topic Re: How can I improve my FICO score? in Understanding FICO® Scoring

How can I improve my FICO score?

pat0812 — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 05:07:18 GMT

I just started credit 6 months ago and I finally got my first FICO Scores. 683 for EQ and 714 TU Walmart

I have a clean history with no negatives

I have 3 credit cards that are always under 10% UTI

The only bad thing is that i have on my equifax report 11 inquiries, on experian and TU i have only 5-6

How can my score go up from here ?

My inquiries will only start to drop in 6 months, so how can i improve it in the meantime ?

Will my score go up every month if i continue to make on time payments ?

Re: How can I improve my FICO score?

bettercreditguy1 — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 12:01:42 GMT

As the inquiries drop off and your account history increases, your scores will improve. With anything of importance, credit scores need time to mature. Pay on time every month even if you can not pay in full, pay the minimum due.

Re: How can I improve my FICO score?

TNTransplant — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 15:58:45 GMT

@pat0812 wrote:
I just started credit 6 months ago and I finally got my first FICO Scores. 683 for EQ and 714 TU Walmart
I have a clean history with no negatives
I have 3 credit cards that are always under 10% UTI
The only bad thing is that i have on my equifax report 11 inquiries, on experian and TU i have only 5-6

How can my score go up from here ?
My inquiries will only start to drop in 6 months, so how can i improve it in the meantime ?
Will my score go up every month if i continue to make on time payments ?

Well, it appears you're just starting out, and unfortunately it requires time and aging of accounts to build a positive history and allow inquiries to drop off.

For maximum score poential, you need to have a balance of less than 10% reporting on only one of your cards - keep the other two reporting at $0.

Always pay on time every month (without exception) - doing this will continue to cause your scores to rise as you build positive payment history.

Your inquiries will stay on your report for a total of two years, but will not impact scoring after 12 months.

You're in an excellent position to build a positive credit history, and you're doing all the right things. Continue doing what you're doing, but have patience to know that it will take some time. In 1-2 years you'll have an excellent score and can pretty much get whatever you want.

Good luck to you - you're off to a great start.

Re: How can I improve my FICO score?

pat0812 — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 23:54:01 GMT

I know have an American Express charge card. So I have 4 cards now. Should I still keep a balance on only 1 card? Or charge card is different.

Does amex rather me paying off before the statements cut or its better to let a balance report? I want in the future to get a credit card from them

Re: How can I improve my FICO score?

vanillabean — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 03:44:46 GMT

If the one card with a balance is a charge card, your overall utilization is zero, so your score will take a dive.

I don't think that Amex cares about whether you pay before or after the statement date.

Re: How can I improve my FICO score?

jamie123 — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 01:00:21 GMT

Just use all your cards every month and pay them on time and everything else will take care of itself.

You took a small hit to your scores by getting those new cards. Your scores will likely stay where they are for a couple of months and then start climbing.

With 4 cards you will start to build history faster.

Re: How can I improve my FICO score?

llecs — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 23:49:59 GMT

Split post to form a new thread within Understanding FICO Scoring