topic Re: cc pay off in Understanding FICO® Scoring

cc pay off

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 23:25:24 GMT

I paid off half my cc in September and got a big score boost, paid the remainder off in October and dropped two points. Why would that happened? Only cc. was a $500 limit. pulled both power score reports and not one thing has changed other than those two balances. If it is on the power score report, then are the points already there or is there a delay in time for posting?

Re: cc pay off

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 23:36:20 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I paid off half my cc in September and got a big score boost, paid the remainder off in October and dropped two points. Why would that happened? Only cc. was a $500 limit. pulled both power score reports and not one thing has changed other than those two balances. If it is on the power score report, then are the points already there or is there a delay in time for posting?

You say you paid half in Sep and the remainder in October, do you have any CC's reporting a balance now?

FICO likes it best when you have all CC's paid to zero balance and one CC reporting a balance of <9% of its CL, meaning you will see better scores with 1 or 2% util than you will with 0% util.

EDITED to fix a mistake.

Odd but true.

Re: cc pay off

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 23:37:50 GMT

no balance is bad,, high balance is bad, they need to see u using ur cards, but keep it low,

Re: cc pay off

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 23:42:12 GMT

zero balance posted all the way around

Re: cc pay off

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 23:44:47 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
zero balance posted all the way around

what cards do u have and what r ur credit limits?

Re: cc pay off

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:03:17 GMT

none, that was it. credit score tu-629 equifax 630 experian 679. any suggestions (propaneman is my husband and he is eating supper and ask me to type that for him)

Re: cc pay off

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:04:12 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
zero balance posted all the way around

There's where you lost the 2 points

Re: cc pay off

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:04:19 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
none, that was it. credit score tu-629 equifax 630 experian 679. any suggestions (propaneman is my husband and he is eating supper and ask me to type that for him)

so ur saying u paid off ur credit cards and closed them?

Re: cc pay off

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:23:52 GMT

What I'm getting is you only have one 500CL credit card?

If that's the case and you're concerned regarding your score, pay all but like $10 by the due date, and 1 day after the closing/statement date pay the $10 and your score should go back up.

I'm not really sure what suggestions you're looking for, sorry bout that.

Re: cc pay off

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:24:10 GMT

No, he didnt close it. just paid it off. We are trying to get to a 640 for a fha loan and we are 10 and 11 points away. Our banker is the one who came with the idea of getting it to zero. I beleive he thought we could get good points for both months if we split it and paid half and half. Lesson learned. Now what reckon???

Re: cc pay off

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:29:31 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
No, he didn't close it. Just paid it off. We are trying to get to a 640 for a fha loan and we are 10 and 11 points away. Our banker is the one who came with the idea of getting it to zero. I believe he thought we could get good points for both months if we split it and paid half and half. Lesson learned. Now What reckon???

We need a lot more info,,, What credit lines do u have? What r ur balances? What r ur credit limits? What r ur scores? What is ur average age of accounts? How many inquires do u have?

Re: cc pay off

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:38:51 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
No, he didnt close it. just paid it off. We are trying to get to a 640 for a fha loan and we are 10 and 11 points away. Our banker is the one who came with the idea of getting it to zero. I beleive he thought we could get good points for both months if we split it and paid half and half. Lesson learned. Now what reckon???

Wow really? The Banker should have known better IMO.

The very best thing you can do in your situation is charge $15 on the card and let it report that, that will give you some util, and from what I can see, that's really the only thing you can do in your situation. I have no idea if doing that will net you 10-11 points, but I believe you will see an increase in points

Re: cc pay off

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:45:34 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
No, he didn't close it. Just paid it off. We are trying to get to a 640 for a fha loan and we are 10 and 11 points away. Our banker is the one who came with the idea of getting it to zero. I believe he thought we could get good points for both months if we split it and paid half and half. Lesson learned. Now What reckon???
We need a lot more info,,, What credit lines do u have? What r ur balances? What r ur credit limits? What r ur scores? What is ur average age of accounts? How many inquires do u have?

I'm thinking he has only this one TL????

Re: cc pay off

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:47:22 GMT

thats a good score for just 1 TL

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
No, he didn't close it. Just paid it off. We are trying to get to a 640 for a fha loan and we are 10 and 11 points away. Our banker is the one who came with the idea of getting it to zero. I believe he thought we could get good points for both months if we split it and paid half and half. Lesson learned. Now What reckon???
We need a lot more info,,, What credit lines do u have? What r ur balances? What r ur credit limits? What r ur scores? What is ur average age of accounts? How many inquires do u have?

I'm thinking he has only this one TL????

Re: cc pay off

p- — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:51:27 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
...Wow really? The Banker should have known better IMO.

Yeah, but was it really a banker, or a "Mortgage Salesperson"?

If he has a odor of old cigarretes, a pint of Mad Dog 20/20 in his shirt pocket, and half a bottle of gel slicking his hair back, that might be the case.

Re: cc pay off

p- — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:52:35 GMT

Did he tell you the mortgage was owned by an old lady that kept it in the garage and only drove it to the store once a week?

Re: cc pay off

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:55:02 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
thats a good score for just 1 TL Anythings possible I guess.

Re: cc pay off

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:32:28 GMT

ok sorry it took so long but had to work last night. yes, it was the VP of the bank who told us that. I remember him saying, I'm not a credit score expert but I would think a zero balance would be better that owing. So with that said, that is the only cc I have. My credit history is 12 years. I have 14 paid as agreed. my scores are tu 629, equifax 630 and experian 670. I owe 56,000 on a river lot, never been late, and that is it. I just have not had the need for credit, which I always thought was good, until now. I have zero public records, 2 inquiries, and zero collections. Maybe I should charge a little back on the credit card just to get something going.?.? Any suggestions.

Re: cc pay off

GregB — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:49:27 GMT

The banker is mostly correct, less debt is better. As you saw, paying off revolving debt, like credit cards, will help your FICO score.

When you get down to the details, paying all of them to zero CAN have a small change for the worse. That sounds like the two points lost. If you have several CC, it seems your best score will be if all of them report zero except for one reporting a small balance. If you only have one or two, then it may be best to have a small balance report on one OR it might be best to have them report zero. I think you just found out you are better off to have one report a small balance, even $1.

The big point here is that the difference is very small. You are probably going to have to work on something else to get more than a couple points.

Re: cc pay off

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:45:27 GMT

Thank you everyone. Think I will just sit still for a month or two and see what happens. And pray.