doing your homework - and it looks like Fresh Start is a great name for you.

It definitely helps to have your TU (and all) your accounts reporting accurately after a BK. It took a few months and a couple tries when we did it, but it all pulled together in fairly short order. Even though you can't pull an EX FICO, don't forget to include their reports in your clean-up efforts.

I wish you the very best! Keep us posted - we'll be cheering you on!

Re: I Re: Adding revolving account...

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 22:24:52 GMT

Beam - thanks for the info. Any ideas on how to get the accounts to report IIB? Should I send them a letter directly or to the CRA? Thanks Fresh

Re: I Re: Adding revolving account...

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 00:10:57 GMT

We did 100% of ours disputing directly with the CRA.

Short letter i.e.:

Date

Dear Sirs:

My Credit Report, dated JJJ 22, 2222, contains a few errors.

1) Account abc #123456667 reports inaccurately as "whatever is wrong" and should instead report as "Included In Bankruptcy" BK was filed on this date, discharged on this date. There is a zero balance on this account.

2) the next account

3) and so on

Many thanks,

beamMEup

address

phone

social security number

We had a few that took two or three letters, but they all made it (all but one - which we gave up on and has since aged off).

Other folks may have done it differently - and they probably have prettier letters - but this is what we did.

I made a chart and kept track of what needed to be done, when letters went out, if it was corrected OR if the response was not what it should have been and I sent out a second correspondence. For those that needed two or three attempts, I sent it out the same day so I wouldn't sit and stew about it. My thinking was to just print it out and get it in the mail.

Other folks might chime in with some great info - we all have our different ways of doing things.